Do anyone of you use it ?
Here’s a detailed video, interesting functions
This little box is intriguing me. I think that it can be nice to combo it we a little mono synth and be introduced in my gear set as little variation department and improvisation loops.
I would like to know how the product is now (OS problems, midi reliability, and usability)
Thanks for any information or link.
Bumping this up as I, too, have the same questions. I’m intrigued by it and am curious how the reality is now that it’s been out for a while.
like you guys I was always interested, but couldn’t really find as much youtube/userfeedback as I wanted…
well one appeared locally for less than half price so I kind of impulse-bought it, when I checked ebay prices for used stuff and saw that this was a great price …so it was a risk free purchase since I could make my money back easily if I don’t like it.
i have only had the opportunity to use it for about 20 mins, but this weekend I will get a chance to properly make some of my own patches with it - and test its midi capabilities (i.e controlling it by midi).
i’ll let you know what I think after some proper testing… my first impressions aren’t stellar (balanced against $300 new price tag), so it is probably only fair I really get to know it first before speaking on it.
in the meantime, if you happen to have any specific queries that I can answer I will do my best. otherwise, stay tuned and I will come back to this thread in the future after I get some proper usage under my belt.
I look forward to your report! The YouTube demos/videos I’ve seen have been underwhelming to what I expect in my head. But maybe it’s just not an easy thing to demo (can sound a bit boring on its own, can get buried in a mix with other gear).
What I liked in the big Switched On Austin demo was the bit about the Rhythm changes. But they quickly fixate on a constant rhythm for the rest of the demo and I was more interested in how sparse it could go and how natural that sounded (ie, for pinging a pad/bell synth at slower intervals for background texture).
I also liked its ability to flip between multiple midi channels - still playing one at once, but being able to randomly choose between them. I’m not sure if you can test this, but my question about this feature was about is random mode: does it randomize between all 16 channels, or just between the three other channels on the display? Glancing at the manual addendum (I think this was a later feature) didn’t make this clear.
I had a lot of fun recently with StepPolyArp on the iPad and just quickly changing channels between a bass synth and a couple of leads, and this feature seems similar.
I just got a MachineDrum (haven’t even gotten it home yet to play it) and am looking for something that could site alongside it to do things like basslines or background ambience on other synths that can change over time with some interactivity, but without a lot of pre-programming or constant interaction.
Bloopity - have you gotten a chance to use it more? How do you like it?
I glanced through the manual again and have answers to a couple of my own questions: the ability to flip between midi channels randomly or based on theme, velocity, etc, is between 1 and 16 and not from a user-determinable set of channels. That doesn’t really work for my setup, but I imagine it could be slightly entertaining with the Volca Sample’s midi-channel-per-track setup.
Now what I’m trying to figure out is if the Zillion can modify a melody that’s playing through it. I know its Program feature has a ‘global transpose’ but I couldn’t tell if that allowed modifying a melody playing through to get transformed. I know there are some little midi boxes that can do this and they may be what I want instead… I dunno. I kindof do like the idea of using Machinedrum and its midi sequencing for my Evolver and maybe having the Zillion handle bass line duties on something simple like the Meeblip Anode or my limited modular setup.
I’m trying to understand how it function really, seems to be a kind of midi instrument that must be played in live. The changes in the algorithmic progression are impulse and directed by the user.
It’s a kin of soloist midi instrument.
Think that can be very fun to reccord midi session in other gear.
I’ve read in another forum that external Transpose was not in order to function. Seems to be OS problems.
Well, I’m very interest in that piece of gear.
No more users here.
Well I’ve got one on order. Not quite sure yet when it will show up but am curious to see how it goes.
Cool.
Tell us about it when it arrived.
I’m waiting for my last two synth to be sold, and i take one.
I grabbed one of these little bad boys last year. It’s great fun, if a little randomly hit and miss!
You can indeed alter the melody as well as global transpose and scale.
I’ve been driving my Tetra and 106 with it and you can get some very funky basslines going flipping between velocities and swing settings and altering the pattern lengths.
As I said, by the very nature of it, the randomness can soon get out of control (half the fun of it!), but when you hit that sweet spot, it’s got a fantastic groove.
I’m still completely flumuscked by the shift registry but i’m sure in the hands of a more competent user, one could really make the most it it.
All in all, I have a lot of fun with it and lots of very happy accidents.
From my own experience with the zillion, it’s a fun piece teamed up with an elektron device (keys in my case) to feed midi/record midi data across the different tracks for very interesting results. The four buttons for four midi channels works very nicely with the four tracks on the AK.
Your posts, guys, confirm my thoughts.
I need this funky sequencer.
