You’re over complicating it. It’s a recreation of one of if not the greatest dum machine of all time. For a cheap price at that.
The fact that you can sample is just a bonus
Well mine arrived and after a few hours playing with it I’m in two minds whether to return it or not. It looks like the firmware is very buggy at this stage. I’ve checked on synthtribe and it’s running v1.1.1/v1.1.2 which are the most upto date versions
It’s doing some weird things in relation to the banks specifically. I was able to change pattern 1, swap the instruments and step/real time programming etc and save it. Then I decided to try sampling and couldn’t for the life of me hear the incoming signal. I followed the instructions in the manual, watched a YouTube but alas although I could see a signal on the screen I still couldn’t hear anything. I tried all sorts including recording the signal anyway then all of a sudden I had audio. I sampled a few different instruments into an empty bank, swapped the factory sounds for my own in a pattern, all good. Then when I came back to sample more stuff into the same back no audio again… very infuriating
Also I put a couple of the factory sounds (a kick and a snare) into the same bank but then I found when switching patterns it would ‘drop’ the snare sound. The sample is there in the slot when you go to the samp box and switching it to another sample and back restores the snare. It doesn’t drop it every time. I’ve noticed it change other instruments when changing patterns too
I’m convinced these are just firmware bugs and when everything is good it sounds great. The UI seems fairly easy to get around in spite of the manual not explaining some stuff very well and I know there’s supposed to be an update imminent so maybe I’ll hang on for a short while
So all in all a mixed bag. The joys of early adoption I suppose
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That’s all very helpful to hear. Another thing if you return it, is that (from the look of things here in the states at least) you might not be able to get your hands on another one until June or later.
If it’s unusable as is, however, then that probably wouldn’t matter either way. At least, like you say, it sounds great.
Let us know if you come across any other funny business.
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Yeah I know, it’s a bit of a dilemma. Andertons still have them in stock (although by the time I’ve returned mine and they’ve assessed it or whatever) that might not be the case. I’ve not come across anything yet that would indicate a hardware fault (I was able to sample a chunk of 808/909 sounds from my TR8 into it) which leads me to think it’s either firmware related or operator error combined with not great documentation (I’ve followed the simple instructions in the manual to the letter multiple times). I just wish I know what I did to get the sampling working in the first place as I’m not averse to the odd quirk or workaround as long as I can get done what I want to get done if that makes sense?
On a more positive note the thing is nice and solid. The sliders feel nice and smooth with positive detents on the pan ones. The pots feel good to me, not stiff but not as freely moving as the ones on the Modal stuff which I personally don’t like. The shafts have got a bit of wobble but no more than any of their other stuff and it’s not an issue for me. Pads feel okay and are responsive. The buttons feel a bit more positive than the ones on my RD-8.
The menu isn’t as unintuitive as it would first seem with not having an encoder per icon like the Elektron stuff. There’s a big flashing arrow next to which ever icon is selected and it’s pretty quick and intuitive to use the buttons around the encoder to navigate. The tap button is used for a fair few things depending on what menu you’re in. For instance the encoder above it controls the tempo but holding the tap button and turning the encoder allows you use the encoder to change swing %, probability % etc. I was scratching my head and had to look up how you applied swing etc as there’s no legending on the panel to indicate it. Like wise you use tap+yes to audition sample and because of their placement it’s a bit awkward
Sounds are solid imo. The TMC sounds are a nice bonus and are very usable. Each set of instrument specific samples are in a bank which isnt tied to a pattern… so with a pattern running you hit bank then pad 1 - 6 to change from LM1 to LM2, LM9, DT, SDS and TMC ‘kits’. The under lying pattern keeps running but the instruments change. I don’t know if there’s a way to do it the other way where you could tie a set of samples/kit to a pattern? So pattern 1 plays LM1 samples and pattern 2 plays LM2 for example. In theory I suppose you could use a separate bank, load it with what you want from the default ‘pool’ and assign instruments on a pattern specific basis but I haven’t tried that
If you’re familiar with the RD stuff the wave designer, filter and note repeat/step repeat are exactly the same. The tap button doubles as a shift button for the solo and mute sections too
It’s prob worth pointing out that although you can load different samples to different pads (or prob more accurately channels) there are some limitations. For instance you can put a hi hat on a Tom channel (for dedicated pitch control for example) but it’s not gonna sound like a hat anymore! I think this is because the channels with dedicated controls for pitch (such as the Toms and congas) are running through analogue filters and vca’s voiced for their original purpose and that’s the same as the OG AFAIK. That’s just a limitation of following the original design. But it is open to a bit of creativity if you choose the samples you put though those channels with that in mind. Hats for instance sound like someone hitting a bit tin can through the high tom channel but sound fine on the snare channel (albeit in an un gated way as the dedicated hi hat decay control is for the hi hat channel)
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Behringer reminds me of Philips: good hardware, crappy firm/software. They should be able to hire some capable firmware developers with UX experience though, and fix this issue.
