LoopA V2 Introduction, Features & Support Thread

[armandhammer]

And I’m done! Seriously this was so easy (once I figured out that I needed to reflash the bootloader) thanks to Midiphy sourcing of quality components and a straightforward instruction video.

It was fun picking out different color LEDs for the status indicator. Not shown are the first 4 (F1, F2, G1, G2) which are cool white, warm white, red, orange — then green, blue, pink, cool white in the pic.

Now let’s see what this thing can do :)

 

(note in the pic the screen looks weird due to the refresh rate of the OLED vs my iPhone camera)

[latigid on]

Excellent job!

Regarding the light|shield/standoff collision, I had the same experience but like you say, it is simple to just cut out a little bit. I also found that it was useful to cut out a bit of the waveshare JTAG header (the side near the crystal)  to avoid collisions with the THT resistors on the back of the base PCB.

[armandhammer]

Ohh one last thing for now: what's the best procedure to install the plastic OLED protector? I thought about hot glue, but maybe there's some better way...

[latigid on]

It should press fit but Peter has a technique to use Scotch tape to hold it in place before lowering the case.

For me, I slightly roughen the back powder coating (say 120-grit sandpaper) and apply drops of superglue to the corners, away from the edge. Then I carefully place the protector in. If you mess this up though, you'll get a nasty smear on the plastic, so tape is probably safer and sufficient.

[silverlight2004]

Hi Peter and team,

I have a feature request for next update...would it be possible for LoopA to record multiple midi channels per track? 

Also a previous request i still am interested in would be for dynamic allocation of memory, so for example, all 36 clips could share a common total note pool and the user may allocate them as preferred. 

many thanks for your work

Dave

[Hawkeye]

@silverlight2004 Thanks a lot for the suggestions, Dave!

The dynamic memory allocation feature is on the to-do list (but it's not easy to implement...)

Multi MIDI channels per track/clip unfortunately most likely cannot be supported, as the whole architecture of LoopA is based on having a single MIDI OUT or a single instrument per track - basically all code relies on that.

Supporting notes with potentially different MIDI channels within a single clip would both consume more memory (which is quite maxed out already) and would make it super difficult to visualize what is going on using the OLED. Supporting this would also make it impossible to remap existing clips to other instruments (which have only a single OUT/CHN pair). Ultimately, i think it could confuse users, when some notes in a clip are played, back while others are not played (i.e. because there is no synth listening to "their" MIDI channel).

For multi-recording two synths at once (i.e. two keyboards), it would be easiest to rely on a second LoopA, that is MIDI-synced to the first - which also doubles the amount of parallel tracks available. I know at least one power user (not me), that uses two LoopAs for this :).

Many greets,
Peter

[silverlight2004]

thanks for the quick reply Peter!

hope you do manage to work out the dynamic memory...and i fully understand your answer about multiple midi channels...it makes a lot of sense actually would be pretty confusing considering the overall design and workflow of loopA. But you gave me a great idea to think about using 2 loopAs in parallel for 12 tracks of sequencing...maybe for the future...

dave

[Hawkeye]

Thanks Dave, also for this fantastic sequencing demo from you!

Glad to see a LoopA used properly, how it was intented to be used:

Best regards and have a happy weekend!
Peter

[silverlight2004]

3 hours ago, Hawkeye said:

Thanks Dave, also for this fantastic sequencing demo from you!

Glad to see a LoopA used properly, how it was intented to be used:

Best regards and have a happy weekend!
Peter

Thanks to you Peter and Michael who built LoopA for me and for the continuing support you offer. It's a great sequencer...look forward to working more with it and as it gets even better with continuing updates! Best regards from Bali...Dave

Edited May 29, 2021 by silverlight2004

[Arnold Moon]

Loving LoopA and SeqV4+, it'd be super awesome if we can sync the two!

 the only super minor wish I have with LoopA is external program/scene change (sounds this is already planned!) with an option to reset playhead when changing scene.

there is an edge case for my need, that is  I have a scene that is not aligned with measure, ie 16bar loop but sig change at last measure, something like 15*4/4 + 5/4. As sig change per/mid clip is not possible (even if it was I guess LoopA is not keeping track of them..), I just set clip length to be ie 65. It works well for the scene, but that is affecting scene change timing and also where the playhead should be when transitioned to next scene, (well it is expected behavior as my scene is not aligned)
 

I think when external program/scene change gets implemented, with option of restarting global scene timer, seqv4 can manage song structure with all the seqv4 glory, and get non-step based fluid sequencing of LoopA to rule them all.

thanks for all the hard work and dev again, super appreciated!!

Arnold

[Phatline]

On 5/31/2021 at 6:50 PM, Arnold Moon said:

Loving LoopA and SeqV4+, it'd be super awesome if we can sync the two!

 the only super minor wish I have with LoopA is external program/scene change (sounds this is already planned!) with an option to reset playhead when changing scene.

there is an edge case for my need, that is  I have a scene that is not aligned with measure, ie 16bar loop but sig change at last measure, something like 15*4/4 + 5/4. As sig change per/mid clip is not possible (even if it was I guess LoopA is not keeping track of them..), I just set clip length to be ie 65. It works well for the scene, but that is affecting scene change timing and also where the playhead should be when transitioned to next scene, (well it is expected behavior as my scene is not aligned)
 

I think when external program/scene change gets implemented, with option of restarting global scene timer, seqv4 can manage song structure with all the seqv4 glory, and get non-step based fluid sequencing of LoopA to rule them all.

thanks for all the hard work and dev again, super appreciated!!

