Elektron Musical Instruments

What a great compilation of bugs and ideas!
I would like to add one more:
patterntempo
each pattern works best at a certain tempo. it would be great if we could s=
tore that ideal 
tempo with each pattern. Same is true for the monomachine BTW.

and i doubt that there will be a 909 hihat in the MD.
Roland has been kicking some peoples asses for copyright infringement latel=
y because 
they used some of their signature samples in a similiar product.
Propellerheads is the only exception because they got the permission when R=
oland wasnt 
really aware of the potential impact.
I wouldnt mind a couple of additional hihat samples though......;-)

Hans

--- In elektron-users@yahoogroups.com, "tahvenaine2002" <tahvenaine@c...> w=
rote:
> Ok, here it is again: 25 feature requests and 9 bugs. I added couple 
> of minor thoughts on the feature side. Read and comment! (to Janne: 
> Controller machines!! What a mindblowing idea!!)
> 
> Toni.
> 
> 
> [MD FEATURE REQUEST AND BUGS LIST V3]
> 
> [BUGS]
> 
> 1. SONG-SLOT REMEMBERED WRONG
> after a fresh restart of the MD, enter song mode then try to save the 
> song; regardless of which slot the song was originally saved to, the 
> MD will try to save it to the first slot; which pisses me off 
> enormously because I've lost at least a few songs when I wasn't 
> watching carefully enough (and didn't expect the bug)
> 
> 
> 2. THE FAMOUS MUTE-BUG IN SONG MODE
> In song mode, if the scale setup LED is lit for the second portion of 
> the pattern, then song mutes can't be changed; changing it to the 
> first portion of the pattern fixes the 
> problem (though clearly this isn't right)
> 
> 
> 3. LFO SPEED INACCURACY
> Another inaccuracy in the MD occurs in the LFO's at high speeds. 
> Here's an example using just 2 tracks. I set up the CH track to trig 
> on all notes (16ths), with no locks. Then, I set up one (and only 
> one) trig on the very first note of the OH track. I set up the LFO on 
> the OH track to modulate the VOLUME of the CH track. I use a 50/50 
> mix between a triangle and square LFO shape. I set the LFO to "TRIG" 
> mode, and set the depth to 127. Now I press PLAY and set the pattern 
> looping, and set the LFO speed to something slow (maybe9). Now just 
> listen to that loop, what you get is some nice modulation of the 
> hihat's volume. Because I've set the LFO to "TRIG", and placed one 
> trig at the start of the OH track, the modulation resets at the 
> beginning of each bar. This is a nice trick. Try tweaking the LFO 
> speed a little (still slowish) and you get different variations in 
> your hihat rhythm. The nice thing is that the modulation is not 
> random like when the LFO is set to "FREE". The modulation resets 
> every bar, so you get predictable results. Every time the pattern 
> loops it sounds exactly the same, as it should. However, here's where 
> the MD goes wrong: Try pushing the LFO speed up to 127. You'll notice 
> that with each loop some variations start to creep in. At the low 
> speeds every loop was identical, but at high speeds the MD can't keep 
> up (with whatever calculations its making), and so each loop starts 
> sounding audibly different. If you turn the LFO speed down, you 
> should be able to find the speed at which  the MD starts to return to 
> normal, with every bar sounding identical.
> 
> 4. TRACK CLEAR UNDO DOESN'T WORK 
> Fixing the track clear undo (which was implemented in the last OS 
> revision but never worked) would be a nice start though :)
> 
> 
> 5. PARAMETER LOCK ERROR WITH LINKED MACHINES
> Take one machine and link it to e12-machine (this is easiest to 
> hear). Now sequence the machine and e12 triggers nicely. Fine. Now go 
> to track with e-12 machine and put one parameterlock there with long 
> retrigs. Now play the original pattern and you should notice that the 
> e-12 machine stays on parameterlock after the seq has run over 
> parameterlock and it won't change to normal. This makes it impossible 
> to do velocity sensitive snareing with linkable snares, because when 
> you do parameter lock on original machine the second machine has too 
> much volume, ok you go to second machine track and fix it with 
> parameter lock and then the volumes stays there and the next snare 
> sounds wrong.
