LoopA V2 Introduction, Features & Support Thread

[latigid on]

It's really a great little box! We'll order another set of prototype PCBs in the next day or two, then after the SEQ is all sorted we can think about getting the LoopA to a ready state.

[consumer]

@latigid on I'm excited to see the new sequencer as well and will certainly buy a kit as soon as it's available. This looper project though... It's just the bee's knees.  

I might be savvy enough to build a prototype PBC, if you offered one to me: At the very least, I could let you know the pitfalls that an idiot might expect in building one ;)... Actually a big element of my job is technical writing, so I could probably truly assist in helping to develop the build manual: Give me a schematic, some nod at the idiosyncrasy of the BOM and a PCB and I could pump that out. ...If you wanted. No pressure... 

The very second that you guys feel comfortable releasing it into the wild, I'll take three!! (and I bet I'll feel like that's one too few). I'm loving what you're doing. 

As my thesis professor used to say, "Keep going",

dugan

[Hawkeye]

Thanks for the kind words, Dugan!

As a small update: with a bit of luck, the final version of LoopA PCBs and a few acrylic cases (with minor updates) are rolling in in the next days. If there is a problem, we will go for another round, no worries! :)
Also, the webshop selling all of that just opened, so, good progress is being made!

We have to verify, that the new PCBs work. Then you can build your own, any docu work is welcome! We will definitely also create a video build tutorial like for the new Seq V4+, but it will for sure take quite some time, underestimated the last tutorial for the V4+ (and the second part needs to filmed, too). In short words, a LoopA photo tutorial or build manual would be a good thing, thanks for considering to help out with the documentation!

Best regards and have a great weekend!
Peter

 

[mongrol]

Is it possible to record note data and then overdub CC data on teh same track? For those with only two hands. :)

[Hawkeye]

No CC support as of yet! For that, the bigger SEQ or the CC Looper from Phatline are the best choices at the moment!

(As it is a feature that sounds really cool, e.g. for nice recorded looped filter sweeps, that could even be graphically displayed, it might be added in one of the next versions. Then, "CC" would be a track type, similar as on the SEQ, it could not be overdubbed with a note track for memory reasons, but would need to be recorded on a dedicated track. That will also help to visualize it better).

Many greets,
Peter

[Phatline]

14 hours ago, Hawkeye said:

No CC support as of yet! For that, the bigger SEQ or the CC Looper from Phatline are the best choices at the moment

at the momemt...i am not sure ... will  take some time to finish. decidet to give fpga a try. not sure if it is a arm or fpga task.

much time ideas possibilitys and ways... phat.

[duncandisorderly]

I definitely want one of these & am happy to build it myself.

my cirklon is #003, give you some idea of how into hw sequencing I am. I have three mk1 notrons, nemo, two P3s, v4 & so on.

but nothing like this. I've done poly midi looping on the P3 many times, so when the cirklon arrived, I asked colin to make a little tweak to the way the new polyphonic section does live-record/looping; each subsequent pass, the velocity of the recorded notes is reduced by a defined value... initially, this was to emulate the old 'frippertronics' style tape-delay behaviour, but I quickly started using it on patches with a velocity crossfade, so that (say) the piano would morph to a string sound or else get more reverb or go out of tune. just thinking out loud.... but it would be a neat trick, no? :-)

[Hawkeye]

@duncandisorderly Thanks for your kind words, and yes, we are working on the LoopA. Even if the new v4+ has the first priority still at the moment, but it should hopefully all be done and settled in October/November.

We now have the (hopefully) final PCBs waiting for validation. Also, we have slightly improved the acrylic case and added "interlocking" mechanisms to further clamp it down better (in the middle of the case), just as recommended by @Antichambre. The acrylic case should also not be expensive, somewhere in the range of 40-50€, so that this unit will be affordable.

We're also open regarding new and exciting "uncommon" firmware features, that not every sequencer has, thanks for your suggestions! But let's get some initial units out, first :).

Find a few PCB shots of the three to-be-stacked and hopefully final LoopA PCBs attached:

LoopA Core PCB v1.1 - note the additional 6N138 optocoupler for a third MIDI IN (2 normal INs, one BLM) and the moved SD-Card slot that would open up an option for a nice "pro" metal case made my Adrian (with wooden sidepanels) :). But nothing confirmed, yet, just the acrylic variant for now.

LoopA Base PCB v1.1, with improved interconnectors

LoopA Plate PCB v1.1, with support for two different OLED manufacturers:

Many greets and enjoy!
Peter

[Antichambre]

It seems you put CV/Gate Outputs :) Great!
Add it in the Main features list, this is an important point.

