Xpantastic!

I recently got an Xpander, and although it's incredibly deep, six voices isn't much to play with.

Is there a way to pair up two Xpanders (short of hunting down a Matrix-12)? Or even more than two?

There are some references in the manual to using the MIDI ECHO function (see page 50). It seems like this would work, but I wanted to see if anyone has experience using multiple Xpanders in this way.

tyrosine wrote:
> I recently got an Xpander, and although it's incredibly deep, six voices isn't much to play with.
> 
> Is there a way to pair up two Xpanders (short of hunting down a Matrix-12)? Or even more than two?

I think a Matrix-12 only has 2 outputs, so don't get that instead of 2 
Xpanders!

> There are some references in the manual to using the MIDI ECHO function (see page 50). It seems like this would work, but I wanted to see if anyone has experience using multiple Xpanders in this way.

I guess just copy the tracks in your sequencer and use more than 1 USB 
MIDI interface. I have 4 (!) USB MIDI interfaces.

Cheers,

Jeremy.

I know you say "short of hunting down a Matrix-12", but honestly if you can live without the CV jacks, the M12 is the way to go if you want extra voices. The benefit of going the M12 route rather than 2x Xpanders is: 1) Saves space 2) All 12 voices will be calibrated within the same unit for consistency 3) Less hardware to worry about maintaining...I'm talking things like the displays, encoders 4) Has its own keyboard for immediate playing while tweaking sounds 5) Draws less electricity than two Xpanders.

Currently the M12 goes for about $4000 and a nice Xpander $2000, so if you are serious about buying a 2nd Xpander maybe you should consider selling yours and getting the Matrix instead...they are not that hard to find in nice shape.

Anyhow, just my thoughts having owned both instruments in the past and deciding to stick with the M12 because of the joy of having 12 voices under one hood.

Howie


--- In xpantastic@yahoogroups.com, "tyrosine" <nocontext@...> wrote:

>
> I recently got an Xpander, and although it's incredibly deep, six voices isn't much to play with.
> 
> Is there a way to pair up two Xpanders (short of hunting down a Matrix-12)? Or even more than two?
> 
> There are some references in the manual to using the MIDI ECHO function (see page 50). It seems like this would work, but I wanted to see if anyone has experience using multiple Xpanders in this way.
>

--- In xpantastic@yahoogroups.com, "Jeremy Smith BSc (Hons)" <jeremy@...> wrote:
>
> I guess just copy the tracks in your sequencer and use more than 1 USB 
> MIDI interface. I have 4 (!) USB MIDI interfaces.
> 

Thanks, but I want to actually play the instrument with more than six voices for writing music, not just for sequencing.

--- In xpantastic@yahoogroups.com, "Epoxy2600" <epoxy2600@...> wrote:
> I know you say "short of hunting down a Matrix-12", but honestly if you can live without the CV jacks, the M12 is the way to go if you want extra voices.

Perhaps... but as Jeremy mentioned, the Matrix-12 also lacks the individual voice outputs (unless I wanted to mod it, which is really beyond my interest).

--- In xpantastic@...m, "Epoxy2600" <epoxy2600@...> wrote:
> The benefit of going the M12 route rather than 2x Xpanders is: 1) Saves space 2) All 12 voices will be calibrated within the same unit for consistency 3) Less hardware to worry about maintaining...I'm talking things like the displays, encoders 4) Has its own keyboard for immediate playing while tweaking sounds 5) Draws less electricity than two Xpanders.

These are all good points – particularly regarding calibration and components.

But I'm still curious: would two Xpanders actually work together? I guess another example would be to use a Matrix-12 with an Xpander for 18 voices (literally, using the latter as an expander module – which was probably the source of the name, disregarding that the Xpander came out first).

Tony Cappellini wrote:
> 
> You're better off buying 3-4 Matrix 1000's, which do have a way to chain 
> them together.
> You can actually get a 36 voice polysynth using 6 Matrix 1000's,  for 
> less than the price of an Xpander.

The problem with a Matrix 1000 is you can't detune each channel. For 
instance, on the Xpander you copy a patch 6 times, make a multi with 
those 6 voices, then detune each of the 6 patches. Then you get a really 
layered sound.

You can't do this on the Matrix 1000 because it doesn't let you have a 
different patch per channel in unison mode.

Correct me if I'm wrong!

Jeremy.

I sold my Matrix-1000 years ago – sounds like a distant cousin of the Xpander, so not really an option.

The suggestion about copying a patch to six voices, then detuning each, is a great workaround for the lack of individual voice detune (on a single patch). I think that's available on the Matrix-12 but not the Xpander.

Thanks to everyone for the responses.

tyrosine wrote:
> I sold my Matrix-1000 years ago \ufffd sounds like a distant cousin of the Xpander, so not really an option.
> 
> The suggestion about copying a patch to six voices, then detuning each, is a great workaround for the lack of individual voice detune (on a single patch). I think that's available on the Matrix-12 but not the Xpander.

No, it is available on the Xpander, I've done it myself.

Cheers,

Jeremy.

Jeremy Smith BSc (Hons) wrote:
> tyrosine wrote:
> 
>>I sold my Matrix-1000 years ago \ufffd sounds like a distant cousin of the Xpander, so not really an option.
>>
>>The suggestion about copying a patch to six voices, then detuning each, is a great workaround for the lack of individual voice detune (on a single patch). I think that's available on the Matrix-12 but not the Xpander.
> 
> 
> No, it is available on the Xpander, I've done it myself.

Note: I meant copying the patch to 6 voices is possible on the Xpander 
and the Matrix 12.

But I agree the Xpander doesn't have the Matrix 12 feature you describe.

Cheers,

Jeremy.