Korg Poly800/EX800 Users

On Wed, 12 Nov 2008, Michael Hawkins wrote:

> i) I plan to implement an arpeggiator with features somewhat similar to 
> a cut down version of the Kawai K5000 arp. Obviously how much "cut down" 
> depends upon time and my inclination to do it which depends upon 
> musician input and how much pizza and beer is provided. :-)
================

http://optimolch.de/jens.groh/K5000/GregWaltzer/egw/equipment/k5000arp.htm

that sounds... ambitious. the more of a good job you do implementing it, 
the more i'm afraid of how bad the UI will be ;)


> ii) Route the sequencer to VCF cutoff, resonance or EG1/2/3 attack (with 
> the sequencer notes either playing or not).
==================

overkill. see below about the sequencer.

as long as velocity can be routed to amps, filters, etc (envelope 
parameters would be nice, but IMHO not crucial) then a *reasonable* 303 
emulation can be done with the hawk-800. *BUT* the hawk-800 will never 
~really~ emulate a 303 because, among other things, the filters are too 
different. so... i say do what's reasonable, but don't go overboard trying 
to turn the hawk-800 into a 303 emulator.... make it do some of the 303 
tricks (apparently it already does!) and support for a velocity/accent 
(which i think it can do?), but then let people use it for the 2 DCO, 
2/4-pole DCF, weird ENVs, 4(?!?!) LFOs, 21st century firmware/hardware 
modified 80s geek synth that it is. the world does *not* need another 303 
emulator.

to emulate a 303: all non-accent notes have a velocity 1. all accent notes 
have a velocity 127. edit a patch so the velocity makes it a little 
louder, opens up the filter a bit, and if it implemented, shorten the 
filter-env attack (or something like that, it's been a while since i 
studied the 303 schematics).

personally, i don't want a 303 emulator, as such. it would be nice to have 
those features available so i could use it as a hawk-800 that's just that 
much funkier, and be able to program ~other~ "accent" and/or slide style 
tricks. ya know, not the kind of things where people hear it and say "that 
sounds almost like 303", but they'd say "holy shit! that has a 303 kind 
groove, but how the hell did he do that??"


> iii) Provide multiple sequencer patterns that can then be sequenced in a 
> user set order.
===================

no comment. see below.


> Now the big issue here, is that the ARP will take a lot of work and I 
> have it as the highest priority of things to do. But the question should 
> be directed to HAWK-800 owners as to what they would rather see first. 
> ARP or better sequencer? Since I think using a Poly as a sequencer is 
> just plain silly ( :-) ), that is why I chose to work on the ARP first. 
> I do know that I would like to have points ii and iii though because 
> they would make a really bad sequencer - well - a little less bad.
======================

i'd rather see a good arp, and don't care about a sequencer. but... maybe 
an arp can be a mini-sequencer too?

good hardware or software sequencers are easy to find and cheap. the same 
cannot be said for good arpeggiators. my logic, then, is that nearly 
anyone with the resources to get a hawk-800 should have the resources to 
find a suitable external sequencer. the same does not apply to a good 
arpeggiator. so (IMHO) the hawk-800 should skip the sequencer and focus on 
the arpeggiator.

maybe a good feature that would blur the line between a mini-sequencer and 
an arpeggiator would be this: enter a series of notes that can be played 
back entered. program arpeggiator functions. then (per "sequence") assign 
a value that determines what percentage of the notes are arpeggiated. 
so... select a "arp" value of zero and the notes play back as entered; 
select an "arp" value of 99 and all of the notes are arpeggiated; select 
an "arp" value of 50 and each note has a 50% chance of either playing as 
entered or being arpeggiated. i'm not sure if the hardware can handle that 
(we've already discussed the random generation issues of the CPU) but it 
might solve the "arpeggiator or sequencer" question.


> Anyway, the bottom line is ARP or sequencer features - which to do 
> first?
=================

arp.


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