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

Sorry, long posting!

I second most of what Argomax said here.

1. Sequencer matters.  Otherwise I could easily go with the mophatt 
and save a lot of money. 
2. New ROM Cards please! The MP-7 has an overwhelming soundset in 
some areas (Drums, basses), but whats the deal with so many sampled 
cords in fifths (and not a single pianowave)? Unusable! These samples 
are outworn in a years time, the whole set is quite narrow. Then you 
call for new ROM Cards. Is there any decent bread and butter ROM Card 
that competes well with the competition? "Sounds of the ZR" is 
wonderful for pianos and some drums. The rest is below average.  
Somebody stated there is no P2500 ROM Card available - why is that?
3. The OS/GUI logic is yak! And its a mixed bag: Professional 
features way more than I need and some missing basics I would expect 
from any cheapo hardware sequencer: delete?, undo?, copy and paste of 
selected bars(!). Yes, there are workarounds: Some dedicated guys in 
this forum seem to do well with the XX-7. But to many others here it 
seems to be quite complicated leaving a lot of questions. As a hobby 
user I have to concentrate a lot on how to use this machine. (Copy a 
pattern to another destination but be aware that when editing you are 
altering the source pattern, not the destination pattern. Very 
strange!) This pulls energy you want to use for your creativity.
4. Funny bottom line:
I ended up testing the triton LE: Very clean sounding 48 bit 
sampling, pooooowwwwwerful arpeggiators (main point!), very good 
bread and butter like organs, strings, pads, brass. Amazing but cut 
down efx section (to triton, but still way more powerful than the XX-
7. Samling option. And an extremely logic and simple to use OS. Is it 
fair to compare? Yes. I was convinced to return my mp-7 and get the 
triton instead. But the funny thing is: After two nights of testing I 
raelised I will miss the mp-7. Why? It sounds more "grooving" to me. 
It may have to do with the higher note resolution (korg: 192, emu: 
384). The drum sounds are not so "clean" and beefed up with efx. If 
you want that "crunchy-punchy" sound, then you have to go with the 
EMU. Some say Emu sounds cold. I don´t think so at all. I know this 
is all subjective. I like the "organic" basic sound of my mp-7. I 
don´t know where it comes from, but EMU has it. Period. Last: No mute 
facilities liek the mp-7 for live etc. Thers a lot more but thas what 
counts for me.
To sum it up: EMU has given us a beta version of a box that could be 
king. I decided to be a faithful customer and go with EMU til the 
next OS is released. The command station is the all in one box that 
cuts it for me. I tried them all and worked with most of them. So 
please don´t let me down. 

