04-30-2021, 11:24 AM
"I honestly can't tell whether any of the issues I'm experiencing have already been reported."
Some of your issues may be new, some are not. I'll offer a little help here, but keep in mind I don't work for Conductive Labs so I do not speak for them. Just a happy customer.
"When the NDLR is slaved to the MIDI input clock, it does not respond to the standard Start/Stop commands. In some respects, this makes sense, because there is no way for the one MIDI command to indicate which (or all) of the parts to start."
Hmmm, in my experience it does respond to Start/Stop when an external clock is used. BUT, you must set up the conditions for it to work first. If you want all parts to start when the external Start command is issued, push the Play All button on the NDLR before starting the external sequencer. Likewise you can press individual Part Play button and/or buttons prior to starting externally. Check the status indicators in the display for filled blue dots by the parts you want to start with the external Start command.
"However, what does not happen that really should is the Chord Sequencer doesn't start or stop. If it did, it would allow the NDLR to be ready to switch in and out the various parts. In this case, it would make most sense to me for the part controls (Pad, Drone, Motifs, and All) to operate as mutes, rather than start/stops."
Sorry, but I don't use the chord sequencer much. But, I assume it may be the same issue as I just described, arm the parts you want to start before you issue the external Start command.
"In a related way, when the NDLR is the master MIDI clock, the MIDI start/stop are sent correctly when using the All Parts button. When using a single part control, however, it doesn't sync correctly with external gear. For example, I have my drum machine slaved to the NDLR, and I press the All Parts button to start, everything is synced properly, so I can use this to record MIDI to my DAW for later manipulation. For live use, however, I would likely want to start just one part, and when I start using on of the individual part controls, the sync is off by one beat (I can't remember whether it's ahead or behind off the top of my head)."
I don't think I've ever encountered this condition before. Thus, I got nothing to offer you here.
"Similarly, when I switch out a part while playing a Chord Sequence, and then switch it back in, it loses sync with the other parts. Is this because I have a setting wrong somewhere? The behavior I desire is, again, for the part controls to behave as mutes rather than actual pauses so that they maintain synchronicity."
This is a pretty common issue, and not just with the chord sequencer, but rather in all use cases of the NDLR. Internally, the Start/Stop buttons are really Continue/Pause buttons. Hence, it you start out with Start All and then desire to mute Motif 2, only to bring it back later, it will invariably be 'out of sync' when you bring it back in. Once paused, it is virtually impossible to unpause (continue) a Motif to be playing with the same time relationships it had before pausing. Motif parts are not quantized making it more than difficult for a human to pull off perfectly.
The solution supplied by CL personnel multiple times in the past is to utilize external methods of muting the instruments being played by the NDLR. For example, use your hand to manually adjust the synth's output level, or the mixer's input level, or you can use the nifty MIDI Controller feature of the NDLR (Shift+Menu Enc4) Volume Controller page.
Hope this helps!
HdK
Some of your issues may be new, some are not. I'll offer a little help here, but keep in mind I don't work for Conductive Labs so I do not speak for them. Just a happy customer.
"When the NDLR is slaved to the MIDI input clock, it does not respond to the standard Start/Stop commands. In some respects, this makes sense, because there is no way for the one MIDI command to indicate which (or all) of the parts to start."
Hmmm, in my experience it does respond to Start/Stop when an external clock is used. BUT, you must set up the conditions for it to work first. If you want all parts to start when the external Start command is issued, push the Play All button on the NDLR before starting the external sequencer. Likewise you can press individual Part Play button and/or buttons prior to starting externally. Check the status indicators in the display for filled blue dots by the parts you want to start with the external Start command.
"However, what does not happen that really should is the Chord Sequencer doesn't start or stop. If it did, it would allow the NDLR to be ready to switch in and out the various parts. In this case, it would make most sense to me for the part controls (Pad, Drone, Motifs, and All) to operate as mutes, rather than start/stops."
Sorry, but I don't use the chord sequencer much. But, I assume it may be the same issue as I just described, arm the parts you want to start before you issue the external Start command.
"In a related way, when the NDLR is the master MIDI clock, the MIDI start/stop are sent correctly when using the All Parts button. When using a single part control, however, it doesn't sync correctly with external gear. For example, I have my drum machine slaved to the NDLR, and I press the All Parts button to start, everything is synced properly, so I can use this to record MIDI to my DAW for later manipulation. For live use, however, I would likely want to start just one part, and when I start using on of the individual part controls, the sync is off by one beat (I can't remember whether it's ahead or behind off the top of my head)."
I don't think I've ever encountered this condition before. Thus, I got nothing to offer you here.
"Similarly, when I switch out a part while playing a Chord Sequence, and then switch it back in, it loses sync with the other parts. Is this because I have a setting wrong somewhere? The behavior I desire is, again, for the part controls to behave as mutes rather than actual pauses so that they maintain synchronicity."
This is a pretty common issue, and not just with the chord sequencer, but rather in all use cases of the NDLR. Internally, the Start/Stop buttons are really Continue/Pause buttons. Hence, it you start out with Start All and then desire to mute Motif 2, only to bring it back later, it will invariably be 'out of sync' when you bring it back in. Once paused, it is virtually impossible to unpause (continue) a Motif to be playing with the same time relationships it had before pausing. Motif parts are not quantized making it more than difficult for a human to pull off perfectly.
The solution supplied by CL personnel multiple times in the past is to utilize external methods of muting the instruments being played by the NDLR. For example, use your hand to manually adjust the synth's output level, or the mixer's input level, or you can use the nifty MIDI Controller feature of the NDLR (Shift+Menu Enc4) Volume Controller page.
Hope this helps!
HdK