Emu XL-7 & MP-7 User's Group

Hi,

At hte risk of being flamed, I think you should also look at the Yamaha
RM1x, as you already have the ESi2000 and the RM1x is a very powerful
hardware sequencer that would work well with your sampler...

It's main strengths are that you can trigger 16 patterns, each made up of 16
tracks, on the fly and can also mute/unmute groups of tracks at the press of
a single button...

It has some very usable drumkits, especially the breakbeat and dnb kits and
their variations, and also features a complete GM set in addition to the
dance orientated sounds...

It has a floppy drive and loads SMFs, patterns or complete songs....

You can select patterns from other songs and play them in the current
pattern (although they won't play immediately - you have to wait until the
loop starts again).

You can have patterns of different lengths playing alongside each other (e.g
a 3 bar pattern looping over a 4 bar pattern). Patterns can be up to 256
bars long....

You can 'timestretch' the patterns in realtime (e.g. make them play at
half/double the original tempo).

You can chain patterns together, then record yourself playing over the top
of them in song mode.

All in all ,it's a very powerful piece of kit, especially if you use it to
sequence external gear such as your sampler. It's internal sounds aren't as
good as the XL-7, but are still usable and you get more variation, although
the XL-7 can be expanded to include other sound sets...

I come from an improvisational background myself, and after deliberating for
quite a while ended up with an RM1x rather than an XL7, partly due to price,
but partly because I felt the RM1x gave me more freedom of expression when
sequencing external gear (I use it with an EMu E6400 Ultra sampler with the
RFX32 expansion - an excellent combination). I think if the internal sounds
are important to you, then go with the XL-7, but if you are intending to
trigger other gear, then get the RM1x.

Regards,

Stu

(p.s. I have nothing bad to say about the XL-7 or its users, it's just the
RM1x suits my own personal requirements better and I can't afford both
unfortunately...)

  -----Original Message-----
  From: sincultura13 [mailto:sincultura13@...]
  Sent: 02 June 2003 07:28
  To: xl7@yahoogroups.com
  Subject: [xl7] Will a Command Station suite my needs?


  I'm mostly working with software sequencing these days, but was
  offered some live spots and want to see if I can find a way to
  translate what I'm doing on my computer for live gigs. The thing is
  that I don't sequence the whole songs in midi, but build block with
  loops I make by sampling myself playing, breaks, etc.. I do use midi
  but print to audio to sequence. Then I lay some track of me playing
  live all the way through and edit... My messed up NLDed brain tends
  to get easily overwhelmed with midi sequencing... I rather work with
  chunks instead of individual notes.  For the live sets, I was
  thinking of adding a DJ CD players and an effect unit to add to my SP-
  505 and ESI2000 but then Checking Musician Friends I saw the XL-7 for
  $500 which is a sweet deal. Is emu gonna stop making it? 'cause the
  MP-7 is still regular price... It occurred to me that I can load all
  the big loops to my ESI2000's 128mb of ram and sequence them with
  midi in Logic kinda like I do with audio....

  Here are some questions I have about the XL-7:

  1)USB: IS the USb reliable for loading SMF files from a computer? Can
  it load patterns, or just complete songs? If it doesn't load
  patterns, what's the step editing like? Is the memory that it comes
  with for patterns enough or do I need a flash ram card? It's wierd
  that it has no Floppy drive...

  2)ROMPLER: What's the sound rom like? IS there a list of the presets
  somewhere?I'm not into electronica, but don't want to pay extra for
  the MP-7 since I'm mostly using samples anyway. Does it come with
  acoustic drums and non Synth patches too? It'll be cool if I could
  use some of the onboard sounds especially with all those knobs to
  tweak! :)

  3)Sequencer: Does the sequencer let you mute/unmute any combination
  of the indivudual 32 tracks on the go? Can more than one pattern be
  played at the same time? I'm trying to figure out ways keep the vibe
  form my computer tracks... I never pay too much attention bars/beats
  (and use seconds/minutes and wave display on my audio sequencer as
  reference) and might feel constricted by that on the sequencer.
  Anybody who's has the same "problem", found a way(s) to work around
  this?



  I come from playing live instruments on improvisational settings...
  Any help, advice, suggestion regarding the Command Stations or any
  other possible setup for what I'm trying to do will be greatly
  appreciated...


  Thanks in advance...






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