Jump to content

MIDIbox SEQ V4 Release + Feedback


TK.
 Share

Recommended Posts

I'm just writing up some "using the BLM" documentation.  I guess 303 view isn't accessible on the 16x8 novation blm?  Not an issue - it's probably not too useful with only 8 vertical buttons anyway, just checking for documentation purposes.  ...and it would be accessible with 4 launchpads in 16x16 configuration?

 

 

Also, what's going on with the very bottom row of the BLM when you're in grid mode, and you select the lowest octave with ALT+Octave Button 8?  It looks like the bottom row of notes indicates which steps in the sequence have active notes, but you can toggle it on, but not off...  Does that bottom row represent the Gate trigger layer?

Edited by borfo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, 303 View is only available for the 16x16 configuration, not only because there is no free selection button, but also because the special keyboard handling which requires 16 buttons in a row.

 

 

Does that bottom row represent the Gate trigger layer?

 

It's more or less an artifact - a disabled note will be handled like key 0

I don't think that it's required to mask it out, because it's very unlikely that somebody will play notes with such low key numbers.

 

Best Regards, Thorsten.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

My brother's kids (age 4 and 6) came over today and played with the novation launchpad BLM on my Seq V4...  Well, they mashed a lot of buttons and made horrible noise, anyway.

 

In the process though, they may have found a bug in the Virtual BLM Juce software running on linux - they were able to consistently freeze or entirely crash the linux program by mashing on tons of buttons on the Launchpad at the same time, over and over again for a minute or two.  To replicate: mash on buttons on the Launchpad like a five-year-old who doesn't understand anything about how a sequencer works.

 

Probably not a real problem, since nobody would mash on buttons like that in actual use, but I thought it was worth mentioning, since the input overload does consistently crash the Linux program eventually.  Sometimes the program just freezes, and sometimes it shuts down entirely.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...

V4.087 is available:

 

MIDIboxSEQ V4.087
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   o new page: "Track Instrument"
     Can be selected with MENU->EVNT->Trk Inst (GP #8) or from the main page (after Track Event item)
     Allows to configure the MIDI port, channel and instrument name.

   o the new Track Instrument page also allows to select Program Change and Bank (Low/High byte)
     If activated, these parameters will be sent when the sequencer is started and on pattern changes.
     Please note: a program and bank change can stall your synth so that the first note could be delayed!
     Use this function only when the device can handle patch changes quickly!

   o added CV_GATE_SR1 and CLK_SR to MBSEQ_HW.V4 config
     This is the prefered option to add CV gates and DIN clock/start signals to your MIDIbox SEQ in future.
     See also updated http://www.ucapps.de/midibox_seq_manual_hw.html

   o 8 individual DIN Sync clock outputs with individual divider and pulsewidth values are
     provided now. A clock output can optionally be turned to a Start/Stop output.
     The outputs are available at the configured CLK_SR DOUT shift register pin D7..D0
     (D7=first output, D6=second output, etc...)
     The clock parameters can be configured in the CV configuration page.

   o Mixer page: channel events can be dumped by pressing the corresponding GP button.
     This also allows to prepare different mixer setups, sending to the same channel, triggered
     by a GP button

   o Mixer page: press SELECT to activate/deactivate "live sending" mode (values are sent
     while moving an encoder)

   o Mute page: the synchronized mute/unmute option can be temporary overruled by activating
     the FAST button function

   o improved step recording display for drum tracks

   o Selected Datawheel mode in edit page now stored/restored to/from SD Card

   o STM32F4: support for bootloader "enforce_usb_device" flag

 

Best Regards, Thorsten.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Many thanks for your work!   

The track instrument page (with associated instrument names) sounds awesome!

I always get confused with MIDI ports and channels alone! :twitch:

Also the sync mute/unmuting overrides are a great idea! :smile:

 

Many greets!
Peter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've installed V4.087 and it seems to be working well. I've only had my MBSEQ working for a few weeks and an still learning how to use it. I am really loving it so far, so many cool features that I'm finding really inspirational.

Well done TK, you're a genius!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Rowan!

 

And I must say that it's nice to see that you are successfully using your MBSEQ V4 based on a STM32F4 and with 4 Novation Launchpads, although I don't use this setup at my side. :)

 

To everybody: meanwhile I fixed a glide mode bug reported by jjonas, and another bug for drum tracks (parameter display sometimes doesn't work correct, e.g. if Roll parameters are changed).

Please find the pre-release under http://www.ucapps.de/mios32/midibox_seq_v4_088_pre2.zip

 

Probably I will release an official v4.088 version this sunday, please help me to test if Glide and Drum mode are still working as expected (because a lot of changes had to be done in order to solve both issues properly)

 

Best Regards, Thorsten.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi TK,

Here is a feature that I'd like to suggest, though I don't know if it's technically possible to implement on a STM32F4 core.

