This is cool learning how folks are using these machines. The Command Stations were obviously designed for the dance music market, but the capabilities really go far beyond that.
I use my PX-7 in three ways. Its loaded with the Composer, Protean Drum, Vintage Collection, and Definitive B-3 ROMs.
1. For my live looping rig, I use the PX-7 MIDI synced as a slave to an EH 2880. The 2880 handles audio (bass & guitar) and the PX-7 handle MIDI loops. I'll use both pre-sequenced and live loops on the PX-7. Because the sequencer allows you to do so many operations without stopping playback, it actually makes a very good live MIDI looping device so long as you understand and work around its limitations. It also helps that the track erase feature can be used as an "undo" which is essential in looping. I use both the onboard pads and an external controller, depending on the part being record.
2. I also play in a Tom Petty tribute band and I use the PX-7 as sound module controlled by another keyboard. For _Don't Come Around Here No More_, I have a sequence programmed in the PX-7 to handle a few of the synth layers in that song, plus a click track that gets fed directly to our drummer. I used to use the B-3 ROM sounds a lot, but then I bought a Roland VR-760 clonewheel so I don't use that as much. But samples off the Vintage Collection and Composer ROMs get used quite a lot, especially Mellotron, string, and brass samples.
3. In my studio, the PX-7 functions as a MIDI sound module driven by FL Studio.
D7
--- In xl7@yahoogroups.com, "duncan" <ferrograph@...> wrote:
>
> my XL-7 is the unlikely home for the orchestral rom pairing, a composer rom & a sounds of the ZR rom. I used it for writing orchestral stuff in 32 bar chunks. I start with violins on tracks 1 & 2, then violas on 3. cellos & basses together (layered) on 4 unless there's a solo part. woods on 5 & 6. brass on 7 & 8. percussion (including tuned perc.) on 9 & 10 (old habits die hard!) then piano on 11. the other tracks are free for whatever featured/solo instruments there might be.
> often, I can write the parts in using the rubber pads (bearing in mind that with the exception of the piano, these parts are largely monophonic, as they would be in real-life), though I'll hook up a proper keyboard or use a peavey midi-bass for some parts.
> best part is I can use this standalone, without firing up the rest of the studio.
>
> I also have the virtuoso module with "world" in place of the composer rom, & a regular p2k with added "vintage", "protean drum" & a flash of my own mellotron samples, & an expanded audity for synth noises.
> I use a 6400ultra to make the flash roms. it sits there idle the rest of the time.
> h/w sequencers besides the XL7 are: doepfer maq, octopus, notron, P3, cirklon, roland EF303, tb303....
>
> in our live rig, there's a p2k + a pk6 with the same roms ("composer", "vintage", "proteus1/2/3" & flash), & a planet earth module with a smaller flash & a ZR.
>
> emu'd up!
>
> duncan.
>