LoopA suggestions/improvements/ideas

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@Fab thanks for the suggestion - added to the idea list. Currently we have a lot of LoopA users in the world, with many people having a suggestion or improvement thought or two - which is per se highly appreciated.

But: if we implemented everything, as Andy stated, the user interface would quickly be very cluttered and the UI become either unusable or not as quick as it was before (menu diving) which is definitely not in the design scope of LoopA: it was a design choice in the beginning, that every screen only has 6 commands/choices - to avoid deep menu diving and guarantee ease of use. For your usecase, you can easily “play in” remote MIDI via USB from your computer - with the option to cut it on the computer on a big screen and get the correct sequence segment required. This will also facilitate browsing, if you have a large MIDI library with 1000+ files - would not recommend to do this on LoopAs small screen.

Basically, for every feature request, we’re waiting for other users to chime in and when there is menu space and LoopA program space/RAM available we implement those suggestions that many users would like to see.

Best regards and enjoy your LoopA!
Peter

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Hi Peter. My suggestion was also to use the capabilities on the SDcard. These files are extremely small (=handlable by a ucontroller). If I have to use a PC -what I will not-, I would not use a LoopA anymore and go 100% SW. The BeatBuddy for example does that with 1 encoder and 1 buttons to both select and navigate. And its screen is ⅓ of the loopA. Nevermind, you decide. No harm (ARM ? 😃 ). Best regards, F

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Hawkeye Yup, understood! Do y’all have a public roadmap somewhere? That’s always kind of nice for users.

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Dymaxion Hi, currently it’s a simple 2-step roadmap 🙂

MatriX first
everything else

The MatriX has been brewing too long in the labs, so it needs to be released, but the good news is, that we’re hopefully only a few days away 🙂.

Regarding the LoopA development - there are some changes for v2.09 that have been collected in the last year - we’ll create a MatriX-Support version first (v2.09 prerelease) and immediately afterwards work on the promised new features, such as remote CC control, an alternative display mode that scales the notes vertically for better visibility (e.g. in drumtracks), and native keyboard input on the LoopA, if there is no MIDI keyboard attached or available.

Then, we’re open for new discussions - with the only point that memory is already quite limited on LoopA and we can’t easily introduce memory-heavy new features.

Best regards!
Peter

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😢 After the recent update, Loopa is again set to record mode after powering up. I always forget to switch that off first, so it will be flooded with unwanted note events when I start playing…

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Synthfox could you check the new Setup config setting

ARMed Bootup: choose default ARM state upon boot (default: on)

This should allow you to start LoopA disarmed. If that doesn’t work, it’s a bug that needs fixing 🙂

Many greets and have a good weekend,
Peter

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I would love LoopA supporting NRPN messages in parallel to CC. There are quite some synthesizers to gain much of this.
Robert

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@Robert thanks a lot - NRPN support was requested multiple times and it is on the roadmap - the issue is with NRPN being available in conjunction with CC in a single clip: LoopA having 36 in-memory clips now uses most of its available RAM - and NRPN would need some extra storage space.

To implement NRPN, the idea is to switch LoopA clip’s extra data type from CC to NRPN. To have CC and NRPN data for a single synth sequence, you would then need to use two tracks. This might make things easier on the UI side as well - displaying both CC and NRPN might otherwise obfuscate LoopAs 256×64 pixel graphical display - it therefore may make sense to concentrate on a single data view offering either CC or NRPN.

Best regards,
Peter

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@Peter, CC and NRPN are used quite exclusively, either CC on higher performance level, or NRPN on parameter diving. It should be ok to have only one type in a track.
Ro

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LoopA firmware release v2.10 is finally out! Many thanks to everyone contributing ideas!

