[ChristianKeymaster]

Zaq Tr 4 Drum = MFB 522 (5 inst) + SP404 (11 inst./sples)

Nice one, you are sharing the drumtrack between two drummachines.
This is what I´ve tried to describe here: https://zaqaudio.com/forums/topic/hook-up-more-drummachines-to-the-same-track

[ChristianKeymaster]

I´d have to look into that. Technically it should be possible, but wouldn´t this rather confuse? So far I was alway thinking about transpose only in steps and not really relative to the root note of the scale. I was thinking of the keyboard more as buttons in this scenario and not really as notes.

[ChristianKeymaster]

Hi Mike,
maybe you´re running into the default mutes of track 2-4?
That means, after initialization only track 1 is unmuted and playing out notes.
Tracks 2-4 are completely muted.
Go to Mixer Menu and press the Track buttons so that they don´t light up continuously to unmute.
As a sideinfo, in the Mixer Menu there are individual mutes for the drum instruments as well (the two button rows 1-16).

And I´ve just verified, the instruments sound anyway in Tap Write mode, regardless of mute status.
So that would fit your description…

[ChristianKeymaster]

Sounds like a good idea, but from a software developing standpoint a user dump of a lookuptable opens a whole can of worms. What would be much more within reach is if you´d send a list of chords you like to see implemented and I try to add it to the chords list.

[ChristianKeymaster]

I´m not sure I understand… are you talking about a CV/Gate gate? Or something else?

[ChristianKeymaster]

transposition via live midi control

That´s already possible via Midi CC. Please check out the Transpose Enbl parameter of the Global Menu.

[ChristianKeymaster]

i may be unaware of how the single velocity parameter works when in drum mode. i guess im thinking of the way a 909 works, you put an accent on any step and they are all the same according to the ‘accent level’ knob. but i guess i missed that zaq is probably per step even if youre triggering multiple notes on that step.

Yeah that´s pretty much spot on. The velocity value per step affects all notes of that track generated for the step. So also all drumhits. There is no seperate accent level on it´s own. It´s not too far from how accent on x0x works, but there is no on/off switch, only the continuous velocity value per step. The Acidlab Miami I have here for example interprets all velocity > 100 as accented and everything below as not-accented.

yes scale base… can you make incoming midi conform to the scale? im just a guy who likes to turn knobs. i like the way you can switch up the scale… it gives another illumination to your pattern that is quite useful. im no scale hound. i just use my ears.

Ah ok, I see where you´re coming from. Will check this for future updates.

im ultra happy with this thing btw! i just cant help but explore what could be possible, but you have done a very nice job so far. i have been talking all my friends into buying one lol! its perfect for intricate pattern writing, thats for sure. my music making days are that much more fun when i use zaquencer!

That is so good to hear, thank you very much! Above all I wanted to make a tool that people would enjoy using, and I´m happy to hear I was/am on the right track. Also I strive to make it even better, so just keep the requests coming. As always I can´t promise anything, but I want to continue working as long as it makes sense (technically, financially, conceptually).

[ChristianKeymaster]

Hi alien,
yup my name is christian, but zaq´s fine as well

So far I was considering track mutes, stop/play, patterns etc.
In my mind it shouldn´t be too hard to add more functions to Midi CC control (no guarantee though, most of the time I find out how hard it is when starting to work with it).
The biggest challenge might be mapping the parameters to the available CCs. As in, how do you express a parameter change in a Midi CC message? This might get more clear if you imagine wanting to change some step parameter, where you´d quickly run out of CC messages. So most likely, step params won´t be available.

What do you mean by total accent level? Midi velocity? Also “root note”? Midi note pitch? Or the scale base?

Adding more scales might be possible. Do you have specific suggestions?
Have you discovered the user scale though? Basically you have one freely assignable scale already in there.

[ChristianKeymaster]

Hi Bruno,

I´ve looked at all the data and there is something fishy going on with your individual BCR and/or setup. This is the first time I hear from this error. Also changing the notes cannot be the culprit by itself as that has been tested 1000s of times. I´ll send you an email to discuss your further options.

