JJ OS V2 - Feature Requests

doppelhorst wrote:i am not after something that is "accurate down to the mega-microsecond", to me it would be something i would like to be able to use live, that is, using it with the note repeat feature. it is no problem to use it now (i know), but having it right on the knobs, being able to load in different quantizations via midi, would really make my day.

Creating or recreating offsets is always dependent on sequencer accuracy and stability, but that aside, my question to you again is still this: In what way could you expect to "use" another machine's timing offsets on the MPC other than sync-recording it and playing it back w/out requaintizing? Are you asking JJ to code up a bunch of simulated timing offsets measured from other machines? That could get pretty complex if you think about it without even really knowing the hardware. And then there's the hardware. That's messy.

My solution for you: If you are really hearing a diffrence that you like and want to switch it live, put the same sequence with the diffrent offsets you want on paralel tracks and use the muting functions.

Mr modnaR wrote:

cynic wrote:BETTER FILE MANAGEMENT

USB1.1 sucks. When I have to copy large numbers of files to the HD on my mpc (like right now) it takes hella long.

It'd be cool to be able to copy files to a flash card, put it in, then use the mpc to copy those files to the HD. Why can't we do this already?

Also, copying back and forth would be the ****. Copy programs from the HD to the CF card, so you can back them up, or transfer samples to your computer.

Come on JJ!

because you can't access both at once, they are on the same data bus, why else do you think we have to switch between the two in the load/save screens? you could have a workaround where the data gets loaded to the tramfirst, but that would give you a 128MB limit.

in my day job i contract as a programmer/designer...the logic for something like that is not hard at all.

you'd just have to write whatever's in memory to the flash card / hard drive in a temp space, then use the ram as a buffer to copy the selected data files back and forth.

when the operation is done, read the temp files back into memory...done.

cynic wrote:in my day job i contract as a programmer/designer...the logic for something like that is not hard at all.

you'd just have to write whatever's in memory to the flash card / hard drive in a temp space, then use the ram as a buffer to copy the selected data files back and forth.

when the operation is done, read the temp files back into memory...done.

You could be right, but the question might be if the machine can't host more than one drive at a time, it would have to mount and unmount each drive automaticaly with each full memory pass. Klunky. Not sure how fast it would be.

elektrik_muz wrote:
You could be right, but the question might be if the machine can't host more than one drive at a time, it would have to mount and unmount each drive automaticaly with each full memory pass. Klunky. Not sure how fast it would be.

it wouldn't be that slow. look how fast it is when you switch between memory card / hd...throw a "copying ..." screen up there. its the function that interests me the most.

elektric:
i am really not talking about creating offsets in a sequencer itself, i am talking about a standardized way to achieve the same feel by using midi.
i will try to give you an example:
i make a pattern on my 909, using 16 steps of whatever sound (as i only want the midi data, the sound does not matter) and put the shuffle to 7 (the heaviest shuffle you can use on that machine). i record that midi data as a midi file. now, i want the mpc to be able to apply this shuffle via note repeat / TC to any sound i want to trigger by loading the midifile. since the note repeat data is also transmitted via Midi, the whole process should not be too hard on the processor and has to be done only once and not in realtime. the thing is that if this function would be possible, you could also realize effects like a gate sequencer (comparable to the one of the kaossilator, nice little cheap toy from korg) without having to press more than two buttons at once. again, this is something that would be really cool for playing live and its not so much about recreating grooves of other machines only, but a very useful tool!

elektric, in reply to your post about the 555:

i don´t think, although roland is a bigger company, that they use new chips for their machines, because their pricing would not be like it is. and since the mpcs chip does have host compatibility, with the internal harddrive it should be possible to stream audio, at least theoretically, if not also practically. i was testing the 555 for quite some time and i am using my mpc every day (paying my bills with my music) and i see a lot of mistakes in the machine design of roland (for example you can stream audiofiles, but the longest pattern can only be 99 bars???) but the streaming feature is really nice and not as hightech you might think it is.

maybe cynic can help out here: do you think its possible to have the mpc stream audiofiles from the harddrive / card with the SH7727?

let us know mr coder

doppelhorst wrote:elektric:
i am really not talking about creating offsets in a sequencer itself, i am talking about a standardized way to achieve the same feel by using midi.
i will try to give you an example:
i make a pattern on my 909, using 16 steps of whatever sound (as i only want the midi data, the sound does not matter) and put the shuffle to 7 (the heaviest shuffle you can use on that machine). i record that midi data as a midi file. now, i want the mpc to be able to apply this shuffle via note repeat / TC to any sound i want to trigger by loading the midifile. since the note repeat data is also transmitted via Midi, the whole process should not be too hard on the processor and has to be done only once and not in realtime. the thing is that if this function would be possible, you could also realize effects like a gate sequencer (comparable to the one of the kaossilator, nice little cheap toy from korg) without having to press more than two buttons at once. again, this is something that would be really cool for playing live and its not so much about recreating grooves of other machines only, but a very useful tool!

