>>I don't know if anyone else has noticed this little "quirck" on the RM1x.
>>Whenever I switch patterns on my RM1x, all notes that are still holding
>>are cut off. For example, let's say I make a one measure loop, and I put
>>a half note on beat 4. If I let the pattern loop on itself, the half note
>>comes in on beat 4, and it stops on the next loop's beat 2, but if I
>>switch to a new pattern, the half note starts on beat 4, but then ends at
>>the end of the measure. For the months that I've had my RM1x I've been
>>forcing myself to work around this, but I'm getting fed up with doing
>>that. Does anyone know of a way to disable the RM1x from doing this? If
>>I can't find a better way around this, I'll probably sell my RM1x, since
>>this makes Pattern
>>mode pretty much useless to me, and Pattern mode was the whole reason I
>>bought the RM1x.
>
>It's sending a note-off when it switches patterns. Otherwise, you'd have
>to program the note off into the new pattern. Since the RM1x can't know
>what pattern you're switching into, what you're asking just isn't practical
>to implement.
I don't know too much about the RM1x's programming structure, but from a
software standpoint, this wouldn't be too hard to implement. The simplest
way would be to allow us to enter separate note on and note off commands in
a pattern. You could also write the software to ignor any note off commands
if a note on command hasn't been given for that specific note. A more
user-friendly solution would simply be that if the sequencer reaches the end
of a pattern, and some notes are still holding, even if the user has opted
to switch to a new pattern, scan back through the original pattern and
locate the appropriate note off and then send it at the appropriate time.
Granted, this would take more processing power than the current
implementation, but if you only had one or two notes that had to be held,
the extra amount of CPU needed would be negligible. From a ground up
standpoint, an easy way to impliment this would be to have the sequencer
interpret MIDI data internally the way it is displayed in the RM1x Edit
screen. Instead of using separate note on and note off messages, have the
internal memory use a note and gate time storage meathod. When data for a
pattern is sent to the processor it would play the note and "look" at the
stored gate time, and then say to itself, "ok, I have to send the off
message for this note in 480 clock ticks." Basically, the processor would
know how long its going to be holding a note from the moment it plays it
instead of just holding a note until its told to stop. In the end, the user
interface could be left just the way it is now, but by changing how the OS
operates underneath, there would be no need to have held notes cut off when
a pattern is changed.
>>Here's another quirck I've found in the RM1x. If you have a bunch of
>>tracks all sending their data on the same MIDI channel, you can run into a
>>timing clitch when you first switch to a new pattern. Readying the new
>>pattern, and merging all the track data to the same channel must bog down
>>the RM1x processor just a little too much.
>
>ANY midi sequencing would "suffer a timing glich" under the conditions you
>just described: again, its the limits of the midi spec, not of the RM1X.
The timing glitch in the RM1x is not a limit of the midi spec. Granted,
merging MIDI data will always cause some sort of delay, but the length of
the timing delay on the RM1x is very, very noticable. Even when it only has
to merge a small amount of note. This is caused by one of two problems. 1)
The RM1x's CPU simply doesn't have the power to ready a new pattern and
continue merging data at an audibly smooth rate, or 2) The CPU has enough
power, but the software isn't taking advantage of it.
>Please learn a little more about Midi before you slag off an excellent
> >sequencer.
I know plenty about MIDI. And I'm not trying to "slag" the RM1x. It is an
excellent sequencer in many aspects, but its also far from perfect. The
biggest problems I have with it are...
A. Yamaha appears to have put a CPU in it that is just barely adquate to
handle run-of-the-mill sequencing tasks. (Or its possible the CPU has
plenty of power, and its an ineffecient OS that is the culprit.)
B. Yamaha has not made any apparrent effort to actively listen to users and
continue to improve and upgrade the RM1x's OS. I have to believe that the
RM1x's OS can probably be optimized so much more than it currently is. Just
look at how a company like Access has been able to continually squeeze more
and more out of the Virus.
C. I'm also concerned about the construction quality of the RM1x. I've had
my RM1x for quite some time, and I've treated it with the utmost care, but
I'm starting to see some wear. Buttons are sometimes double triggering, or
not triggering at all, and my backlit display is starting to dim. (And yes,
I've checked the contrast knob.)
---
Positronica
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