MIDIbox SEQ V4 Release + Feedback

[Gridracer]

Not a Bug this time I guess, but a short change request

regarding the parameter layer view of the roll parameter on drum tracks:

Is it a special intention that the roll values are only displayed for a few seconds before the

display switches back to show the triggers although the roll parameter layer is still selected??

Too much for me to remember ;-)

I would personally prefere it to work the same like on note tracks,

where the roll values stay on dispaly untill a different parameter layer is selected.

Best Regards

Gridracer

[Echopraxia]

Do we have a midi panic function?

[nuke]

hiho thorsten...great...very nice...finally i got a little sparetime to play around with the "new" stuff ;)

i think you should now: i tried to upload the new hex via usb with miosstudio 2.1 in windows7 x64... after no success ( as u mentioned somewhere on the ucapps-site ) i figured out that, if you start mios-studio and press play and stop on mb-seq4 and after that, try to upload , it works! even with win7 x64 ...maybe you have to press "query" a couple of times ...but then it will upload...so no need for midicable hookups... ;D i though it´s worth to know.

i have 2 little feature requests...there´s a dinsync-out right?....is it possible to implement the same shuffle-feature for that syncsignal like on the regular midi tracks?

2nd: is it possible to have the manual-step-trigger to stay allways synced? would be great for live step juggling.

greets, nik

[stuartm]

2nd: is it possible to have the manual-step-trigger to stay allways synced? would be great for live step juggling.

You can achieve that with the Scroll function (Utility -> Scrl).

[bonusplays]

Grizz and I are having a few issues with switching patterns while playing live and I can't seem to solve the issue with the Manual alone.

We have a session that has two patterns:

Pattern A is pattern with a track with a length of 12 and a track length of 24. (Essentially, a 3/4 musical phrase with varying measure lengths.)

Pattern B is a pattern with a track with a length of 8, a 3 tracks with a length of 32. (A 4/4 phrase with varying measure lengths.)

The time of transition between these two is improvised because we are playing along with two percussionists. So we typically just use the Mute Menu and Pattern Menu when playing live and that works fantastically. What we realized was happening was when we transitioned between the two patterns the step count would be as such:

Pattern A: 1,2,3...22,23,24, Pattern B: 25,26,27...31,32,1,2,3...

instead of:

Pattern A: 1,2,3...22,23,24, Pattern B: 1,2,3,4...32,1,2...

So that if you were to play the sequences on a keyboard you would be playing in 3/4 and then begin a phrase in 4/4 at the beginning of that phrase instead of near the middle as the SEQ is playing it.

After spending a bunch of time reading the manual and playing with the Options Menu Sync to Change and Sync to Measure in the Clock Divider, I enabled Sync to Measure on all the tracks in both patterns. This created the transition desired and Pattern B began "on the 1" instead of the 13, however it made it so that all of the tracks that were previously 32 steps long are cropped to 24. Also not desirable. If I take Sync to Measure off of Pattern B's tracks it acts the way described above, with the phrase beginning on 13.

Is there as way to have the Step Number reset to 1 upon a Pattern transition for all Tracks regardless of Sync to Change or Sync to Measure? Because at the moment the transition (whether manually timed (by us counting down) or by Sync to Change) is just starting on Step 13 unless the Sync to Measure is engaged and that creates new issues.

I don't know if there's an existing solution already or if it is possible for each individual pattern have a separate, savable "Pattern: X Steps" under the Options menu in future versions?

Any help is tremendously appreciated. It is sort of a confusing problem (or it was for us at first) so I'd be happy to upload some audio if that would explain it better.

Thanks.

-Scott

[nuke]

You can achieve that with the Scroll function (Utility -> Scrl).

ya...i know what you mean...but thats not what i want...i thought it would be cool, having a pattern to jump around while pressing the according steps by hand... the scroll function is too fiddly to get back to the original pattern after scrolling back n forth...and you cant trigger a specific step multiple times like "da-da-da-ding-ding-dong-ding-da-da" that way...would be cool to have the manualstep feature allways locked to the groove...

[TK.]

Ooof... I will give some feedback to your requests this weekend. ;)

Best Regards, Thorsten.

[Echopraxia]

would be cool to have the manualstep feature allways locked to the groove...

So for instance, the pattern is still running even though you are triggering steps at will (so it will sorta always quickly revert back to the correct step in the current measure?)

Currently you have to press select and have a track set to "sync to measure" while in manual mode I believe. You want to do this without pressing select maybe?

