Hey guys

I've had my NDLR for a couple of weeks now and have explored all the functions so I'm familiar with how it works.

I tried to make a track with it this week but have ended up losing a few days worth of studio time due to the number of problems I'm having with it, so I've given up for now which is quite disappointing.

Here are some of the problems I've had and features that either aren't working or IMO need to be implemented/refined to make this unit practical to use in the studio.

1. Motif1 MIDI out failure: 

I built a track around the NDLR (with a drum machine and my modular synced to it) and then switched to external sync (USB1) to sync the NDLR to my DAW ready for recording. This appears to have completely killed MIDIA Ch1 which Motif1 was using. A couple of times I did get it back by doing various resets and loads, but now nothing I have tried will recover it and I have no MIDI output for Motif1 (even I use a different MIDI channel). (I've checked this with a midi monitor, Motif2 is still working).

2. General repeatability issues. 

I'm finding the NDLR very difficult to set up for repeatable behaviour. I'm sure this is mentioned elsewhere on the forum, but it appears there is no way to reset patterns, rhythms, or even globally reset on MMC start and stop (essential for recording), which means that it's impossible to create synced grooves. I had to use external VCAs in the abandoned track to get any kind of predictable yet interesting rhythm going, perhaps I'm missing something? 

Suggestion: Each motif should have a reset on note-on msg for either the pattern or the rhythm or both.

Suggestion 2: Other MIDI messages could trigger a global pattern/rhythm reset

3. MIDI input/transpose etc not working.

My unit doesn't respond to MIDI input from my arturia keyboard or any of my sequencers in any way that I can perceive - certainly nothing changes on-screen. It does receive MIDI clock from the keyboard/DAW though so there's something else amiss here - perhaps I'm missing something. 

4. It doesn't behave like a normal arpeggiator - feature request.

Seems a bit weird to be requesting this but I would expect to be able to play a series of chords into the machine and these would trigger a series of arpeggios based on the chords notes. It would make sense to have the note-on messages reset either the pattern or rhythm (or both, or neither) of the arpeggio accordingly. This is an essential 'playability' feature of any arpeggiator as far as I can tell.  

5. Unstable settings.

I find it way too easy to accidentally destroy the balance of a patch with a single touch of an encoder that happens to be pointing at the wrong parameter, even though the desired parameter is displayed on the screen (also the yellowness of a parameter is not accurately reflected but that's a minor bug). When this happens there is often no way back because the parameter settings are often graphical and unmemorable (especially if you're not looking at them), and this is very frustrating in practice.

It also means that touching any encoder requires an extra level of thought, which I find tiring and annoying, and this makes the unit feel less like a musical instrument and detracts from the musical process

My suggestion would be to only show the parameters that are currently editable. Have an immutable overview screen to see everything at once if needs be. By only displaying the mutable parameters the displayed parameters could be bigger and clearer, which would be a very big bonus and help the workflow. 

6. There appears to be only 10 patch memories! Can this be increased to 127 and have them accessible via MIDI program change please? 10 isn't enough bearing in mind how easy it is to lose the balance of a patch.

7. Global settings and patch settings appear to have been merged but I'm not sure this is helpful in the studio. For example, it would be good to have a few global settings for different studio modes (e.g. DAW master, NDLR master, modular master etc), and these should be mutually exclusive from the patch (musical) settings. Otherwise, when you transition a studio mode (e.g. from jamming in NDLR master to recording in DAW master) all your presets become useless!

8. Rhythm step mutes. I couldn't find a way to mute steps of a rhythm without creating glides, is this deliberate or am I missing something?!  

Suggestion rhythms should be a series of velocities but steps should also be able to be toggled on off otherwise you lose compatibility with MIDI->CV interfaces.


Please let me know if I've overlooked some features that have caused the problems above! 

First, Darryl and co, massive congratulations on a cool sequencer! Its really great! I did not learn about it until after the kickstarter had concluded but Im thrilled that I was able to get in on a straight purchase. Really impressed. And I'm only just starting to get my head around the LFO tweaking.

Now, on the the matter at hand. I'd like to use the NDLR as part of a multi-sequencer setup that will allow me to free up my hands for playing guitar and horn. I use Ableton pretty extensively for writing and production, but for my live rig I'm planning to pair NDLR with Engine, my hardware sequencer of choice. I've currently only used NDLR with Ableton, but there are some gotchas. I have three related questions:

1> As discussed in another thread, it seems to start from where it was paused....this is a bit problematic as I'd prefer on START (0xFA) it starts at the beginning and only resume from where it STOPed (0xFC) on CONTINUE (0xFB) . Is that possible? I believe from the other thread on this that you are working on beta firmware for this? I'd be happy to beta test for you if thats so. If other people would like different behavior, perhaps add something in the settings to pick?

2> I see there is pad quantisation available to NONE, 1/4, and 1/8 notes. How about Bar quantisation? this would make life much easier with Ableton. In an ideal world I could make a change to the NDLR via the buttons or MIDI, and have it take effect only at a bar boundary. I think this would involve your using SP (0xF2) ... is that possible/on the roadmap/gonna happen?

