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

Is it me or does this thing have a bad sequencer?...Everything I 
quantize is way off. I even tried to record a simple kick drum on every 
1/8 note and 4/8 note with the snare on the 3/8 note and 7/8 note, 
while quantizing it to 1/8 notes and it was still off...Am I doing 
something wrong? My stuff sounds better before I quantize rather than 
afterwards.

> Is it me or does this thing have a bad sequencer?...

No,its you ;o)

> Everything I quantize is way off. I even tried to record a simple    
> kick drum on every 
> 1/8 note and 4/8 note with the snare on the 3/8 note and 7/8 note, 
> while quantizing it to 1/8 notes and it was still off...Am I doing 
> something wrong? My stuff sounds better before I quantize rather than 
> afterwards.

What setting did you use to quantise the pattern?
Did you select the range of notes to be effected by the quantise?
Did you have the swing parameter set funny?
You can preset the quantise before you start entering notes in 
realtime, maybe you should choose 16th's or 32th's ?
Just an idea..

On Dec 1, 2006, at 11:37 AM, gonzinigonz wrote:

>> Is it me or does this thing have a bad sequencer?...
>
> No,its you ;o)
>
>> Everything I quantize is way off. I even tried to record a simple
>> kick drum on every
>> 1/8 note and 4/8 note with the snare on the 3/8 note and 7/8 note,
>> while quantizing it to 1/8 notes and it was still off...Am I doing
>> something wrong? My stuff sounds better before I quantize rather than
>> afterwards.
>
> What setting did you use to quantise the pattern?
> Did you select the range of notes to be effected by the quantise?
> Did you have the swing parameter set funny?
> You can preset the quantise before you start entering notes in
> realtime, maybe you should choose 16th's or 32th's ?
> Just an idea..

More importantly, what is the clock source - is it internal, or  
external? If everything is set normally but the clock is external it  
could be getting a poor clock signal.

Also, are you on OS 2.0? 1.x versions could be wonky here and there.  
2.0 is very stable, IMHO, and your symptoms are definitely NOT normal.

---
Mibrilane





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

> Also, are you on OS 2.0? 1.x versions could be wonky here and there.  
> 2.0 is very stable, IMHO, and your symptoms are definitely NOT normal.
> 
> ---
> Mibrilane

Were the pre V2.0 release's that bad? I must admit i updated to V2 
straight away when i got the XL-7.. bugs hack me off these days as 
companys seem to think its ok to leave gear in a less than stable state 
when it comes to firmware.  

I thought illess_01 brought a PX-7 but its a MP-7 now ive read the 
subject line again..

On Dec 2, 2006, at 9:43 AM, gonzinigonz wrote:

> Were the pre V2.0 release's that bad? I must admit i updated to V2
> straight away when i got the XL-7.. bugs hack me off these days as
> companys seem to think its ok to leave gear in a less than stable  
> state
> when it comes to firmware.

I had one 1.x XL that was a twitchy unit, though, which is why I  
asked. That machine had several things going on with it, so I'm not  
sure if it was OS buggery or something else. I haven't experienced an  
unstable 2.0 Command Station - they did a good job on that OS.

---
Mibrilane





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

> I haven't experienced an unstable 2.0 Command Station - they did a 
>good job on that OS.
> 
> ---
> Mibrilane

Im glad they pulled the stops out to get it sorted, there arnt many 
companys that would honour that one..
l'll never buy akai gear again for example because of past problems 
with their firmware on a few differant units..

>  > Were the pre V2.0 release's that bad? I must admit i updated to V2
>  > straight away when i got the XL-7.. bugs hack me off these days as
>  > companys seem to think its ok to leave gear in a less than stable
>  > state
>  > when it comes to firmware.
>
>  I had one 1.x XL that was a twitchy unit, though, which is why I
>  asked. That machine had several things going on with it, so I'm not
>  sure if it was OS buggery or something else. I haven't experienced an
>  unstable 2.0 Command Station - they did a good job on that OS.


When i got mine, it was still a 1.01 unit.  (iirc, it could have been 1.1)

It was quite stable, in that i never had it crash, but it lacked a lot
of cool features that makes stuff easy.  and copy to clipboard didn't
seem to work.

there may have been a few other things too, but that was the only one
i noticed :D


[zar]

Aaron Eppolito gets the props for that. He did a kick ass job.

And I think Sean Wilhelmson had a lot to do with convincing Creative
to bring him back to do 2.0.

It's too bad Creative bailed on the product so quickly. With a little
more patience they might have turned the Command Station into a hit
instead of the cult classic secret weapon it is.


