Master hardware midi sequencer for live use? recommendations?

The Lounge Other Gear
#21

I hadn’t thought of this, I’m going to have a look at that as a standalone route…

I got excited at the Ableton/LPP route as a way of having my AR/A4/DN sync’d for changing patterns en-mass (as an Ableton scene) or independently in session view.
It takes 3 tracks in Ableton/3 channels of an LPP, and you have complete flexibility to jump around anywhere you want to on the Elektron devices. You just need to watch for the ‘CH’ settings, they all need to be the same… it’s a pain, but I make sure every one is set to 16 for one bar, which keeps it in line with Ableton’s launch quantisation.

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#22

i actually do have an iPad! the only annoying thing with the iPad is you cant charge it and use it for MIDI at the same time? well not that I am aware of. It only has 1x usb C, so providing its fully charged then absolutely thats an awesome idea.

#23

Hey CCMP, what does LLP stand for? thanks for the tips regarding CH settings. :+1:

#24

Not in my experience.

I have OT master, DN slave, TR8-S slave.
Works perfectly.
Also DN master TR8-S slave. Works perfectly.

When I had DN +DT combo. Worked totally fine.

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#25

LPP- Novation Launchpad Pro

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#26

You’re one of the lucky ones then. :+1:

EDIT- that’s not meant to sound snipey, I’m personally past the point of expecting my Elektron devices to handle these duties, and I’m ok with it. I still think they’re superb.

#27

I too think this overstates the problem.

Elektron’s system isn’t perfect but it does work for a lot of cases and is worth manually testing with your set+techniques before you go buying new gear.

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#28

Maybe not but certainly in mine. There is acknowledged bug about this from Elektron too, there is a thread on this forum (at least one) which catalogues the many people who have had issues with this.

Specifically in this case, and generally in life, when someone has an experience that is counter to your own it is best to look at yourself as fortunate, its just nicer.

Sure, but if you want to do anything with track lengths etc then it doesn’t work.

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#29

I’ve got an USB adapter for my iPad, which allows charging and using USB in parallel. With this I can connect to an USB-MIDI compliant box and charge the device.

AFAIK some of the iConnectivity interfaces provide also charging of and using the iPad.

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#30

fantastic info - i’ll look into iConnectivity devices. :+1:

#31

Midi Designer is Insane!

#32

Just a little update, the Master/Slave where by the slave is set to receive prog changes and master sends them, I had to set the program channel iirc that’s what is was called, so ch 16, works like a charm. So far I can’t see an issue yet with this…

I might still yet go for an external pad midi sequencer so I can sequence more complex changes, perhaps… after all I do need to sing as well…

I did want to ask one last thing, I can’t work out for the life of me, the difference between

CH.LEN & M.LEN

Well I know M.LEN is the main pattern length, and so far I have got it todo all I need, bars of 7/5 and 5/4 for example with out touching CH.LEN, so what does it stand for and what impact does it have?

Oh shit! I just realised as typing, is it CHAIN length??

All the best
Pete

#33

Correct.

I have both my elektron machines to ch length 128. (I like to work in 8 bar phrases)

As for the uneven track length thing that people say doesnt work. Im working on a track today, that has a 60 step pattern on one of the digitone tracks. The others are all either 16, 64, or 128. I can change to and from that pattern with no hiccups at all. So I dunno?

Glad you’ve got it working.

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#34

Well, it is working, from a control perspective just fine.

I can’t get the CH Length to work as I think it should.

If I have a repeating pattern built around MLen of 112, I would of thought setting CH.Len to 224 would loop it twice in chain mode?

64/64 1/2 224 112

But it doesn’t … any ideas?

#35

CH.LEN is, I thought, “change length”. It’s the number of steps after which the sequencer will change to the next pattern.

When you have an M.LEN of INF, typically when you’re playing with polymeter, the sequencer doesn’t know when the pattern is “done”, so it can’t change to a new one unless you hit stop. So you can set CH.LEN to be “how long’s the pattern when I’m changing it”.

If anything it’s LEN/M.LEN that’s the weird one. It actually means “how long before the pattern restarts”. That’s the same as the sorta casual meaning of length unless you’re using polymeter.

Polymeter is kinda like multiple time sigs in parallel. So you actually need to tell the sequencer “this is 4/4 not that weird 13/16 bit I have going on here, pretend that’s bot a thing” (or the other way round).

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#36

Hey Octo -

so, if you set M.LEN to INF, then you loose your short "special length pattern, as its that parameter thats makes my 7 bars of 4/4, set to 112 - if you set that M.LEN to INF then it just goes back to 8 bars of 4/4.

so my current thinking is that CHANGE LENGTH doesn’t work for odd bar counts…

maybe i’m wrong…

#37

i think i’m going to get an external midi sequencer and just bosh this program changes to both units as and when its required - in fact thats what I am going to do… sod it… wheres my bank card!

#38

M.LEN, as @Octagonist said, is the master ‘reset’ length, so if you’re using polyrhythms of different lengths, they’ll reset at the value you set. Setting it to INF(inite) will maintain the polyrhythmic counter-rhythms throughout.

CHange then dictates after how many steps your pattern will change from when you give the command.

I usually set mine to 16 (1 bar) because that’s familiar to me from Ableton, and if I have a 64 step/4 bar pattern, I’m comfortable giving the command during the fourth bar, if that makes sense.

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#39

Ok I think I just be obtaining my 7/4 bar length the incorrect way then… as I’m using M.LEN to do that…

Hmmmm ok I’m not sure how else I would do that…

I’ll give it some more thought …

Thanks though :pray:

#40

That’s fine if it works for you.