Regards

[nuke]

So for instance, the pattern is still running even though you are triggering steps at will (so it will sorta always quickly revert back to the correct step in the current measure?)

no...it could behave like it does now...but should be in sync...for now, if u press a step, the sequence runs from this step on. but not in sync! only with "sync to measure" it "snaps" back in timing at the beginning of the measure.

[Echopraxia]

no...it could behave like it does now...but should be in sync...for now, if u press a step, the sequence runs from this step on. but not in sync! only with "sync to measure" it "snaps" back in timing at the beginning of the measure.

Right, so you want it to snap right away and not at the beginning of the measure.

[nuke]

Right, so you want it to snap right away and not at the beginning of the measure.

eh...no...hehe...it should not snap to the original steps ( i think this is what u mean )...

instead it should just stay synced....say if a sequence is running

1...2...3...4...(here u press 9)...9...10...11...12...(now u press 4)...4...5...6...7....and so on

...so it only "snaps" back to original when "sync to measure" is activated.

but instead of how it works for now, it should stay in sync with all the other running sequences...

now its just a manual triggering. if you miss the correct timing ( ´cause you are human :) ) it´s offsync and not in a

16th grid or 32th or whatever your sequence is set to.

i hope this made it clear. ;)

ps. with offsync i mean "out of time", like "out of tune"...not shifted steps!

Edited May 8, 2011 by nuke

[oshidash]

Just a quick report inbetween - this SEQ is really awesome :thumbsup:

V4.0beta39 is running stable, no issues encountered so far.

realtime rec and fx functions really do it for me regarding creating quickly complex patterns in live context. For example echo with +note on drums atop of a regular drumtrack groove -> fills that can be influenced via note alteration on the drum-sequencing note track, the repeat and +-note-stages in the FX menu.. just really great.

In order to make the workflow as fast as possible I was thinking if

a)it's possible to configure toggle for "utility" menu in the HW.V4 chart?

if these menus are able to be toggeled, one can switch back to the primal page automatically.

b)Maybe it's even possible to route "Echo" oder "Rec" menu towards one F-button?

c)it would be considerable to implement a global "forward"/"backward" function to the menu history? (this would be very useful to instantly switch back for example from the mute menu to the menu one was before.) such a function could be routed to the up/down buttons..

But I assume that's hard to implement at this point into the complex system.

I must admit that I'm not sure to have already properly checked all the possibilities of the remote functions. That's probably another way to get quick to certain pages which are deeper located in the menu structure. I will do that right now :sheep:

[stuartm]

b)Maybe it's even possible to route "Echo" oder "Rec" menu towards one F-button?

There's a dedicated button function in the .v4 file for Record, look for "BUTTON_RECORD" and assign it to one of your F-buttons (i.e. put the F-button shift register there and set the former F-button to zero zero).

[oshidash]

There's a dedicated button function in the .v4 file for Record, look for "BUTTON_RECORD" and assign it to one of your F-buttons (i.e. put the F-button shift register there and set the former F-button to zero zero).

Thanks stuart! Got it, great! I hope I dind't overlook more such solutions in .v4 *donk* :blush:

[TK.]

A summary, open for discussion before the implementation (because some changes will partly affect the existing behaviour):

• (Echopraxia) MIDI panic function (TK: can be added to the MIDI menu)
  
  
• (Gridracer) drum mode: after a parameter layer change (e.g. Roll) the display shouldn't automatically go back to the trigger view after 2 seconds anymore. Instead a trigger layer button should be pressed to go back to the common drum trigger view.
  
  
• (Nik) optional shuffle for DIN sync out
  
  
• (Bonusplay) TK Proposal: add an option named "restart all tracks on pattern change" (short: RATOPC ;-), in combination with the "synchronized pattern change" function (e.g. to 24 steps) this will solve your scenario. If "synchronized pattern change" is disabled, this option will result into interesting effects
  
  
• (Nuke) synchronize manual trigger to the next step to simplify live usage
  
  
• (oshidash) adding special button/LED functions for FX pages
  
  
• (oshidash) history function - here an alternative proposal:
  
  
  What I'm sometimes missing is the possibility to quickly change between different edit scenarios.
  E.g. jumping back and forth between "Echo Fx of Track 10", "Directions of Track 1/2/3/4", "Track 6 with Local Loop Mode enabled", "Recording Track 9 while all other tracks except for the drum track is disabled"
  Or just simply "Track 1 in 303 Edit View", "Track 2 in normal Edit View"
  Just to give you some examples
  
  So, a backward/forward page button is a nice idea, but instead of this I could add something even more useful.
  
