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Another "like" for the Klingon BattleAX.

 

Now that I have gotten into the wretched Phone-based editor, I've discovered plenty to like: the modulation matrix approaches VAST in its functionality; all LH controllers are assignable to both internal and external MIDI functions; and as a MIDI receiver, it's multitimbral -- I can put it on a two-tier stand with a dumb 88 key controller and play piano and organ as two separate keyboards..

-Tom Williams

{First Name} {at} AirNetworking {dot} com

PC4-7, PX-5S, AX-Edge, PC361

 

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Not a need, as I'm pretty happy with my gear, function-wise. But it'd be fun to see my Jupiter 50 updated for 2020, and re-released as a Roland 'SuperBoard':

Keep the SuperNatural engine (and include the PCM library from the Integra); incorporate, as well, an expanded version of the Synth-EX engine, as found on the AX Edge. Put a flexible polyphony SE engine on board. Also I'd like eight, virtual instrument slots, which could load instruments from Axial and the Roland Cloud. I'd like the instrument to be an extensive controller - for both live and studio applications. So keep the USB interface and control features of the RD-2000, perhaps expanding upon that for control of the analog SE engine. Include a color touchscreen. Make the unit compact and reasonable to move (either the paddle, or wheels-not both-above the keyboard. Offer it in an 88, a 76, and a 61; none of which would weigh more than 45 lbs.

 

Good grief, I'm getting GAS just writing this :crazy:

 

'Someday, we'll look back on these days and laugh; likely a maniacal laugh from our padded cells, but a laugh nonetheless' - Mr. Boffo.

 

We need a barfing cat emoticon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I'm fairly sure this would be rather impractical from a marketing perspective, but I would lightly kill for the option of a USB wheel, joystick or touch-strip controller module that plugged into gear sporting another method. If I could employ a class-compliant Korg-style joystick wherever I chose, I'd buy three straight away. It'd have to be in a solid enough base to take the stress of playing, but part of my keeping an old Korg is the joystick. I have the proverbial stylistic english on it. Bob Moog was largely right when he said the future was less in the sound production method and more a matter of controller approach. If I had a nickle for every time I have groused about a crapulent keybed, I could afford to simply buy a Jupiter-80 for the keys and be done with it! :Python::wall:

 "I want to be an intellectual, but I don't have the brainpower.
  The absent-mindedness, I've got that licked."
        ~ John Cleese

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I'm fairly sure this would be rather impractical from a marketing perspective, but I would lightly kill for the option of a USB wheel, joystick or touch-strip controller module that plugged into gear sporting another method. If I could employ a class-compliant Korg-style joystick wherever I chose, I'd buy three straight away. It'd have to be in a solid enough base to take the stress of playing, but part of my keeping an old Korg is the joystick. I have the proverbial stylistic english on it. Bob Moog was largely right when he said the future was less in the sound production method and more a matter of controller approach. If I had a nickle for every time I have groused about a crapulent keybed, I could afford to simply buy a Jupiter-80 for the keys and be done with it! :Python::wall:

 

This - but also in the opposite vein i.e. a standard Pitch Bend / Mod Wheel combo that could be attached to a board like the Nord Electro. I'd buy one in a heart beat.

 

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Interesting article about hoe USB-C brings its own complications...

 

https://marco.org/2017/10/14/impossible-dream-of-usb-c

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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Interesting article about hoe USB-C brings its own complications...

 

https://marco.org/2017/10/14/impossible-dream-of-usb-c

 

Frankly, bad exemple of FUD, only showing, in the best case, the incompetence of the author and its confusion.

 

I have been using USB-C since the original MacBook 2015 came out, and it is not difficult: the rule is simple: stick to the cable that came with your hardware.

 

To have a more complete knowledge:

 

Basic rule 1: Thunderbolt and USB-C are *not* the same thing. This will change in the future.

 

Basic rule 2: USB-C is USB. Anything you can connect to a USB-2 o USB-3 connector can be connected (with the proper cable/adapter) to a USB-C; no confusion here.

 

Basic rule 3: there a number of things that you can do with USB-C that you cannot do with USB: charging a laptop, connecting a screen, or both. For things you cannot do with standard USB, an appropriate cable is needed.

