Hi guys. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a thread with future Matrix suggestions? Here is only a little one, that hit my eye right at the start: I would like to have the extra row buttons in the matrix screen in different colours, corresponding to their functions. Green for play, red for armed, like it is on loopa…
And again: thank you for your excellent work so far!

    @Synthfox thanks a lot and thanks for your feedback!

    And it is an excellent idea with the thread!

    Regarding your suggestion:
    When developing the Macro page, i’ve tried exactly what you suggested - with the idea to reuse the “learned” colors from LoopA. The problem is: for me it did not look good at all and even worse - it was confusing. The green play key next to the red arm key, next to the blue autoloop-recording key, next to the red metronome key and so on… The reason for that confusion was that every single command key was differently colored - as an example, just a bit like an extremely colorful xmas tree decoration with all colors might be distracting and contradicting a classic decoration 🙂.

    I really spent quite a few hours on this matter - and finally settled on a “subtle” color gradient - also, all functions are clustered in comprehensive key-groups of four - to be more easily recognizable and learnable as well with key spacing in between functional groups.

    What i would suggest for this thread - the MatriX UI and software has been developed with Andys and my personal “aesthetics” behind it - it is perfectly normal for others to prefer other looks - so, if a suggestion in this thread becomes popular for a significant amount of users, we can add support for it, e.g. in this example we could add a “Macro page theme” selection in the setup menu.

    Best regards,
    Peter

      19 days later

      Just watched Musotalk on Youtube, where they regret the lack of sequencer whith large displays. Matrix is really a great step in that direction. I hope you are working on further visualisations like the CC control or euclidian functions.

      2 months later

      Yes, euclidian loops would be great.
      Another wish together with LoopA: to freeze the loop of one part to the currently visible time window of the matrix. When you move the window, the start point moves as well in realtime.
      Robert

      Synthfox and @Robert - thanks for your ideas - i can confirm some improvements to LoopA’s otherwise static “beatloop” sequence progression/jump functions are planned for a future MatriX version - i’ll think about both requests, if and how they can be implemented.

      Thanks for your feedback!
      Best regards,
      Peter

        15 days later

        Hi Peter,
        another wish for your list, sorry for the additional work :-)

        Note Replacer
        I would like to make variations of a loop track. There is a set of predefined patterns to replace a note within the given scale.
        E.g. C->E, D->F etc, as tierce parallel melody on C major scale.
        Or mirror melodies, or even wierder patterns.

        We could use the top 5 unused button rows on the Scale Page, to have 80 replacement patterns in total.
        If you decided to implement this, I would love to define these patterns.

        Robert

          @Robert

          thanks, that is a very intriguing idea, which would allow on-the-fly melodic replacements, a feature that would be suited great for LoopA. Probably the note replacements would need to be defined relative to the root note in semitone intervals?
          For example - in C Major, your replacement example C->E, D->F would have this replacement table?

          0 (C, currently active FTS scale root note) -> +4 halftones (remapped to E)
          2 (D, +2 halftones over currently active root note) -> +3 halftones (remapped to F)

          Would force-to-scale be applied before or after note remapping? I guess it should be active after remapping, to make sure we stay in scale, but just asking 🙂.

          @Synthfox
          That’s very cool, Mr. Duringer was pioneering with that idea quite early, i did not know about it! The MatriX keyboard mode in SEQ v4+ mode is quite similar, its layout is chromatic (in contrast to LoopAs isomorphic layout) and maps the different vertical key positions to different velocities - it would be possible to map to different output instruments instead.

          Both of you: thanks a lot for your suggestions - i’ll meet up with Andy in the next days and discuss with him.

          Best regards,
          Peter

            The transformation chain would be:
            [original notes] -> [replacement] -> [FTS]
            I think one row of 16 buttons is replacing in semitone steps each 8 steps downwards and to 8 upwards. Would be not the same as changing the root note, but similar results? Not sure.

