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MIDIbox SEQ V4 Release + Feedback


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Posted
On 4/18/2018 at 9:30 AM, Rio said:

Hi,

Yesterday I played around with the loopback feature. If I had set a track to bus 1 then I can already see the NRPN LSB descriptions for the CC inside that track - nice, but If i choose another bus (2,3,4) the standard description of the CCs is shown again. Is that intended or a visual bug?

I'm not sure, but if you look at the SEQ's CC implementation chart (found e.g. in the Beginner's Guide, search for "loopback"), only Bus1 is marked with "Loopback". However, the user manual section on the loopback function (search for "the loopback ports") seems to imply that any bus, not just bus1, could be selected for loopback.

Posted
3 hours ago, jjonas said:

My understanding is that what you'd like to do is not possible at the moment, i.e. there's no way to avoid quantized notes from being cut off. Have a look at this message from some years ago when the matter was discussed previously. Apparently it's fixable in principle, but it's all about TK's time. (A kind of workaround is to set quantize to 0% and play very accurately ;-)

 

if i could play accurately i wouldn't use quantize. :D

Posted (edited)

hi everyone.

little update here,

forget what i wrote before about recording

On 16.04.2018 at 3:59 PM, k2z3k0 said:

hey everyone

lately i've tried to record simple sequence from ext midi keyboard

and to my suprise seems as my midibox do not send NOTE OFF message

my SUSTAIN option is off and changing my gate length is not making sound to stop

do i miss something here?

 

 best regards

   K

,it works fine

what happens is Note Off messages are sent imidiately after Note On message (no matter gate lenght)ONLY on ports IIC 1,2,3,4

 

ports OUT 1,2 are sending Note Off correctly and according to gate length

 

it does not matter what track it its,until it's sent to ports IIC 1,2,3,4(i checked it on midiox)

and this resaults in synthesizer go crazy and it play that note all the time

you have to reset program or all notes off every time

bests 

   Kazik

Edited by k2z3k0
Posted (edited)

Is there some way to simulate scenes with the midibox? perhaps that from the pattern page (or somewhere else) press a single key to maybe launch the "next" scene, which would be something along the lines of switching the pattern of all groups from (ex)  B1 -> B2 at the same time and have them all start/restart from the beginning.

perhaps even line up a change in advance by (when on B2) selecting B5 and then when a button is pressed, the next selected measure all groups / patterns get launched.

 

maybe a new "scene" page could be nice to add for this.

 

more thoughts; 

perhaps some extra settings on the page such as "keep tracks mutes", which if ON wouldn't unmute tracks on next-scene launch and unmute all tracks if set to OFF

Edited by modus0perandi
Posted

It's possible to re-sync the midi-clock for different Midi-Outs while running without hitting Stop/Start?
(Like "Synchronizing MUTE to Measure" ---> "Synchronizing USB1/.../OUT1/.../IIC4 to Measure")

Posted
30 minutes ago, mfk said:

It's possible to re-sync the midi-clock for different Midi-Outs while running without hitting Stop/Start?
(Like "Synchronizing MUTE to Measure" ---> "Synchronizing USB1/.../OUT1/.../IIC4 to Measure")

did you try this option in BPM menu

 

Ext.Restart: sends a MIDI clock start event to all MIDI devices at the next measure - a very useful feature to re-synchronize external MIDI gear to the MIDIbox.
To evaluate this function, try following steps:

connect a MIDI sequencer (or synth. with sequencer function) to your MBSEQ and configure it for MIDI slave mode.

ensure that MIDI clock is enabled for all OUT ports which should send the MIDI start event (+ a MIDI clock)

press PLAY button of MBSEQ - the external sequencer should start to play as well.

now stop the external sequencer

(change a patch, sound, or whatever...)

press Ext.Restart: the external sequencer should start once MBSEQ reaches the first step.

