u-link

Can anybody that is more knowledgeable than me estimate how hard it would be to connect a Core module via SPI to the Tsunami for more in-depth control? There is an Arduino Serial Library (written in C), so it must be feasible to port these commands into the Midibox-world? Imagine an instrument that uses one of latigid on's new Sequencer PCB as a CS, the preset management system running on the Core. Then add some Shruti filter boards for two or four of the outs controlled via CV-NG modules and a passive mixer with make-up-gain for the Tsunami's eight outs (the direct outs would be switched - might even provide an insert point like eg on the Vermona DRM1 MK3), and you got something like an updated Emu SP-12!!! That would be the machine I want.

Hi Ilmenator, are those kits still available? If so, I want one. Best, Gabriel

Hi Elektruck, thanks a lot for your extra info! I had not seen that thread.That Tsunami board looks very interesting, more polyphony than I'd ever need, plus lots of outputs, so you can have two stereo outs for drums plus two for synth / background sound samples. Actually, that's something that struck me as almost a "waste" on the Midibox SD Card Sample Player: what's the use of playing back mono sounds perfectly centered over two channels? Feels like wasting a channel that could play another sound!

On mine, too.

Thinking about it more, that Beatsqueezer thing doesn't really do that much more than the "SD Card Sample Player", except better polyphony and Pan, the FX are all global, so that's a bit boring and can be achieved by just having the output play through an FX unit (or in my case an input of the Nord Modular). Ordered some of those DA-chips from Aliexpress. As it's four, I have some spares. Anybody wants one (for free)?

Is the MBProgramma also gonna do CC to SYSEX conversion for SYSEX-only synths? So you can automate them from the Seq via CC. I got a PG-300 clone for my MKS-50 that does it, and it's pretty handy (it's from Midiclub.net).

Just found this thing in a YT suggestion of a demo video for the "SD sample player" with a MBSeq, that little machine looks quite like what I am looking for: http://www.hypnotriod.org/beatsqueezer/ Seems to tick all my boxes except "2 stereo outs"! No proper Multimode, but it seems you can have four Keyboard splits - sounds good enough. It doesn't pitch the samples, though, you need a sample for each key for pitched playback, so no nice "sample a chord and pitch it down an octave" stuff (it doesn't sample itself, anyways). Well I can do that at home wit the S-760 and record the results with the Auto Sampler in Chicken Sys translator. Can do three Velocity layers. As it reads directly from disk, too, there are no RAM restrictions. There's one "master LP filter", no filters per voice, but I could live with that for live playing. I sent the designer a message. Supposed to cost 225$.

There's these guys that developed some board that uses your computer mouse on some screen-in-screen (not sure if that's the correct term) view as a virtual sampler mouse: http://rc100-usb.at.tt/ there's a video here: The thing is that you can't really edit in depth with the screen / mouse while playing anyways, as once you leave the "Perform" mode, the MIDI channels get all routed to the Partial (1 sample assigned to a certain key span and its settings are called a Partial) that's being edited, which ends up in a mess. There's a workaround via the menus, but it's quite slow (and I haven't fully gotten it). Probably SYSEX editing would be possible somehow, but I have no clue how that kind of stuff works. It stops with CCs for me :-) It would just be really handy if somebody made a simple modern sampler. Imagine something that looks a bit like the Ambika (of course no knobs above the screen, TK doesn't approve of those ;-)) with a couple of outs and a card reader, Weird, you can buy 100 new analog synths now, but no potent modern sampler!

