Analogue-sequencer

--- In analogue-sequencer@yahoogroups.com, Jim Combs <jwcombs@b...> wrote:
> Hi!
> 
> I¹m looking at modules to hook up to my P3 and wondering what others
find
> are good compliments.

I use my P3 with a Waldorf microQ keyboard and Microwave XT which I
find to be a great combination - having the P3 firing random (I work
on the principle that anything completely random is likely to be
better than something I've tried to do deliberately) CC changes to
various parameters on them can give great results. I use this
alongside a Quasimidi 309 for drums and a Doepfer Regelwerk for that
bit of extra control which I generally find I don't have enough hands
left to take advantage of and that with a small mixer and a couple of
fx units is my entire studio. Pretty minimal compared with some of the
setups boasted here I know ;) 

How "small and tweakable" do you want? Once I've got a sound together
I find that I do most of the 'tweaking' in the sequencer so I don't
need a lot of hands on control for those parts; pretty much any half
decent synth which understands CC messages would do the job.

Hi!

I¹m looking at modules to hook up to my P3 and wondering what others find
are good compliments.

So far I¹ve used a Roland SH-32, which is not working out for me as the
architecture is a bit laborious for modifying things on the fly. And I¹ve
used my Kurzweil K2000 which was quite nice from a sound and architecture
standpoint. But I¹m looking for something small and tweekable. I¹m using an
Electribe ER-1 which works great for the electro drums.

I know Mr. Nagle is using a (Super?) Nova. How about others?

-Jim
 www.touchxtone.com 


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Jim Combs wrote:
> Hi!
>
> I¹m looking at modules to hook up to my P3 and wondering what others
> find are good compliments.
>
> So far I¹ve used a Roland SH-32, which is not working out for me as
> the architecture is a bit laborious for modifying things on the fly.
> And I¹ve used my Kurzweil K2000 which was quite nice from a sound and
> architecture standpoint. But I¹m looking for something small and
> tweekable. I¹m using an Electribe ER-1 which works great for the
> electro drums.
>
> I know Mr. Nagle is using a (Super?) Nova. How about others?

Hi Jim,

Try a Virus - it rocks!

Gert
www.waveworld.tv

Is the p3 good for drum machines and samplers?

Jim Combs wrote:

>Hi!
>
>I¹m looking at modules to hook up to my P3 and wondering what others find
>are good compliments.
>
>I know Mr. Nagle is using a (Super?) Nova. How about others?
>  
>
Actually, my fave collection of sequencing modules is:
Novation KS-Rack
Vermona PerFourmer
Korg ESX-1 (I sequence the two sample parts and occasionally some drum 
parts too)
Other Novations (K-Station, Nova, Supernova 2)
Monowave
Oakley Orbital
Digisound Modular
Access Virus
Roland V-Synth

Although the KS-Rack is at the top of my list - it suffers from one 
great flaw (one I'm embarrassed to say I missed when I reviewed it): it 
doesn't respond to MIDI program change! Yes, you read that right; for 
some reason Novation implemented a truly bizarre protocol just for the 
three multitimbral KSs - program changes are ignored unless accompanied 
by a bank select! I am currently pestering Novation to fix this because 
it means I have to manually select the performance containing each of my 
4 patches from the P3 and no other MIDI instrument since about 1985 has 
behaved this way (to my knowledge). The KS-Rack just happens to sound 
superb and it has a drum mode too which can be really handy. You could 
pretty much get away with a KS-Rack and a P3 in a little flightcase as 
your entire backing for a gig.
I pick the Novation stuff generally because it has effects on every part 
(without penalty, unlike, say, the Virus) so I can get the delay 
settings in particular set up so that each part complements every other. 
They also tend to have EQ, chorus, reverb, distortion so I can really 
set up my entire set with just one multitimbral Novation synth and my 
ESX-1 electribe. In conjunction with this the Vermona PerFourmer gives 
me hands-on analogue squelchiness for those times I don't want to 
prepare patches in advance. At home I use the less convenient to gig 
synths such as the Monowave (best bass I have), Orbital and Digisound 
for some extra spice. My second P3 tends to be used as a MIDI looper 
controllling the Virus and V-Synth - very often in this case I am 
sending loops of controller data to the synth and I play the keyboard 
myself as well as overdubbing loops to follow the main P3. It's one of 
the reasons I wanted the FTS settings transmitted from one P3 to another 
when we talked about remote control a while back.
OK, long dull answer from me as usual :)

