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

Hi guys,

since AFAIK there are some (ex-?) E-mu folks on the list, I'd like to
ask a question: why such an awesome stuff like beats was made read
only? I'd like to have the "busy/variation" type control over the
patterns as well... it could be possible (with some external MIDI
processing) if I was able to control on/off status of the pattern
parts using the SysEx. I just skimmed the SysEx specs, but nothing
obvious came up. Weren't there a similar question posted not so long
ago in the context of some Kenton controller?

Gettting back to household chores,

Bruno

Its been a while, but I seem to recall trying to basically "map" beats variations. I seem to recall that with CCs (and a baseline patchcord configuration) you can determine which set of beats trigers will be on. I am guessing that the more sources routed to these features, the less control you will have when you send CCs to get the triggers you want.

(Hope this is right--its been a while and I am a little foggy-headed today.)

I think aaron may have given the formula or at least talked about it for the beats controls. I seem to remember some modulo was in there.  I will take a look in the message archives.

Steve 

--- In xl7@yahoogroups.com, Bruno <brunorc@...> wrote:
>
> Hi guys,
> 
> since AFAIK there are some (ex-?) E-mu folks on the list, I'd like to
> ask a question: why such an awesome stuff like beats was made read
> only? I'd like to have the "busy/variation" type control over the
> patterns as well... it could be possible (with some external MIDI
> processing) if I was able to control on/off status of the pattern
> parts using the SysEx. I just skimmed the SysEx specs, but nothing
> obvious came up. Weren't there a similar question posted not so long
> ago in the context of some Kenton controller?
> 
> Gettting back to household chores,
> 
> Bruno
>

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/xl7/message/13650

I think this is what I was remembering. Don't think he ever posted the other formula.

--- In xl7@yahoogroups.com, "steve_the_composer" <smw-mail@...> wrote:
>
> Its been a while, but I seem to recall trying to basically "map" beats variations. I seem to recall that with CCs (and a baseline patchcord configuration) you can determine which set of beats trigers will be on. I am guessing that the more sources routed to these features, the less control you will have when you send CCs to get the triggers you want.
> 
> (Hope this is right--its been a while and I am a little foggy-headed today.)
> 
> I think aaron may have given the formula or at least talked about it for the beats controls. I seem to remember some modulo was in there.  I will take a look in the message archives.
> 
> Steve 
> 
> --- In xl7@yahoogroups.com, Bruno <brunorc@> wrote:
> >
> > Hi guys,
> > 
> > since AFAIK there are some (ex-?) E-mu folks on the list, I'd like to
> > ask a question: why such an awesome stuff like beats was made read
> > only? I'd like to have the "busy/variation" type control over the
> > patterns as well... it could be possible (with some external MIDI
> > processing) if I was able to control on/off status of the pattern
> > parts using the SysEx. I just skimmed the SysEx specs, but nothing
> > obvious came up. Weren't there a similar question posted not so long
> > ago in the context of some Kenton controller?
> > 
> > Gettting back to household chores,
> > 
> > Bruno
> >
>

Just fired up the P2500 and tested the CCs (MidiM and MidiN) on a bts preset. Wish I had asked aaron for the btsvari formula.

It looks like BtsBusy determines which the number of triggers on, triggers being added or subtracted based on the formula aaron gave. The one I looked at had MidiM -> BtsBusy +100, with a DC BtsBusy offset of -60 [preset patchcords].

It looks like the BtsVari takes the number of triggers on and varies them based on the unknown formula. I seem to remember trying to make a table of which CC value would turn which triggers on based on a standardized set of preset patchcord destination values.