> 
> 
> 6. MONOMACHINE AND MACHINEDRUM MIDI LATENCY
> I've been building my homestudio and been trying to setup everything 
> to answer my musicmaking techniques. Ive setup the elektron gear this 
> way: Cubase SX sends midiclock to both units via RME hammerfall 
> midiport. With the midiclock it also sends transport commands (Start, 
> stop, continue). Then I I've setup Monomachine and Machinedrum so 
> that they receive transport commands, but do not use midiclock. This 
> way because I want solid bpm timing and I'm using songmode (chopping 
> patterns) a lot. So now I have dreamsetup where I can for example put 
> cubase to loop 8 measures and when I hit play from cubase, all 
> machines start ticking in sync and I can start sequnecing both MM and 
> MD. Well I almost have it and here comes the problem: I've noticed 
> and measured that Monomachine reacts to miditransport- command (play) 
> in about few ms (4.5 exatcly on my rme midiport). But in the 
> Machinedrum it takes about 25 ms!! So you can see it's reacting to 
> play command pretty slowly, which makes hard to do groovy hihats 
> (exepts if you want a really groovyones :) Is this something that 
> have been overlooked possibly or somekind of bug or just the way it 
> is and which can't be changed?? This is not a audiocard latency since 
> I've tried it with  1.5 ms latency from rme card and I can get tight 
> timing with Monomachine.
> 
> 
> 7. MACHINEDRUM TEMPO DRIFTING!!
> Machinedrum tempo seems to drift sometimes. It can be reproduced very 
> easily. Make up quite long song with different kits and patterns (you 
> can also set some offset's and mutes but maybe it doesn't matter). 
> Now if you want to record every single sound to it's own channel 
> throught MD Dynamix you need to mute other tracks than BD (for 
> example) and play song from start to end with computer (or something 
> else) recording it. Do record the BD two times with different tracks. 
> After something like 60 bars you start to see drifting of kick sounds 
> (and this happens when MD is Master!!). I've gotten over 30 ms 
> differencies at the end of files. I know it can't be perfect, but 
> this is just too much. Try recording snare and the hihats and you 
> will see (and hear!!) how they drift at the end of files!. Should be 
> corrected, if possible!
> 
> 
> 8. LOCK UP AFTER NOTE PASTE
> During note copy and paste I often get a lockup of certain parts. 
> Several parameters are highlighted on the pasted note and some mutes 
> don't work or sounds don't come out. This all happens after I copied 
> a note (which has some paramter locks of course) and just as I paste 
> it while in record mode and while the sequence is running.
> 
> 
> 9. INPUT MACHINES
> These could use some work. Sometimes I hear a sound when I think I 
> shouldn't like with the gated machine. Maybe an updated manual that 
> explains these machines better like you didwith the MnM. for example. 
> if I use a kit with an input machine and then switch to one that 
> doesn't have an input machine, I will still hear the input (usually 
> the Sidstation using the input gate!).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> [FEATURE REQUESTS]
> 
> 1. DIFFERENT ACCENTS WITH DIFFERENT TRACKS
> feature to adjust the accent parameter for each machine separately. I 
> might want to add accents to the hihats, but not to the bassdrum for 
> example. It would make the accent feature more powerful and usable.
> 
> 
> 2. INDICATOR OF PLAYING PATTERN
> A blinking led for the pattern wich is playing when pressing bank 
> select. That way you don't have to fiddle a knob to minimize the mute 
> screen to look at the tiny pattern number.
> 
> 
> 3. DIFFERENT STYLE OF PLAYING PATTERNS
> Id LOVE to see a way to jump to a new pattern without it being qued 
> for playing, so you could: Have A01 playing, copy it. Jump to A02 
> with A01 still playing, paste A01 onto A02. Make some changes, and 
> then switch playback to the new pattern in A02. Would be really handy 
> for live jamming
> [NOT POSSIBLE ACCORDING TO DANIEL!]