Note that the same function can be accessed by pressing MENU+METRONOME. A dedicated button can be assigned to this function as well (requires a modification in MBSEQ_HW.V4

 

bests 

   Kazik

  • Like 2
Posted
1 hour ago, k2z3k0 said:

Ext.Restart: sends a MIDI clock start event to all MIDI devices at the next measure - a very useful feature to re-synchronize external MIDI gear to the MIDIbox.

 

That's a perfect solution! Thanks!

Posted (edited)

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.

Edited by u-link
Posted

Hi all,

I finished up my SeqV4 build this weekend (what a smooth project!).  This thing is incredible.

Reading through the manual, and there's a really good chance I missed it, I don't see the ability to define custom scales.  I like to play with microtonal music sometimes, and would love the ability to define a custom scale for the FTS function.  For example, I'm interested in 16EDO (16 Equal Divisions of the Octave) which has 16 notes per octave compared to the normal 12.  This can be emulated in MIDI with pitch-bend messages -- for example, the C-16EDO chromatic scale would be (based on some arduino code I've hacked together in the past):
 

PitchBend 0    NoteOn C-3    // C3   +0 cents
PitchBend 3072 NoteOn C-3    // C3  +75 cents
PitchBend 2048 NoteOn C#3    // C#3 +50 cents
PitchBend 1024 NoteOn D-3    // D3  +25 cents
PitchBend 0    NoteOn D#3    // D#3  +0 cents
PitchBend 3072 NoteOn D#3    // D#3 +75 cents
PitchBend 2048 NoteOn E-3    // E3  +50 cents
PitchBend 1024 NoteOn F-3    // F3  +25 cents
PitchBend 0    NoteOn F#3    // F#3  +0 cents
PitchBend 3072 NoteOn F#3    // F#3 +75 cents
PitchBend 2048 NoteOn G-3    // G3  +50 cents
PitchBend 1024 NoteOn G#3    // G#3 +25 cents
PitchBend 0    NoteOn A-3    // A3   +0 cents
PitchBend 3072 NoteOn A-3    // A3  +75 cents
PitchBend 2048 NoteOn A#3    // A#3 +50 cents
PitchBend 1024 NoteOn B-3    // B3  +25 cents

Now, I'm pretty sure that I could figure this all out in the CC layering... but is there an easier way to do this already?

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

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.

Posted
On 17/05/2018 at 11:04 AM, beautyofdecay_ said:

Would be nice to be able to select 1.2V/oct in the CV configuration menu.

This is useful for connecting to Buchla modular gear.

 

+1 for this. 

I would also like to sequence my 208r with my MB without having to use a 1V/Oct > 1.2V/Oct conversion device

Posted (edited)

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! 

Edited by u-link
  • 2 weeks later...
Posted (edited)

I have a suggestion for optimizing the CV configuration procedure by implementing a compensation curve for each D/A channel. I didn't came up with this myself but saw this implemented in an other micro controller based module I build some time ago.

The first step of calibration would be the same as it is now. Use the trim pots to get the output of the DAC as close as possible to the ideal output voltages.

Then, by using an offset for each 1V step the DAC non-linearity could be compensated for. So, you'd select 1V output in the CV config menu and measure the output voltage of the channel. By using a rotary encoder knob you could "shift" the voltage up or down (in mV steps?) as needed to get the output to exactly 1V. This should be repeated for 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10V.
With these offset values a compensation "curve" (lookup table?) has been created and stored in memory which is used to offset the output value of the DAC to compensate for any non-linearity. Output values between the calibration points could be interpolated using a linear function, or, if you really want to go overboard, with a selectable non-linear function to best fit the non-linearity of that range of the DAC output. Don't know if the micro controller can handle that though...
The offset values are also stored in the config file so they will be loaded when booting the sequencer.

It will probably still not be 100% ideal but I think it would improve the accuracy of the CV outs a lot.

Edited by beautyofdecay_
Posted

The MIDIbox NG application has such an interpolation routine which could be re-used for calibration purposes in MBSEQ.

However, I'm a bit surprised that a SW based calibration is required.
Which AOUT module are you using?
And how big is the deviation compared to the ideal curve within the 1V segments?