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That looks like it deffo addresses some of the issues I’ve had with mine. Looks like they’ve updated the Synthtribe App too. The version I’ve got on my desktop crashed so I’m hoping that’s been addressed too
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Further update… I downloaded the new version of synthtribe to my desktop and updated the firmware on the LM. Synthtribe still crashes if I try to import .wav files into it, either as a batch or singularly. I’m running an old version of OSX (Sierra 10.12.6) on the desktop but there were no compatibility issues when I downloaded the app and everything else appears to work (I can perform a factory reset of the LM from the app and it doesn’t make the app hang up like it did on the previous version)
I’ve got a Mac mini running High Sierra (10.13.6) and I’ve downloaded the app onto that. I intend to stick some .wav files on that and see if I can import files into the app on that. The file sizes are all small and well under the LM limit of 1Mb
The sampling issue still remains tho. More accurately I’ve got no audio when preparing to sample into the LM. I’ve got visual feedback that the signal is getting in and if I select a spare bank, hit record and sample the incoming audio it’s is there, I can edit it visually (but still no sound) and I can save it. I should be able to preview the sound by hitting Tap + Yes while editing it. Only then can I trigger it with a pad and hear it. To recap what I’d said earlier it did work on one occasion and I was able to sample in a load of single drum hits from the TR8 so I know it’s not a permanent hardware issue as it has worked… once
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So downloaded the app to the newer Mac mini and it’s just the same. As soon as I try to upload a sample into the app it just crashes.
I’m beginning to wonder if there is some issue with the LM… for the app to run the LM must be connected and I’m wondering if it’s corrupting the app in some way? I read other people (@goony) have been able to upload wav files with it so for it to crash on two different machines with the same LM attached deffo points to the LM for me.
@goony did you try sampling anything into yours yet? I’d be interested to see if yours works fine in that regard
Don’t rule out hardware issues. They really push the limits of price/value ratio. I love my RD-9 but it’s got a quirk where the ride cymbal is not audible through the main out so I have to either use the ride out or the headphone out.
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Any thoughts on the sound of the thing, issues aside - does it have that 12bit crunchy punch you in the face thing going on?
(Sorry your having issues btw - that sounds real buzzkill and quite the norm these days sadly)
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It never rains as they say…
I got a second LM delivered today while they’re still in stock. Unboxed it, plugged it in to check the sampling was working and it appears fine. Updated the OS to the latest version then set to work on the latest track I’ve been working on. Pressed play on the DAW, no audio out of the desk? No probs, I’ll shut everything down and restart my Mac. Except I got the spinning beach ball of death when I logged back on.
I’ve tried everything; reset the NVM and PRAM, tried to boot in safe mode and eventually got it to boot in recovery mode. Did first aid on the disk, all okay (for what that’s worth!) but I still can’t get it to boot up. I’ve not backed up for a while and have got a load of projects/samples/wavs etc on it. Ill doesn’t come close.
My last hope is a docking station I’ve ordered that’ll take the 3.5” drive. I’m hoping once I get the existing drive into it and hook it up to my mac mini I’ll be able to access it and at least drag some stuff off it. I had a MBP die on me years ago and I pulled the HDD out of that, put it in an external USB caddy and it’s still working. I’m hoping this one will be the same
BTW I’m not claiming any of this is to do with the LM drum. The iMac has dropped its USB connection to the desk a few times recently
Needless to say I’ve spent the day so far wrangling with computers so I’ve not touched the LM drum
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So after the computer nightmares I’m back to square one
When I tried the second unit on sat I got audio coming in
Sat down tonight, sampled a couple of synth sounds, saved the samples, built up a pattern, tried to sample some more material and hey presto, no audio coming in. I can only think it’s when I put some of the factory sounds into the same bank? It’s really frustrating me now… nothing I do seems to resolve the issue, a factory reset doesn’t erase the samples I made… it clears the bank but leaves them in the pool
If any of you guys who’ve got one could help me out I’d really appreciate it… I’m gonna have to send both units back at this rate
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Seems like the synth gods are giving you signs – the implementation is immature and buggy, return it!
Life’s too short to mess around with half-assed implementations from major manufacturers! You can re-purchase it six months or a year from now if they get their act together.
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I don’t have one, but as you describe this happening to both synths in the same way, that reduces the likelihood of a hardware problem considerably.
Speculation, that you have found a specific path from factory install to cause this. What is sometimes called an init state error. That sort of thing is more difficult to test for in that typically testers would be working beyond this point, and would be unable then to replicate. Just a theory, but i’ve seen such a sort of thing on systems i’ve worked on, with a vulnerability in the init state.
Returning these units to test should a) confirm whether or not there is a problem, and b) if there is, it should point them to the likely cause of the problem and how to fix it.
No help from me really. The problem you have is getting past the layers to someone at Behringer that has the knowledge.
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Did you play with the “auto-save” setting that goony was talking about a couple of days ago? When attempting to delete the factory patterns he said he was unable to get rid of them unless auto-save was turned on.
Not the same but suspiciously similar to you being unable to delete your samples so you might give it a try.
The other thing I might do is see if the synthtribe app has an option to unload your samples, if you’ve been able to access it successfully since your last posts about the troubles that is.
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Guys, you’re gonna love this…
You need to have the click fader up in the mixer section to hear incoming audio. I posted on the FB LM Drum group and got a response off one of their team in under half an hour.
I think this conversation should be pinned in the Embarrassing thread. What a dope I feel!
Thanks for your replies and suggestions.
From now on just call me Terry Two (LM) Drums…
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All the better.
This should point them to adding a line or two to the manual’s troubleshooting section. You are not the only one that this has happened to.
Now what do you do with two LM Drums ?
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I know! In fairness the guy on the FB group copied the mixer section of the manual in his reply, I guess the moral of the story here is RTFM back to front. I just kept going over the sampling section and couldn’t understand what I was doing wrong!