> 
> 
> 4. NEW GND-MACHINES
> I´d like to suggest the incorporation of new GND machines. More 
> specifically 2 new machines with pulse (with PWM if possible) and saw 
> waveforms. I guess these wouldn´t take up much memory since these 
> waveforms are already used as LFO modulators and they would increase 
> the sound possibilities of the MD a lot. Another one would be some 
> sort of color knob for the noise machine.
> 
> 
> 5. FINER NOTE LENGHT WITH MIDI MACHINES 
> I would love a finer setting possible for note length on midi 
> machines... the current setting is way to coarse for getting what I'd 
> like to.
> 
> 
> 6. SOME THINGS TO BE COPIED FROM MONOMACHINE
> Monomachine seams to have better EQ and Distortion. Maybe these could 
> be copied to MD also (especially the distortion, which seems pretty 
> weka now). Mono have better way of using Midi-cc's. Could be done 
> this way with Machinedrum also.
> [THERE SEEMS TO BE A LOT OF DISCUSSION OF THIS, MAYBE COULD BE DONE 
> BY SWITCHES IN GLOBAL MENU. ANY IDEA OF VOTING ON THIS (MAYBE NOT, 
> SINCE NOT EVERY USER IS HERE)? THE ISSUE SEEMS TO BE ON THE 
> DISTORTION, SRR AND EQ.]
> 
> 
> 7. TRX-B3 WITH PITCH ENVELOPE SPEED SETTING
> TRX-B2 is a very good kick-machine but with one flaw. The speed of 
> the pitch-envelope cannot be changed! It's is tuned way too slow and 
> you can hear the 'ziiuuupp' very clearly. Ok, somebody want's it and 
> some don't, but as I understand the machine is designed for special 
> type of kick (let's call it the 'oommmpphh' kick) and makes it with 
> really good hold parameter. I would like to see TRX-B3 with one 
> distortion-knob taken away and put ramp-speed knob instead. I think 
> molding the basic sound character (to fit the song) is way more 
> important and effecting it with distortion or something else.
> 
> 
> 8. SCREEN FOR MULTIPLE KNOB ADJUSTS!
> Imagine this in live-situation: A screen with one SRR, DELAY, AM, 
> DISTORTION AND FILTER. Every knob in postion 64. Now you tweak the 
> SRR to 96 and every tracks SRR value is moved +32, instat robo-
> electro. You tweak it back and everything is normal again. Try same 
> thing with delay, instat dub! Now tweak with you both hands, very 
> nice live-possiability!!! If this could be also controlled from it's 
> own track with parameter locks!!! Huh, what a machine!! This is 
> basicly the same thing that Monomachine does with its joystick. Maybe 
> this could be implemented to MD in a form of a screen, in which you 
> would enter by pressing [function]+extended (extended tweak!) or 
> something else! the tweaked values on such a page
> shouldn't be absolute, they should be relative. so they should all 
> start at 0 and then when you tweak SRR to 64, all machines have 64 
> *added* to their SRR value. this is more useful (I think) because if 
> a machine is set to 127 SRR and you start to tweak it globally, it 
> might sound strange (and be left set to the global value when you're 
> done doing global tweaks).
> 
> 
> 9. WAY TO CHANGE OTHER TRACKS VOLUME
> Press [function] and twist Level button and every other tracks level 
> is changed. Very handy in situations where you need more volume to 
> snare, but it's allready in maximum!
> 
> 
> 10. NEW MACHINES OF COURSE!!
> New machines would be nice as always. Anything. (There's been mention 
> of 909-hihats.)
> 
> 
> 11. BLANK PARAMETER LOCKS
> it would be SOOOO nice to be able to have parameter locks on any 
> step, like the Monomachine does. there's so many subtleties that can 
> be captured this way that cannot be done with note-only parameter 
> locks and slide. I know the issue with this is conveying which steps 
> have note trigs and which have parameter locks only, given that the 
> LED's are one color. but I'm sure there's a way to do it...
> 
> 
> 12. MORE INFO ON KIT LIST
> An important information is missing : at what pattern a kit is 
> assigned! Now if i want to erase some kit (for exemple when there is 
> no more free slot) i have to test ALL the pattern to check that I 
> don't make a big mistake, boring !