Best Regards, Thorsten.

Posted

Hi Thorsten,

I'm using the AOUT_NG board and calibrated it in such a way that the lower octaves (1-4V) were most accurate. The output voltages there were off between 2 mV and 18 mV (most of them were off < 8 mV however) which is good enough. At 8V however, the out values were off between 30 mV and 70 mV which is almost a semi tone.
I didn't know this interpolation algorithm was already implemented in the MB NG. I think it would be nice to have in the MBSEQ V4 if the core can handle that so the CV outs can be calibrated in a more consistent way over the whole range, independent of individual DAC channel non-linearity. But maybe I'm just a bit OCD about it... :wink:

Cheers, Andre.

Posted

Hi Andre

Without looking right now at TLV spec your observations seem out of DAC spec, are you sure you don't have gain error somewhere else or load issue which sink the buffer/amp ?

Do you observe the same at TLV output, unloaded ?

However the interpolation maps at NG are absolutely great !!! (especially the 16bit one) and having an on the fly point value "set and save" will be more than great :rolleyes:

Best

Zam

Posted

It's been said many times, but the DAC chip is often non-linear. For example, my channel 1 is unusable as a CV source as I can't get a linear response across the whole range no matter how I calibrate. It's not clear if this is a typical defect in the chip or whether certain channels are damaged during hand soldering. The other channels are fine :).

Posted

Hello

6 hours ago, latigid on said:

It's not clear if this is a typical defect in the chip or whether certain channels are damaged during hand soldering. The other channels are fine :).

You'll never know as i guess you don't test the chip before soldering

I tend to think it's an overheat soldering issue

My first TLV soldering 3 years ago had a dead channel (AOUT_NG pcb), I know my soldering was not good then with no flux available and I take to long time to solder pin per pin... overheat

Now I have about 6 TLV soldered in my dedicated pcb, I use lot of flux, low solder quantities and tip slip technique, soldering one side in one path, less than 2 second move for 10 pin

No issue with this component since

TLV don't like heat...

Best

Zam

Posted (edited)

I would like to take this opportunity to say "thank you" again. After years of working with it, I can still discover new things, implement my ideas and nice that the firmware for the LPC17 was still in place, which I still use. The device is or remains the heart of my synthesizer & it runs stable & fine - I do not know any other hardware that covers the range or is so flexibly applicable. By the way, mentioned that the firmware is also open source.

Best regards, rio

Edited by Rio
  • Like 1
Posted (edited)

 

I'm loving my newly acquired seq. Question. Does anyone know if its possible to have a track sending to a T&A bus and also to a selected output?

So that I could have a drum part playing on track 1 out port 1 for instance but also sending to another track/T&A

Sorry if this was the wrong thread to post in.

------------------

SOLVED- I was on the right track with duplicate FX and physical loopback. Jam bus wasn't assigned correctly.

 

Edited by MidiSlave
Posted (edited)

@MidiSlave

I haven't tried this yet but this sounds like what you need, taken from the Changelog V4.094.

Quote

support for "Shadow Out", which will forward the MIDI events of the currently selected track to a specified MIDI port and channel (e.g. can be used to visualize played notes with an external device). Select the port/channel in the OPTIONS page.

 

 

Edited by slo
  • Like 1
Posted (edited)

hi Everybody

short idea

would it be usefull option among track settings that you can turn off or on,for midibox to send Note Off message when you Mute or Solo?

this way if you have for example longer sample(drumloop) on particular channel that you muting, this sample will be stoped by sampler,very handy

otherwise sample is still going after muting it,which could be not desired effect

and the same way Solo that will send Note off to every track that have this option on

i think this could nicely make mix clean

 

bests

  k

Edited by k2z3k0
  • Like 1
Posted (edited)

@sloI'm not sure thats what I'm after as the shadow out is for the selected track only. Now I cant remember how I got it working the other day:pout:. It would be cool if the buses were available as a duplicate FX destination 

Edited by MidiSlave

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