[ChristianKeymaster]

Hi Rich,
thanks for the kudos!

Regarding your question, isn´t a bank change just a CC message (bank select)?
This would be already implemented.
You could use Midi Control Alpha for Program Change and Beta for that bank select message. The only problem might be that a bank select message might be made up of two CCs, namely MSB and LSB. The only thing off the top of my head would then be to utilize a Midi Control from another track in addition.
But some synths might even respond to only sending the MSB or LSB, worth checking that out.

[ChristianKeymaster]

Well, there is a way in the Instrument Select Menu in the Tap write mode.
Basically, when you´re in tap write mode and the clock is stopped you can preview the sounds by pressing the buttons 1-16.
(go to Inst. Select, select your drum track with the track buttons, hit Page > for Tap Write and then press 1-16 for the desired instrument)

It´s not really performance ready, but might help with testing, don´t know what you had in mind….

[ChristianKeymaster]

While the length of the steps themselves is fixed, you can experiment placing the notes around the stepgrid. You can use Note Delay to shift them back and forth and Note Length to make them play longer/shorter, Note Mute to silence a note (to make way for a long one before it). For the usecase you´ve described it´s not as intuitive as how you´ve proposed, but to a degree it might allow you to do what you have in mind.

[ChristianKeymaster]

Good question.
I haven´t tried it yet with a Midi Through box.
I don´t see why it wouldn´t work, but I have just ordered a Kenton Midi Thru 5 to make sure.
I will post back my findings here.

[ChristianKeymaster]

Hi GLM,
thanks for your question!

Before I go deeper into explanation, have you already seen the “Getting Started” page?
https://zaqaudio.com/forums/topic/sticky-usage-getting-started

It has instructions on how to setup a TR style drumtrack (middle of the page, paragraph “To create a drum track…”).

If you´ve read it and it´s still unclear I´ll be happy to answer further questions.

Cheers!

[ChristianKeymaster]

Hi Dawid,
thanks for submitting your bug report.
This is the first time I hear of this issue.
We´ve extensively tested the Zaquencer on external clock as well and are not aware of this problem so far.

Can you please try out different configurations to get more of a handle on this behaviour?
Can you make it happen on internal clock as well?
Can you please try another Midi Clock Master? (Maybe PC & DAW if you don´t have another hardware clock).

How exactly does it slow down? Is it rhythmically? Or randomly? Could it be that the Clock Divider parameter has somehow been set for the track?

Edit: does it always happen, or just sporadically?
(can you reproduce it?)
The more information you can give, the better we can try to reproduce it here

• This reply was modified 10 years ago by  Christian.

[ChristianKeymaster]

Your BCR definitely seems to have an error.

But the behaviour that the encoder lights are off and the buttons don´t toggle to “off” is the default state of the BCR when the flash is empty and the preset has just been inited. You should be able to get the lights back by editing the encoder (hold edit + turn encoder) and then set type for example to “CC” (turning the first encoder). Then when you press the exit button the light should be back for this enc. Same with buttons, you can edit the toggle state.

This still doesn´t cover the other errors though, which sound very much like the multiplexer error.

[ChristianKeymaster]

Thanks for the update!
Too bad exchanging the parts did not work like expected.
Which parts did you try exchanging?

I would be interested, did exchanging the CPU and upper LCD board with the BCF generally work and just not get rid of the error? Or didn´t it work at all?

Anyway, please write a quick mail to support@zaqaudio.com with your order number and details, and we´ll see if we can do more for you in this case.

[ChristianKeymaster]

Thanks for the update!
Yes, we´ve also tried in more complex setups.
We regularly have 4 synths connected to the BCR and extensively test both on internal and external clock with another device or computer giving the clock on the midi in.
We´ve also used it in clock chains of up to 4 devices, each one passing through the clock to the next.

I would like to get to the bottom of this behaviour, please keep me updated here when it happens again. The more detailed you describe the setup/circumstances, the better I can try to reproduce it here.

Thanks!

[ChristianKeymaster]

Hi Peter,
thanks for the feedback and sorry to hear that your BCR is acting up.
We´re about to investigate this behaviour. It is only reported with a few devices so far, so it seems connected to the individual hardware, but maybe we can do something in the software to alleviate it.

In the meantime, have you tried to re-upload the Zaquencer firmware?
It´s a long shot, but at least one user has reported this to help with strange behaviour.

[ChristianKeymaster]

Hi Arthur,
this functionality is already available. When you hold down for example the note pitch button in the main menu while turning an encoder you relatively affect all active steps at once. This works for all per-step-parameters in the main menu.
An undo function is not planned at the moment, it has turned out that frequent saving with load for undo has worked well for covering that.

[ChristianKeymaster]

Sounds good, but before you desolder your LCD, make sure to measure it with a multimeter first like Ricardo Dias described. If you apply a diode test to every segment when it´s still built in, defective segments won´t light up. This way you can tell if you really need to desolder etc..

[ChristianKeymaster]

Hi on_air,
sorry to hear that you are experiencing hardware problems.

This sounds like a severe case of the multiplexer error.

Unfortunately I can´t say anything about the BCF as we don´t have one here and I also never tried to exchange parts between BCR and BCF. I have successfully transplanted upper boards between different BCRs though. If you decide to try please post back here, it would be very interesting.

Should you decide to get a new BCR and need the license transferred, please write to support@zaqaudio.com in this case.

Maybe you can also try Zymos´ approach above and reupload the whole firmware and then trigger a flash reinit.

Cheers,
Christian

[ChristianKeymaster]

Yup, there is no dedicated feature for clearing a pattern.
Like alien said, you can clear a pattern by copying a blank pattern to it.

[ChristianKeymaster]

I´m happy if you can see it that way, that is probably the best way to see it.

Well, as has come up a number of times, the pattern flash memory is full to the point where per-step features are quite impossible to implement. So, features that don´t need a whole lot of flash are way more likely to make it in.
In lack for a better term, I´d call them “behavioural” features, like the footswitches for example. Just adding a new behaviour by the push of a button, and not a different setting per step. But then these are limited by the use of buttons. I am really really happy now with the intuitivity of the interface, the direct access of every paramter. I think there might be room for a few more things without breaking it, but I´m really watchful about that and would rather leave out features than sacrifice ease of use at this point. Of course, some features will improve ease of use again, so …

As I wrote in the sticky of the feature request forum, I am sure to read every request and evaluate it. I can´t comment every request or promise specific features, but will continue working on it. Also, the development process might go slow at times, so if you can see new stuff as icing on the cake this is probably the best attitude towards new features in general.

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