Pioneer Toraiz SP-16

Just saying it’s from Musikmesse 2016 so 1 YEAR AGO … so next time people say something about Elektron launching a prototype or an unfinished product remember this…



William, did they fulfill their promise on the fx?

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there’s always only 1 FX opposed to 2 FX as it’s planned (proof just before) and only 10 FX (since February 2017 so 10 month later) against 18 FX planned as it’s on the picture I take

So 1 YEAR after the TORAIZ don’t look like what’s they Shown on audio event like Namm and Musikmesse
And for now until they unlocked it they no way to MIX and EFFECTED a TRACK at the same time you need to choose it’s EQ or FX… (you can of course SEND to 1 FX SEND or MASTER FX but that’s not the BEST)

So to REPLY : NO they didn’t
But they fulfill their announced Roadmap after the product launch on firmware upgrade planning for 1.1 - 1.2 and 1.3… 1.4 is not available and concerned only Live Looper Sampling

Anyway the TORAIZ is not launched the first day with all the functionality they Shown on audio event like namm and musikmesse which is not professional for people who spent 1699 euro in this gear.

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Someone told me : I’ve always bought gear for what it does now and not in the future. (good principle)
Starting to think if we’ll do that we are going to save bucks and don’t buy anything at launch.
As nowadays it’s a current practice… (and a bad one)

Btw i have no problem with products launched as it is with spec in mind, and when further it’s enhancements and new functionality as firmware upgrade like Elektron do. i really like this.

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Not there yet, I’m moving onward with Digitakt and Ableton by putting mine up for sale, effective immediately.

:upside_down_face:

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Price drop in many retailers is down to 1299 US now. For those who still want one.

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They should’ve had the price drop back in January, now potential customers flock to the MPC Live for DAW like features and 3 times the polyphony for less.

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Right now the main thing i’m keen for is a machine to loop audio clip preparations of mostly original tech house and trip hop genre. And re-time those loops impeccably. Checking out the Mpc Live, it became apparent the Pioneer Toraiz OS has come of age… Not as fully featured, but the sound and timestretching maybe slightly preferable - difficult to tell from online previews.

Also keen for the Digitakt conditional trigs, reverb and sound, so will most likely opt for a Digitakt to go with.

aware of the Toraiz’s 32 second sampling limit, but atm i don’t mind doing longer recording of synths or vocals to daw, then exporting sections to rework further in the Toraiz or Digitakt.

Is it possible to control the Toraiz with external midi to gain immediate access to all track levels?

Any user experience opinions most welcome …

quick question, is it possible to adjust the start point of an imported audio clip of say 8 bars in length on the Toraiz? I’ve looked around but haven’t found any info yet …

Message copy paste from Pioneer Toraiz forum. Someone as taken a new position on this forum and add extra-explications regarding this :

[details=Click here to read]Here is a brief explanation as to why we have chosen a 32 second sample limit.

When you receive the error message “CANNOT LOAD SAMPLE OVER 32 SECONDS”. This message appears when sample source files greater than 32 seconds in length are selected.

The SP-16 has 8GB of internal memory (flash ROM) and 256MB RAM for audio samples. The reason why we have limited the length of samples loaded is to ensure maximum performance utilising all performance features over all 16 TRACKS simultaneously. To switch between scenes whilst playing back the sequence, all of the samples used in the project must be loaded onto the RAM. Once above the 32 second sample length limit we start to jeopardise the performance of the hardware, hence why we need a sample length limit.

There are 16 TRACK’s and 16 SCENE’s, so in total there are 256 sample slots (16 x 16) in one PROJECT. The 256 sample slots share the 256MB RAM (without elaborating, 1MB per 1 sample slot). Here, we will calculate the the size of a 1 second sample as 44,100Hz x 3 Byte (24 bit) x 2 CH = 264KB. Note that some of these numbers have been rounded to the nearest whole number to make it easier to understand. 1MB divided by 264KB = 3.78 seconds. If you want to assign different samples to every TRACK in each SCENE, the samples have to be less than 3.78 seconds. Remember you have in total 256MB RAM to play with, so the previous is the most extreme. Generally, a project will consist of one shots and loops which are duplicates of other samples used across other SCENE’s. The total size of the samples exceeding 256MB is up to the user.

Next, we considered what the optimal and convenient length of a sample is. The SP-16’s pattern is up to 4 bars, so the longest loop is 16 seconds at 60 BPM. However, many users want to use longer loops and set the start/end point in the playback menu, for example, you could have a 32 second sample (16 bars at 120BPM) and select 8 seconds of that sample to create a 4 bar loop. Users would also like to record over 16 second samples, since recording guitars and vocals would require margins.

From the above reasons, we’ve balanced out the length and performance, choosing to limit the length of a sample to 32 seconds. Having said this, we are currently investigating how we can remove this limit but as its stands this is the current specification.[/details]

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I guess that part is what you interested in :

However, many users want to use longer loops and set the start/end point in the playback menu, for example, you could have a 32 second sample (16 bars at 120BPM) and select 8 seconds of that sample to create a 4 bar loop. Users would also like to record over 16 second samples, since recording guitars and vocals would require margins.

So, YES by adjusting start point/end point on that 32 secondes SAMPLE you can keep a 8 bars in length simply assure on the DAY or wave editor you match the 32 secondes limit according to the BPM

many thanks, although the question is more to do with customisable placement of the pulse of a loop. it’s about adjusting where the loop starts playback but not adjusting the entire length of the clip.

if a loop is 10 seconds long and the user would like to have the loop begin halfway through, or one second into the loop, currently there is no way to do this without truncating the entire loop length.

i would imagine this fairly essential loop work functionality will be in the next os update as they are working on a fairly substantial upgrade to the Toraiz sp-16 environment.

they work on a new firmware 1.4 and i’m really after it to see what they will bring on the table. and then i will decide if i buy a new one and this time to keep it ! because i fall in love with the general sounding of this gear. If they bring a Memory management or at least a second FX2 slot i’m in. otherwise they can keep them gear and maybe a Toraiz 2 will gives more features then.

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i’m hoping for better timestretching options

I don’t understand you i think… :slight_smile: Can you make you question more understandable ?

(if a loop is 10 seconds long and the user would like to have the loop begin halfway through, or one second into the loop, currently there is no way to do this without truncating the entire loop length.)

You have a START point - a loop START and a END point
START and END point determine the PART of the file you want to use

Then the Loop start is the point when reached the file start to loop. The behavior then is with Loop parameter and Trigger mode

We can see here a 16 bars sample file at 125 bpm

If i understand you, you can perfectly scan the file and loop it exactly as you intend to.
without truncating the entire loop length

rather than select any slice, i would like to just say for the editor to begin looping at say 3 seconds in, of a ten second audio clip, but play the entire clip.

so when the playhead gets to the ten second location, it returns to the 0:00:00 position of the loop and when it gets to the start position at 3 seconds in, that is the entire loop played, only from somewhere other than 0:00:00.

with no slicing, no truncating or changing of bar length
afaik this isn’t possible although my research is merely a frenzied few hours of researching last night when i got pre-wedding jitters as regards renting the new OT mkII.

ohhhh i understand now, i think … so the letter L is the loop start point.

will the playback return to a position before the Loop Start point though i wonder?

also, i think the actual “starting” place for the loop to begin playing is always going to begin at S? this is what i gleaned from yesterday evening’s intrepid information mission.

If you have Kontakt from Native Instrument it’s working kind of the same