Analogue-sequencer

Another point is that I'm willing to spend that money with Colin because he has a great track record of updates, service, and support. 

That is not the case with certain other sequencers that, while atrractive in features, I wouldn't touch due to the poor company history for support. 


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Seems like a great estimated price to me. I'm standing by with cash in hand.

>>Another point is that I'm willing to spend that money with Colin because he has a great track record of updates, service, and support.<<

I'm sat here with another h/w sequencer that I dropped a grand on (clue- not octopus- that works fine!) & it's been raxed for over two years. communications with the builder have ceased to be productive. when it WAS working, it offered about 1/5 of the functionality, if these things are quantifiable in such terms, of the p3, for twice the price. not to mention the real-estate it chewed up.
I'm having another look into its insides now- bad soldering may be stopping it from booting, I reckon- but I'm this close [holds thumb & forefinger an imperceptible distance apart] to lobbing it into the nearest canal. only WEEE prevents this.

david, if you're reading this, I'd appreciate you dropping me a line at some point.

duncan.

If the Octopus is anything like the Nemo I'm surprised by the statement
"that works fine". :)

I found the Nemo nothing more than a hugely frustrating, albeit very pretty,
box of tricks that I could trip up almost without trying. Luckily ebay saved
me from an expensive paper weight.

The Z-word was (is?) a fine looking machine and the footprint you have is
now discontinued. May be worth a pop on ebay even if it isn't working.

Some sad fucker was asking 9K for a Monome 256K recently on ebay. Needless
to say it didn't sell, but it is indicative of the stupid prices the
rare/vintage synth market seems to be trying to convince itself are viable.
15K BIN for a minimoog is another recent classic, which actually sold for
2.5K after 3 months and multiple relistings. 

And don't get me started on Jupiter 8's lol. :D

> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: analogue-sequencer@yahoogroups.com 
> >[mailto:analogue-sequencer@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of duncan
> >Sent: 13 June 2010 16:53
> >To: analogue-sequencer@yahoogroups.com
> >Subject: [analogue-sequencer] £1k (was Cyclon sticker shock!)
> >
> >>>Another point is that I'm willing to spend that money with Colin 
> >>>because he has a great track record of updates, service, and 
> >>>support.<<
> >
> >I'm sat here with another h/w sequencer that I dropped a 
> >grand on (clue- not octopus- that works fine!) & it's been 
> >raxed for over two years. communications with the builder 
> >have ceased to be productive. when it WAS working, it 
> >offered about 1/5 of the functionality, if these things are 
> >quantifiable in such terms, of the p3, for twice the price. 
> >not to mention the real-estate it chewed up.
> >I'm having another look into its insides now- bad soldering 
> >may be stopping it from booting, I reckon- but I'm this 
> >close [holds thumb & forefinger an imperceptible distance 
> >apart] to lobbing it into the nearest canal. only WEEE prevents this.
> >
> >david, if you're reading this, I'd appreciate you dropping 
> >me a line at some point.
> >
> >duncan.
> >
> >
> >
> >------------------------------------
> >
> >Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >

>>If the Octopus is anything like the Nemo I'm surprised by the statement "that works fine". :)

I found the Nemo nothing more than a hugely frustrating, albeit very pretty, box of tricks that I could trip up almost without trying.<<

well, then, maybe the nemo was as bad for you as the zeit has been a waste of itself for me, though I suspect you are referring to perceived shortcomings of the O/S or interface rather than a definite hardware problem. :-)
my octopus, a very early one, has two significant issues, besides the relatively high cost of entry.
 
one is the very steep learning curve, especially now that there are 3rd-party versions of the o/s. gabriel & marcel always said it was their intention to go down this route, rightly or wrongly. if I spend more than a few weeks away from it, I forget how to drive it. it really is a complex beast. & very good-looking. here, it has that elusive quality of being approved of by the mrs, along with my big tannoys & an elderly revox A700. lucky me. :-)
(she likes the red perspex P3 too, btw. the notrons stay in their boxes, though)

the second is a more esoteric problem to do with midi timing; in short, the midi data leaving the octopus is "early" with respect to other midi sequencers in my set-up. I can fix this with an aftermarket hardware delay, but it's maddening all the same.

I don't know what you mean by "trip up". did it crash or lock up on you? the octopus has never done this to me, although several users have had a scare with o/s updates when the rubric was misunderstood. I went though this myself, but recovered the machine with a USB-as-serial port terminal session; the genoqs site had the whole process detailed with screen shots. fabulous.

by contrast, I have sent david every scrap of data I have about the fault with this big blue paperweight. upon reloading the "factory presets" just now, I watched my name go past in the display amongst the other beta testers. somewhat ironic.
it did work for a little while, but stopped after being carried gently from one side of the room to the other. on boot-up, the o/s loads properly, but then reports "f9 (fd)". 
after a short wait, it responds to button pushes with the message that the board bearing that button is "unplugged", which is obviously bonkers- how does it know I'm pushing "note adjust" if board 7 is unplugged?

um.... but this is colin's pub. we shouldn't be discussing the beer in david's pub while we're in here. :-)
if you can share any "geordie-school" experiences with me, maybe we should take it offlist.

duncan.

duncan wrote:

> um.... but this is colin's pub. we shouldn't be discussing the beer in david's pub while we're in here. :-)
> if you can share any "geordie-school" experiences with me, maybe we should take it offlist.

Dude, I reckon I owe you a public apology for helping you up that 
particular ladder. :(

-- 
Paul
---
http://www.softroom.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/WilyEPeyote

>>Dude, I reckon I owe you a public apology for helping you up that 
> particular ladder. :(  <<

totally cancelled out by your insistence that I go down the P3 route, after that gig in leicester or wherever it was. 

anyway. I was a bit annoyed yesterday & posted a lot of bad stuff about david. I want the thing to work; I'm sure it has its moments for other people, & if nothing else it ought to be operational if I decide to move it on. I spent many frustrating hours on it yesterday, trying to diagnose what is plainly a problem with the main board recognising the peripheral hardware. now I have more data for david. fingers crossed.

d.

Hello Duncan,

Would you be talking about the Zeit at all? I also have one, and I am  
at odds with it.

Best, Chris

 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Chris Green
chris@tinybubblesmusic.com




On Jun 13, 2010, at 11:52 AM, duncan wrote:

 >>Another point is that I'm willing to spend that money with Colin  
because he has a great track record of updates, service, and support.<<

I'm sat here with another h/w sequencer that I dropped a grand on  
(clue- not octopus- that works fine!) & it's been raxed for over two  
years. communications with the builder have ceased to be productive.  
when it WAS working, it offered about 1/5 of the functionality, if  
these things are quantifiable in such terms, of the p3, for twice the  
price. not to mention the real-estate it chewed up.
I'm having another look into its insides now- bad soldering may be  
stopping it from booting, I reckon- but I'm this close [holds thumb &  
forefinger an imperceptible distance apart] to lobbing it into the  
nearest canal. only WEEE prevents this.

david, if you're reading this, I'd appreciate you dropping me a line  
at some point.

duncan.






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

>>Would you be talking about the Zeit at all? I also have one, and I am at odds with it.<<

indeed I am, chris. care to elaborate on your grievances? :-)

are you in touch with david at all? I know he's in FB sometimes, somewhere, but I'm loathe to go down that route for support on this expensive & non-func lump of kit.

d.

(everyone else- sorry for the list-polluting...)