Emu XL-7 & MP-7 User's Group

since I am still in the throes of trying to make my live thing work 
for me, I much appreciate the details you give here!
dana
--- In xl7@yahoogroups.com, erik_magrini@B... wrote:
> Hey all, some one on the 505 list asked about how I set up my live 
sets, 
> here's a copy of my reply.  Thought it might be interesting for a 
few 
> people, so I posted it here too:
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
--------
> 
> I know how hard it is to set up a Live PA, and how helpful it can 
be to 
> read other people's methods, so here's mine: 
> 
> The XL-7 is the main device, 95% of the tweaking and playing I'm 
doing 
> during my sets are on that machine.  The SP808 really is only 
functioning 
> as a sample playback unit, and occasionally as an effects device 
for those 
> samples too.  It's not even synced via MIDI except to provide MIDI 
clock 
> information for the effects.  As this is largely a hit and miss 
affair in 
> terms of the effects actually syncing to the XL-7's tempo 
properly, I may 
> not even bother with that MIDI cable in the future. 
> 
> Tracks 1-7 on the XL-7 are my main percussion parts, BD's, snare's 
HH's, 
> and other drum stuff.  Track 8 is set up to Trigger samples on the 
SP808 
> (more on this in a bit), and tracks 9-16 are my instrumental 
tracks.  The 
> key here is that every Track has the same type of instrument for 
all of my 
> XL-7 Patterns.  This makes it very easy to know what each track is 
playing 
> while doing the live thing, and it also means I can switch to 
pretty much 
> any Pattern and know how it's going to be laid out. 
> 
> All of my XL-7 Patterns are 8 measures long, I've tried other 
lengths, but 
> this one seems to work the best for me.  If I make them shorter, I 
don't 
> get to program that much variety into each one.  If I make them 
longer I 
> can add more variety, but it makes switching Patterns that much 
more 
> difficult for me.  I may set up for this really dramatic Pattern 
change, 
> only to find out it still has 8 (or 12, 16, etc) more measures to 
go 
> before the switch.  Then I'm just sitting there waiting, not much 
fun. 
> 
> In addition to the 16 sequenced tracks available in each Pattern, 
I also 
> set up custom Triggers in my XL-7 too.  These are basically like 
the RPS 
> function on the 505's, I have 16 of them that can be Triggered at 
any time 
> during the set, regardless of what Pattern I'm playing.  Most of 
these are 
> simple arpeggiated ethnic and tribal drum sounds, though a few are 
snare 
> and HH based too.  These allow me to drop in different percussive 
elements 
> during the set, which serve two purposes: 
> 
> 1. They allow me to give the entire set more of a cohesive feel.  
Since I 
> use a lot of the Triggers more than once in the set, they add a 
subtle 
> background element that helps give the whole thing sort of the 
same feel. 
> 
> 2. They help me maintain some semblance of continuity while 
switching 
> Patterns.  Because my Triggers are independent of the Pattern 
being 
> played, I can switch Patterns and have the same percussion sounds 
still 
> being sounded.  Helps to make transitions more seamless IMO. 
> 
> The SP808 has two main roles; it plays back sequenced loops and 
other 
> samples that compliment the XL-7 Patterns, and it lets me manually 
drop in 
> vocal samples when I want to.  The sequenced loops were originally 
> constructed in Reason, using breaks I've collected or occasionally 
> modifying a refill here and there.  Because Reason can act as a 
MIDI 
> slave, I'd set the XL-7 to be the master and create my 8 bar 
Patterns in 
> the Redrum and Dr. Rex modules.  Once I was happy with how the 
loop was 
> complimenting the XL-7 patterns, I would set the L and R locators 
to 1 
> measure, and export these as audio files.  So my 8 bar Reason 
Pattern, 
> would in effect become 8 separate 1 bar audio files.  The downside 
to this 
> is that the tempo of the Reason stuff can't be changed after the 
fact, so 
> you have to decide on your Pattern/set tempo ahead of time.   
> 
> At this point, I would use the 808 conversion software with an 
external 
> ZIP drive to transfer the samples to the SP808.  Each SP808 sample 
bank 
> corresponds to an XL-7 Pattern, with the 8 samples forming the 
loop being 
> placed on pads 1-8.  I would also place some random vocal samples 
on Pads 
> 9-16 as I saw fit. The last two songs in the set use guitar fills 
which I 
> had recorded in Cubase SX, and then imported to the SP808 on the 
last 8 
> pads for that Sample Pad Bank. 
> 
> As mentioned earlier, Track 8 on the XL-7 controls the SP808.  
Because 
> each Pad Bank in the Sp808 can be recalled via simple program 
changes, I 
> just inserted the appropriate PC message at the beginning of each 
pattern 
> on that track.  The XL-7 has a GREAT feature where events placed 
at Tick 0 
> in the XL-7 are NOT repeated each time the pattern loops, so I 
didn't have 
> to worry about the samples reloading each time the Pattern loops.  
This 
> way, every time I change patterns, the Sp808 automatically updates 
to the 
> correct Sample Pad Bank.  Then I inserted CC#7 (volume) commands 
to 
> control the volume of the Pad banks, since they varied greatly 
Pattern to 
> Pattern.   
> 
> The last step was to insert note events at the beginning of every 
measure 
> that would trigger each of the 8 loop pads sequentially.  Why 8 
pads for 
> the loop instead of just one?  Because this way I can mute the 
drum loop 
> from the panel of the XL-7, without having to wait until the 
pattern loops 
> around again before it starts playing again.  The most I have to 
wait now 
> is one measure.  I did have to play with the sample start times in 
the 
> SP808 to get everything to sync up correctly.  I think the data 
> compression Roland uses messes with the sample accurate loops I 
had set up 
> in Reason, though I can't confirm this. 
> 
> Overall I'm pretty happy with the set up, it's flexible, small, 
and now 
> that the pre-production work is done it's pretty easy to set up 
and play.
> 
> rEalm 
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]