Hi @jofemodo thanks for these features! Regarding clippy, I am currently in need of launching a sample that repeats two times (with a number of beats adjusted) and then simply stops. I thought this was now possible using clippy, but maybe it’s not meant to do exactly that. There is the setting of number of plays (in addition to the loop mode). When I set this to 2, the sample will indeed play two times and then make a pause. But, instead of stopping the sequencer (it’s the only sample on the row) the sample starts again after some pause that I was not able to link to anything.
Can you tell me whether this is a bug or it’s not meant to work as I had hoped ?
Or please help me with how I can launch a sample that plays 2 times in a loop from a launchpad and then stops?
Your workflow is right. You have to specify the number the loops in the clip options (mode = play 2) but there is a bug that prevents audio clip sequences to stop after the specified number of loops.
I don’t remember being that exited about a feature addition. I mean, +40 dB is massive (linear scale factor x100?), but better to have it than to need it.
PS.: I personally love the possibility of 40 dB gain, but I think a linear scale factor of 100 (meaning you just multiply your digital waveform by 100) is somewhere in dangerous realms. I jsut briefly scrolled through the factory soundfonts searching for seriously quiet ones (which happend to be the VPO pizzicato double basses) and found that you can bring them up to peaking by +24 dB gain (x16) applied.
But that’s maybe just a question of how much responsibility you hand over to the user.
I’m pleased to hear this feature is appreciated. I was going to put a smaller gain range but figured (like you said) that it is better to have too much than too little. I worked with Neve desks that had a coarse gain adjustment like this with 40dB of gain so I emulated that. I also wanted to make it symmetrical with as much gain as attenuation. It is a tool that you may use as you like. The default is unity gain.
I like it the way it is right now and therefore I would love to keep it at +40dB range. I’m just afraid somebody not knowing dB gain range will blast their ears. One could argue that if the rare case you need that much gain would occure, then you can get your additional Gain2x2 engine, because then you know what you do.
I think my audio interface gives 70 dB gain, but that’s intended to boost microphone levels and not digital signals which theoretically aim at being line level already. Also your Neve console might be sonically more pleasing when clipping than our beloved but edgy digital hard clipper. (P.S. Edit: I just geeked the Neve 88RS manual to see how certain desks manage the gain staging, and here it seems we have either -15…+15dB line input gain or 0..+70dB mic gain plus additionally -10…+10dB track post trim plus the channel fader with -inf…+10dB.)
Anyway, the feature is much appreciated and I personally don’t want it to change. I would rather love it to be also accessible from the mixer view.
That’s it, thanks! Using Oram, I never needed to use any longer clicks, and didn’t learn the terminology. I did try longer clicks on all the buttons, but none seemed to respond to a 1s click. A few responded to a 5s click, whatever that’s called.
Hopefully this will be highlighted in the help page, whenever that’s added!
Bold press BACK doesn’t seem to do anything other than a short press.
No idea how tricky it’d be, but it’d be nice to have some visual feedback when bold press will do something, like a little box that pops up after the shortest bold press time that names the screen that’ll appear if you release at that point. Ditto for the long press. LMK if you think that’s a good enough idea to open an issue. I’m not sure yet!
I find it a bit disconcerting that the very first thing most non-pad users would do after turning on a Zynth for the first time is a bit hidden. But I also recognize the juggling act required to manage as complex a device as this with so few buttons.
Perhaps OPT/ADMIN should be OPT/ADMIN/MAIN or OPT/ADMIN/HOME ? I realize we can’t change the labels on the hardware, but the main menu shouldn’t be buried with a secret handshake!
Yeah it isn’t obvious - keep in mind Vangelis isn’t even in a Beta release and the documentation isn’t ready yet. Testing new systems comes with the joy of already seeing the next features but also with the pain of having to get out your shovel and dig
To get into the menu where you can add a chain from the chain overview short press encoder 3 (3rd from the top). Have fun!
We have decided to use Bold+Back for getting the main menu because:
It’s NON-CONTEXTUAL, so you ALWAYS can access the main menu from any screen. Short-OPT would be the natural choice, but it’s contextual.
It’s the same action for ALL hardware layouts: V4, V5, touch
It’s easy to remember
We think ALL zynthian users should be comfortable with bold presses. They are part of the zynthian’s DNA and nobody should have problems with this.
Finally, although it’s called “Main Menu”, it’s not a “performance” screen you access frequently while playing (in stage or rehearsal). You are supposed to have your chains created and configured when you are performing. If you like to create and configure chains in your performance, for sure you are super-comfortable with bold-presses and you may have a decent zynthian hardware setup with encoders and buttons that allows fast interaction with the UI. Managing the zynthian UI is much faster when using real encoders and buttons. All workflows are highly optimized for this.
If enough amount of users vote for the change, we could change this behaviour, but these users should propose a better alternative. We are always open to improvement!!
As described by @jofemodo and me, bold BACK accesses the main menu. You also said, 1s press does nothing but a bold press is (by default) 1.5s.
This change is part of our workflow updates and is wip. I’m still getting used to it and may not be convinced of our change but need to use it a bit longer to firm-up my opinion. (I really liked the fat access to “Add chain” but as mentioned, it is not a performance workflow.)
I appreciate you guys being patient with me. I’m pretty new to Zynthian. I don’t even really have a use case for it (with the hardware I have or the hardware available) though longer term I’l love to turn it into a Hammond organ box with drawbars and a few buttons, that I could take to the blues jam, to have Hammond at my fingertips without having to come early and set up my Nord!
For that, I’d need an audio input that’s hard-wired to a mixer that combines the Zynth output, with an analog gain for the Zynth output – like most keyboards have – that’d allow me to daisy-chain it with the venue’s digital piano. And then the hard part, which is the Hammond drawbars! Probably using parts from Fosse (DIY Drawbar kit with PCB and multiplexer – Fosse Controllers). No shortage of fun things to do in my retirement.
In addition to blues jams, I could also use it to gig with a DP and the Hammond box when I don’t want to drag two keyboards.
For me right now bold back does nothing but repeatedly triggering the short press action (i.e. changing to pad view from mixer view and back). But in the wiring config it’s right now configured as UI action push.
EDIT: Ok, I just switched wiring config to something else and back to my recent MCP23017 V5Touch layout and reverted the right pinout values, and now it works.
