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

Well, with all the talk in regard to the possibility of being able to burn roms within the native enviroment of the Command Station itself, I figured I'd throw out a couple of thoughts.  I'll first state that I still don't completely realize how this can be done.

With the MC-909 looming on the horizon, it would look as if arguably the ultimate self-contained workstation to date may be months away.......or is it.  Well, in regards to serving as a controller and in regards to serving as a sequencer, the Command Stations seem to (IMO) beat out the beast known as a 909.  In regard to being a synth, I actually think the Command Stations edge out.  The one REALLY big thing that seperates the MC-909 (as well as the RS-7000) really comes down to sampling.....everything else really being small potatos.  Now though, EMU may have a very very very VERY slick trick up their sleave.  Again, assuming the Command Station has the capability to burn Roms within it's own native enviroment, things take a very big turn.  

"So the Command Station can burn Roms, so what?  All this primarily does is give me a means to extended memory in regards to how many patches I can save." This thinking may not exactly be correct.  One really cool thing we have to remember is that the Command Stations have a means of interacting with the computer enviroment aside from MIDI.  Granted, the USB features haven't really been utilized at this point at all, but they exist none the less.  Now, as I'm sure everyone realizes, the computer enviroment can be pretty darn capable in regards to being a sampler enviroment (in regard to grabbing and editing samples).  Since this is the case, lets go ahead and assume we have some new features added to the E-loader program, chiefly, one that enables E-loader to import .wav, .aiff, or someother type of sample format.  Once a waveform(s) is imported into E-loader, E-loader is then able to export the sample(s) out to the Command Station via USB....these new waveforms can then either be saved on to ones on Rom chip in a Command Station, or saved directly into the Command Station itself.  No, this doesn't bring us into the realm of the Command Station having sampling ability, but it brings us pretty darn close to that point; not to forget mention that it REALLY opens up doors in regards to waveforms we have to work with within the Command Station.

Moving away from the idea of burning roms now, lets assume that a couple of the more easy to implement revamps in the OS occur.  Things like being able to bounce patches used in a currently playing pattern back to their orginal state on the fly, being able to record mutes/unmutes into a pattern/song, being able to swap specific parts/tracks of a pattern with that of a differing pattern on the fly (mega-mix type feature), being able to jump control  to any specific track using only a couple button/knob movements, etc.

Really what we start to look at here is something that comes VERY VERY VERY VERY close to matching the MC-909 in capability.  Furthermore, with the given cost of the Command Stations, throwing in features like this capably puts Roland into a REALLY damn iffy position.  When you consider the fact that the MC-909 is planned to debut at a cost that is about twice that of the Command Stations, I'm sure the those in the market would really think hard on how badly they wanted to purchase the MC-909 over the Command Station which nearly matched the 909 in capability.....undoubtely, in some areas (as a controller and sequencer), it would out do the 909 (conversly the 909 would still hold some tricks over the Command Station as well).  Such a case could really work in not just EMU's favor, but in the shoppers favor as well.  Sales of Command Stations might see a sudden boost, conversely the cost of the 909 may have to be dropped a lot more quickly than normal in order to steer shoppers eyes back on to it and away from the Command Stations.  In all honesty, I don't expect this scenario to occur, BUT I'll be more than happy if it actually does play out.  EMU would have pulled off quite a bit of marketing genius if this does occur, and more so, all of us would have ended up with a lot more than we (probably) expected when we purchased our Command Stations.

Respects,

            Aaron Nesby   


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