u-link

Expert Sleepers do a series of plug-ins that converts MIDI to Audio data that gets sent out a dedicated output of your audio interface. A module then converts this back to MIDI (or CV). The idea behind this is that on a computer, audio gets handled way better and with much more accurate timing than MIDI. As the messages are output as audio, the latency is gonna be exactly the same as the one on audio. They claim sample-accurate MIDI clock and note transmission without any jitter. Obviously this only fully works as long as you send monophonic messages. http://www.expert-sleepers.co.uk/silentway.html I have an interface of theirs that take an SPDIF-In and converts it to eight MIDI-Outs. It's a bit fiddly to set up, and there are some slightly annoying limitations, like that you can only use one of the eight MIDI-Outs multitimbrally ... But when it works it is very tight! I used to have the Innerclock SyncGen, which is a similar device, but only for MIDI Clock, and this also worked very reliably. If this MIDI router would have 32 I/O, of course you could just plug the eight outs into it ...

Swinging/Shuffling of all kind of realtime data, different clock subdivisions, pulling / pushing of the clock per port - stuff like on the R&M Multiclock. MIDI via audio as on the Expert Sleepers stuff for tight integration with your DAW would be dope.

So your planned module is gonna have three inputs, all under VCA-control? Cool!

It would be great to have an Option to "Use Track Event Configuration for All Patterns" unless one specifically changes it. Or alternatively, it might be called: "Automatically Take Over Track Config from Last Used Previous Pattern". IE: you set up your tracks in a session for the first pattern in each Pattern Group, and when you switch to a new pattern, all the settings are still the same, just that all the Trigger and Parameter layers are empty. I guess by far the most common scenario is to have the same synth / function assigned to each track for the whole session, and this would cater for that quite nicely!

For Live-Recording, it would be most excellent to have an Edit View that displays all 16 Parameter Layers at once, their values being updated (if automated or if an external CC is received) as the sequence plays. One would then be able to just twist any of the 16 GP Encoders to record new automation without the need of any View switching or Layer selecting! Additionally, if a Parameter Layer is assigned to a CC, but no automation is recorded, it would also allow to live-adjust that parameter on the synth, reducing the need for external MIDI-controllers for knobbily challenged synths. If additionally a feature to name Parameter Lanes could be added, one could create quite complete Control Presets for all one's synthesizers - I find myself ending up to always automate the same CCs - more the obvious destinations like cutoff or envelope amounts etc.

Yes, I thought the same, suggested it a while ago in the MBSeq feedback thread, too - naming would be a lot easier like that, and you also get a tons of buttons that might get assigned to funky stuff like momentary FX or repeats ...

Hi, I think I found a bug. I am on V4+.095 with the STM32F4 core. The "Duplicate FX" only works if the receiving channel is different to the one the track is set to. This would make sense if it is set to the same port, but not if set to a different port. So my track is outputting on Out 3, channel 2, I want to duplicate to Out 1, channel 2. Doesn't work, only if i set the duplicate destination to 1, 3, 4 etc. I actually want to use the Duplicate FX to send CC feedback to a NG controller with 2 LRE8x2, so obviously the controller receives on the same channel as it sends. Is there a smarter way to achieve this? Like this you still need to configure anew for each pattern (or make a Preset for each one). Edit: If you set "Additional Channels" to more than 1, the channel with the same number is included, too, but obviously the next one too.

I have recently been thinking about how how to best implement sampled loops into the MBSEQ workflow. It would be great to have a type of track ("Loop Track" maybe) that automatically calculates a Pitch Bend value to offset the tuning of loops in relationship to the actual BPM. Imagine you have some sampled percussion loops that are at 125 BPM, and you are playing at 128. In the Config Page of the "Loop Track", you can enter both the original BPM of your loops and how many semitones your sampler detunes them in reaction to Pitch Bend. MBSEQ then calculates the needed PB value to send to the sampler patch so the loops are at the correct pitch (well, length, rather...). Something like :128/125=1.024, sampler pitchbends sounds 7 semitones, so PB value needed = XXXX (I don't really know what the formula would be, I am sure TK could figure it out easily). That would be very handy indeed for all kinds of backing tracks! Credit to whom credit is due: the core idea Sneak Thief already implemented in his live performance sequencer years ago (he demonstrated it to me once a couple of years ago).

Well, the Tsunami does work already, it's just much more limited in what it can do when you are only using MIDI commands. Most of the cool features are via serial, and routing is fairly restrictively set via the sample name. It also only responds to one MIDI channel, with PCs to switch "banks" of 128 possible assignments. I built mine into a tin box with 8 sockets for the outputs as a temporary solution. This Microgranny thing looks pretty cool, but probably more for experimental stuff, it's monophonic, too. I just kinda like the idea of having everything centrally sequenced by the MBSeq, so I don't want to add other machines with their own sequencers, but rather a plethora of small modules scattered around it!

