A REPLY TO AARON & OTHERS WHO BIT MY HEAD OFF : ).
2002-02-05 by argomax2002
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.