Patches and discussion for Ensoniq VFX family

In the past, for both performance, and Recording, I would first:-

1)
Hunt through all my sounds, and choose a maximum of 60 (or 120 if I had 
a RAM card) sounds I would likely use in all my songs (apart from those 
sounds already permanently there in ROM/Read Only Memory).These sounds 
should include any sounds you, or another band member may want to play live.

2)
Choose the order to place those sounds in the 60 sounds (and 60 RAM card 
if you have one). Store them to the 60 memories (+60 card if applicable).

3)
You now have your first template of 60 sounds in ram. I would save that 
as say Perf 01 or something like that. (If you have RAM Card you may 
wish to copy them to SD-1 RAM and save those sounds as maybe Perf C01. 
Then reload the Perf 01 sounds. These will be the sounds you will use in 
all future compositions. If you find a new sound you need, swap it with 
a sound that has not yet been used in any song, and that you don't think 
you will use, and rename and save that 60 sounds on that RAM/RAM card to 
maybe Perf 02/Perf C02, or Perf 01a/Perf C01a.

4)
Use 30 sequences at a time, and, since all your sequences will use the 
same sounds, you can load a set of 30 sequences without messing up the 
sounds for the 30 sequences already loaded. When you save the 30 
sequences, if you save it without the sounds, then save the 60 sounds 
separate, it won't override any small sound changes since you created 
that song.

5)
If you already have existing Song/Sequences, load them to the SD-1 RAM..

6) Use a notepad to jot down the sound names and positions, of all 
sounds in each sequence and in the song.

7) If you see a sound you need in a sequence, that is not in your new 
set of sounds, you have created, save that one sound to disc, reload 
your sounds 01 from disc, reload that sound and save it to replace a 
sound you have not yet used in a song, that you don't need as much. Save 
those sounds to maybe Perf 01a. If you want that sound on RAM card, 
instead of RAM, save it to RAM card in place of a sound you don't need. 
Reload the Sequences/Song again.

8) Whilst your Song/Sequences have been loaded to RAM, Now Load your 
newly created Perf 01 sounds to RAM.

9) Using your notepad, go through all your sequences, and songs, 
ensuring all tracks in each sequence/song has the correct sounds in 
them. Select the Sound, press replace program, and find the correct 
sound in it's new location, and select it. exit and save.

10) Save the Sequences/Song as 30/60 sequences, complete with the new 
sound collection.

11)  You may want to move sequences, if needed, to make sure they all 
fit on one set of 30 Sequences. If you do, you will need to edit steps 
in song and relocate the position of where each moved sequence is.

As you add a new sound to an unused sound location in your 60 sounds, 
you can save it, load all your older sequences/song, reload your new 60 
sounds, save the sequences/song with the new 60 sounds. That way, when 
you load an earlier sequence, on one 30 sequences/songs, you don't force 
the older sound settings on the other 30 sequences/sounds. 
Alternatively, you may decide not to save the sounds with the 
songs/sequences, but separate, so you don't need to update sounds on 
erlier songs/sequences.

My 30 sequences had between 2 and 6 songs on each giving me up to ten 
full songs available at one time, all using the same set of 60 sounds or 
the built in ROM.

Just some ideas...

Ralph :-)














Michael C Lesko wrote:

>Jay that's a great point but I can't tell you how many times I've had
>computers
>(even fast ones) stagger or fail when doing operations.
>
>I understand your point clearly and I wish there was a 100% reliable way
>of setting things up but I'm not aware of one.  I've just found that my SD-1
>(as long as I've had it) never studders or has never failed.
>
>My band is going to start playing out soon.  No small gigs either, big stuff
>and
>I know I have to be able to rely on my gear.  I thought as a back up to buy
>another SD-1.  I mean it probably will be a pain to carry around but I got
>the
>last one for $200 and that price is well worth the peice of mind.
>
>I'm new to this but I also just assumed that no matter how you set up a
>sequence
>there is always a chance of things going wrong.  Am I off the mark with
>that?
>How about everyone else?  What is the most popular way of playing sequences
>during a gig?  Any info is greatly appreciated, as is yours Jay.  Thanks.
>
>Michael
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Jay Barnes" <apdced34@...>
>To: <Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com>
>Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2005 4:03 PM
>Subject: Re: [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] What a sequencing mess
>
>
>  
>
>>Michael,
>>What you're doing seems dangerous for a couple
>>reasons.  What if your sequencer on the SD1 goes down
>>like mine did recently?  You've lost all your work.
>>What if it happens at your gig?  Yeow!
>>
>>What I do is create each sequence and play the
>>sequence directly into my digital recorder.  Then I
>>take that and put into my computer.  You can bypass
>>one step and record directly to the computer.  When I
>>have the entire group of sequences saved like I might
>>do with a song, I record them onto a CD or two or
>>three.
>>
>>The sequences are mostly drum but I also add piano,
>>organ  etc at times depending on the song.
>>When my buddy and I play, we have a list of our songs
>>which correspondes to the number of the track on the
>>CD.  In other words if we're doing a song like
>>Satisfaction, I look at the list and see that it's
>>track number 4 (or whatever) and I cue the CD player
>>to 4, hit play and we're off and running.  The CD
>>player is connected to our sound system.
>>
>>If I want to change something, like the  volume of the
>>organ or whatever I still have everything stored on my
>>computer with everything backed up on a CD.  (Each
>>track stored separately)  I'll remix the track and
>>change the volumes or whatever and re-burn it to a CD.
>>
>>
>>Also, I don't save as MP3 due to the loss of sound
>>quality.  This means using two or three discs instead
>>of one but they sound much better.
>>
>>Jay
>>
>>
>>--- Michael C Lesko <MichaelL33@...> wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>Hi all,
>>>
>>>Ok, so we I got my SD-1, and before reading the
>>>manual, I went ahead and
>>>started programming all these 80's songs for
>>>my newly formed band of 30-somethings.  Anyway I set
>>>up each sequence
>>>differently, sounds are not on the same tracks,
>>>duplicated sequences when I could have just replayed
>>>them several times in
>>>the song edit mode - ah!  Funny thing is that
>>>the songs sound fantastic - perfect, really.
>>>
>>>Now I carefully structure my sequences with nice
>>>neat tracks that I can
>>>collapse down for a nice neat menu to run while I'm
>>>on stage when the band is ready (which the time is
>>>quickly drawing near)  So
>>>basically now I have a sets worth of sequences
>>>that I've got to clean up or do something with so I
>>>don't have to stop and
>>>load after each song.  Save recording everything out
>>>to mp3 or the like, is there anything I can do here?
>>> Perhaps there is a
>>>computer program out there where I can load my
>>>sequencer data into a visual interface and clean
>>>things up easier?  Perhaps
>>>some other way?  Any information would be
>>>greatly appreciated.
>>>
>>>Thanks
>>>
>>>Michael
>>>
>>>
>>>      
>>>