Paul

-- 
---
Paul Nagle / Soft Room Music / Bogus Focus Records / Binar / Headshock / The Joint Intelligence Committee
        www.softroom.co.uk / www.BogusFocus.com / www.JointIntelligenceCommittee.com

hi Jim,

i'm using a Quasimidi 309 for drums & percussion, a Nord Modular
(classic) for synths and a Yamaha A3000 sampler for pretty much
everything else. all versatile machines that respond well to external
midi-control, which make them great fun to use in combination with a P3.

grtz Chiel

> Maybe not so good for drum machines because it's designed for mono 
> synth patterns rather than parallel drum patterns, but you can set up 
> a pattern using aux notes and put 4 instruments in a pattern.
> Samplers should be as much fun as synths ;-)

i've been using my P3's for drums from the start. since the Quasimidi
309 uses a midi-channel for each drum instrument (kick on 1, snare on
2, hihat on 3, percussion on 4) and accepts a wide range of
controllers it works fine for me, giving me a great deal of
versatility for my drums. for me, the 808-style sequencing with aux
tracks is fabulous. i use the auxes to send controllers like decay &
cutoff, or with masking events & accumulators or randomness to bring
more variation into the patterns. i guess it just depends on the setup
you're using. 

grtz Chiel

> Is the p3 good for drum machines and samplers?

Maybe not so good for drum machines because it's designed for mono synth
patterns rather than parallel drum patterns, but you can set up a pattern
using aux notes and put 4 instruments in a pattern.
Samplers should be as much fun as synths ;-)

I still have plans to do a percussion oriented sequencer to run on the P3
hardware (R3). Life got in the way a bit...
One thing that frustrates me using the P3 with my 808 and 909 is the fact
that I need to change patterns on 2 or 3 devices at the same time. When I do
R3, I'll be working toward a compatible memory layout, and support for
remote control messages so that a P3 and R3 can work together as an
integrated pair, syncing parts, banks etc.

Cheers,
Colin f

Reason 3.0 and my own modular.

Works really well for me.

A rather long example mp3, called Spiralling can be downloaded or 
streamed from here:

http://music.download.com/taklamakan/3600-8362_32-100710578.html

The P3 is used to create all the sequences and these are then edited if 
needed in Reason's own simplistic sequencer.

Tony

OK, this could be me, but I can't get Mackie Tracktion (a software DAW) 
to control my P3 sequencer.

Tracktion appears to be sending something out of its ports, but it 
doesn't seem right.

The P3 starts on time, but then its own clock is the determining timer 
and not Tracktion's. The two machines go quickly out of time with each 
other. Also, on pressing stop, Tracktion stops, but the P3 continues on 
at its own tempo.

Looking at the midi stream out of Tracktion with midi-ox I can see a 
'continue' signal sent when start is pressed in Tracktion. Shouldn't 
this be seen as a 'start' not 'continue'. Then a series of timing pulses 
which possibly are correct, but the fact that the P3 runs on its own 
tempo is very odd.

On pressing stop in Tracktion there is no stop command but the timing 
pulses do stop.

Now I thought the timing pulses should be present all the time, and 
start and stop commands should be sent by Tracktion only.

So is it Tracktion at fault, or have I got some weirdy with my 
system/understanding of midiclock.

Tony

> The P3 starts on time, but then its own clock is the 
> determining timer 
> and not Tracktion's. The two machines go quickly out of time 
> with each 
> other. Also, on pressing stop, Tracktion stops, but the P3 
> continues on 
> at its own tempo.

In the current release version, P3's auto selection of timebase doesn't kick
over to MIDI clock unless it receives a START.
Some recent sequencer packages seem to only ever send a CONTINUE, even the
first time they run in a session.
The latest beta fixes this, although I consider the use of CONTINUE without
at least one START in a session to be poor practice.

Best regards,
Colin Fraser
Sequentix Music Systems Ltd
http://www.sequentix.com

> In the current release version, P3's auto selection of timebase doesn't kick
> over to MIDI clock unless it receives a START.

Thanks for that Colin. That explains things then.

> Some recent sequencer packages seem to only ever send a CONTINUE, even the
> first time they run in a session.

Well you count Tracktion in the same subclass.

> The latest beta fixes this, although I consider the use of CONTINUE without
> at least one START in a session to be poor practice.

Indeed. But what puzzles me is the lack of a stop command as well. 
Tracktion is assuming the lack of a clock means that the slave unit 
should stop.

I have pinged the Tracktion forum about this and it'll be interesting to 
see what the good folks on there say.

Tony