  How about 16 memory slots to store the current UI settings, such as:
  

  • current page
    
  • selected track(s)/group(s)
    
  • selected parameter and trigger layer
    
  • selected step view
    
  • selected edit view
    
  • selected loop mode
    
  • selected metronome mode
    
  • Solo/All/Fast button
    
  • mutes
    

  Handling:

  - push MENU+SELECT to get a special page which shows the 16 slots (could be alternatively assigned to a dedicated button of course)

  - Push a GP button to recall a stored configuration

  - Push a GP button for 2 seconds to store the current configuration

  The UI configuration slots could be stored globally into a separate .v4 file

  Any alternative ideas?

  Best Regards, Thorsten.

[Gridracer]

How about 16 memory slots to store the current UI settings

I really like this idea not becaus that I feel the need for it , but for a different reason:

SEQV4 has become a very very powerful tool, with increadible possibilities but also the complexity and the number and depth of

the menue pages has grown compared to SEQV3.

So I could think of the 16 UI Slots or snapshots as some kind of a cutomized "MENU" menu

which allows everyone to have his favorite pages just a GP Buttun push away.

I would remark that it wold be necessary to be able to name the different slots, due to my sieve like memory.

Perhaps by editing the corresponding .V4 file, no need to edit that on the box itsself for me.

And a second thing that I would like to propose is that I think it wold be useful to be able to decide if a Slot

contains the information which group and Track was selected or not.

I think it could be done by a configuration Parameter on the options page,

or by a flag in the config file, or simply by the fact that Slots 1-8 wont store this data and slot 9-17 will eg.

Hope this feedback helps a little.

display shouldn't automatically go back to the trigger view after 2 seconds anymore

:) Thanks for that.

Best Regards

Gridracer

[Echopraxia]

[*] (Bonusplay) TK Proposal: add an option named "restart all tracks on pattern change" (short: RATOPC ;-), in combination with the "synchronized pattern change" function (e.g. to 24 steps) this will solve your scenario. If "synchronized pattern change" is disabled, this option will result into interesting effects

I have been thinking about RATOPC my self as well. Just randomly thinking here, what about a way to be in the pattern page and press A1 and ALL 16 tracks change to A1. Is this already possible by using the "track select" func button to select all 16 tracks? I'll have to try that. This would make having the additional/optional 16 individual track buttons even better if I ever get around to soldering.

How about 16 memory slots to store the current UI settings, such as:

• current page
  
• selected track(s)/group(s)
  
• selected parameter and trigger layer
  
• selected step view
  
• selected edit view
  
• selected loop mode
  
• selected metronome mode
  
• Solo/All/Fast button
  
• mutes
  

Handling:

- push MENU+SELECT to get a special page which shows the 16 slots (could be alternatively assigned to a dedicated button of course)

- Push a GP button to recall a stored configuration

- Push a GP button for 2 seconds to store the current configuration

This would be nice! Lets test it out and see what happens.

Thanks for everything! This thing is on its way to super pro.

[stuartm]

...

- push MENU+SELECT to get a special page which shows the 16 slots (could be alternatively assigned to a dedicated button of course)

- Push a GP button to recall a stored configuration

- Push a GP button for 2 seconds to store the current configuration

..

Sounds very useful, a kind of "UI bookmarks" system. But I also agree with the concern regarding the naming of those "UI bookmarks".

I'd say let's give it a try.

[Hawkeye]

+1 on the UI memory slots. Great idea, would be most useful!

Best regards,

Peter

[oshidash]

Everything that provides

[...] the possibility to quickly change between different edit scenarios.

is absolutely appreciated!

The UI slots sound like a great idea - I'd also say absolutely worth a try!

Just for explanation/illustration:

The idea behind fwd/back basically was to have some sort of dynamic cache running in the background which is updated everytime a new page is accessed (so this is not tied to the root of the menu structure).

Every page gets a ID number and the cache contains let's say a threshhold of 5 stages. So you can switch back up to the 5 last pages you were consecutively on.

for example.

Just an intuitive way to realize on-the-fly-switching without much thinking and "affengriff"(translator says "three-finger-salute")-usage :)

But with the UI bookmarking it's a whole new dimension.

...maybe just one second for storing and it's fast as well :wink:

Thanks a lot Thorsten!

also for this:

adding special button/LED functions for FX pages

[TK.]

