Elektron Musical Instruments

Hi. My Name is Jon/ Retconned.

I have recently changed my set-up so that I am using a MnM to sequence 
an Alesis A6, and trigger patterns on MD which is sequencing SID. Here 
are some problems I am encountering and I was wondering if anyone has 
any suggestions:

1. when triggering MD patterns from MnM some instruments on the MD seem 
to make a noise when the pattern resets- I think they typically sustain 
past the end of the pattern and back around until a few beats into the 
pattern and something is getting quite confused. This does not happen 
on all patterns.

2. I have my MDs patterns mapped to every available MIDI note in the 
map editor, but the MnM will not play notes lower than C0 (even though 
it displays with the confusing little dash that makes it seem Cminus1) 
I have to go into each track that I want to trigger a pattern that is 
mapped to a note lower than C0 and use the transpose function. this 
becomes tedious and I wonder if there is any way around it.

3. Is there any strange hack that will allow me to use the MnM to 
trigger patterns in the MD -AND- mute different tracks of those 
patterns? ie a 32 count MnM pattern triggers a 16 count MD(kick and 
snare) pattern on its first step, and then triggers the same 16 count 
MD pattern on its 17th step but ONLY the kick track of the MD plays?

4. I would really prefer my MnM to be sequencing my SID since it has a 
keyboard and MD doesn't but whenever I attempt this I have latency 
problems with SID that I do not have when MD is its master. Anyone have 
similar problems?

Overall I love my MD and Mnm- but I wish there was some way I could 
improve their interaction- I feel that no matter which one I use as 
Sequencer that I sacrifice something of the other. My brain seems to 
think of them as one machine, but they do not seem to want to behave 
that way.

I would appreciate any help anyone has to offer.

Jon
http://retconned.com

Jon, I was going to reply to your post when you wrote it, but I 
didn't feel that I had figured out the best way to write a track with 
the mono-MD combination ... but I think that elektron provided us 
with the answer in their last MD update.  It's kind of hidden in 
there, I just stumbled upon it.

Forget about triggering MD patterns with the mono.  Like you pointed 
out, you cannot trigger a pattern and control mutes, and you thus you 
end up using up lots of patterns, and you have lots of key-mapping to 
do.  You'll get lost really quickly if you write songs this way.

Write the drum tracks in song mode on the MD, and the synth tracks in 
song mode on the MnM.  Now, enter Song Edit mode on both machines.  
In the .txt file that elektron provided, they provide you with clues 
as to how to proceed from here.  At the top of each edit page is the 
index.

-- Index in bars and beats added to the song window for easier 
synchronisation with other sequencers, such as the Monomachine. 

The other clue in the .txt file is the following sentence
"When receiving song pointer position and in song mode and on a row 
with repeat and receiving a continue the song would be played back 
incorrectly. Fixed."

I was confused by this - Cubase never sent pointers that I knew of, 
so I never stumbled upon this feature.  I the MD could receive start 
stop and continue commands, but not POINTERS!  

In song edit mode on the MnM, if you select a row to start playing 
with using the arrow keys and ENTER, the MnM sends a pointer to the 
MD, and selects the proper bar to begin playing.  Works like a 
charm.  Maybe this was obvious to other people out there, but I sure 
as hell missed it.

-gerald

--- In elektron-users@yahoogroups.com, Jonathan Lukens <jon@i...> 
wrote:
> Overall I love my MD and Mnm- but I wish there was some way I could 
> improve their interaction- I feel that no matter which one I use as 
> Sequencer that I sacrifice something of the other. My brain seems 
to 
> think of them as one machine, but they do not seem to want to 
behave 

> that way.
> 
> I would appreciate any help anyone has to offer.

That's quite cool.  I wonder if it will work like that in Live. 
Although I'm not a Live expert I plan on buying it.  Does Live have
this kind of pointer thing?  Also, any Live 4 beta testers using it
with an MD here?

--- In elektron-users@yahoogroups.com, "oldmanfury" <erinys@s...> wrote:

> Jon, I was going to reply to your post when you wrote it, but I 
> didn't feel that I had figured out the best way to write a track with 
> the mono-MD combination ... but I think that elektron provided us 
> with the answer in their last MD update.  It's kind of hidden in 
> there, I just stumbled upon it.
> 
> Forget about triggering MD patterns with the mono.  Like you pointed 
> out, you cannot trigger a pattern and control mutes, and you thus you 
> end up using up lots of patterns, and you have lots of key-mapping to 
> do.  You'll get lost really quickly if you write songs this way.
> 
> Write the drum tracks in song mode on the MD, and the synth tracks in 
> song mode on the MnM.  Now, enter Song Edit mode on both machines.  
> In the .txt file that elektron provided, they provide you with clues 
> as to how to proceed from here.  At the top of each edit page is the 
> index.
> 
> -- Index in bars and beats added to the song window for easier 
> synchronisation with other sequencers, such as the Monomachine. 
> 
> The other clue in the .txt file is the following sentence
> "When receiving song pointer position and in song mode and on a row 
> with repeat and receiving a continue the song would be played back 
> incorrectly. Fixed."
> 
> I was confused by this - Cubase never sent pointers that I knew of, 
> so I never stumbled upon this feature.  I the MD could receive start 
> stop and continue commands, but not POINTERS!  
> 
> In song edit mode on the MnM, if you select a row to start playing 
> with using the arrow keys and ENTER, the MnM sends a pointer to the 
> MD, and selects the proper bar to begin playing.  Works like a 
> charm.  Maybe this was obvious to other people out there, but I sure 
> as hell missed it.
> 
> -gerald
> 
> --- In elektron-users@yahoogroups.com, Jonathan Lukens <jon@i...> 
> wrote:
> > Overall I love my MD and Mnm- but I wish there was some way I could 
> > improve their interaction- I feel that no matter which one I use as 
> > Sequencer that I sacrifice something of the other. My brain seems 
> to 
> > think of them as one machine, but they do not seem to want to 
> behave 
> > that way.
> > 
> > I would appreciate any help anyone has to offer.