            However, after FTS these replacements will fit melodically again.
            E.g: C major, assuming FTS chooses the next higher semitone.
            one semitone replacement: [C D E F G A B] -> [C# D# F F# G# A# C] -> [D E F G A B C]
            three semitone replacement: [C D E F G A B] -> [D# F G G# A# C D] -> [E F G A B C D]
            four semitone replacement: [C D E F G A B] -> [E F# G# A B C# D#] -> [E G A A B D E]

            And, oh yes, should work with realtime playing as well…

              a month later

              Another suggestion for the wish list, as I like FTS page for live variations very much: 😃
              FTS Root Note is currently assigned to slider X. Better would be to assign the notes to the lower key group A..L, so we could change them with one press while playing (instead of slowly determining the correct one with a slider).

              Hi Robert,

              that’s a very good idea - i’m always for direct parameter selection, whenever possible.
              I’ll implement it, along with the note replacement feature in the next version - still need a bit of time, but it’s coming! 🙂

              Best regards and have a good weekend!
              Peter

                7 months later

                Just been playing with the matrix and seq 4. So much fun!!

                One idea I thought would be useful is regarding the background colour. Being able to have different colours for the 1st,5th,9th and13th column vs all the other columns.
                This would make it visually easier to know where the beats are, especially when starting on a blank pattern

                @gwpt glad you enjoy your MatriX!

                Good idea to be able to choose a different background for every 4th column, i’ve added it to the list.

                Best regards and have a good new year 2023!
                Peter

                17 days later

                Small development preview - dual LoopA support for MatriX is coming - 12 tracks in parallel on Macro screen 🙂

                Best regards,
                Peter

                7 days later

                Would it be possible to use Matrix as a standalone MiDI controller?

                I assume a custom cable at least, or a small interface box would be needed.
                The slider could send CCs and buttons could do the same, perhaps a CC number per row, and a diiferent CC value per column

                V2. Could be to add a sequencer to Matrix 🙂

                gwpt Thanks a lot for the suggestions!

                The MIDI controller idea is indeed already on the future MatriX software wishlist (not for the next revision, as it will take quite a lot of work).

                The suggestion to add a sequencer to MatriX has also already been made, but there are some drawbacks to this approach:

                a) MatriX has no direct MIDI ports and would need a separate output interface to attach synths. But adding that would take away the BLM ports that are necessary to attach MatriX to our common sequencers.

                b) A non-quadratic (wider-than-high) display to show the sequences (other than the 128×128px OLED on MatriX) would be helpful - then it’s just easier to see what is going on.

                c) Other user interface elements (i.e. rotary encoders) would be most helpful to configure all sequencer parameters.

                Both LoopA and SEQ v4+ address points a) - c). Or in other words, MatriX has been deliberately designed as an extension to existing sequencers that bring all of the required I/O, i.e. MIDI ports, wide screens and encoders.

                So for that, i think MatriX will always perform best as an extension to the existing sequencers (or in the future maybe as a separate MIDI controller).

                Best regards,
                Peter

                  2 months later

                  It’s a rather simple request, but it would be great to have an option to quickly select all the notes from the current clip.

                    if there seem to be varied requests, could there be certain hardware or software ports that can be added for development/experimental use?

                      @koooch thanks for your suggestion!

                      Selecting “all” notes is absolutely possible, currently though, the note update cycle sends all changed note informations to LoopA, so it might not be well optimized to update many notes at once. How about this: if there is a selection (at least one note selected) active, pushing the “A” button would select all on-screen notes? Depending on the zoom-out level you could select all notes, and modify them, but if you are zoomed in, you could work on what you see?

                      @Billloopav2 the MatriX Core PCB has been designed to work best with the integrated other PCBs (thus also its special form-factor), so everything has been optimized for the features MatriX requires - which additional hardware features would you be looking for? The software side of course can always get new extensions 🙂.

                      Best regards,
                      Peter

                      7 days later