--- In xl7@yahoogroups.com, "gonzinigonz" <gonzini@...> wrote:

>
> > I haven't experienced an unstable 2.0 Command Station - they did a 
> >good job on that OS.
> > 
> > ---
> > Mibrilane
> 
> Im glad they pulled the stops out to get it sorted, there arnt many 
> companys that would honour that one..
> l'll never buy akai gear again for example because of past problems 
> with their firmware on a few differant units..
>

On Dec 3, 2006, at 9:46 PM, robotchas wrote:

> It's too bad Creative bailed on the product so quickly. With a little
> more patience they might have turned the Command Station into a hit
> instead of the cult classic secret weapon it is.

Just think how amazing it would have been to combine the Command  
Station form factor with the E4 sampling engine to make a Sample  
Command Station. Such a device, with the 32-channel effects of an  
expanded Ultra sampler would blow away any of the Roland MC-x0x, Korg  
Electribe, Akai MPC, and Yamaha RS boxes.

Alas, it was not to be. I still wish someone could rework ELoader to  
work in OS X - it is, after all, a Java app, is it not? How hard  
could it be to adapt it for CoreMIDI?

---
Mibrilane





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

Yeah, the Sampling Command Station would have been AWESOME. And so
obvious, I can't believe they never actually did it.

I'd like to see an OS X E-Loader too. Has anyone tried running
E-Loader on an Intel Mac using Boot Camp? I got rid of my last OS9 Mac
a while ago, and these reports about problems with the WinXP USB
drivers are making me worry that I won't be able to use the Windows
version either...


--- In xl7@yahoogroups.com, Mibrilane <mibrilane@...> wrote:

>
> 
> On Dec 3, 2006, at 9:46 PM, robotchas wrote:
> 
> > It's too bad Creative bailed on the product so quickly. With a little
> > more patience they might have turned the Command Station into a hit
> > instead of the cult classic secret weapon it is.
> 
> Just think how amazing it would have been to combine the Command  
> Station form factor with the E4 sampling engine to make a Sample  
> Command Station. Such a device, with the 32-channel effects of an  
> expanded Ultra sampler would blow away any of the Roland MC-x0x, Korg  
> Electribe, Akai MPC, and Yamaha RS boxes.
> 
> Alas, it was not to be. I still wish someone could rework ELoader to  
> work in OS X - it is, after all, a Java app, is it not? How hard  
> could it be to adapt it for CoreMIDI?
> 
> ---
> Mibrilane

> Yeah, the Sampling Command Station would have been AWESOME. And so
> obvious, I can't believe they never actually did it.
 
Maybe an option would of been good with a sampling card that you could 
fit. Guess it could of tied in with the rom expansions to access the 
samples. I would of given up a slot to have sampling. 
Only thing is having a small LCD to edit and stuff (though i would do 
all that in a PC)

I would of like the possibilty of being able to make my own drum kits 
up by being able to assign my own samples or the internal to keygroups.
im not so sure about this fixed key mapping thing the XL does with 
kits. Had a sampling option been provided this would of had to of been 
implemented.
I like to have options..

> I'd like to see an OS X E-Loader too. Has anyone tried running
> E-Loader on an Intel Mac using Boot Camp? I got rid of my last OS9 Mac
> a while ago, and these reports about problems with the WinXP USB
> drivers are making me worry that I won't be able to use the Windows
> version either...
 
Sure my XL-7 works fine with win XP, ive used it ok on my laptop.
l'll try it again and report back.

--- In xl7@yahoogroups.com, "gonzinigonz" <gonzini@...> wrote:
> Maybe an option would of been good with a sampling card that you could 
> fit. Guess it could of tied in with the rom expansions to access the 
> samples. I would of given up a slot to have sampling. 
> Only thing is having a small LCD to edit and stuff (though i would do 
> all that in a PC)

I'd love to be able to stack a bunch of samples to get a drum sound
and then convert it to a single static sample, or sample my Virus and
leave it at home... More effects would have been great, too.

Oh well. I'd love to see a hardware sampler engine with lots of knobs,
PWM, FM or Phase Mod, oscillator sync, dual filters, faster envelopes,
lots of realtime effects, etc. But I guess the hardware sampler's day
is done.


> I would of like the possibilty of being able to make my own drum kits 
> up by being able to assign my own samples or the internal to keygroups.
> im not so sure about this fixed key mapping thing the XL does with 
> kits. Had a sampling option been provided this would of had to of been 
> implemented.

You can use the linked presets to  split/layer up to 12 samples, and
you can  tranpose each sample to put it on whatever key range makes
sense. I don't know if that helps you though - I don't even bother
with kits, since I put each drum on a separate track and turn
transposition off (so the notes are always on the same key and easy to
find).