Thanks so much for your answers! Bruno, yes, the S-760 is awesome, it is a very good sounding sampler, I think. It's 16bit, though, maybe you are confusing it with the S-550/-330, which I think were 12bit. Well, you CAN of course use the S-760 without screen and mouse, but the built in screen is tiny. If everything is programmed right and all the programs in the right spot, it's also easy to just call them up via PC. BTW it's the machine that Roni Size and Reprazent used in the 90ies, there's some really cool videos where they are playing live with those things (and a real drummer and bass player). Here's an example: Control possibilities are also quite good, as you can set a CC to control cutoff and also map Mod Wheel, Aftertouch and Pitchbend (and CC7 for Volume methinks) to some important parameters (no control of resonance via MIDI, though). So I could also just control those parameters via the MIDI Maps in the Seq. 32mb of RAM are also enough for me, as it's mainly about drum samples and single hits and some loops (that would mean no dynamic tempo changes, though). I am using it with a SCSI2SD V5, which I can only really recommend. For less than 100 euro, you get a very solid storage solution. I think I will try to fit it inside the case (as the S-760 is a 1U module, there are no internal SCSI connectors like on most other samplers, so you need to hack it in a bit (external SCSI connector, cable going back into the unit, remove disk drive...)). I am not sure if the touch screen proposition would be so simple. The mouse is a special type, the same as used on MSX computers (I don't even really know what those are, only heard about them reading up about the Roland samplers). The S-760 really excels at dirtying sound up, as you can do lots of sample / bit rate rate reduction tricks, so it's quite easy to make stuff sound crusty. I recently found a SP-12 Turbo in a local store for pretty cheap, but I gotta say it wasn't for me. The aliasing thing when pitching the sounds down is fabulous, bit it's a bit of a one-trick-pony. The sequencer is also fairly boring and MIDI control possibilities very limited. The filters are also static unless you hack some pots into it. So I sold it again. I do have an MPC60 (with a CF card reader that I bought some years before the SCSI2SD, and also the other Japanese product that's similar, but I can't remember the name of, came out and cost a fortune!), which is great, I think it's the better machine as the SP-12. But of course, that's just an opinion. I also have a MPC4000, the sampling engine is the same as the Z8 I read. It's brilliant, but, while I am a bit reluctant to use those purely descriptive labels for sound, I don't think it has as much character as the Roland ("warmth" or whatever people call it, I don't even know what that means :-)). I also used to use the MPC1000 for a very long time, it's definitely the sampler I spent most time with. This is good as long as you just use it to replay drum sounds. As soon as you pitch stuff around much and do loops and use the filters in a more synth kind of way, the sound gets very muddy and looses definition. I also used to have a E6400 Ultra, the one that you seem to be using, Peter, but I sold it again a long time ago. I was too young and didn't get how awesome it was at the time, I think. I understand your suggestion to get an Elektron thing, but I have a bit of an Elektron aversion, somehow I am not so down with their stuff (I have an Analog Heat borrowed from a friend at the moment, and it is brilliant though!). I don't think it makes sense to get something like that if you are not gonna be using the built in sequencer, and my whole point is that I want to sequence everything from the SeqV4, as it's the best system for integrative pattern based sequencing I know (MPC4000 is really good for turning stuff into arrangements, though - linear automation etc. That's the point where the Cirklon trumps the Midibox SEQ, as it combines the tweakiness of the pattern based approach with a MPC style sequencer). Phatline: you are completely right. The MPX16 is such a let down. It had the potential to be awesome, but all I read it's another one of those Akai-Numark products that are just not thought thru! Sounds like it's gonna mean lugging around the S-760, then. Maybe I just need some encouragement! Oh, sorry, didn't intend to write half a novel. Samplers are very close to my heart, you see.

Hi, This question is not such a techy one for once. The issue is simple: I want to use my Seq4 for doing live gigs, and I am looking for a sampler to go with it. Here's the other kit I want to use: Ambika (probably as two mono synths and a 4 voice poly), Moog Minitaur for basslines, Audiothingies Doubledrummer (ordered this this week, hasn't arrived yet. It's a 12 voice drum synthesizer), some FX pedals, and probably the EHX 45000 looper pedal to loop stuff up for transitions etc. Mackie 1202 mixer. Maybe also the Nord Modular G2 Engine as a stereo filter bank thingie (on the "alternative out of the mixer, when you mute a channel, it plays thru there) plus FX or more complex sounds. I want a small and portable sampler (so not a rackmount. I got a Roland S-760 that is really cool, but unhandy. It uses a mouse and an external screen, so I don't want to transport that) that can play both drum samples and pitched samples (not really multisampling, more like simple "one sample pitched across the whole key span" things), with a good MIDI implementation, so you can automate parameters via CC (cutoff etc.). It should also allow selecting programs via program changes and some kind of multimode so you can play a drum kit on one channel and at least one other "pitched" sound on another channel. Built in FX would be cool, too, and some kind of internal storage solution. Is there anything like that available? I have a Volca Sample, and it's pretty cool actually, but you can only store 10 patterns / programs and it uses one MIDI channel per sound with no real pitch mode. There's the SP-404 from Roland, but that doesn't respond to any CCs. There's the MPC500, but the MIDI implementation is subaltern. Are there any other options? Key features: -Desktop unit -Internal storage (no SCSI drives to port around) -Good MIDI implementation -Easy to get sounds on (USB or something like that), doesn't necessarily need to sample itself -Built in FX if possible -2 stereo outs if possible Thanks for recommendations! Has anybody experience with an Ipad and apps? Does that actually work? Sneak Thief once showed me how he' s using a touch screen computer running several instances of Ableton Live's sampler, but that seems kinda complicated compared to some small box with some knobs on it. There's the Bastl MicroGranny that looks cool, but it's monophonic and seems more geared towards experimental stuff (want to get one anyways though). There's the awesomely named "Where's The Party At 2", but I think it's monophonic, too, and it's a bit cryptic and big, too. There's the Electribe Sampler, but I'm not sure if that can be played over MIDI in a meaningful way, also a bit big. Then there is this Gotharman company, but the stuff seems way too complex for what I want, and also too pricey. There's the Axoloti, but I guess that is opening another can of worms, and developing your own patch for this is gonna take forever again... It's really weird. There is more cool little machines than ever, but simply no samplers!

