The Logic Off Topic list

Thanks for your comments on this Sascha! I hope the tone of this message
isn't too "mean" or anything, I guess in a way I want to defend the Oxygen8
since I planned to buy one soon and don't want to have to figure out
something else to get instead. Nothing personal at all though :-) 

Sascha wrote:

> The drivers were crappy, causing lots of system reboots (no way 
> to get them back without a reboot under Win2k) 

Did you have the Oxygen8 plugged in via USB only or USB + MIDI cables? It
needs to be 'programmed' over USB right? What exactly were you doing to
cause the drivers to fail, just playing it (over USB or MIDI?) or trying to
program what CC's the knobs sent out etc (over USB only, right?)?

> and hardware quality was less than what I'd call acceptable (and I'm not 
> even a true keyboard player by myself). Pitchbend data for whatever 
> reason was thinned out (most likely to take some burden off the USB bus, 
> but it seems you can't change that when using it as a plain MIDI 
> controller), causing some bad stepping effects when using higher 
> bendrange settings, the PB wheel itself started to hang a notch below
> zero position on day No.3 every now and then, so there was often some PB
> data being sent out continuosly.

I saw your similar statement in the LapTopMusic group last week and asked
Orren about it (as he is the person I am going to buy an Oxygen8 from)... He
said that the PB wheel is a normal MIDI PB wheel so it sends out values up
to 128. I'm not sure what the choices are for the 'bendrange' but if you can
set it to send more than 128 values, since its only regular 7-bit MIDI of
course there's going to be stepping if you have it sending values up to 1000
or something. He also said that he's been using his Oxygen8 for months now
and he said the *only* problem he's had with his Oxy8 is that the
"MIDI/Select" button got "stuck" for one day, and he had to press it down
very hard to get the button to work. However the stuck key was working just
fine the next day and the problem didn't return. He also said there was no
datathinning going on at all - it acts like a normal PB wheel on a normal
synth. I was recording some automation using the PB wheel on my old Yamaha
DX100 synth the other day and noticed when I was moving the wheel a lot it
did look pretty "chunky" in Logic when making fast movements... So I really
don't think there's anything abnormal with the Oxygen8's PB wheel at all.
It's always possible to get a broken piece of equipment... Is your Oxygen8
still under warranty Sascha?

> And while it might be nice to have all those pots on it, they don't 
> make use of the 270° range they offer, but you loose a good amount 
> in the end and the beginning of the knob range, so the actually 
> usable amount is more like 180° or so.

Can you not turn the knobs the full 270° or does it just not send out proper
data at the 'edges'? That's a bit saddening to hear, but I was going to get
a Pocket Dial anyway:
http://www.doepfer.de/pd.htm

> Personally I can add that 2 octaves defenitely are not enough for 
> me, not even in an "occasional keyboarder" context. With 2 
> octaves it's impossible to play any common chord voicings and add 
> a bass with your left hand - something I'm doing all the time.

From the limited time I've been using Logic so far, I've always had a
separate track for the bass, and due to the limitation of only controlling 1
virtual instrument in real time I've always had to record bass separately
anyway... I guess this would matter more if we could control multiple
virtual instruments at once, but as it is, I hardly ever will use the same
instrument for chords as well as bass.

> No noticeable timing or whatsoever problems caused by USB, btw.

Were the crashes still as frequent? Again could you give me a little more
info about what would cause it to crash, just -using- it or trying to run
whatever program it comes with to configure it etc... ? 

I'm still planning on buying an Oxygen8 just because I need something that's
velocity sensitive for now, and the knobs would be somewhat nice (maybe,
after reading Sascha's comments) for a few weeks until I have a Pocket Dial
as well. From what I've seen other comparable MIDI keyboards are twice as
much $$, so I still think I'm going to get an Oxygen8. As soon as I can
afford it I want to get a "real" synth with aftertouch anyway which I can
use to controll virtual instruments etc as well.