 

Edited September 11, 2018 by Antichambre

[latigid on]

1 hour ago, Antichambre said:

It seems you put CV/Gate Outputs :) Great!
Add it in the Main features list, this is an important point.

 

Actually only inputs are supported, you'll need a converter to use CV/gate. In principle it could be done as all expansion headers are there. I don't think the software handles CV and there is not much push from our side to squeeze it into the current box. A bigger unit might work.

On that point, this represents another Core with DIN MIDI onboard. We could consider other "stackable" add-ons for small synths or controllers. 

Edited September 11, 2018 by latigid on

[Antichambre]

Yes of course it needs more than 5V power supply for CV purpose.

[Wapata]

On 07/05/2018 at 11:22 PM, Hawkeye said:

* six polynote tracks linked to individual MIDI configurations

* six scenes, allowing for a total of 36 in-memory MIDI clips

Hi !

Can you tell a little more about that ? In the tracks, I choose my instruments so it's clear, but what about the scenes ? Is it the different parts of the song, Like intro - part one - refrain - part two - refrain - part three - break - refrain - end ?

Didn't you lost two scenes during the development, you talk about 8 scenes on YouTube I think ?

Thanks and have a great day (or night..) !

[latigid on]

Peter can correct me if I'm wrong but the workflow is:

Clip: a recorded passage of notes (maybe data)
Track:  where clip data is stored. There are six tracks per scene
Scene: a collection of six tracks. Mute states will also be stored, so you can build up layers dynamically.

One workflow is to copy clips onto different tracks and flick between scenes to create variation. E.g. if you wanted to drop out all of the tuned instruments and keep the drums going, then build up the parts manually by unmuting them (could also be done within a single clip). Or copy the track and transpose a perfect 5th etc.

I would say it's not meant to be a whole DAW in a box. The idea is to use it as a quick "sketchpad" jamming tool, although Peter has come up with some very inspiring songs using not much more.

 

[Hawkeye]

All is correct! Two scenes have been removed to be able to store more notes per scene (all is held in memory) and to allow the upper left pushable encoder to cycle between two states when pushed. The active scene switching mode is visualized with the top or bottom LED around the top left encoder.

These two scene switching modes are available:

a) (default, as before) full scene switching - when a scene is switched, sync-to-measure-start all clips from the next scene - which would often "dramatically" change what is played back, as all six tracks' clips are launched from a new scene.

b) single track scene switching - only the clip of the currently active track is switched to a new scene. This will allow for "subtle" changes - i.e. you could progress a drum track, playing different clips from it, while the other five tracks keep playing the same clips.

These two principal modes of scene switching are necessary, as we have a mini BLM for the LoopA at least in our mental pipeline! :). It will allow direct playback access to every stored clip.

Many greets!
Peter

[Wapata]

Thanks both of you for the complete answers !

Yes it will not be a complete DAW for sure, but you can put the song in your head quickly in, test some transposition and all and, after you had the big smile on your face that say "oh yeah that's it", export the result in MIDI to your computer and... Don't touch it for years because that's how computer-daw work. 

What is a "BLM" ?

[Hawkeye]

@Wapata great, that's exactly its intended usecase! :) (you could optionally skip the DAW part, too and just have live fun with your loops, hehe :))

BLM = button / led matrix, usually used for its bigger brother, the SEQ v4+ - in the LoopA context, it would be smaller and consist of 6x6 backlit buttons to launch (and stop) clips individually. Plus it would contain an additional column for "full scene launching", just like in a quite well-known clip-based DAW :)

Have a happy weekend and thanks for your interest in it!
Many greets, Peter

 

[Phatline]

great! @ clip launch

[Hawkeye]

Update! :)

Well, it has certainly taken a while, but the LoopA release should really be happening soon, now! The assembly video tutorial has been completely filmed (350 GB of 4k footage), and now "just" needs video editing and voiceover. The PCBs have been built a third time and the BOMs are now verified. Also, the launch software version 2.05 has been tested, tested again and then completed :).

Many thanks to Andy for the huge amount of time he invested in this, from creating the PCBs to endless dicussions to finally proofreading the manual!

