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

First let me say that upgrading to 1.18 fixed a *lot* of frustrating
problems I had in 1.00.  So I remain hopeful that E-Mu will eventually iron
all its problems out.  However, I bought the XL-7 because I wanted a
*standalone* sequencer that wasn't dependent on a PC.  I thought that was
the whole idea.  In that regard I'm extremely disappointed with it (and
E-Mu).  Since the E-Loader program is a requirement for backing up and
upgrading the unit (mandatory to get a functioning unit) it cannot stand on
its own.  Given that, I'm now wondering why I should bother continuing to
bang my head against the wall with its quirky sequencer when I can just run
PC sequencer software which is an order of magnitute better anyway.  For
example,

* I'm still getting perma-stuck notes in grid mode.  They cannot be turned
off.  They cannot be reduced to volume 0 (rolls from 1 back to original
level).  The only way I've found to get rid of them is to cut the track and
start over.  GRR!!  What is going on??

* In grid mode when using 4/4 32nd note resolution how do I get to the grids
for beats 3 and 4 of a bar?  Both editing Bar.Beat and scrolling the B: in
the display jump whole bars.  The only way I've found to do it is to play
until beat 3 or 4 and stop.  Surely there's a better way.

* One of the main reasons I find myself using grid mode is because the
octave keypads respond poorly.  About 10% of the time they'll sense 2 or
more notes because of the stiffness of the rubber pads as they snap back
into shape.  Is this a problem that will fix itself eventually as it wears
or is there some field mod I can make to it?  It's not a major problem since
I do most work with a full size keyboard but is annoying when I do want to
use the pads.

One last unrelated question.  I've tried to load the XL-1 presets with no
success.  Since the .mids use SYSEX I figured all I had to do was play them
using an external sequencer and the XL-7 would know what to do.  It didn't
work.  Next I downloaded the bank 0 .mid to an XL-7 bank 1 slot and played
it and that didn't work either.  What am I doing wrong?

Cheers,


Q

On Sunday, January 27, 2002, at 11:01  AM, David Hinson wrote:

> One last unrelated question.  I've tried to load the XL-1 presets with 
> no
> success.  Since the .mids use SYSEX I figured all I had to do was play 
> them
> using an external sequencer and the XL-7 would know what to do.  It 
> didn't
> work.  Next I downloaded the bank 0 .mid to an XL-7 bank 1 slot and 
> played
> it and that didn't work either.  What am I doing wrong?

You are correct that what you should do is simply 'play' the .mid files 
with your sequencer. Is it possible that you have the Sysex Device ID of 
your machine set to something other than 0? (It's in the MIDI Menu). The 
device ID has to match between the files and the machine, and the files 
were all saved as ID 0.

If that's not it, do you get any kind of error message on the LCD? Any 
other info that might help troubleshoot this?

Scott

* I'm still getting perma-stuck notes in grid mode.  They cannot be turned
off.

>>>I get that too.  It is weird huh? <<<

* One of the main reasons I find myself using grid mode is because the 
octave keypads respond poorly.  Is this a problem that will fix itself 
eventually as it wears or is there some field mod I can make to it?

>>>Mine did that too, but now after playing them for awhile I thinki 
they're great.  Maybe they broke in, or maybe I just got used to playing 
them ? <<<

rEalm