Ahh but then again half the fun is misusing the gear innit
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Same reflection as some here, steep price, but I think that as it will replace a Launch a Control XL and a Blokas Midihub that I was āhackingā to do just a fraction of what this can do, it will be an instant buy for me, let me explain:
Having labeled safe fallbacks through snapshots, apex, exploratory snapshots on individual controls and ways to transition nicely in and out all on one controller sounds like god-mode without having to remember what every controller does, unless you have a super consistent workflow and never change your setup/controls to be able to use a simple midi controller.
I fear the Drop may take some fun and rewarding moments away when compared to being able to execute the same with your ten fingers natively on a groovebox like Digitakt. But to be honest, I canāt seem to improve on developing a good and diverse enough performance workflow using just Digi-boxes controls for live performance.
While thatās probably on me to practice more, the Launch Control XL + MidiHub already gave me a taste of what MIDI can do when programmed right and itās fun to have access to all macros that are buried in menus on the Digitakt.
Now it also seems from what I see that the Drop can be used as an instrument to compose with in the studio, while still allowing you to get into happy accidents territory live without the risk of a FUNC+NO . Take my money already.
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I see what you mean with the bloating of MIDI ports as, months later, I got into MIDI programming and yeah, itās trickyā¦
Thanks for the tip, I will definitely be on the lookout for reports of midi data overflow before buying it blindly. That could be a deal breaker for me.
It looks like they capped certain things like amount of CCs you can send per control (8), so there is hope that it has to do with keeping it under control, and maybe like you said, some options to decrease the rate of messages being sent when the controller moves fast, when not using USB MIDI.
Cheers!
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Iām working on a Drop template that hopefully should work for every āsongā:
- Encoders are mapped to things like modwheel, expression, etc. I take care of programming macros per-patch on the connected synth itself (nord lead or digitone, for example). That way controls arenāt specific per song
- Since itās possible to combine and layer different drops, I programmed them limited to only certain categories of functions. The bottom row only launches various fader scenes, the top row only launches various encoder scenes, etc. That way, I can combine and recombine on the fly, which still does feel creative!
- i had the same thought, but with a relatively complex setup, my drops and transitions just werenāt hitting consistently and I always felt I needed two additional hands to get the right timing. i often forgot to move something in the heat of performance. or i remembered, but the timing was just off. TBH even with Drop, thereās still plenty left for my two hands to do!
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also on that note, while my Iconnectivity MioXM is out (Drop can do filtering, remapping, rerouting, etc), I did just order a Blokas Midihub, due to my Nord Leadās midi being quiteā¦ quirky, and some weird program change bugs from Oxi One.
The Drop canāt do advanced conditional logic, operations, or transforms like the Midihub. Together theyāll be a powerful pair!
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no doubt, while I am not sure I will be keeping the Launch Control XL, I definitely love the Midihub for all the possibilities it offers, from upgrading old gear by turning mono to poly, to turning anything into a controller on steroids.
The only downside to me, are the rabbit holes it gets me into, nerding out and trying all sorts of combos and automations instead of jamming, but I guess that is MIDI in general for youā¦ kinda makes me contemplate the āsimplicityā of a performance mixer, just working with audio FX. like an Octatrack.
Weāll see if the Drop will keep me having those thoughts, though I assume its scene FX fader features might also make the Octa a great box to pair with the Drop.
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For me, the hardest thing of transitions isnāt the buildup towards the drop, but the drop itself: you need to reset a lot of parameters at once.
This device seems to be able to handle both very well. However, I prefer to use the controls of the synths/drum machines themselves for buildups, and I figured that Iād better just program some automation (or send a program change message to reload the patch) from my Hapax to program in the drop.
Either way (using the Drop or just use automation in my Hapax - except when using program changes) I have to predetermine which parameters I want to automate. This kind of kills a big part of the fun, as you canāt improvise too much anymore. Say for example I suddenly feel adventurous and want to morph the sound into something totally different by tweaking some obscure parameters, I canāt do that if i didnāt program the Drop to automate those parameters back to ānormalā. Or am I missing something?
So I think sending program changes to reload the patch would give you the most flexibility, except that not all synths handle program changes instantly and most will cut off envelope or fx tailsā¦
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You could limit yourself to Modulation (velocity, aftertouch, modwheel, breath, pitch), and such, the āamountsā per parameter are in the Elektron boxes, the modulation amount would come from Drop. This how Iād be using somethin like The Drop.
J*
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Yes, I love this idea for program change to reload patches - then you can really go wild in the moment and not just with predetermined macros.
Drop can send program changes to reset patches on scene launch, but that only works if you create specific banks or scenes per song. Same with Oxi or Hapax I assume.
For a more generic way to trigger patch reload, I thought about feature requesting āprogram change increment + program change decrementā, but thatās not an existing midi command I know of. Elektron has pattern reload but thatās only triggerable manually with FUNC+NO.
Iām 99% sure this can be achieved with a Midihub - you get the midihub to store the last recalled P.Ch, then convert a desired incoming message (you can set up an unused CC or note on the Drop for example) to trigger an increment+immediate decrement. Depends on whether your specific gear can handle fast program changes. I think Nordās are famous for lightning fast program change responsiveness, so I might be good here.
For not cutting fx / tails, just use external fx to mask the transition if you canā¦
This thing looks really interesting. You can also sequence the snapshots externally, that means itās possible to do intricate and complex Elektron style p-locks. My Faderfox PC12 is starting to sweat.
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I see preorders on Perfect Circuit, the price is a little steep compared to Thomann
Noisebug actually has two in stock but theyāre even slightly more expensive then PC ($999 vs $969)!
Damn it looks like itās already available on Thomann !
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Price has changed at Juno UK it was Ā£685 but now itās Ā£854 
Ā£709 at Thomann UK
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Still pricey I had it in my account at Juno UK as a pre order at Ā£685 but they changed the price only today
The Drop is now in stock at Thomann!
Hopefully my preorder will now be processed asap 
When I talked to them at Superbooth they said it would be 800ā¬ so I assumed it would also be Ā£800, so itās nice that itās a bit lower due to the exchange rate. TBH from everything I saw itās definitely worth that price tag. Itās a very capable device and has way more day one functionality than I would have expected.
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Iāll grab one maybe next month. I donāt actually need one just yet Iām waiting for the Erica Synths Hexdrums first and I need my power supply for my FX pedals but after that then this will complete my small setup 
Looking forward to see it in action. Any videos?
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