Analogue-sequencer

Folks,

I've uploaded the current beta build of the P3 firmware to Yahoo
files.
This build includes quite a number of additions and some changes to 
aux events. I'm putting this build up for comments, it's not yet the 
current release version.
The main thing I'd like feedback on is the changed aux events...

As I mentioned before, all the 'grab ... trk n' and 'swap ... trk n' 
aux events have been replaced in this build with a single 'grab' 
and 'swap' event, plus there is a new 'push' event that behaves like 
grab in reverse.
These new events hold both the target track number *and* the type of 
data to be moved in the aux value itself.
For example, you might assign 'grab' to aux A, then have a value on 
step 1 of 'note, track 2', on step 2 of 'velo, track 3', and so on.
To make it easier to select track numbers, the knobs 
will normally only cover the range of track numbers for the type 
already set on a step. To access all possible type and track 
numbers, hold FUNC while you move the knobs. To set the same type 
across all steps quickly, use SCULPT upper.

The advantage of these revised events is that they have freed up 21 
event slots, so I can add more events in future.
They also allow you to grab different types on different steps of 
the 
same aux, which I've found can be interesting.

The disadvantage is that existing patterns using the grab or swap 
events will need to be updated.
The next release of P3Tools will do this on a whole dump, but if 
you're going to test this build, back up your pattern data 
beforehand.


Additions in this build include some new user conf options:

'no ANO on stop' defeats the sending of 'all notes off' messages P3 
usually transmits when you hit stop.

'P3 Remcon RX' and 'P3 Remcon TX' enable reception and 
transmission of P3 remote control messages.
The midi channel for remote control is set using the normal midi 
chan soft key, along with step key 10.
So far, I've only implemented a part select control message for test 
purposes. Only people with 2 P3s will have a use for this.
I'm going to add various other remote control options soon.

'Sticky keys' modifies the behaviour of the FUNC, PLAY/EDIT and REC 
keys in play mode, so that you can use them one-handed.
Try it out, and you'll see what it does...

Also new is a 'set tempo' aux event.
Should be fairly obvious what that one does.

Cheers,
Colin f

--- In analogue-sequencer@yahoogroups.com, "colinfraser_com"
<colin@c...> wrote:
> Folks,
> 
> I've uploaded the current beta build of the P3 firmware to Yahoo
> files.
> This build ....

> Try it out, and you'll see what it does...


will do! sounds great Colin.

grtz Chiel

just installed it and gave it a go;
-remote control works fine, although i'd prefer to be able to send
independent part-change messages and not have the 2nd P3 just follow
the 1st... but i realise this is all still in an early trial stage.
- the grab, swap & push events appear to work fine as well. i like the
way you've added an extra option to the events with the FUNC key, as
it makes it clearer when you're using the knobs to edit the event. i
think it might also work quite well for the masking events; for
instance you'd have an event "mask AUX D, Kn" and by holding the FUNC
key while turning a knob you could choose between Kn>N, Kn<N and Kn=N.

grtz Chiel

> -remote control works fine, although i'd prefer to be able to send
> independent part-change messages and not have the 2nd P3 just follow
> the 1st... but i realise this is all still in an early trial stage.

Indeed. I put the basic framework in for handling remote control messages,
but it's really only at the test stage so far.

> - the grab, swap & push events appear to work fine as well. i like the
> way you've added an extra option to the events with the FUNC key, as
> it makes it clearer when you're using the knobs to edit the event. i
> think it might also work quite well for the masking events; for
> instance you'd have an event "mask AUX D, Kn" and by holding the FUNC
> key while turning a knob you could choose between Kn>N, Kn<N and Kn=N.

Remember that the grab, swap and push events are just one event each - the
values for each event include the type (note, velo, etc) and track number.
Since the type is part of the value, it can be different on every step.
So it would be a bit different to have FUNC+knob changing event types for
mask events, as that change would affect every step, though it's possibly a
useful shortcut for event selection.
One of the other ideas I'm considering to simplify event selection would be
to use the step keys to select event groups, and the data knob then to
select from the events within that each group.
It can be pretty tricky to find the event you want from the 100+ options
scrolled through with the data knob.

