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Hey Peter!

Love so many things about this update, thank you so much for the work you’ve put into it. I am running into one unusual issue though with the RST function. When the reset function is enabled, the following pattern will start one step earlier than it is supposed to. For instance, if I have pattern one set to 16 steps, and pattern two has reset turned on, pattern two will start on step 16 of the first pattern, not the following downbeat.

I have found that if I set pattern 1 to 17 steps, everything lines up correctly, or 33, 65, depending on how many repeats of the pattern I have. When watching the firmware update video it sounds like it also triggered pattern two a 16th note early. Not sure if there is a way to adjust the playback position of the reset function to the correct spot, or I have something weird going on with my setup.

Thanks!

Sam

talondnb and @schematicwizard - thanks for your kind words!
@safrosch - thanks as well and thanks for testing! This is entirely possible, while we had a small beta-test team, this might have slipped our attention - let me check and come back to you - if it is a bug, it should be possible to fix in patch version v2.10b.

Best regards,
Peter

      Hey Peter,

      This is a solid update! It makes the LoopA a portable powerhouse now 😁
      I’ll be working on some videos showcasing some gear including the LoopA.

      Thanks again!

      @diyguy - thank you!!! Always looking forward to seeing some external LoopA videos, thanks for filming them!

      @safrosch - investigated the reported “pattern restart” issue - i’ve tried with this song structure:

      To test if the second pattern starts one step too early with “restart” on, i’ve put a test note on the last step/on the last sixteenth note of clip 3A in the first pattern - and you’re right - both this sixteenth note of pattern 1 as well as the first note on the follow-up pattern 2 are played at the same time. I’ll see how to fix it and should be able to come up with a patch relatively soon. Thanks for finding and reporting the problem! I think for now you could indeed solve it by increasing the length of the predecessor pattern by 1 step, but this is of course not what we want to do permanently 🙂.

      Best regards,
      Peter

      @safrosch just uploaded the patch, which should fix the pattern restart “last-step” issue - you can get the new v2.10b release on the main LoopA page or directly via this link:
      https://www.midiphy.com/files/256/LoopA_firmware_v210b.zip

      I’ve tested it quite a lot and pattern restart behaved nicely now over here, but i am unsure if i caught everything - it would be super nice, if you could run it through some tests on your side as well!

      Thank you very much and best regards,
      Peter

      Just tested it out and it works like a charm! Thanks so much for the quick adjustment!

      Sam

      safrosch no problem - and thanks a lot for testing, Sam!

      Best regards,
      Peter

          12 days later

          Hi Peter,
          great to see your update with the note replacement implementation! I would collect a set of repl. patterns the next weeks for you, for hard coding. Finally these patterns should be changed on-the-fly with running sequencer using the free matriX :-)
          In what format would you like the replacement patterns? C-arrays?
          Robert

          Robert sounds great, thanks a lot!

          While playing with the note replacement feature, i managed to squeeze some quite interesting sequences out of LoopA, can’t wait to add this to the MatriX on the free slots of the scale page! Yes, switching the replacement schemes will work while the sequencer engine is running 🙂.

          In my tests, it often made sense to combine the note replacement feature with the FTS “Chromatic” scale (basically FTS is then disabled), so that every semitone gets replaced with its destination note, without the scaler interfering. But it is also good fun to use note replacement with the FTS-scaler adjusting the replaced notes afterwards, to e.g. a standard 7-tone scale.

          Any format you provide is good, easiest would indeed be C arrays. It would be also very nice to add a name for the replacement scheme (up to 20 characters, can be futuristic or inventive) for future easier reidentification of the scheme, e.g.:

          {“Harmonic Crush A”, +5, 0, -5, 0, +3, -2, +4, 0, -7, +3, 0, -1},
          …

          The first numeric value (after the name) defines the delta of semitones “added” to “C”, +5 semitones in this case, followed by eleven more delta values for all the semitones of that octave up to key “B” (“H” in german).

          Best regards, thanks a lot for creating the replacement strategies and no rush!
          Peter

              14 days later

              For those of us getting hard of seeing, possible alternate screen output for “owners responsibility” to wire it up as an option. The current screen is nice, just wish it and the line thickness were thicker/bolder.

              Bill

              Billloopav2 thanks for your suggestion, Bill!

              I hear you! Unfortunately LoopA (as many other synths/sequencers) has been built for exactly this display type - to my best knowledge, there are no larger displays supporting this screen resolution and access protocol (it’s not as easy to swap the screen as it is on a computer). You might benefit from an external physical loupe (something that you can clamp to your synth stand, like a large soldering magnifying glass) or by using magnification glasses - my suggestion here would be the Carson Pro MagniVisor series - i use them quite often, and they work wonders.

              Best regards,
              Peter

                  6 days later

                  I find myself working in step record mode quite often. It would be great to have some shortcut to change the “advance notes” setting and not have to go to Setup menu and scroll down every time I want to switch from quarter notes to sixteenth etc.

                  koooch When you are in the mute screen while step recording pushing the Select and turn the Data knob changes the advance settings….

                    Keeze Brilliant! Looks like I missed that in the manual, thanks 😄

                      9 days later

                      I saw we got an update for LoopA. Can I ask if you ever plan on implementing pitch bend messages?

                        After going through the video of the new update, I saw that you implemented '‘pattern restart’' in song mode. What is the reasoning that we can’t have that feature when changing clips with the '‘Scene’' knob? I’m sure I’m not the only one that was asking for this fix, and I’m quite stumbled why you said it can’t be done but now the song mode uses it, yet we can’t manually change clips at note 0.

