327

Neil has made a couple of new (and quite fantastic) videos for the latest firmware, 0.4, the longest of which is intended for brand new users. I think he’s got some more in the pipeline, too! It’s a nice way to get acclimated to the basics of the ER-301 while also being introduced to the latest features (like scope mode).

8 Likes
328

For what it’s worth I put out a request to Neil over on the O|D forum that maybe he could warm up his cat for some new meows in the background of a 0.4 focused tutorial.

3 Likes
329

I’m working my way through the 0.4 videos while I graze the older ones, but they’re all great. It really isn’t my preferred way to learn technical topics, though. (Thanks again to monome for the substantial Teletype manual.)

2 Likes
330

I’m feeling the love! :blush:

It’s a tricky one. At one point I was debating removing all the vids prior to .4… but there was a lot of fun and happy accidents of discovery in some of those,

One thing to keep in mind is ALL versions share the same core fundamental workflow. So they may look slightly different, but it’s 95% there. I guess the takeaway with legacy videos are: any of the fun cool stuff done a year or so ago, could be done now with even more flexibility. Especially with the new direct patching of ‘everything is a local’ in 0.4.

I really do want to make more, but I’m slammed with work until at least February so I’m not sure if I’ll have a breather before that. You never know though, when inspiration strikes I just make them on the fly! :slight_smile:

Happy Holidays!

15 Likes
331

Thanks for pointing out my devices. It’s still really in development, though.
I just dropped a MaxForLive device that let you write a Midi clip into a pitch CV file. It’s really promising to me. Could make whole songs in Live and just drop them in the ER-301.

2 Likes
332

I watched a lot of the 0.3 videos a few months back, and the 0.4 beginner video is much appreciated. :+1:

The view on the Locals screen seems really useful and I love the idea of freely patching stuff around in that way. I’m pretty sure I’ll go ahead and start with the bleeding edge version – I don’t have any old stuff saved that I could lose :slight_smile:

2 Likes
333

You did see the wiki manual? http://wiki.orthogonaldevices.com/index.php/ER-301

1 Like
335

Hi. I was wondering if there’s someone in the San Francisco area who can solder and who would be interested in helping me get my ER-301 up to i2c standards (and maybe help me sort out getting my 16n and TXb and Ansible hooked up). Thanks. Much appreciated.

336

What board revision do you have?

337

Unless I’m even more clueless than I think I am, I think it’s 7, but I’ll take a photo after dinner.

338

PS: Yeah, it’s rev7. (I had a few minutes while the broccoli is steaming.)

2 Likes
339

hey there folks so I just got a 16n from Michigan Synth works, how doI use this with the ER-301? In particular I am looking to use I2C? Many thanks!

1 Like
340

Hey @disquiet did you ever get this sorted?

I was TERRIFIED to do mine (also rev 7), but it ended up being alright. My wife and I had a baby right afterward, so I really haven’t waded too far in triggering the er301 but I’ve gotten Teletype, Just friends, w/ and TXo playing together and the i2c leads to other modules didn’t pose too much of a problem.

Long story short, I have extra i2c leads, live in SF and an inflated sense of confidence after soldering one thing once.

5 Likes
341

I would greatly appreciate the assist. I’ll shoot you a DM about meeting up. It’s been eight years since I had a newborn, but I remember it well. Which is to say: foggily.

342

Would you say that the ER 301 becomes irrelevant when using it in a system that also uses Ableton Live?
I’m interested in one but Live is the base of my whole system.

1 Like
343

Can you be more specific about why you think it would be irrelevant? Ableton can do many things. So can the ER-301.

1 Like
344

I think it came mainly from the perspective of ER 301 as mostly a sampler/effects processor which Ableton can do and very well. Live can also do oscillator and envelopes although I’d argue they don’t sound very nice.
I would like the ER-301 to replace a couple of oscillators/filters/env/vca on my 208hp and provide some feedback patching/effects plus saved presets which I quite need for live shows.
Something I could never figure out from the demos and sound compositions people posted on the OD forums is the sound quality of the waveforms. Do they sound (and I know this is subjective) "cheap digital) like Ableton ones do or?
I’m not versed at all in the ER-301 so I just want to avoid spending close to 1k on something to find out later I could’ve used something else I already had.

2 Likes
345

There are a few builtin envelope types right now - ADSR, a Skewed Sin (kind of an AD envelope with parabolic shape), and an envelope follower. You can also use the sample players to play back CV. So you could record an envelope from something else or even hand wiggle one into a one of the looper/recorders, then trigger it and play it back at different speeds.

You can have a pretty large number of envelopes and VCAs. One thing to keep in mind is that the ER-301s outputs are AC coupled, so you can’t output low frequency CV signals. However you can bring audio signals in through the many inputs, and use the internal envelopes/vcas to control the signal. It’s also a great mixer.

As far as the generated oscillators go, the sine oscillator is really nice and fully featured with sync, linear and expo FM, phase modulation. The saw and triangle waveforms are not anti-aliased at this point. I like the sound of them but they could be too digital for you depending on your tastes.

The firmware is less than half finished (currently on v0.4) so I think there’s a good chance we’ll see more generated oscillator types and anti-aliased versions at some point. Then again, I don’t recommend buying something for what it may do in the future. Make sure there’s enough to make it worth it for you as is, and anything added will just feel like a bonus.

The sample players can loop any single cycle waveform you care to import, though, and you get V/Oct control of the pitch. So in that respect your choice of oscillators is pretty unlimited. Any single cycle waveform you can download or sample yourself can become an oscillator and it sounds as good as the source. The manual grains unit also turns samples into an interesting oscillator.

The filters are digital obviously. I like them a lot. RIght now there are 24db low and high pass resonant ladder filters, a 3 band parametric EQ, and a convolution unit that can handle short (<0.5sec) IRs - very usable for filters, but only very short reverbs.

I think one of the huge strengths of the ER-301 is that just about everything can be CV controlled.

Hope that helps some. Happy to answer more questions.

6 Likes
346

Wow, didn’t know the ER-301 could use single cycle wave forms as oscillators, that changes everything.

1 Like
347

One thing worth adding is that as a granular synth, it’s pretty great, too.

1 Like