Yes, it includes a new and powerful song mode, have a look:

Also:
Robert as requested (and quite late, sorry!) we now have scale note replacement support - check out the new session fts note replacement feature - if you want to create a list of nice replacement patterns, we could add these as MatriX presets for the next MatriX firmware - thanks a lot! Also: check out white keys FTS mode! 🙂
talondnb song mode is here, finally! 🙂
@gwpt , @forestcaver and joshuaandrew tap-tempo support has been added, as well as eurorack gate-in support for tap-tempo, like this it should be possible to sync your LoopA to your modular system! 🙂
@safrosch LoopA song mode now has a pattern launch feature, which is very similar to your request to launch a full scene - with the cueing feature in song mode you can now launch “scenes” from their start - it’s explained in the video linked above
@schematicwizard we’ve now got the requested session safety confirmation (before destructive save/load/new operations), song mode and the screensaver should now start screensaving when a MIDI clock start packet is received
@autopoiesis as requested, an extension from 32 to 64 user instruments has been added 🙂

There’s also a widely improved CC remote control support, a configurable CC remote control port filter (to avoid CCs triggering unwanted activity on LoopA), a new triplet quantization feature and a new FTS “Scale 615 Schoenberg Hexachord”.

Hope you’ll all enjoy! 🙂
Best regards,
Peter

PS: footage from the video shoot:

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@Robert thanks for the clarification - NRPN support is on the list for the next firmware update - it might still take a while, as we just recently released v2.09 🙂.

Best regards,
Peter

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Is there some kind of ‘song mode’ planned for the loopa? I know there is the scene mode but I’d like scenes to be programmed to play in a pre-arranged sequence somehow. Is this possible?

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talondnb song mode is planned for a future firmware release, but would probably require a MatriX to configure the playback order (and other changed parameters).

Many greets,
Peter

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Hawkeye I see, just so I’m clear; so there won’t be any plans to apply a pattern order within the Loopa itself?

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talondnb it’s not clear, yet - i agree it would make sense to have basic song editing facilities on the standalone LoopA, with best visual pattern arrangement controls when combined with the MatriX.
Best regards, Peter

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Hawkeye - Something like this would be awesome!

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@talondnb thanks for the inspiration!

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Hello, a quick question about the LoopA. How can I set it up, so it gets clocked by MIDI but does not react to start/stop messages (and maybe still sends them thru). I can’t find this option. Am I missing something or is it not available?

Cheers!

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@Gyp080 LoopA supports two clock modes:

MIDI Clock Master - If you press Run/Stop, it will automatically become the clock master of all “downstream” MIDI devices. You can configure on which output ports LoopA sends clock (and start/stop) messages via the setup screen.
MIDI Clock Slave - here you can configure in setup to which MIDI ports LoopA listens for MIDI clock packets - if it receives a clock start packet, it will then start its sequencer engine and sync itself to the upstream clock.

Note that the sequencer engine must be running for LoopA to sync itself to the clock, so i think you’re looking for MIDI Clock Slave mode - LoopA will autostart its sequencer, when a clock start packet is received, otherwise it would not respond to any MIDI clock packets and would not sequence anything 🙂. Is that what you’re looking for? You can define on which ports LoopA listens to MIDI clock signals by configuring MCLK_IN.

Best regards,
Peter

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No, I meant receiving start/stop messages while being slaved. To which the answer is '‘no’', if I understand correctly.

I guess my next question is how is it going with updates for LoopA? I have an extensive list of things that I would desperately want to be addressed but the project seems to be on hiatus? Can we expect any workflow polishing or just some features?

Cheers

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@Gyp080 the last software update was this year in February, most definitely the LoopA project is not on hiatus - why would you say that? Which parts of the workflow are unpolished in your opinion?

LoopA will be continued to be developed and i’d expect about yearly software updates, but as always we will carefully consider which features are beneficial for the user base and which features would bloat it up and take away from its ease of use, which is its major advantage over more complicated sequencers - therefore, by design it should not be complicated.

Regarding MIDI clock, the answer correlates to that, it should not be complicated, so it will be automatically “slaved” to inbound MIDI start/stop and clock packets, if and only if it is configured to listen to MIDI clock packets from the MIDI IN port receiving these packets. Could you describe a usecase when received MIDI clock processing would be necessary while LoopA’s sequencer engine is not running? If the sequencer engine can be running, then you could use the default MIDI slave clock mode as described. If it should not be running, then MIDI clock packets would not have any effect on LoopA and you could just disable that port MCLK IN in LoopA’s setup screen.

Best regards,
Peter