Cheers,
Colin f

Hello everyone,

is anybody else having trouble uploading the new v3.1005 Beta to the
P3. I finally got around to it last night and after 3 attempts i gave
up. Everything seemed to be ok right up till the end where i got the
message BAD DATA! It's nothing to do with my connection because i was
able to send the old OS no problem.

Any ideas what my problem is?

I'm going to try downloading the file again just on the off chance the
file was corrupted during download. I'll let you know how i get on.

Cheers,
Tom






--- In analogue-sequencer@yahoogroups.com, "Colin f" <colin@c...> wrote:
>  
> > -remote control works fine, although i'd prefer to be able to send
> > independent part-change messages and not have the 2nd P3 just follow
> > the 1st... but i realise this is all still in an early trial stage.
> 
> Indeed. I put the basic framework in for handling remote control
messages,
> but it's really only at the test stage so far.
> 
> > - the grab, swap & push events appear to work fine as well. i like the
> > way you've added an extra option to the events with the FUNC key, as
> > it makes it clearer when you're using the knobs to edit the event. i
> > think it might also work quite well for the masking events; for
> > instance you'd have an event "mask AUX D, Kn" and by holding the FUNC
> > key while turning a knob you could choose between Kn>N, Kn<N and Kn=N.
> 
> Remember that the grab, swap and push events are just one event each
- the
> values for each event include the type (note, velo, etc) and track
number.
> Since the type is part of the value, it can be different on every step.
> So it would be a bit different to have FUNC+knob changing event
types for
> mask events, as that change would affect every step, though it's
possibly a
> useful shortcut for event selection.
> One of the other ideas I'm considering to simplify event selection
would be

> to use the step keys to select event groups, and the data knob then to
> select from the events within that each group.
> It can be pretty tricky to find the event you want from the 100+ options
> scrolled through with the data knob.
> 
> Cheers,
> Colin f

--- In analogue-sequencer@yahoogroups.com, "arp1618" <tm29@s...> wrote:
> Hello everyone,
> 
> is anybody else having trouble uploading the new v3.1005 Beta to the
> P3. I finally got around to it last night and after 3 attempts i gave
> up. Everything seemed to be ok right up till the end where i got the
> message BAD DATA! 

hi Tom,

i've had a similar problem during FW uploads in the past, although not
while uploading the v3.1005 build. in my case there was something
weird going on between my PC and midi-patchbay (Roland A-880). it was
resolved by rebooting both my PC and the midi-patchbay. dunno if this
helps...

grtz Chiel

> is anybody else having trouble uploading the new v3.1005 Beta to the
> P3. I finally got around to it last night and after 3 attempts i gave
> up. Everything seemed to be ok right up till the end where i got the
> message BAD DATA! It's nothing to do with my connection because i was
> able to send the old OS no problem.
> 
> Any ideas what my problem is?

Check whether the BAD DATA appears at the same block every time.
It could be a bad block in the CPU flash, in which case, I'll swap it out
for you.
This has happened to one other CPU.

Cheers,
Colin f

Hello all,

just to let you know that i have now successfully uploaded v3.1.005 to
my P3. The error was in the download. When i downloaded the update
again i noticed it was a few kmore than my first download.

I like the way the grab/swap events are bundled. I think this type of
bundling events together would be great for other events too. First
example that springs to mind is the mute trk n and unmute trk n but
i'm sure there is more.

Cheers,
Tom


--- In analogue-sequencer@yahoogroups.com, ch.³l <oozi@o...> wrote:

> --- In analogue-sequencer@yahoogroups.com, "arp1618" <tm29@s...> wrote:
> > Hello everyone,
> > 
> > is anybody else having trouble uploading the new v3.1005 Beta to the
> > P3. I finally got around to it last night and after 3 attempts i gave
> > up. Everything seemed to be ok right up till the end where i got the
> > message BAD DATA! 
> 
> hi Tom,
> 
> i've had a similar problem during FW uploads in the past, although not
> while uploading the v3.1005 build. in my case there was something
> weird going on between my PC and midi-patchbay (Roland A-880). it was
> resolved by rebooting both my PC and the midi-patchbay. dunno if this
> helps...
> 
> grtz Chiel

hi Colin,

i've had a chance to play around with the latest build by now;
- firstly, thank you for adding the red LED indicator for the playlist
step currently being editted in playlist-edit mode. it clears it up
for me a great deal.
- secondly, the 'PUSH' event pretty much does what i was asking for
before with my suggestion for the 'grab all auxes' event... but i'd
still like to see a 'push all auxes' event, as i find myself using a
"push AUX C" event on AUX A and a "push AUX D" event on AUX B, which i
experience as wasting an AUX... 
- lastly, there's no trouble with one-step playlists not resetting any
more. thanks!