 

Basic rule 4: Thunderlbot 3 connectors (and only 3) are *also* USB-C connector, so rules 1, 2 and 3 apply.

 

Basic rule 5: if you want to do things with Thunderbolt 3 that cannot be done with USB-C or USB, you need an appropriate cable.

 

More synthetically: you have a backward compatible chain: Thunderbolt 3 => USB-C => USB.

Old things works exactly in the way, no need to worry.

 

New hardware needing new features come with the appropriate cable, so just stick to it to avoid problems.

 

Maurizio

 

Nord Wave 2, Nord Electro 6D 61,, Rameau upright,  Hammond Pro44H Melodica.

Too many Arturia, NI and AAS plugins

http://www.barbogio.org/

 

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the rule is simple: stick to the cable that came with your hardware.

So it's kind of like wall warts, dedicate each one for its host, except worse because unlike most wall warts, all the USB-C implementations will properly fit if you try to use them in the wrong place! Also, what if you want to connect two devices that each came with their own USB-C cables. Do you use the one that came with device A or the one that came with device B? What about a device that has two USB-C ports, where something that functions on one of them doesn't function on the other? Then using the one that came with device A doesn't tell you which of the ports it has to plug into on device B.

 

I admit, that's all devil's advocating, and it's not really so unworkable, but it does seem not quite as simple as "stick to the cable that came with your hardware." But I still wonder how much value there is to the added expense and *any* possible additional complication of using the wrong cable or the wrong port, just to save having to plug your laptop into AC, keeping in mind there still has to be AC nearby (since you still have to plug the keyboard in) and that, if need be, at least in some circumstances, there's still a fallback option of running the laptop off battery anyway. It could be an imperfect solution in search of an almost non-existent problem?

 

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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I'm fairly sure this would be rather impractical from a marketing perspective, but I would lightly kill for the option of a USB wheel, joystick or touch-strip controller module that plugged into gear sporting another method. If I could employ a class-compliant Korg-style joystick wherever I chose, I'd buy three straight away. It'd have to be in a solid enough base to take the stress of playing, but part of my keeping an old Korg is the joystick. I have the proverbial stylistic english on it. Bob Moog was largely right when he said the future was less in the sound production method and more a matter of controller approach. If I had a nickle for every time I have groused about a crapulent keybed, I could afford to simply buy a Jupiter-80 for the keys and be done with it! :Python::wall:

 

So many people feel this way that a lot of the Eurorack companies have started building modules just to do it. For the rest of us, options are more limited, but the search goes on. I made sure it got a lot of discussion in PUSH TURN MOVE, but the manufacturers haven't taken the bait yet. Frustrating.

 

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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the rule is simple: stick to the cable that came with your hardware.

So it's kind of like wall warts, dedicate each one for its host, except worse because unlike most wall warts, all the USB-C implementations will properly fit if you try to use them in the wrong place! Also, what if you want to connect two devices that each came with their own USB-C cables. Do you use the one that came with device A or the one that came with device B? What about a device that has two USB-C ports, where something that functions on one of them doesn't function on the other? Then using the one that came with device A doesn't tell you which of the ports it has to plug into on device B.

 

I admit, that's all devil's advocating, and it's not really so unworkable, but it does seem not quite as simple as "stick to the cable that came with your hardware." But I still wonder how much value there is to the added expense and *any* possible additional complication of using the wrong cable or the wrong port, just to save having to plug your laptop into AC, keeping in mind there still has to be AC nearby (since you still have to plug the keyboard in) and that, if need be, at least in some circumstances, there's still a fallback option of running the laptop off battery anyway. It could be an imperfect solution in search of an almost non-existent problem?

 

OK; i admit, i was oversimplifying :->.

 

Let's add this other rule: if the basic simple rule do not works, you need to know what you are doing :->.

USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 cables are marked differently, so that is not a problem.

 

But it is true that there are USB-C charging cable that are not good for data, or data cables that are not good for videos; and there are cable that can charge, but may be not at the power you require (a cable made for a phone may not be good for your laptop).

