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

Hi,

I second eriks wishlist and the faq hint mediaworksus posted here. 

Now:
Compared to the RS7000 user group this user group is 

all about how to overcome or find workarounds for 
1. bugs (**-7 and e-loader)
2. complicated GUI

and a remarkably helpful emu tech support.

Now I want to get this off my chest:
1. I paid good money and can expect a machine with less bugs. I use 
the mp-7 and the korg es1, had the yammie RM1x, Roland mc-307, tested 
thoroughly the Yammie RS7000. Perhaps they all (except the korg) 
suffer from more or less pattern glitches when arrangements are 
overloaded but emu command stations seem to lead the field when it 
comes to bugs. I only hope the emu techs will give us a decent os-
version in the very near future (no disapperaing notes, wierdly 
changing presets etc.) I wonder about the quality department at EMU...

2. The user friendlyness and workflow of the commandstations leave a 
lot to be desired!  These machines have so many features but with 
their small displays they force you to step through menus and menus 
to do simple things like replacing a pattern without merging etc. A 
good overview of all tracks and settings is not possible at all. Why  
Emu is still using a GUI of the 80s with such a powerful machine is 
beyond me. Even less powerful grooveboxes like the RM1x and the MC-
307 give you more in this aspect. 

A helpful mp-7 owner posted a message and proposed to use a computer 
for composing songs with the mp-7. But then again it would be enough 
to buy the mophatt and do the sequencing with the computer, hm?

Why am I still keeping the mp-7?
Because I love the wonderful sounds (was instantly sold to this), the 
grid recording, the solid hardware and the expansion feature. But the 
more I look for workarounds in this user group or fiddle around 
buttonpressing to set up my arrangements the more I doubt this box is 
for me.

But there is still hope and I want to put this on the wishlist:

bugs fixed: notes disappearing, presets wierdly changed, instable 
timing (happened only once)
effect settings per channel
user drum setup note by note (not via layers and links)
workflow with easily exchangable phrases (if you want to try out 
different hihat patterns for example), arpeggios are a very 
timeconsuming work around for that.
pattern-arpeggios programmable via grid mode

I dont want to pick on the command stations. Other musicians may work 
with them without probs. But quite a few do not. I myself was not 
only once frustrated with this machine. Then again I was very happy 
with the results. But it is inexcusably hard to get there.

Peace

Heinrich