02-24-2019, 04:57 PM
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!
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!