And here it is - we've finished the LoopA user manual, describing all features and screens in 20+ pages, so you can have a glance what the unit will do - we hope you will like it:

https://www.midiphy.com/files/468/midiphy_LoopA_manual_v205.pdf

Of course, there are lots of future features/enhancements on the wishlist, but the current features will be "it" for the launch and we hope you also consider them to be nice! :)

An (incomplete) list of new things since the last update:

* named user instruments mapping to hardware MIDI ports/channels (e.g. you can now simply use "ANDROMED" instead of memorizing MIDI OUT1/CHN1)
* a detailed setup page, allowing to configure global parameters
* a new and optimized page switching UI, using a onehanded two-finger-gesture facilitating "haptic finger memory" for quick page switching
* fully graphical menu/page icons
* a dedicated shift button, allowing for direct mutes/unmutes from every menu screen (an often needed feature)
* two powerful live performance modes (beatloop/transpose), switchable and directly mapped to a separate performance encoder
* MIDI metronome support
* live (re)quantized swing
* note randomization/probabilities (visualized als "animated quantum note clouds" if the clip notes playback probability is less than 100% :))
* note freezing option after transformations (allows e.g. to "move" notes around a clip first, freeze and then "scale" their playback speed)
* integrated context-sensitive help system explaining every feature of every screen

... and a few others :)

Hope you enjoy! Please stay tuned, more coming soon!

Best regards,
Peter

[Altitude]

excellent

[Antichambre]

Hi Peter,

Great doc!

It seems the oled bitmap exporter was useful, coool :)

Best
Bruno

[Hawkeye]

Thanks, Altitude and Bruno!

Bruno: used an own version of the screenshot tool, exporting to PNM files, but thanks for sending the code anyways :)
Now, on to some more video editing :)

Have a good evening!
Peter

[Hawkeye]

Another update - filming and video editing of the LoopA construction video tutorial is completed, all is looking good, we should be able to release the LoopA right in time before the holiday season! :)

Here is a new LoopA demo video, this time concentrating on a few of the new "launch version" features, most notably beatloop and live transposition of selectable tracks:

The demo is not at all focussed on musical finesse :), but to show some of the new features integrated in the launch software version of the LoopA.

In the beginning of the track, the LoopA is launched with "Beatloop" mode active, a new non-linear time progression model, which has different modes. Some modes scan the sequence while retaining an identical sequence playback time. It is great to create new melodic progressions while retaining harmonies and is also interesting for scrambling up recorded drumloops.

Later on, we explore some "live transposition" features, where multiple selectable tracks (e.g. to exclude drum tracks) are transposed via a single live encoder action. Live transposition is measure-synchronized to occur "always just in time".

Also, scene progression is fully synchronized to the recorded loops, so you can confidently proceed to a new scene at any time in your performance.

The LoopA is inteded to be used as a "musical note pad" or an "idea generator", it has been designed to be easy to use and has different features than its bigger 16-track brother, the SEQ v4+. Depending on your musical style, it should normally be easily able to hold a whole song in a session, which contains up to 36 looped note clips (these are arranged in 6 tracks x 6 scenes). Sessions are fully storable and recallable on/from a removable SD card within seconds.

Hope you enjoyed the demo - and thanks for watching and listening!

Many greets,
Peter

[Hawkeye]

And, it's finally release-day, sorry for all the delays and thanks to everyone who helped!
The LoopA is now publicly available in two variants, a caseless/barebones variant, and an acrylic case variant:

https://www.midiphy.com/en/shop-details/139/69/caseless-loopa-essential-kit
https://www.midiphy.com/en/shop-details/139/65/loopa-acrylic-case-essential-kit

Also, Adrian Hallik from Hallik Engineering is working on a new metal case, which should be available in early 2020. You can easily transplant the caseless LoopA to any case.

Here is the full (2 hours +) video tutorial, all in all it should be a doable project and there are no IDC cables to build! :)

And here are some impressions/photos of the kits and the final units - enjoy! :)

 

Firmware releases and user manual/handbook documentation updates will always be posted/linked in the first posting/on top of this thread!

Have a great weekend and hope you enjoy the LoopA!
Best regards,
Peter

[Altitude]

very cool.  PM me an SVG of the cutout for the display and I'll layout a snap in window

Are there options for the switch caps? (i.e. a source)

Edited November 30, 2019 by Altitude

[Antichambre]

Peter, BRAVO!!! It's a beautiful thing, looking forward to seeing the metal case, it will be awesome.

8 minutes ago, Altitude said:

Are there options for the switch caps? (i.e. a source)

It remains me some from the SeqV4+ Custom Keycaps I made, not enough for a SeqV4+ set, but enough for LoopA. for free just pay shipment if interested.

Best regards
Bruno