So you want the machine to (somehow) auto analyze a groove/shuffle/offset value from a recorded midi file and apply it to any sequence you want? Or just the same shuffled sequence sent to different programs? Is there any existing hardware or software that performs this task you are talking about?

doppelhorst wrote:elektric, in reply to your post about the 555:

i don´t think, although roland is a bigger company, that they use new chips for their machines, because their pricing would not be like it is. and since the mpcs chip does have host compatibility, with the internal harddrive it should be possible to stream audio, at least theoretically, if not also practically. i was testing the 555 for quite some time and i am using my mpc every day (paying my bills with my music) and i see a lot of mistakes in the machine design of roland (for example you can stream audiofiles, but the longest pattern can only be 99 bars???) but the streaming feature is really nice and not as hightech you might think it is.

maybe cynic can help out here: do you think its possible to have the mpc stream audiofiles from the harddrive / card with the SH7727?

let us know mr coder

Code is important, but hardware still matters. The streaming idea is not new on here, and there's alot of people who have asked why the MPC can't do streaming when even a few older obsolete products from other manufacturers could perform this task to some extent. One reason could be that the MPC doesn't have the dedicated hardware the older machines did (and so has to burn up more processing cycles simulating hardware, sometimes only in one mode at a time -- in other modes the coded "hardware" disappears) and can't compete with the newer machines because they've got the biggest, newest, fattest DSP to simulate all the stuff at once. If the manufacturers kept the same percentage of hardware vs. software in their newer machines as they did in the older ones, the stuff we have now would probably be a lot faster and more able to do simultaneous tasks, but hardware is money and companies are cheap so we get simulations at the cost of processing power.

Which gets back to the original question I asked, what does Roland use in the 555? Do you really think Roland going to use obsolete devices in their newest machines? Can you still buy a new computer with under a 1000Mhz processor? Unless it really does use the same hardware platform, you're comparing apples to oranges.

doppelhorst wrote:maybe cynic can help out here: do you think its possible to have the mpc stream audiofiles from the harddrive / card with the SH7727?

let us know mr coder

i'm not a hardware/embedded device "coder". i do some web and server type programming. questions about the chipset or data bus are out of the realm of my expertise.

the theory behind the programming i mentioned would work based on the information i know about how the OS currently works. i don't have enough information regarding the 1k's hardware to respond to your question properly....

* A constantly running MIDI Clock

the clock will be running even when the sequence is stopped. this will improve the functionality with external devices that are synced to the MPC's clock. If the clock was always running, there would be need for the external device to 'catch up' to the MPC's clock upon the sequence play, and would always be perfectly synced.

the other devices would also think the mpc's sequencer was running, and run constantly!

Mr modnaR wrote:the other devices would also think the mpc's sequencer was running, and run constantly!

well if the device was a synth (which for me it is) then that would be a good thing.

my synth always plays a little weird when syncing to the MPC until it gets a little extra time to sync up right with the clock. it's really annoying for when you want to record audio-track style as you usually can't properly because you have to let the sequence play for a bar or two before the synth's clock syncs up correctly.

I think it would be a good option to have at least -- if it's even possible

thedvs01 wrote:* A constantly running MIDI Clock

the clock will be running even when the sequence is stopped. this will improve the functionality with external devices that are synced to the MPC's clock. If the clock was always running, there would be need for the external device to 'catch up' to the MPC's clock upon the sequence play, and would always be perfectly synced.

wouldn't that cause problems with play start and play? what if you don't click play perfectly in time with the clock, does it reset the clock starting at the point you pressed play or will it delay the start to be the next click of the clock?

scratch that whole idea and just give yourself a few bars as preroll.

Mike Feedback wrote:what if you don't click play perfectly in time with the clock, does it reset the clock starting at the point you pressed play or will it delay the start to be the next click of the clock?

I was thinking it would just delay the start

Mike Feedback wrote:scratch that whole idea and just give yourself a few bars as preroll.

bah

Here are the features I'd like to see in OS2:

1. Please JJ, give us back track velocity and full velocity control over the amp and filter envelope!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2. It would be nice if we had "3-band parametric eq" as an additional option for filter 1. That way we could "eq" each pad like in the MV8800.

3. The ability to save our MPC1000 programs and sequences to older MPC formats such as the MPC4000 and MPC2000XL for backwards compatibility. That I can take a beat sequence or a sample program I created on my MPC1000 and load it up in my MPC4000 with no major issues. As a matter or fact, that would be just dandy!!!!!!!!!!!!

4. The ability to access the major pad functions via MIDI. (MODE + MIDI note #).

5. The ability to enter alphanumeric characters via MIDI keyboard for naming samples, programs, sequences, etc...