Peter, are you still planning on Peter, are you still planning on making the MBProgramma a documented project for us mere assemblers? That thing looks like the master solution for every synth controller needs. imagine having that connected to the Seq and all those LED rings showing automations...

Ok, got it, so nothing too exciting. I was kinda hoping it would be sending / allowing changes to the Track Settings and FX directly via CCs. I am aware that this should somehow be possible to do via NRPN, but that is way more complicated to control (and beyond my scope of abilities....). Wouldn't it be amazing to create a plug-in in CTRLR or something similar that is kinda a "channel strip" plug in for all the Track Settings that are remotey controllable via MIDI (not the notes/values)? Then, you could create 16 MIDI channels in your DAW, drop one plug-in instance for each Seq-track and automate everything incredibly easily. I imagine that plug-in controlling the Mute status, pattern selection, subdivider, FX amounts etc. With the four virtual USB MIDI ports, it would be easy to dedicate one just for the communication between Seq and DAW. You could then just jam on the machine while all edits / pattern changes get recorded and automated upon replay.

Amazing, it's working! I also really dig the name. "Shadow Out" - will make a track with that name. Thorsten, you are the man. Can anybody shed some light into the new option 15/25, "Sending Selected Track as CC to a DAW"? I quickly fiddled around with it a bit, but I don't get it to output anything. What are those sixteen CCs? The values set in each Parameter Layer? Or CC parameters to change settings of the track itself, like LFO Amount, MIDI Delay Feedback etc?

Hi, could this be implemented: In the MIDI Router, an option to have "active track" as a IN selection. So when I select track 3, the data is automatically forwarded to a defined out and channel. The reason I am asking is that I have recently gotten a Keith McMillen K-Board, a little USB-Keyboard-pad-controller with backlit keys. To use that feature, you need to send it note data on channel 1 of its USB MIDI port Would be awesome to automatically see the programmed notes! I am sure there are more controllers with similar features available, I think there's one from NI etc. Also wanted to ask again if you are considering implementing the "Have Mixer Map on Encoders in Mute Mode" idea that I tossed in some months ago in this thread?

Hi TK, Ah, I didn't know that, will give it a try and report back on how well it works. Ilmenator: But that is still with PICs, I wouldn't even know how to flash those tbh! Would also much prefer an 8 i, 4 out box or something like that. Thanks for your inputs!

Hi there, I need some input into how to best merge some MIDI Outs. First some background: I have the MB SeqV4 with four MIDI outs. I ordered an Expert Sleepers ES-40 and ES-8MD module to get tight MIDI out form my computer. If you don't know these modules, it is a system that uses an SPDIF audio stream to transport MIDI data out of the computer as audio (the conversion is done by their custom software), then their hardware modules translates the audio back to MIDI (or CV, depending on the connected module). The advantage is much improved timing, they even claim it to be sample accurate. I have been successfully using an Innerclock Sync Gen for several years, this is a device that uses the same concept, but only generates an ultra-stable MIDI clock. The advantage of the Expert Sleepers modules is thus that they can transport ALL MIDI information, ie. notes, CCs, Sysex, you name it. I now want to merge the Sequencer's Out1 with the Expert Sleepers' Out1, 2 with 2, 3 with 3, 4 with 4. What is the best solution to achieve this? On Innerclock Systems' web page, they have a category called the "Litmus Test", where they test jitter of various pieces of MIDI gear. I bought a second-hand Roland A-880 MIDI patchbay because of that, assuming this would be able to merge any inputs together to any outputs, which now that I actually tried to program it, it turns out it's not able to do (can only merge two inputs, WTF...). My first idea was to simply connect the four outs of the Expert Sleepers' system to the four ins of the MB SeqV4, then use the MIDI router to merge the data. However it seems like the router does not pass all data. Eg. it seems to filter all SYSEX. Another downside obviously is that if I do this, all the Inputs of the Sequencer are taken up. I can work around that by using another USB MIDI Interface to connect all the outs of my synths and route those in Ableton, my DAW, back into the MB Seq for live recording etc. But, as I hope you will agree, this is gonna be quite a complicated set-up, relying on a lot of routing in many different spots! Does anybody have an easy and simple suggestion on how to best achieve my merging needs? As you can probably figure from the above, I have a huge aversion to the timing instabilities that come with running MIDI on a computer out to hardware via conventional USB MIDI interfaces. In combination with Ableton Live this has never worked in my experience. Before you ask, I actually want to do this because I really like the MB Seq for generating interesting patterns, but it's just to complicated for me to even try and make an arrangement on it (not helped by the fact that mutes on drum tracks are not saved with the patterns). I also simply don't get the logic behind the whole Pattern Bank system and how to switch to a different pattern via MIDI PC (which would be automatable from the DAW) - well I guess that's a whole other topic though. Looking forward to your inputs! And no, I have absolutely zero programming ability, so programming my own app to do this is out of the question.