grtz Chiel

> I think I misunderstood - I thought you wanted the actual events 
> from another track to apply to the current one, not just that you 
> wanted to pull multiple aux values.

i think you got it just fine. for example, i've now got a pattern on
track 2, with all 4 AUXes set up as "AUX note REL". in track 1 i have
a pattern with AUX A set as "PUSH AUX C to trk 2", AUX B set up as
"PUSH AUX D to trk 2", AUX C set up as "MASK AUX D, Kn>N" and AUX D
set up as "SET NOTE". this allows me to have a 5-note polyphony on
track 2 where the AUX C setting on track 1 lets me mask one of the
polyphonic notes of track 2 with the lower knob 1, and the AUX D
setting lets me alter the notes originally in the pattern on track 2.
pretty much just what i asked for; that the actual events from track 1
are forwarded to track 2, so i have more than 4 AUXes per track available.

> Did you notice there's one type free in the grab/swap/push values ?
> I suppose 'aux BCD' might be useful there. I could include A, but   
> since you need one aux to do the grab/swap/push-ing...

i did indeed notice, and i was hoping you were saving it for "aux
BCD"... :-)

grtz Chiel

> - secondly, the 'PUSH' event pretty much does what i was asking for
> before with my suggestion for the 'grab all auxes' event...

I think I misunderstood - I thought you wanted the actual events from
another track to apply to the current one, not just that you wanted to pull
multiple aux values.

> still like to see a 'push all auxes' event, as i find myself using a
> "push AUX C" event on AUX A and a "push AUX D" event on AUX B, which i
> experience as wasting an AUX... 

Did you notice there's one type free in the grab/swap/push values ?
I suppose 'aux BCD' might be useful there. I could include A, but since you
need one aux to do the grab/swap/push-ing...

> - lastly, there's no trouble with one-step playlists not resetting any
> more. thanks!

I did manage to sneak in a new bug though... with sticky keys off, play mode
record is broken.
I'll upload the release version of 3.1.005 with this fixed soon.

Cheers,
Colin f

> i think you got it just fine. for example, i've now got a pattern on
> track 2, with all 4 AUXes set up as "AUX note REL". in track 1 i have
> a pattern with AUX A set as "PUSH AUX C to trk 2", AUX B set up as
> "PUSH AUX D to trk 2", AUX C set up as "MASK AUX D, Kn>N" and AUX D
> set up as "SET NOTE". this allows me to have a 5-note polyphony on
> track 2 where the AUX C setting on track 1 lets me mask one of the
> polyphonic notes of track 2 with the lower knob 1, and the AUX D
> setting lets me alter the notes originally in the pattern on track 2.
> pretty much just what i asked for; that the actual events from track 1
> are forwarded to track 2, so i have more than 4 AUXes per 
> track available.

That's not what it does though... PUSH will just copy the values for the
auxes into the auxes on track 2.
...unless I'm very confused !

Your track 1 aux A doing 'push aux C to trk 2' will be writing the value for
aux C into the value of the 'aux note rel' on track 2 aux C.
Track 1 aux C will still be masking aux D on track 1, so the 'push aux D to
trk 2' on aux B will be writing the value from aux D track 1 to track 2, but
aux D on track 2 will be following the masked/unmasked status of aux D on
track 1.

But hey, if it seems to be working, it is ! ;-)
 
Cheers,
Colin f

Is there any software that can do what the p3 can do? Or would I have to 
build it in PD or something.
Not that I would choose a software version over the hardware as I love 
knobs. Just curious about the programming.

The closest that I've seen is Numerology on the Mac, and SQ4 for Windows.

-----Original Message-----
From: analogue-sequencer@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:analogue-sequencer@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf Of blixton
Sent: Monday, July 04, 2005 9:27 PM
To: analogue-sequencer@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [analogue-sequencer] Software


Is there any software that can do what the p3 can do? Or would I have to 
build it in PD or something.
Not that I would choose a software version over the hardware as I love 
knobs. Just curious about the programming.


 
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