--- In xl7@yahoogroups.com, "steve_the_composer" <smw-mail@...> wrote:
>
> http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/xl7/message/13650
> 
> I think this is what I was remembering. Don't think he ever posted the other formula.
> 
> --- In xl7@yahoogroups.com, "steve_the_composer" <smw-mail@> wrote:
> >
> > Its been a while, but I seem to recall trying to basically "map" beats variations. I seem to recall that with CCs (and a baseline patchcord configuration) you can determine which set of beats trigers will be on. I am guessing that the more sources routed to these features, the less control you will have when you send CCs to get the triggers you want.
> > 
> > (Hope this is right--its been a while and I am a little foggy-headed today.)
> > 
> > I think aaron may have given the formula or at least talked about it for the beats controls. I seem to remember some modulo was in there.  I will take a look in the message archives.
> > 
> > Steve 
> > 
> > --- In xl7@yahoogroups.com, Bruno <brunorc@> wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi guys,
> > > 
> > > since AFAIK there are some (ex-?) E-mu folks on the list, I'd like to
> > > ask a question: why such an awesome stuff like beats was made read
> > > only? I'd like to have the "busy/variation" type control over the
> > > patterns as well... it could be possible (with some external MIDI
> > > processing) if I was able to control on/off status of the pattern
> > > parts using the SysEx. I just skimmed the SysEx specs, but nothing
> > > obvious came up. Weren't there a similar question posted not so long
> > > ago in the context of some Kenton controller?
> > > 
> > > Gettting back to household chores,
> > > 
> > > Bruno
> > >
> >
>

> I'd like to have the "busy/variation" type control over the
> patterns as well

This might be nice, but unless you rewrite the OS, I don't think it will happen.


>... it could be possible (with some external MIDI
> processing) if I was able to control on/off status of the pattern
> parts using the SysEx. 

You can use E-Mu Sysex Remote Control to simulate the on/off status of the track/enable/trigger buttons. If you had an external device sending sysex I think you should be able to do what you describe.

I played around with an arduino last summer with the idea of creating a customizable midi controller. I could see writing a script that would take knobs or sliders and creating BtsBusy and BtsVari type functions to turn E-Mu sequencer tracks [user patterns] on and off based on a custom algorithm. Is this the kind of thing you have in mind?


> I just skimmed the SysEx specs, but nothing
> obvious came up. Weren't there a similar question posted not so long
> ago in the context of some Kenton controller?

Somewhat similar approach, but different workaround being sought, I think. It wasn't too long ago--December!! http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/xl7/message/22251


> 
> Gettting back to household chores,

Me too. Thanks for asking. I had fun playing with the beats.

Steve

Hi guys,

2012/1/14 steve_the_composer <smw-mail@...>:
>> I'd like to have the "busy/variation" type control over the
>> patterns as well
>
> This might be nice, but unless you rewrite the OS, I don't think it will happen.

I'm aware of this :-)

However, I wonder why it was decided to make it read only - I'm not
sure if that's the information could be revealed by Aaron anyway
(legal stuff). I mean - was a technical complexity behind it, or
rather the idea that it would be too complex for users?

Apart from busy/variation I see there a lot of other interesting
stuff, which could be useful in patterns, like 1-bar triggering (or am
I missing something and this can be actually done with patterns?).

>>... it could be possible (with some external MIDI
>> processing) if I was able to control on/off status of the pattern
>> parts using the SysEx.
>
> You can use E-Mu Sysex Remote Control to simulate the on/off status of the track/enable/trigger buttons. If you had an external device sending sysex I think you should be able to do what you describe.

I believe it's easily doable with BCR2000, it allows to send up to 125
bytes of stuff (including SysEx).

> I played around with an arduino last summer with the idea of creating a customizable midi controller. I could see writing a script that would take knobs or sliders and creating BtsBusy and BtsVari type functions to turn E-Mu sequencer tracks [user patterns] on and off based on a custom algorithm. Is this the kind of thing you have in mind?

Yes, except that I was thinking about the "ordinary" computer running
Linux (because Linux has ALSA, and ALSA is scriptable thru Perl, and
I'm too lazy to get another language for my MIDI project). Arduino
thing looks interesting though.

>> I just skimmed the SysEx specs, but nothing
>> obvious came up. Weren't there a similar question posted not so long
>> ago in the context of some Kenton controller?
>
> Somewhat similar approach, but different workaround being sought, I think. It wasn't too long ago--December!! http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/xl7/message/22251

Thanks, that was the one I thought of. Too bad I packed my Unitors
already (will be moving soon).

> Me too. Thanks for asking. I had fun playing with the beats.

It gives CStations a powerful twist. Going to explore it before the
move (MP7 will get packed at the end). Beware, I will be back with new
questions soon!

Cheers,

Bruno