No offence taken.

I get your point, Peter, but I meant to suggest to have this as an option. As in Utility->Opt. I think it would be a very useful feature. If it were there, it might even convince you to replace your unreliable tact switches. And of course, if the new design with the Matias switches becomes available, it won't be an issue anymore.

I have some more suggestions: In the Mute menu, the encoders just duplicate the buttons while the wheel doesn't have any function. It would be great to have an option to combine the Mixer Maps with the Mute menu, so that buttons do the muting, encoders send CCs, wheel selects page. Like this, you could perform with much less menu switching. The spot erase feature is still a little tricky to use I think. Now, in Live Recording mode, when you hold a key, it gets deleted. It's really easy to accidentally delete notes when recording fast patterns (with sloppy timing). Also, it means that you always first add a note to delete it again in the second pass. I think it would be better to only delete notes when you press the delete button and a key. EG: Sequencer playing, Live recording on. Hold Clear. Nothing happens. Still holding Clear, press A1, A1 gets deleted until you release either A1 or Clear. Still on the subject of Clearing, it would also be great to be able to selectively clear whole Trigger/ Parameter layers, so that when you hold Clear, something akin to the Mute screen *while Mute button held* comes up, where you can mute individual PL. So you could eg. clear individual drum lines at once. I also wonder if it wouldn't be better if the PL would get reset on clearing the TL. If you programmed a Roll or an Nth Parameter previously, it can be rather confusing to still find this in place after recording new note information.

Hi Peter, thanks for your suggestion, I will try that! Yes, STM32F4 and 0.92 firmware. It might also be some issue with the Minilab, yesterday I kinda bumped it a bit and then one of the pads seemed to be sending the note of another pad!

Well, thinking more about the above issue, I guess it would be even better if you could set PER PATTERN if the PC gets resent or not than just globally. On the other hand I don't really see a reason why you'd want to resend the PC when stop-start'ing, but maybe there is a use case I fail to see?

Hi, I think the Track instrument feature that allows you to automatically send a PC when a pattern is loaded is really great, but at the moment it is a surefire way to lose all unsaved patch edits. The manual states the following behaviour: Note: together with the bank change events the PC event will only be sent if it is different compared to the previous track, since it could cause an additional delay on your synth before the newly selected patch is ready! Note also that the first note could be delayed for this reason, therefore it's recommended to use this feature only if the receiving MIDI device can handle patch changes quickly! However, this is not the case. If I change to another pattern with the same PC assigned, it does get resent. Could an Option be added if it gets resent? If you are modifying the sound, then switching to a different pattern, you don't always want the sound to revert back to the saved one. Also, I think a second Option whether the PC should be resent after stopping and restarting the sequencer would be essential. At the moment, it gets sent again. This means any unsaved edits to a sound get lost due to the saved one being reloaded in case of stop-start'ing - not an ideal situation to say the least!

So I got a little Arturia Minilab MK2 keyboard and a USB OTG cable as a nice compact realtime recording device (2 octaves minikeys, 2 banks of 8 backlit drumpads, 26 encoders, less than 100 bucks). After a while, especially when playing the keyboard, something goes awry and the sequencer starts to randomly select steps and overwrite their content. It stops when I go out of realtime recording, but starts again as soon as I drop into record again. Anybody has experienced something similar and maybe found a solution? The only other class compliant device I had to hand was a Beatstep, the same thing happened, too. Thanks a lot for your help! If it would work reliably, it would be an awesome combination!

Awesome, 1$ per switch is really way cheaper than I'd have expected! Great to hear you are already at that stage. Keep us updated!

That did the trick, now it boots from either USB port connected to a hub. Thanks again for the pointer sisters.