But it is also true that there are cables that charge at 100W, and bring data and video; these cables are logically complete, and suitable for all the cases (AFAIK). So, there are not infinite combinations, and there are elegant solutions (that are a bit more expensive).

Take one point in account: if you are already in a USB-C ecosystem, you know how to handle all this; as before you knew how to handle USB 1, 2 and 3, mini USB, micro USB and miniUSB 3, kind A and B.

 

I also admit that we are not discussing a fundamental problem; just a nice to have (at least, for somebody). It seems the natural next step; first we dropped MIDI interface, and used USB. Then dropped the audio interface, and used the keyboard one using USB.

It is logic to think to drop the charger, and use the keyboard powersupply, and to drop external USB hubs and bring it in the keyboard.

 

A final rant (absolute not agasint you !!): i am pissed off about the bad press USB-C got: thanks to this bad press, i am forced to have (for example) two cables for my iPhone, one with USB-A and the other with USB-C, because i cannot buy

a USB-C to USB-C hub; instead of embracing USB-C, the industry produced a number of tools and accessories to hide it, creating in the fact the problem that the press pretended that was there.

In my opinion, good old USB is a lot more complex than USB-C; i have a whole drawer of all possible USB cables, to cope with all the possible situations; in the USB-C side, i need just a cable, or two.

 

Maurizio

 

 

Nord Wave 2, Nord Electro 6D 61,, Rameau upright,  Hammond Pro44H Melodica.

Too many Arturia, NI and AAS plugins

http://www.barbogio.org/

 

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It seems the natural next step; first we dropped MIDI interface, and used USB.

I would say that is a step sideways, not a step forward. Better in some ways, not in others. On the down side, the move to USB means you lose the advantage of being able to plug any MIDI device directly into any other MIDI device you'd want it to communicate with (i.e. you now need a computer or similar mediating device in between). There is greater susceptibility to noise. The connections are less rugged/secure.

 

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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It seems the natural next step; first we dropped MIDI interface, and used USB.

I would say that is a step sideways, not a step forward. Better in some ways, not in others. On the down side, the move to USB means you lose the advantage of being able to plug any MIDI device directly into any other MIDI device you'd want it to communicate with (i.e. you now need a computer or similar mediating device in between). There is greater susceptibility to noise. The connections are less rugged/secure.

 

I understand; i just wanted to say that once you have MIDI on USB and Audio in USB it would be natural to have also charging over USB, and an hub; i didn't wanted to advocate the use of USB in absolute terms :)

Nord Wave 2, Nord Electro 6D 61,, Rameau upright,  Hammond Pro44H Melodica.

Too many Arturia, NI and AAS plugins

http://www.barbogio.org/

 

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I have whims and desires that come and go, but I have two consistent wishes year after year...

 

1) I wish manufacturers would prioritize great, expressive keybeds much more than they do. Please, is a poly aftertouch capable device that feels like either the Prophet T8 or Kurzweil MIDIBoard too much to ask for?

 

2) id like to be able to convert keyboards from years past into rack mount modules with a snap of my fingers. This one is obviously trickier, but I"ve lost track of the instruments that I"d love to have kept around but didn"t want to devote as much space to after a number of years. I always want the programming surface right behind the keys to start, and over time I"d like to be able to tuck it all away with the sounds I"ve created and come to rely on intact.

Acoustic: Shigeru Kawai SK-7 ~ Breedlove C2/R

MIDI: Kurzweil Forte ~ Sequential Prophet X ~ Yamaha CP88 ~ Expressive E Osmose

Electric: Schecter Solo Custom Exotic ~ Chapman MLB1 Signature Bass

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I 2) id like to be able to convert keyboards from years past into rack mount modules with a snap of my fingers. This one is obviously trickier, but I"ve lost track of the instruments that I"d love to have kept around but didn"t want to devote as much space to after a number of years. I always want the programming surface right behind the keys to start, and over time I"d like to be able to tuck it all away with the sounds I"ve created and come to rely on intact.

I thought that was a terrific Korg innovation with the M3/Radius, but they abandoned the idea so quickly, I guess sales didn't meet expectations.

 

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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