Heinrich
 



--- In xl7@y..., "argomax2002" <argomax@g...> wrote:
> Firts of all, thanks for answering promptly.
> As I said earlier, I hope I did not offend anyone.
> I have copied/pasted  Aaron's reply and added my own in capital 
> letters just to make them visible, so don't think I'm shouting :)
> I promise this is my last post this long.
> 
> <<What less important functions would you like to see deferred 
> to menus? What more would you like from the transport? >>
> WELL, I'D LIKE TO HAVE SOME PATTERN/SONG EDIT 
> FUNCTIONS OUTSIDE, UPFRONT. DEFINITELY. AND A 
> VELOCITY BUTTON THAT  IMMEDIATELY ACCESSES THE 
> SENSITIVITY OF THE PADS, EXPECIALLY FOR RHYTHM 
> INPUTTING.
> 
> <<Once you've gotten in the habit of saving, revert acts just like 
> undo. >> YES, ALMOST. BETTER THAN NOTHING, AT LEAST. 
> 
> <<Get 1.18 software, released a few months ago. >>
> WELL, THIS IS AN ISSUE HERE. I DID, BUT HOW WAS I 
> SUPPOSED TO KNOW I CANT DOWNLOAD IT FROM USB? 
> THE SALES REP DIDN'T TELL US, THE MANUAL DIDN'T, THE 
> WEBSITE DIDN'T, ONLY BY SKIPPING THRU USER GROUPS  
> WAS I ABLE TO FIGURE THAT OUT. 
> AND THANK GOD I SPEAK ENGLISH WELL, WHAT ABOUT WHO 
> DOESN'T? 
> AND BY THE WAY, I HAVENT UPGRADED YET; I'LL DO IT 
> TONITE AT HOME BRINGING A MIDIMAN INTERFACE FROM 
> THE STORE. I'LL LET YOU KNOW THE RESULTS.
> 
> <<You have 999 bars worth of 16 channels of linear sequencer 
> to work with in song mode.>>
> ARE YOU SURE? I WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT YOU 
> HAVE A SINGLE TRACK TO USE AS A THREAD TO LINK ALL 
> PATTERNS WITH... BUT I'LL SEE WITH THE NEW OS.
>   
> <<Effects routing is a hardware limitation that we're not terribly 
> happy with either.  For cost reasons, this is the route we've 
taken. 
> >> OKAY. EXCUSED. HOPE I LEARN THEM BEFORE NEXT 
> CHRISTMAS.
> 
> <<128 voices, 32 midi channels, 16 knobs, 13 velocity & poly 
> aftertouch sensitive pads, 6 analog outs, S/PDIF out, rugged 
> quality, in this price range? >> 
> PLEASE, TAKE AWAY THE POLY AFTERTOUCH AND THE 
> EXTRA 16 MIDI CHANNELS AND GIVE US A WIDER GRAPHIC 
> DISPLAY INSTEAD. I'M SURE NO ONE WILL COMPLAIN.
>   
> <<USB drivers haven't been released yet. >> 
> THAT'S AN ISSUE WITH A LOT OF MANUFACTURERS IN 
> RECENT YEARS, THAT THEY RELEASE UNFINISHED 
> PRODUCTS AND KEEP ON POSTING OS RELEASES ON THE 
> WEB. THAT IS ALLRIGHT, BUT IT HAS BECOME A  BAD HABIT 
> ON THEIR PART. I REALLY THINK A PRODUCT SHOULD BE 
> TESTED MUCH LONGER PRIOR TO RELEASE. I MEAN, THESE 
> TOYS COST SOME MONEY.
>   
> << I don't think that there are any parameters in preset edit that 
> are more than a couple button pushes away. >>
> WELL, ITS MORE AN ISSUE OF CRYPTIC ABBREVIATIONS AND 
> THE DAMN TWO-LINE DISPLAY; YOU HAVEN'T UPGRADED 
> THAT SINCE PROTEUS 1, HAVE YOU? HOWEVER, I HAVE 
> KEPT FAIRLY AWAY FROM THE SYNTH ENGINE UP TO NOW, 
> I'LL LOOK INTO IT SOON.
>   
> <<The XL-7 was not designed as a sampler.  However, you can 
> buy flash ROMs that you can burn your own samples on to, and 
> never have to load them from disk.  >>
> YES, BUT I REALLY THINK YOU SHOULD HAVE IMPLEMENTED 
> SAMPLING. EVERY GROOVE/REMIX/DANCE MACHINE 
> SHOULD HAVE SAMPLING THESE DAYS. 
> THE QUESTION THAT ALL MY CUSTOMERS HAVE ASKED 
> ABOUT THOSE MACHINES IS "they certainly sample, don't 
> they?", AND THEY ALL LEFT WITH PUZZLED EXPRESSIONS 
> ON THEIR FACES. THE FLASH ROM BURNING OPTION IS 