Arnold

hab so gelöst:

in der app.c vom loopa:

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// This hook is called when a MIDI package has been received
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
void APP_MIDI_NotifyPackage(mios32_midi_port_t port, mios32_midi_package_t midi_package)
{ 
		//909 Phatline
		/// MIDI Control  &  Program-BANK  LOAD  STORE 

		#define  CC_PC_Bank 32 		// Bank for Program-Changes   in order to use more then 128 songs....
		static u8 Bank = 0;		// Bank 0 = PC 0-127,    Bank 1 = PC 128-255  ....
		#define  CC_SCENE 33		// SCENE 0-5
		#define  CC_Save 24 		// external store signal, so this app save @ same time like external (only one save button in setup)
				        
		switch( midi_package.cc_number ) {
							// each Bank has 128 Programchanges...
					case CC_PC_Bank:    Bank = midi_package.value * 128;  break;
									
							//  Program-NR  + Programbank
					case CC_Save:  		saveSession(midi_package.value + Bank);	break;
														
					case CC_SCENE:		if(midi_package.value < 6) { sceneChangeRequested_ = midi_package.value;}   break;
	
					break;		}
								}
		//909 Phatline								
		/// P R O G R A M  C H A N G E   Program
		if( midi_package.type == ProgramChange) {  	loadSession(midi_package.evnt1 + Bank);} 

 

i remote all my self developed gear with Bank CC32.... and to SAVE i use for ALL: CC24 .... so i only have to press SAVE on the MAIN-Gear and all slaves do the save.

For Scene Select i took CC33.

This SceneChangeRequest is in SYNC! - and i did not change any part of the LooPa -it is already there... except of the part i postet here.

[Arnold Moon]

7 hours ago, Phatline said:

hab so gelöst:

in der app.c vom loopa:

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// This hook is called when a MIDI package has been received
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
void APP_MIDI_NotifyPackage(mios32_midi_port_t port, mios32_midi_package_t midi_package)
{ 
		//909 Phatline
		/// MIDI Control  &  Program-BANK  LOAD  STORE 

		#define  CC_PC_Bank 32 		// Bank for Program-Changes   in order to use more then 128 songs....
		static u8 Bank = 0;		// Bank 0 = PC 0-127,    Bank 1 = PC 128-255  ....
		#define  CC_SCENE 33		// SCENE 0-5
		#define  CC_Save 24 		// external store signal, so this app save @ same time like external (only one save button in setup)
				        
		switch( midi_package.cc_number ) {
							// each Bank has 128 Programchanges...
					case CC_PC_Bank:    Bank = midi_package.value * 128;  break;
									
							//  Program-NR  + Programbank
					case CC_Save:  		saveSession(midi_package.value + Bank);	break;
														
					case CC_SCENE:		if(midi_package.value < 6) { sceneChangeRequested_ = midi_package.value;}   break;
	
					break;		}
								}
		//909 Phatline								
		/// P R O G R A M  C H A N G E   Program
		if( midi_package.type == ProgramChange) {  	loadSession(midi_package.evnt1 + Bank);} 

 

i remote all my self developed gear with Bank CC32.... and to SAVE i use for ALL: CC24 .... so i only have to press SAVE on the MAIN-Gear and all slaves do the save.

For Scene Select i took CC33.

This SceneChangeRequest is in SYNC! - and i did not change any part of the LooPa -it is already there... except of the part i postet here.

Thanks for sharing! I'm super new to midibox land, I'll look into cloning the git repo and play around!

Arnold

[Phatline]

currently untestet concept for a eurorack panel for the caseless LoopA.

http://wiki.midibox.org/doku.php?id=loopa-eurorack-panel

Edited January 16, 2022 by Phatline

[Hawkeye]

New LoopA firmware version 2.09 released

The newest LoopA firmware contains fresh features like
- force-to-scale mode
- new stave notes display mode
- integrated midi keyboard mode and keyboard transposition
- note duplication and clip reversals
- integrated six track volume mixer
- LoopA remote control via MIDI Program Change and CC
- MIDI Program Change synth patch loading after session load

Enjoy and many greets!
Peter

 

 

[Phatline]

in a eurorack:

 

[JuanJerez]

On 5/28/2021 at 11:13 PM, Hawkeye said:

Thanks Dave, also for this fantastic sequencing demo from you!

Glad to see a LoopA used properly, how it was intented to be used:

Best regards and have a happy weekend!
Peter

Good evening, forgive my clumsiness but...how is it possible to delete the notes by turning the value knob? I have the latest firmware version 2.09 and I can only delete the notes one by one click by click. It's not important, I'm just curious. 

Edited September 19, 2022 by JuanJerez

[latigid on]

One way is to use the punch in footswitch mode, but that's not exactly the same. Unless Peter knows of another way, maybe it could work to have scrub+footswitch (punch in) also delete notes under the cursor when the sequencer is not running?

Also an idea is to allow an "off" footswitch setting, for example if you only have a mono footswitch.

[Hawkeye]

@JuanJerez as LoopA's notes are reconded sequentially, deleting a note will auto-advance the note cursor to the next recorded note, so you can do it by selecting the start point and then pressing DELETE multiple times quickly - i just tried it on a complex chord clip and it works fast enough and also allows for good precision when reaching the end point.

LoopA's user interface is a bit too small for "range selection" commands without getting too complicated.

But as Andy wrote, another good alternative is to use the punch-out footswitch function, which allows you to just clear a part of the sequence while the time cursor passes over it.

Many greets and enjoy!
Peter

[Hawkeye]

Hi there,

just wanted to let you know that we continued development of the LoopA - it has a new and quite powerful song mode now:

 

Best regards and enjoy!
Peter

[zfigz]

all done!

 

Edited September 3 by zfigz