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

--- In xl7@yahoogroups.com, Aaron Eppolito <synthesis77@y...> wrote: 
> You're absolutely right.  This wasn't so much as a bad design 
choice,
> it was sort of a lack of a choice at all.  The arpeggiators were
> brought directly over from the Audity/P2K series with very few 
changes
> made.  When the box was first being designed, it was more targeted 
at
> the groovebox market rather than the "control everything in your
> studio" use.  By the time the focus shifted, I suppose I forgot 
about
> the arps.  The arp transmit was never really designed to control
> external gear, it was designed to record *all* the arps from a P2K 
into
> a software sequencer.

Well, that makes sense, since the sequencer was basically bolted on 
to the XL-1 (and I appreciate your candor). And I can see the need 
for a way to record arp output into another sequencer.

> That being said, the workaround is as follows:
... 
> 4a - if you're only using one MIDI output, put all of your external
> arps on the B channels and all of your internal arps on the A 
channels.

This is probably what I will end up doing. It's more limiting than 
I'd hoped but it's the most straightforward solution. I'll just have 
to use more program changes and fewer arp triggers.

> > tracks set to "EXT" should always transmit MIDI data, and there's
> > an Arp on/off/Preset/Master switch on every track already
> 
> Not quite.  There's an Arp on/off/M/P switch on each CHANNEL, not
> TRACK.  Unfortunately, the arp is a synth feature, not a sequencer
> feature, which is why it requires notes to be sent INT.  You're on 
the
> right track though (no pun intended) as this is close to what the 
ideal
> solution would be.

You're right of course, I was oversimplifying. Each track has at 
least one channel, and each channel has a preset, so each track has 
at least one arp switch associated with it.

If the PX does well enough to merit an OS 2.1 it'd be nice to see a 
fix for this (putting the INT/EXT/BOTH switch between the arp and the 
synth rather than before them), but it sounds as if the arpeggiator 
is sufficiently segregated from the sequencer to make this impossible.

> Since you have 2.0, you already have the fix for this problem.  Turn
> "Rechannelize Input" on (3rd screen in the master menu).  Quick edit
> knobs, keypads, and even incoming MIDI will be redirected to the
> correct channel AND port (i.e. internal/external).

Ah. I didn't realize "Rechannelize" affected the front panel 
controls. I'll try that, thanks. 

> For the programmable knobs and triggers, what you are trying to do 
is
> what the "Seq" destination (instead of "Int") does.  Internal goes
> internal ALL the time, external goes external all the time, whereas
> "Seq" goes where the sequencer is going.

Wondered about that, it's a good feature. What about recording the 
arp into the sequencer? Is this not doable within the XL itself? I 
guess it's not crucial, it would just eat up extra note memory anyway.

I appreciate the thoughtful reply Aaron, I know it can be hard to 
hear criticism of something you've put a lot of work into. I have a 
very clear and specific picture of what I want from a performance 
sequencer and in spite of my critiques you guys are the only ones 
who've really delivered so far.