Hi Gerald, I guess you are right in pretty much all of your arguments. Its just that I don't really enjoy using the computer for making sounds so much - as soon as there's super precise control over frequencies and gain etc, I want to use it, and I get completely lost in all the options. I also don't use any sample libraries (except for your standard drum machine samples...), I mostly just sample from records or resample my gear. Basically, I have this theory of the Digital Divide, that House and Techno (which is basically the music I make) really changed once people started to do most of the work in DAWs, because you can be much more detailed and have access to technology that before, only very few had. So the production value in music mixed in the computer tends to be much higher, but for me, there's a real lack of personality and excitement, which is maybe just my starry-eyed interpretation of the shortcomings of available technology. That is of course a gross generalisation, I am not meaning to say everything that's done on a computer is bad! But limitations spur creativity.

I also bought one and tested it a bit, seems to work pretty well, even though noise floor seemed pretty high and the output low. One might be able to install the board inside of the sequencer itself, problem would be how to make the Micro-SD card accessible from the outside (would mean removing the Micro-USB-socket, too, that is one of the options for powering). I put it aside for the moment, as I don't really have much time on hand because of university til July. I do not now how to tackle it. ;-)

I had this happening, too. I was never able to figure out what led to this behaviour.

Wouldn't just turning on all the steps be much faster than holding a switch for two seconds and then do something else? Disregarding for a moment the fact that the tact switches on my seq are not all responding the same (so one or two might not turn on), I can just run my finger over consecutive steps I want to turn on in one fluent "crescendo" motion. Also, "Fill" makes me think of "fills" as in "drum fills" -- you know, the kind of stuff you play at the end of a chorus / loop.

You are right, Interstellar was good, and I didn't find the music offputting. But, back on topic, Peter, which part is played by the ESQ-M? I gotta say that sounds like a really tempting synth! Did you make a control assignment for your synth programmer for it?

I am left-handed. I always thought the SeqV4 layout alright for me. On the other hand (no pun intended), the other machines I used the most are MPCs, and they (except for the 2000/2000XL) have the Menu section at the right, and that actually felt alright too. I must stress though that I am not really a keyboard player, I only ever write drums in real time, so the switching-while-playing argument doesn't really apply. I do agree that left-handed people are just so used to doing things with their right hand, not being given the choice (computer mouse being an obvious example), that they are more comfortable to do so. EG I hold my mobile phone in my right and write text messages with my right thumb. At home I have the sequencer on the left and the mixer on the right, and that's the configuration i always default to. I think it's because like that, I can use my better coordinated hand to do stuff on the sequencer, like using the thumb to hold the menu key and index or ring finger to switch to a different mode or mute/unmute stuff, while adjusting faders/sends on the mixer. Now you really got me thinking if the example layout above wouldn't be better for me!

Hans Zimmer is really the worst thing that can happen to a movie.

Are you sure this isn't only happening when FAST ist active? That overrides the setting. Yes, I am using the STM32F4 core. Thanks a lot!

Hi, too bad about the Drum CCs. I reckon you wanted to implement it originally, TK, and that's why it says "TODO" where the "CC" entry of the other Track Types normally is... I just use a second track set as a CC track if I want to automate drums. Would be very neat though to have it combined though. Also on Drum Tracks, would it be possible that Transpose would transpose +/-16 notes (or +/-8 if the Drum Track is set to 8 notes)? So you could quickly go through different banks of drum kits of 16 sounds each. I also started to put together a "cheat sheet" that lists all the key combinations and extra menus that are not immediately apparent. I think it would nicely compliment the Beginner's Guide on the Wiki. @jjonas, would you be able to create a Wiki profile for me? It's pretty much just info that is in the release notes, but organised according to the menu pages (and checked if still relevant).

Cool, that is great with the counters. The Sync-dependencies-change also works. Thank you. It would be neat if on the Pattern screen, pressing Select plus the new Slot (also pressing new Slot, then pressing Select) would momentarily bypass the Pattern Change Considered setting and immediately select the next Slot as if Pattern Change Considered were disabled - say you have a drum break programmed on Slot 8, you can switch immediately by holding Select plus GP 16, then normally select the main pattern in eg. Slot 1 again, and bam, it comes back in on the 1 after 16 bars!