                          @Gyp080 first of all, have a good new week start!

                          Yes, support for additional track data types is planned. We’re running really low on available LoopA RAM resources - that’s what the yet empty second slot on the Clip page is for: a selector for the “clip extra data type” - currently, that’s hardwired to be “CC”, but the idea is that in the future you could choose a different data type here instead (like pitch bend data), then you could select on a per-clip basis, which extra data is stored by LoopA. This is targeted for a future LoopA release.

                          Regarding pattern restart: LoopA’s playback logic was never broken, so it is not a fix 🙂. But this additional feature is now possible in the new Song mode, as that has a separate scheduler logic, which extends LoopAs normal playback engine with additional features. Song mode now offers the “cue scene” feature, which exactly implements the “scene launch” feature (when the sequencer engine is running, with reset of the individual track play pointers to the “zero” position).

                          In short, if you want to launch scenes with pattern resets, you can now set up all scenes/patterns in advance, that are to be launched this way in song mode (with set reset flag) and cue them. On top, with the “jump” and repeat feature and other automation features, this also gets a lot more powerful, as you can define more “changed” parameters (like a tempo change or a FTS change) for the scene/pattern launch. You can also set-up a pattern/scene playback length for the launched scene in advance, which is also very powerful.

                          In conclusion, i think this is the best “launch” workflow, as you can actually see what you are launching and you can cue the launch, i.e. the the sequencer will launch the pattern/scene, once the current pattern/scene has finished playing.

                          Best regards,
                          Peter

                            I’m sorry but I am again dissapointed by the info you give me or have given me. Also sorry if I sound a bit annoyed, but that’s because I am, wondering why some things aren’t being addressed or are being answered somewhat ambiguously. Let’s try to clear up a few things…

                            Firstly, about pitch bends: We’re talking about full resolution pitch bend (aftertouch, etc.) parameters right? In '‘additional data’‘ you mean more than one CC lanes per clip, additional data instead of CC clips or aditional data with 1 lane of CC? When do you plan on implementing this? In another ’‘yearly update’'?
                            I am asking because pitch bends are something that (I think) is overlooked by LoopA from the get-go and should be addressed sooner rather than later, since it’s basic functionality (not a feature) in this day of age (and, a serious deal killer for me personally). I am also asking because you’ve said something about having plans on implementing MPE. What does it mean for MPE if the RAM is already capped? Are you planning on making it possible to store actual MPE data or just passing through the messages via the router? There’s a difference and you should be clear about it.

                            Regarding pattern restart: it’s not that we '‘CAN’‘ use the Song mode for this to kind of work, we ’‘HAVE’' to use the Song mode for this to kind of work. With all of extra button presses and knob turns to make it happen. Big difference. And it still isn’t proper clip launching.

                            This is far from ideal in a live situation, and basically defeats the usability of recording scenes of different lengths for live, impro or inspo situations. While switching scenes, as it stands, you simply can’t properly replay polymetric loops live, even though in theory the device offers you the option. I don’t know where you are coming from to see the way LoopA behaves right now to call it a feature. The whole point of having clips stored is to be able to launch them, from the start of the clip. What you suggested is absolutely not the '‘best launch workflow’', because it’s the least immediate option possible and forces you to (somehow) predetermine ideas in advance.
                            Like @safrosch I am also aware there is a use case for current behaviour but you have to understand that that’s a minor stake in the spectrum of other use cases for which the device initially seemed to be catering. I haven’t met a musician yet, that would say, how not being able to launch stored loops from their respective beginnings would be a feature…

                            Sorry for being snarky, but suggesting more workarounds that just keep you more involved with the device instead of making music isn’t a satisfactory answer at this point. I can only imagine how much work the last update took, and the song mode seems quite well flushed out, but you should really think of how people are creating music nowadays and be upfront about the goals, the timeline and behaviour of the device. We went from '‘a long list of very cool ideas to implement’' at launch to waiting 3 years to finally hear what is in fact possible (or not), whilst finding out that the devices capabilities were almost capped from launch. You’ll have to forgive me for having a somewhat salty aftertaste.

                              @Gyp080 sorry to read that you’re disappointed in LoopA and its development!

                              Don’t worry, this sometimes happens, there are differences in viewpoints in life - nothing can be really done about it, be it political discussions, fights about football clubs, different viewpoints about analog or digital synths, nearly every aspect of life is possibly affected. Don’t get me wrong - i believe, it’s good that there are different viewpoints, otherwise life would be quite bland. LoopA’s “what it should do” and “what has been done in the last years” certainly is such a discussion topic, where viewpoints can vary wildly.

                              As i saw mostly negative comments from you in the past and as i believe we might not “connect” and agree regarding our mutual ideas what LoopA does and how (and how fast) it will be developed, my suggestion would be to sell your LoopA e.g. on Reverb. It’s a sought-after product that can get a good price on the marketplace. My suggestion would be to choose an alternative product that fits your workflow better - i believe there’s a lot of good hardware sequencers on the market to choose from.

                              Personal words: i’ve followed developments in the music software (and hardware) industry since the mid-nineties. In my opinion it makes most sense if the original developer keeps “their vision” going - giving in to wildly different viewpoints and suggestions diverting too much from the original vision can lead to fatal feature creep, in the end killing the product. We will avoid this for LoopA and only implement what we think makes most sense. Again, if you look at the backlog of LoopA’s development history, we’ve implemented many features for many different users, i think they are not too unhappy with their devices.

                              Good luck, best regards and have a great evening!
                              Peter