> LIMITED TO EMU SAMPLERS OWNERS, I SUPPOSE. SO MUCH 
> FOR THAT.
>   
> <<The soundset is supposed to be different. >>
> I KNOW, BUT I DO SOME CONTEMPORARY SOUND 
> DESIGNING MYSELF (I helped program sounds for the 
> Oberheim OB-12 virtual-analog),  I COLLABORATE WITH 
> BRITISH  AND ITALIAN PRODUCERS, AND I THINK THAT 
> SOUNDSET SIMPLY HAS TOO FEW "USABLE" SOUNDS, 
> PLAYABLE ONES I MEAN, AND AN ABUNDANCE OF QUIRKY, 
> VERY PARTICULAR AND ODD ONES. THAT'S ALL. ALSO, I'D 
> HAVE EXPECTED A FRESH LOOK INTO THE NEW LOUNGE 
> AND CHILL OUT SOUNDSCAPES THAT ARE TODAY'S TREND. 
> IN MY OPINION, THE NATIVE MP7 SOUNDSET IS VERY 
> PRINCE-Y, CIRCA 1992. 
>   
> <<The extensive synth programming functions interest no one 
> here.>>
> <<I'm surprised no one bit your head off for that comment!  =) >>
> THEY DID, I DEFENDED MYSELF BY SPRAYING THEM WITH MY  
> ARMPIT  CANNONS.
> 
> <<Those 16 quick-edit knobs and easy synth programming are 
> two of the biggest features of the box! >> 
> WELL, I DID SPEAK TOO BRASHLY THERE, MANY PEOPLE DO 
> HAVE TIME TO FIDDLE AND TWIDDLE AFTER ALL. NOT ME...
>  
> << I think the sequencer compares favorably to the gear I've 
> played with. >> 
> MMM...NO AARON, MAYBE IN THE FUTURE, BUT NOT JUST 
> YET.  IT HAS GREAT POTENTIAL, BUT AS I SAID PREVIOUSLY, 
> SEQUENCING GEAR I HAD TEN YEARS AGO HAD MORE 
> EDITING FEATURES THAN THIS ONE. THAT INCLUDING THE 
> FEATURES YOU DESCRIBED  IN OS 1.18.
> YOU KNOW WHAT? THE SEQUENCER SEEMS LIKE AN 
> AFTERTHOUGHT IN THIS MACHINE. LIKE IT WASN'T 
> SUPPOSED TO BE THERE IN THE BEGINNING.  I MEAN, IT'S A 
> GROOVEBOX, ISN'T IT? THE SEQUENCER SHOULD HAVE 
> BEEN THE CORE AROUND WHICH WRAP THE OTHER 
> LAYERS.  KUDOS FOR THE SYNTH ENGINE AND THE 
> REALTIME CONTROLS AND THE CONSTRUCTION, BUT THE 
> PROPORTION BETWEEN THOSE AND THE SEQUENCER IS 90 
> TO 10.
> 
> I'll give you a bonus here. I told you I'm the premier dealer in 
> music electronics in my country, right? Before that I worked at 
> Manny's in NYC, you might know it. I feel I have a bit of the pulse 
> of what goes and what doesn't.
> If you could develop a line of genre-specific modules, with just 
> the basic, quick editing functions (you know, cutoff, ADSR and 
> just a few more), the few realtime knobs you have on the current 
> line, only one layer per sound, FX and the rest already burned 
> into the sample, maybe a 1-Rom loading capability, but a very 
> specific palette of preset sounds, you'd have a winner. You'd 
> have to carefully divide genres like Hardcore Techno, Trance, 
> House, Lounge, Hip-Hop, Drum'n'Bass, Ambient, and such. 
> They'd have to be simple, dedicated and not too programmable 
> or expandable. Just reasonably priced. In your current line you 
> have a couple products totally overlapping each other in my 
> opinion (Audity/Orbit/XtremeLead, for instance ) and you could go 
> more genre-specific even with your Roms (Beat 
> Garden/Xtreme/Techno Constr. Yard also overlap each other).
> 
> I'll keep you informed on what I think about OS 1.18. If I manage 
> to load it, that is.
> 
> P.S., Aaron, are you gonna be in Frankfurt? I am the importer for 
> Elektron (Swedish synth and drum machine company) and 
> Doepfer (German analogs) and I'm gonna be there to snatch 
> Clavia and Novation too from their current importers. I'll be glad 
> to look at the new keys you guys are about to release. 
> 
> Max Ventura
> www.Galassia303.it
> Italy.