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

Oh, however, of course I know most of the physical problems is not in 
all XL-7's (but I was suprised I had so many of them), but I've heard 
that other people have also sold the XL-7, because it "freezes" 
sometimes for them as well. It's not fun when you play live and it 
does this.

//Nifflas

--- In xl7@y..., "nifflas" <nifflas@m...> wrote:
> Since my XL-7 crashed all the time I havn't had time to look at the 
> new OS. The machine just "freezes" at random moments, about a few 
> times per day. By this reason I was forced to send the XL-7 back, 
and 
> the guys have had it for 3 months now (should have been repaired 
> now), and I've lost many chances to play live with it because of 
> that. The data wheel was not working correctly, some knobs was also 
> acting strange. Not to mention some of the keypads.
> 
> And about the bugs: There was a whole lot of them in OS 1.01, and 
> I've heard that some are still left (as I said I havn't had a 
chance 
> to look at the new OS), and since I payed extra money when it still 
> was new (Didn't have the chance to get the expansion boards cheaper 
> either since I live in Sweden), I just felt like a beta tester for 
> some unfinished gear. And I had to pay extra money for a synth with 
> bugs and a whole lot of physical problems (like the odd data knob).
> 
> That's why I regret that I bought it.
> 
> ...So personally I think I have reasons to be quite dissapointed.
> 
> At the other hand, of course I understand that this is just my 
> opinions.
> 
> >you'd know that if you set a track to external, it won't 
> automatically insert these events into the track.  You can set any 
> information you want up in the track list editor.
> 
> Okey, you might be right about that. Havn't had a chance to try it 
> since they're still repairing the XL-7. Can't understand why they 
> just didn't send me a new XL-7.
> 
> //Nifflas
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --- In xl7@y..., Aaron Eppolito <aarone+xl7@e...> wrote:
> > "Thorsten Marx" <t.marx@h...> wrote:
> > 
> > > I'm thinking about buying an XL7 because I like the idea of
> > > creating and arranging music without a computer .My question 
is, 
> how
> > > good is the sequencer for playing an external MIDI device, in 
my 
> case
> > > I would trigger an Ensoniq ASR-X sampler. Is the timing OK? Are 
> the
> > > functions handy?
> > 
> > nifflas replied:
> > 
> > > No, for controlling your extrenal gear, this is not what you're
> > > looking for.
> > 
> > In your opinion.  Prove me wrong, but I think you'll find few 
other
> > all-in-one boxes that perform as well.  You have full control 
over 
> what gets
> > sent to external gear if you set the tracks to external.  You 
have 
> 32
> > external midi channels plus 32 internal channels with 128 voices 
of
> > polyphony.  You have 16 programmable knobs just waiting to 
control 
> every
> > aspect of your external synths.  You have full record on the fly 
> capabilities
> > with almost nothing that makes you stop the sequencer.  You have 
> complete
> > interactivity with the arrangement of patterns without having to 
> fit them
> > into a "style" or flatten them down into a song.  I could go on 
and 
> on, but
> > I'll let you read the reviews (Jan 2002 issue of Keyboard gave it 
a 
> Key Buy).
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > > * The OS has many bugs and the machine sometimes crashes
> > 
> > I'll be the first to admit that there are a few bugs.  I'm not 
sure 
> I'd
> > classify them as "many", but I won't argue there.  E-mu has a 
> strong history
> > of supporting its users.  We continuously add features and 
> bugfixes, add
> > provide them free for the downloading.  We not too long ago 
> released updates
> > for the original E-IV classics, a product that shipped in 1994.  
We 
> still are
> > adding features to XL-7 and are trying to fix as many problems as 
> we can
> > find.  There's a release scheduled for late February that 
addresses 
> many of
> > the issues that you folks have brought up.
> > 
> > 
> > > * Stupid re-channelize. If you wish to use a MIDI keyboard to 
> control
> > > the XL-7 and also the external synths, the midi thru doesn't 
> behave
> > > as you would expect from a sequencer. Check the other posts for 
> more
> > > info about this. Also it seems like the EMU guys have no plans 
to 
> fix
> > > this, at least not now. (Perhaps they havn't realized how 
> important
> > > this is)
> > 
> > We're not idiots, you know.  We're aware that more and more 
people 
> are using
> > the XL-7 as a controller for external gear.  We've been steadily 
> adding
> > features to make the more advanced users happy.  We know that 
this 
> is what
> > you want and we'll probably give it to you.
> > 
> > 
> > > * I have multisetups on my synths that gets messed up if the XL-
7
> > > sends volume, pan or program change messages. Yet it does this
> > > automaticly if an "out" track is enabled, so I had to buy a MIDI
> > > filter to filter out such messages.
> > 
> > If you had read the manual addendum, or any of my posts about the 
> subject,
> > you'd know that if you set a track to external, it won't 
> automatically insert
> > these events into the track.  You can set any information you 
want 
> up in the
> > track list editor.
> > 
> > -Aaron
> > 
> > 
> > > I'm very dissapointed with the sequencer part of the XL-7. I
> > > recommend you to check out the Kawai Q80EXE instead. And 
there's 
> also
> > > many other great hardware sequencers.
> > >
> > > //Nifflas