Firstly, support for USB hubs would be required for the USB OTG port. I believe I have read elsewhere that this has been discussed and is possible.

Secondly, adding direct support for the Novation Launchpad S and Launchpad Mini into the MBSEQ application. As they are both USB/MIDI class compliant devices the MBSEQ app already has the basic support in place.

My wish being to be able to use 4 x Launchpads as a 16x16 BLM without a computer.

As I say, I don't know if it's even possible but if it is it would be a great feature that in the long run is a far more cost/time effective means to add a scalable BLM to an existing SEQ running a STM32F4 core as opposed to building a MBHP based solution.

Thanks,

Rowan

Edited by Rowan
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

About midibox_seq_v4_088_pre2.zip:

  • "complete Session stored" runs faster
  • "SYNC MUTE TO MEASURE and SYNC UNMUTE TO MEASURE" does not work for me.:
    http://youtu.be/rGxc0hHF9io

Other topics:

  • If I activate "ALL" (pattern mode) it is not possible to delete or activate single steps.
  • Is it possible to have the "STEP VIEW" status display on the LCD by LEDs?
    -> 1-16 -> LED1, 17-32 -> LED2 and so on?
    (Perhaps by additional use of the REW/FWD LEDs)
    from V3: "Step View: either one LED which shows if step view 17-32 selected, or two LEDs which display if step view 1-16 or 17-32 are selected."
Edited by mfk
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mute sync issue: go to the option page, check the value of Option 1 ("Steps per Measure")

Probably you set it to 1, the default value is 16

 

 

  • If I activate "ALL" (pattern mode) it is not possible to delete or activate single steps.

 

This is intended.

The ALL button only affects parameter layers and no triggers layers.

 

 

  • Is it possible to have the "STEP VIEW" status display on the LCD by LEDs?
    -> 1-16 -> LED1, 17-32 -> LED2 and so on?
    (Perhaps by additional use of the REW/FWD LEDs)
    from V3: "Step View: either one LED which shows if step view 17-32 selected, or two LEDs which display if step view 1-16 or 17-32 are selected."

 

On V3 this was easy, because it allowed to play 32 steps maximum, therefore only two LEDs were required.

But V4 can play up to 256 steps, which means that 16 LEDs would be required.

 

Best Regards, Thorsten.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mute sync issue: go to the option page, check the value of Option 1 ("Steps per Measure")

Probably you set it to 1, the default value is 16

---> is 16. the the problem persisted until reinstall of pre6. works unexpectedly fine now! I should try it on before, sorry.

 

 If I activate "ALL" (pattern mode) it is not possible to delete or activate single steps.

This is intended.

The ALL button only affects parameter layers and no triggers layers.

-->it was just a wish. I can live with that ;)

 

On V3 this was easy, because it allowed to play 32 steps maximum, therefore only two LEDs were required.

But V4 can play up to 256 steps, which means that 16 LEDs would be required.

---> 4 LEDs and binary count! I would implement it. ok, only for nerds. I surrender! but it would be nice...

 

 

...back to work; thanks for the support!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mute sync issue: go to the option page, check the value of Option 1 ("Steps per Measure")

Probably you set it to 1, the default value is 16

I found my error: If I enable the "fast"-button, die mute-counter do not count.

And it's intended:

"Since firmware v4.087: Press FAST+channel mute button to temporarily override the SYNC MUTE TO MEASURE setting - while FAST button is held down, mutes will happen immediately even if SYNC MUTE TO MEASURE is activated."

post-9640-0-70398800-1424641954_thumb.gi

Edited by mfk
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Some recent ideas from jamming with the Seq:

 

Random page:

Would be nice if the random function could be forced to scale, i.e to create some musical results directly into the track.

(I've never used the random page really before, but I absolutely love the results when combined with force-to-scale),

 

Step View:

I've recently forced myself to create longer patterns, to get out of the usual 1bar / 4 bar loop trap.

I found it quite useful to use the Step View to get an overview of whats going on on the track or to determine at which points some variations could be played in.

Only disadvantage: step view is a momentary function at the moment. I'd love to see an option which could change the StepView to a permanent view.

If a GP is pressed afterwards, the according section is called up. If step view is pressed again, it returns to the previous page (presumably Edit).

Edited by stuartm
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've only had my mbseq for a couple of weeks now but I'm amazingly impressed. I'm loving the workflow(s) I'm finding already and it seems a more capable live sequencer than anything I've used before.

 

One feature i think might be very useful is something implemented on the newer Elektrons. it would be great if you could hold a step down (in Step Edit) and use the Rewind/FFWD buttons to shift/delay that held step in time forward/backward. Those buttons shift Step View when not in Song mode, but I think it would be useful to have a held step override that assignment if possible. The Delay layer is awesome but I'm very accustomed to this immediate kind of in-pattern shifting of note position.

 

Thanks.

 

edit: I just realized this would probably be dependent on having a Delay layer and could cause issues in some track setups.

Edited by v4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...