Does what it is supposed to. OK, we will have to live with it then :-) Alright, I get it: for it to work reliably, you FIRST need to press Copy, then, while it's copying (and you are still holding Copy), you need to press Paste. The Patterns in the new Slots then get selected immediately, ignoring the Pattern Change Synchronization Option (3/25). Wouldn't it make more sense if that would be kept? Imagine you are wanting to make the copy-paste-and-switch-action after 16 bars of playing one Slot, easy to trip you out of the right counting like that. While I was trying this out, I realized something else that seems counter-intuitive: With Pattern Change Synchronization on, you need to set Option 2, "Pattern Change Synchronization Change considered each XX steps" the same or smaller as Option 1, Track Synchronization Steps per Measure. That is unfortunate, as again, imagine you only ever want to change patterns every 16 bars (the max step number of 256), but you want that irregular 14 step pattern on Track 5 reset every two bars (which is why you set Track Synchronization Steps per Measure to 32). No luck, stuck on that pattern! So I would argue it would be better if these two were independent from another, meaning the Track Sync doesn't reset the Pattern Change Sync "step counter". If one were to compare to Ableton Live, you can set the "Global Quantization" to be 16 bars, but each clip can have any length. It would also be great if these two "counters" would be included in the Step View (underneath the Pattern Overview Cursor maybe, as two lines filling up), to give you a "synchronization aid" if you've been jamming so hard you fell out of the count. In the Root Menu, there is a Measure counter anyways, so what about refining this to be included in the Step View, too, displaying both "Total Measures Played" and "Measures Played since this Pattern Was Selected" - handy to see how long you have been on the same pattern. Thanks a lot for your time!

There are no Song Mode events that allow to automate changes of Force To Scale and the Root Note, and also Groove settings. Also, this: doesn't seem to work here (STMF32F4). It does say it copies patterns to PRESETS on the screen, but when I then switch to the next Pattern position, it's empty. Am I doing something wrong? Thanks!

Looks like you have been thinking about smaller luggage, too.

To answer my own question: yes, go to Utility, Disk, Import (or Export). Learned another thing.

Hi Hal, are you aware of the Pattern Remix feature? This will allow you to select per track to changeover between the playing and an upcoming pattern. I haven't really figured it out yet, as, like you and Haweye, I normally do more of a one-session-per-track (or loop...) workflow. But it looks really intriguing. When you use this mode, each pattern save position has an associated Mixer Map, and the PC and CCs get dumped for the tracks where pattern changeover occurs, automatically lining up the correct new sound (PC can also be set in the Track Instrument parameters). So this gives you independent bar-synced switching between two "scenes" (bar length can be set in the options). If you use phrase mode, you can actually achieve a similar thing with the four independent pattern groups. Lets assume Group 1 plays a poly synth on track 2, an mono line on track 2, bassline on track 3 and track 4 is configured as a transposer Bus track with slow subdivision. Group 2 plays background samples and noises with long release, Group 3 has your main beat split out over all four tracks as 1 basic beat KK Clap or something such, 2 hats, 3 snare, 4 Nth-trigger kind of fills. Group 4 triggers Loops like shakers etc that get automatically timestretched / transposed to the BPM by some awesome sampler. Now you can assign the next Phrase to: -change nothing in Pattern Group 1 -Stop all background samples by muting all tracks in Pattern Group 2 -mute the snare track in Pattern Group 3 -Switch to new loops in Group 4 The Phrase after that will then change over more patterns to the new song etc. So you can actually get pretty smooth with some preparation! But what I haven't figured out yet is how to get the patterns from all your different "one-song" sessions imported into and organized in a new "Live Act" session. Is this possible? If you would do that, I think it would be mandatory to always have the same track number have the same function, like Track 9 is the Kick and track 3 is the bassline etc. I used to do some hardware-only live PAs, but that was mainly with several pieces of gear that all had their own internal sequencers (MPCs, 909, Nord Modular etc), but I want to develop a smaller setup that is transportable. It's always been a major hassle carting all that gear around, in the small places I'd play I'd normally also have to bring my own mixer. At the moment I am thinking about: MBSeq, Ambika configured as a 4 voice poly synth and two mono voices, Moog Minitaur, Nord Modular G2 Engine, Audiothingies Doubledrummer (small digital drumsynth with 128 kits) and I just ordered this Tsunami Board that @Elektruck turned me on to for sample playback. I also have a EHX 45000 looper that can sync to MIDI Clock and record synced loops on the fly that I really like. That's still way too much stuff though (would still need some FXs and a mixer...) and needs to get streamlined further. What would you be cooking up? What kind of music are we talking about? Well, "limited" isn't the term I would use for your jams, rather "epic" :-)

If I understood correctly, you could connect the Core and the Tsunami over SPI on J16, in line with the SD card. Would it then be possible to send the serial commands from the Core to the Tsunami? Do they kinda "speak the same language"? I am sorry for the simplistic questions. The interesting commands are the serial ones, MIDI-only can't do so much intersting stuff. EG Pitch Bend and the Attack and Release Time (CC7 and 72) are gonna affect all the sounds (at least that's how I understand it), but the serial command could change the sample rate of each output independently +/- 1 octave. You could also dynamically set out of which output the sound gets played etc. Thanks for your help!