[ChristianKeymaster]

Hi Jay,

sorry to say but this is not how it works.
You need to be able to send .syx files from a computer with an attached midi interface to the BCR2000 for installing the firmware.

Converting .syx to .mid won´t solve the problem. I´m afraid the BCR wouldn´t understand the file anymore after a change like that.

[ChristianKeymaster]

Some ideas for troubleshooting:

- can you switch around Midi Interfaces/Computer/Hardware?
Maybe go to a friend´s place for trying out different setups?
Or try another Midi Monitor software? As I said the output seemed strange to me.

- just to be safe, try reflashing the whole firmware (not only reinit, but uploading the firmware)

- can you reproduce it more exact in a way, saying “If I do xyz it happens”. I could try out your exact steps here and see what happens

That´s all I got for now. Please keep me posted on this!

[ChristianKeymaster]

Hi Bruno,
ok I think I´ve understood your problem.
Unfortunately I haven´t heard of it before nor do I have a quick solution, but maybe I can help you get to the bottom of this.
First, to address your questions:
- the init does not reach the end of the encoders but only the first 3 rows, that´s correct
- midi interfaces should be able to handle all channels simultaneously, even the cheapest ones. if not, there would be something wrong with your interface
- the midi output looks a bit strange to me, especially the note offs coming in on channel 0.
By the way, in many midi monitor softwares channel 0 is actually channel 1. I´m not sure there is something like an omni channel. Especially not in the Zaquencer, one midi message has only one midi channel.

This is what I get when I record the output of a freshly inited Zaquencer V1.0 with all four tracks enabled in MidiOx (Windows), watch out, it´s HEX, so 3F=63 and 7F=127:
Type–Note–Vel—Chan
90—-3F—-7F—-1—-Note On
93—-3F—-7F—-4—-Note On
92—-3F—-7F—-3—-Note On
91—-3F—-7F—-2—-Note On
93—-3F—-00—-4—-Note Off
92—-3F—-00—-3—-Note Off
91—-3F—-00—-2—-Note Off
90—-3F—-00—-1—-Note Off

I´ll write some ideas in a new post.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 1 month ago by  Christian.

[ChristianKeymaster]

lots of great ideas here.

I don´t really plan to create and maintain different branches of the Zaquencer at the moment, if that is how you meant it. Maybe in the future this might become feasible, but it strongly depends on how the Zaquencer will do and how much interest there is in different versions with different main features.

I went back to coding a couple of days ago and plan to release the first minor update with a few bugfixes soon.

[ChristianKeymaster]

I´m still collecting ideas how to make this work.
At the moment I see two paths that might be possible:

A) With a lot of effort I should be able to free one bit (that´s an on/off switch) per step in the pattern memory. That means you could set ratcheting on/off per step. What would the parameters then be for the ratcheting? I was thinking about coupling it to the Note Repeat parameter. That means the speed you set there would be the ratcheting speed as well. The length of the ratcheting would be fixed, either also dependent on the speed or to always go up to the next step.
Pros: additional ratcheting parameter
Cons: ratcheting speed effects all patterns, ratcheting length pre-set

B) great idea of Siegmar – offer ratcheting as additional midi control paramter. That means you´d have to sacrifice a midi control (alpha or beta) and set it to ratcheting, but then you would have 127 settings for different ratcheting modes, speed and length (would work kind of like chords, select ratcheting mode from a lookup table)
Pros: support 128 kinds of ratcheting, can be different for each step!
Cons: using up one midi control for it if you enable ratcheting

Both would mean quite some work but might be doable.
Do you have any opinions on these two paths?

• This reply was modified 10 years, 1 month ago by  Christian.
• This reply was modified 10 years, 1 month ago by  Christian.

[ChristianKeymaster]

Hi and thanks for the feature request!
Unfortunately this is beyond the current possibilities.
The flash memory is almost maxed out, and individual drum velocities would just take up too much flash. It would take one byte per drum instrument per step, which amounts to 512 byte more per preset (maybe a little less if extremely optimized). A whole preset now altogether is 1024 byte – I hope you see the discrepancy.

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