> It would be nice to press "function" on a kit (in the kit list) to 
> show a window with the name of all the pattern whitch use this kit.
> 
> 
> 13. CLEAR KIT ON KIT LIST
> Just like Monomachine has (or had?), it's basic function.
> 
> 
> 14. SAFE KIT SAVE/ERASE
> Add this kind of message when erase or save on an existing 
> kit : "Warning ! This kit is used by another pattern, are you sure 
> you want to do this ?" (I have messed a lot of pattern because of 
> that).
> 
> 
> 15. MORE INFO ON GLOBAL SETTING
> Add the possibility to name the slot of the global setting and when 
> pressing "function" a window show (just show) a list of all the 
> choice of this setting (more fast to check the global setting i need, 
> because after 3 month of using i can forget the setting i make)
> 
> 
> 16. SAVING OUTPUTS
> I would like to see some of the things in the global menu saved in 
> the kit. Especially something like routing outputs. It would be nice 
> to save it to each kit as a kind of option.
> 
> 
> 17. MIXER IN MASTER EFFECTS
> It would be nice to have just a master mixer menu to get all the 
> levels changed easily possibly in the master effects menu. Something 
> similar to the Akai mpc. Have the 16 parts in rows going across. Each 
> row has the bar for the volume like each machine currently does. Use 
> the encoder to switch between channels.
> 
> 
> 18. DYNAMIX NEEDS TO SHOW GAIN REDUCTION IN dB's
> Dynamix would be much more easier to use if it would show occurring 
> gain reduction in dB's somewhere.
> 
> 
> 19. MASTER EQ SHOULD SHOW FREQUENCYS AND dB's
> This could be implemented this way: you start tweaking the knob and 
> at the same time there popups a little sreen showing where you in 
> frequencys. You let off button and the little screen goes off. This 
> would be very nice.
> 
> 
> 20. LIVE MIDI NOTE RECORD
> This would be great. All you'd need would be for the MD to recieve 
> note information not length. It would make sequencing much easier.
> 
> 
> 21. CONTROLLER MACHINES!!!
> I want a controller machine, that is, a machine that can control
> parameters in other machines. I want to be able to assign whatever 
> parameters from other machines to the knobs of the controller 
> machine. This way you can choose to create a minimixer, filter 
> sweeper, whatever. Configure which machines and what parameter to 
> affect on some pages, let the first one be the actual
> tweaking page. This would make both machines even more live friendly.
> Very attracting suggestion!!
> 
> 
> 22. COMMENT ROW IN SONG EDITOR
> When doing lots of offset's and stuff or repeating lots of same 
> pattern in song editor, it can become quite unclear where you are at 
> the song. Monomachines way to display current bar is ok, but there 
> could also be something like 32 Comment rows. No need to type here 
> anything, they could be named like "Comment Row 1" and "Comment Row 
> 2" and so on. The point is that these row don't do anything. MD jumps 
> over them, but with them you can set for yourself some landmarks, 
> like "I know the tracks mood changes after Comment Row 5", so it 
> would be very easy to see where you want to edit your song.
> 
> 
> 23. LFO TRIG TYPES
> It would be cool if MD would also have trig-types like "One" 
> and "Half", like Monomachine have. Also it would be _really_ usefull 
> to have lfo-waveform, that starts from parameters current value (like 
> pitch =23) and goes from there to maximum or minimum, depending how 
> much depth you dial. I've understood that there isn't that kind of 
> waveform yet. (it's on Monomachine (ramp and trig-type half).)
> 
> 
> 24. ABILITY TO SET HOW KNOBS WORK
> In global menu: push-to-smooth-change or push-to-large-change. People 
> could pick what they want.
> 
> 
> 25. REVERSE CURRENT TRACK OPTION
> With [Function] + Left/right you can `rotate' the current track (in 
> record mode of course). It would be cool to use [Function] + up/down 
> arrows to reverse trigs order (turn the track backward, but play of 
> course would go forward). Good creativity choiche for making 
> different variations of one pattern. For example turn hihat's other 
> way around, or snare or something and then continue from the new 
> freshstarting point.