It works! :)

MIDIboxSEQ V4.0beta40

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


   o added bookmark function:

     - Press MENU+SELECT to enter the bookmark page

     - Alternatively this function can be assigned to a dedicated button/LED

     - inside this menu, press a GP button (shortly) to recall a bookmark

     - press&hold a GP button for 3 seconds to store a bookmark


   o the bookmark function stores following UI settings:

     - Bookmark name

     - Current page

     - Group

     - Tracks

     - Mutes

     - Parameter Layer

     - Trigger Layer

     - Instrument

     - Step View

     - Step

     - Edit View

     - Solo/All/Fast/Metronome/Loop/Follow button mode


   o Bookmarks are stored into the MBSEQ_BM.V4 file, which can be edited with

     a common text editor.

     This is the only way to change a bookmark name (5 characters)


   o it's possible to prevent, that a certain UI parameter will be overwritten by a

     bookmark. This can (only) be done by editing the MBSEQ_BM.V4 file:

     Just replace the '+' sign at the beginning of the parameter name by a '-' sign.

[/code]




Typical configuration slot:

[code]

####################

Slot 1

Name Def.

####################

+Page 16

+Group 1

+Tracks 1000000000000000

+Mutes 0000000000000000

+ParLayer A

+TrgLayer A

+Instrument 1

+StepView 1

+Step 1

+EditView 0

+Solo 0

+All 0

+Fast 0

+Metronome 0

+LoopMode 0

+FollowMode 0

For reference: the available Pages numbers for the case that you want to enter it directly:

typedef enum {

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_NONE = 0,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_MENU = 1,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_FX = 2,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_STEPSEL = 3,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_TRGSEL = 4,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_PARSEL = 5,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_TRACKSEL = 6,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_BPM_PRESETS = 7,


  SEQ_UI_PAGE_EDIT = 16,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_MUTE = 17,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_PMUTE = 18,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_PATTERN = 19,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_SONG = 20,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_MIXER = 21,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_TRKEVNT = 22,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_TRKMODE = 23,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_TRKDIR = 24,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_TRKDIV = 25,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_TRKLEN = 26,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_TRKTRAN = 27,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_TRKGRV = 28,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_TRGASG = 29,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_TRKMORPH = 30,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_TRKRND = 31,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_TRKREC = 32,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_MANUAL = 33,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_FX_ECHO = 34,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_FX_HUMANIZE = 35,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_FX_LIMIT = 36,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_FX_LFO = 37,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_FX_LOOP = 38,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_FX_SCALE = 39,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_UTIL = 40,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_BPM = 41,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_OPT = 42,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_SAVE = 43,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_METRONOME = 44,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_MIDI = 45,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_MIDIMON = 46,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_SYSEX = 47,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_CV = 48,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_DISK = 49,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_ETH = 50,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_BOOKMARKS = 51,

  SEQ_UI_PAGE_INFO = 52,

} seq_ui_page_t;

[/code]


Now it's time to configure my private bookmark file!

(Stuart: your proposal for the feature name came at the right moment!)


Open for discussion: should the MBSEQ_BM.V4 file be global, or part of a session?


Best Regards, Thorsten.

[Hawkeye]

Whoah, once again :thumbsup:!

No, to be more precise: :frantics:

Regarding the global/session question - there surely are scenarios where one wants to configure bookmarks specifically for a session (your echo track 3 scenario), but on the other hand, i guess it can become quite confusing if everything is completely different between the sessions.

So for me it would be ultra-cool to have global "base bookmarks", in which I personally would configure the first say 8 bookmarks (GP1-8) for "standard UI views" and then have "per session/override bookmarks", in which the remaining 8 bookmark slots would be used specifically for that session.

Best regards,

Peter

[Gridracer]

Very nice !! :)

Now it's time to configure my private bookmark file!

I'm already done:

MY_BM.txt

[TK.]

Share your bookmarks! (this phrase will increase the hits caused by google searches dramatically ;)

It should be possible to split the bookmarks into local/global ones w/o much effort.

Everybody ok with a 8 / 8 split? (it would work for me)

Best Regards, Thorsten.

[bonusplays]

Thorston, a cool idea for a solution to our issue!

Grizz and I will sit down and try and "think out" how that will apply to the problem and get back to you with thoughts sometime next week. Its a complicated session.

Definite MB.org/Ucapps.de shoutout on the LP deserved! Thanks a million.

-Scott