3>I am seeing some strange behaviour with armed tracks being 1 beat late when pad is quantised to a 1/4 note. It seems readily reproducible. For example, I start a sequence sending notes to the NDLR control channel alongside another clip with a regular beat...if the NDLR is on pad quantise none, the pad hits on the 1. if pad quantise is 1/4, then the pad hits on the 2. Bug? I'm on 1.1.009 which I think is the latest if the website is to be believed. I'd much prefer to quantise changes so I can 'pre launch' the way one does with ableton clips, for instance, to avoid live chaos when multitasking.

I hope this is useful and helpful feedback and questions. Im hoping that the NDLR can free me from the screen and keyboard! As above, I'd be happy to help you with testing and reproduction...I know you have a pretty small user base so far.

peace

Rens

I have been diligently testing and working with MIDI foot controllers that will do changes with the NDLR.  Some of my results are in the "NDLR Live" thread.

For some functions, the NDLR likes to see a "note-on, note-off" command (reference page 29 of the Version 1.2 manual).

So far, I can confirm that the Keith McMillen 12-Step with the McMillen Expander and Behringer FCB1010 both work.  I would assume, but haven't tested, that the Keith McMillen Softstep 2 would also work.

My Roland PK-5 sends note information but not "note-on, note-off" commands.  It's still helpful if you want to play one of your synths through the NDLR, that's why there are 2 MIDI input jacks!

If anyone finds other foot controllers that work well with the NDLR, please post here.  Thanks!

Gator makes a padded soft side mixer bag that is 9 x 9, it's a pretty close fit and there is an extra zippered compartment for cables, etc.  Plus a shoulder strap.  Take your NDLR with you on trips!

Here's a listing at Sweetwater, at $ 29.99

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/...-mixer-bag

I am of course talking about the NDLR but I'm also impressed that the 1.3 version of the manual listed at https://conductivelabs.com/download/ has a date of Nov 20th 2019 

OK, enough of being a smart alec. Happy user here in the UK - currently enjoying using it with a Digitone although using it with an iPad was pretty cool. 

Got some issues with saving settings but need to study the manual before raising anything - might just be my lack of understanding at this early point. 

Many thanks for the great work!

Ian

I was surprised to see that the actual pattern values are not a modulation destination.

If they were, the 16 steps in a pattern would not be limiting at all and a lot of cool algorithmic things could be done.

If the pattern values were a mod destination that the modulator added to/subtracted from and the mod amount was expressed in # of half steps, then you could easily do things like -

square wave set to a rate of 2 bars and mod amount of 12 would perform an octave transpose up and then down every 2 bars.   - or -
sawtooth with mod amount of 12 and a pattern consisting of a single step/note would result in a rising scale then resetting back to the base value.

Where it could get cool is if you used multiple LFOs, set them to different # of half steps and different rates, then a simple pattern would get mutated but it would still be a pattern and not completely random.

Or, you could have a pattern modify itself by using it as the modulator and as the target.

I'd be willing to sacrifice pattern number and pattern on/off to get the values as a destination.  I'd also be OK if the mod amount had to be a percentage if the max (100%) was a known quantity like 2 octaves or 4 octaves or something.

Hey all. I'm loving playing with NDLR and my Blofeld. A great combo, I think.

Does any one know if a pattern can save MIDI program change data in order to call up a preset multi patch from a multitimbral synth? Or even better whether patches per track {motif 1,2,Drone,Pad) can be saved and associated with specific black keys?

Pg 30 of the manual describes how to pass thru prog change from a controller/seq, but I'm wondering if there NDLR can send prog change commands from Motif 1 or 2, or Pad or Drone so that if I saved a pattern and certain prog change values on a black key that NDLR could, for example, change pad sounds when we change keys? 

Thanks!

--some ndlr+blofeld noodling-- https://instaud.io/_/3jEE.mp3

Hello NOODLERS,

happily mine made it thru customs a few days ago, so i had some time to get in touch with that lovely device. 
i´m pretty stunned about the posibilitys to controll the functions via cc messages. 
i´m currently using a Keystep getting synced by the NDLR to have tempo and key synced arpeggios and a Behringer BCR 2000 to change parameters like Position of Pad/Drone/Motifs, their length etc. 
When i change one parameter at a time it works fine but when i change more at a time the NDLR seems to get a bit overwhelmed and tends to crash or freeze. It goes that far that even start/stop all parts doesnt help. 
Im running Firmware 1.1009
Does anyone know a solution ?  


Thanks in advance !

Greetings from Germany 

Patrick

I'd like to see a feature where the NDLR can accept a note or chord via a specified MIDI-IN channel (user assigned).
It then reads that chord or note and transposes the MOTIF (or possibly the root note). I'm fairly sure the open source MIDIPal code had an algorithm that was able to do this (I'd need to confirm this tho).

A similar feature is in the Roland JD-XI (for reference) it is called the Interactive Chord mode.

I guess the issue is to decide whether we're sticking to the chord progression rules of the root note - or changing the root note completely. Or maybe both could be an option.

Hi Steve and Darryl, the support on the site seems not active. But I have a question about the shipment of  of my NDLR.

The delivery address is in the Netherlands. But the last tracking update says:

"February 3, 2019, 5:38 pm 
Departed 
BEIJING, CHINA 
Your item departed a transfer airport in CAPITAL, BEIJING, CHINA on February 3, 2019 at 5:38 pm. The item is currently in transit to the destination."

Seems pretty far out for a shipment to the Netherlands. Is there a error or do I have the wrong tracking number?

Best regards,

Armand van der Sluis