> Oh well. I'd love to see a hardware sampler engine with lots of    
> knobs,PWM, FM or Phase Mod, oscillator sync, dual filters, faster  
> envelopes,lots of realtime effects, etc. But I guess the           
> hardware sampler's day is done.

Have a look at this. The same guy who was involved with quasimidi so 
theres some 309 and other stuff thrown in but with upto date hardware.
The 309 is great fun, program your own sounds though..

http://www.spectralis.de/

It samples i believe, ive not read about lately though.  

 
> You can use the linked presets to  split/layer up to 12 samples, and
> you can  tranpose each sample to put it on whatever key range makes
> sense. I don't know if that helps you though - I don't even bother
> with kits, since I put each drum on a separate track and turn
> transposition off (so the notes are always on the same key and easy 
to
> find).
 
I have played about with the layer and transposing things but i found 
it hard work to get what i wanted.
It didnt help at the time as i didnt have all the documentation on 
the roms i have in the XL-7, so its was a lot of looking for sounds..
Looks like its been done in a sensible manner by separating like 
stuff out though.
Im just used to being able to set what samples i want on what key, i 
find that a better way to work for me.
The command stations are very good at what they do, you cant have it 
all in one box and if you did something would suffer somewhere...

The Radikal Spectralis has been on my drool list for little while
now...I want to read a really good, thorough review of it before I can
even start thinking of saving money for one, though. 

Now if Access would add user sampling to the next Virus...

Back to the XL-7: Preset linking is clumsy, I agree. The ROMs I have
are pretty good at making everything available in a couple different
forms: in a kit, as a single sample stretched up and down the
keyboard, looped to make buzzes, even a couple reverse hits. The
Protean Drums ROM gives you all the individual velocity layers, too.
There are even some duplicate samples under different names, like
kicks showing up again in One-Shot Percussion on the XL ROM.


--- In xl7@yahoogroups.com, "gonzinigonz" <gonzini@...> wrote:

>
> 
> > Oh well. I'd love to see a hardware sampler engine with lots of    
> > knobs,PWM, FM or Phase Mod, oscillator sync, dual filters, faster  
> > envelopes,lots of realtime effects, etc. But I guess the           
> > hardware sampler's day is done.
> 
> Have a look at this. The same guy who was involved with quasimidi so 
> theres some 309 and other stuff thrown in but with upto date hardware.
> The 309 is great fun, program your own sounds though..
> 
> http://www.spectralis.de/
> 
> It samples i believe, ive not read about lately though.  
> 
>  
> > You can use the linked presets to  split/layer up to 12 samples, and
> > you can  tranpose each sample to put it on whatever key range makes
> > sense. I don't know if that helps you though - I don't even bother
> > with kits, since I put each drum on a separate track and turn
> > transposition off (so the notes are always on the same key and easy 
> to
> > find).
>  
> I have played about with the layer and transposing things but i found 
> it hard work to get what i wanted.
> It didnt help at the time as i didnt have all the documentation on 
> the roms i have in the XL-7, so its was a lot of looking for sounds..
> Looks like its been done in a sensible manner by separating like 
> stuff out though.
> Im just used to being able to set what samples i want on what key, i 
> find that a better way to work for me.
> The command stations are very good at what they do, you cant have it 
> all in one box and if you did something would suffer somewhere...
>

--- In xl7@yahoogroups.com, "robotchas" <robotchas@...> wrote:
>
> The Radikal Spectralis has been on my drool list for little while
> now...I want to read a really good, thorough review of it before I can
> even start thinking of saving money for one, though. 
> 
> Now if Access would add user sampling to the next Virus...
> 
> Back to the XL-7: Preset linking is clumsy, I agree. The ROMs I have
> are pretty good at making everything available in a couple different
> forms: in a kit, as a single sample stretched up and down the
> keyboard, looped to make buzzes, even a couple reverse hits. The
> Protean Drums ROM gives you all the individual velocity layers, too.
> There are even some duplicate samples under different names, like
> kicks showing up again in One-Shot Percussion on the XL ROM.

Looks like a lot of fun, not heard / seen one close up yet..

Just stumbled across this one, looks pretty mad..

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?
docid=1179567625633117422&q=synthesizer

I made the effort to get the protean rom when i first got the xl-7.
Luckly i found one at the time from thomann in germany for £65!!
I had a feeling roms would be hard to get hold of at some point so i 
made the effort to max the box out (though it came with 3 roms already)
Actually the drum mapping thing isin't such a bad thing as i will 
separate drum tracks up indivdually anyway so each sound can have its 
own preset if necessary.
Its just nice to keep all the drums on the same midi channel.