Got mine home tonight. It certainly is funky. It’s too early to know and I think I may have brought a bit much on myself trying to learn the Evolver, Machinedrum, and now the Zillion at the same time
Anyways, here’s something I captured quickly tonight on my second run-through with the Zillion. Sequencing the DSI Mono Evolver Desktop and a custom patch. The Zillion doesn’t offer much in the way of CC sequencing, but it can send separate velocity values which I route to one of the oscillator frequencies on the evolver.
Oh man. Finally got the Rhythm turned to a slow pace tonight and have the Zillion running the Waldorf Streichfett with some big reverb and long releases on the Streichfett’s two voices. Instant beautiful ambient.
Hello Jshell, so did you play with it ?
Or are fighting with MD ? 
News from your practice with Zillion ?
I’ve got a Zillion for sale. Like new condition. $200 US lower 48 shipping only.
I bought it last summer. I went eurorack in October and my random source is now a wogglebug module, so I have no need for the Zillion anymore.
PM me if your interested.
I’ve played with it but haven’t been able to dedicate a lot of time to it. To be honest, I’m not sure how I feel about it, but I think I need to hit ‘reset’ on the unit and try some other settings. I also have a little track I’ll upload later that I made with the machinedrum, Op-1, and Evolver.
Where I’m feeling a bit frustrated: gate times seem way too short. There is a ‘hold’ option in the Rhythm section but I haven’t determined when it kicks in. This makes the generated sequences feel much more staccato than I’d like. Even in sparser rhythm settings (turning the 0-255 ‘probability’ number to below 80), it emits more bursts of pulses than I’d like. Kindof like the Wogglebug actually. When the probability number is turned up, I do seem to get better holds but then I’m up to really understanding how the other two values on the Rhythm page work so that I can get the more sparse rhythms that I want.
I really wish it had an internal clock divider so it could more easily play slower sequences while being clocked by the Machinedrum.
Among better points - it is very playable and is meant to be played, not just left to run. But understanding how the counters and shift registers may affect things probably takes a fair amount of time just playing with it. Which I think is why I need to reset it from how I currently have it set up so I can work through understanding the components that go into how the melodies, rhythms, and velocities are generated.
I think it can be used to modify an existing melody - it can take a note on its selected MIDI In channel and use it as the ‘global transpose’ feature. It has an “External Notes” feature in its sync settings that I haven’t tried - that might be the option I’m looking for to ‘take an existing sequence and modify it’ but I haven’t tried using that feature without the clock/sequence running.
I have had some fun plugging into less conventional gear, like the Microgranny.
And I’ve gotten some decent results from playing the Zillion and recording its midi into the Volca Keys (letting the Volca loop the recording and build up a poly sequence from mono input) or doing something similar with the OP-1 (sequence the OP-1 via Zillion, record a couple of layers of the sequence onto tape). Those features can be used to build up more layered recordings than its monophonic output can produce, and then you have something usable and repeatable that still has the stochastic quality of the Zillion.
It’s OK for its price. It’s great for its size - a very useful utility module to have around, for sure. Understanding how the generators work is where it gets a bit difficult and the documentation is a bit sparse. It really encourages experimentation - which is good - but isn’t very helpful in getting unstuck when it’s generating patterns you don’t really like.
I think it could be a bit of fun with the Monomachine but I just got my MM last night and … well, I think it might be a while before I can get to this combination. So much new stuff, all of it quite deep!
Now that I have some food in me and am a little less crabby, here’s the latest example of it. Machinedrum on beats.
The quieter pulses are the OP-1. I used the Zillion to record a sequence onto the OP-1’s tape in a couple of passes. A couple of times I manually held down some keys on the OP-1 for this patch to swell up to its full pad. The more chimey sounds are the DSI Evolver and a custom patch that… well, it doesn’t sound quite right. Needs some effects on its own or … I don’t know. Doesn’t sound bad. But those sounds are being handled ‘live’ by the Zillion as this recording is running.
Towards the end, I switched the Zillion to sequencing the OP-1 again with the same sound as recorded on the tape, so at the end it’s layering nicely over the tape as a third layer, and then ends with just the Zillion running the OP-1.
Last one for the night - I did hit ‘reset’ on it, which is something the manual suggests, and tried visiting a few of the different settings like “Melody” and changing the values slowly, and bringing them back down to the defaults. I’m starting to understand it a little better. The Rhythm section still frustrates me but it’s also starting to become a little more clear.
It was really good to go back to a simple ascending scale and constant rhythm instead of the mediocre mess I had previously saved and kept as my starting point in recent sessions.
Really sweet to have done these experiments and take time to explain them.
My english is not very good so there’s a thing i didn’t understand.
You said the problem is that you cannot really control the note length (you talk about gate time) or I didn’t understand ? But when I listen to the track, there are some long notes… is that you played on the OP while OP running ?
I think you’ve got plenty to do with your new friends, not the least. So thanks a lot for all these informations.
I’ll stay tuned for next experimens.
HavFun