#92

Chiming in just to say that I havenā€™t had too much trouble with mineā€¦ Iā€™m very happy with it! My only complaint is that the I/O sockets can be a bit wiggly, and cause some noise. I like the color coded visual feedback when thereā€™s signal going in or out, but it would be an improvement if they were more styret IMO.

#93

That was my problem from the beginning tooā€¦ if I brushed up against the cables ever so slightly they would crackle. Then I got mine repaired and when it came back the crackling didnā€™t happen any more. But now I have much worse problems on my hands. Itā€™s too bad. I consider the ES8 to be one of my most important modules. Love everything about it when it works.

#94

I just got my es-8 and have been messing around this week. Itā€™s an amazing module for me as I really want to keep a small 84hp rack so as to keep my setup minimal. Iā€™ve been using it with audulus 3 and vcv rack and its worked perfectly. I use samplr on iOS for my live sets so using audulus 3 to recall patches for live performance with the Es-8 is a no brainer for me. Iā€™d be interested to hear peoples experiences with an Es-8 and max / audulus / vcv rack. How do they compare?

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#95

Picked up an ES-8 today, and a rack to put it in.

For lack of much else to do at this point, I ran a patch cable from one of the outputs into one of the inputs, and sent myself a signal.

Itā€™s interesting. I can watch the voltage drop between point A and point B.

Like, I send 1v to input 1, I get 0.946v on the other side. And -1v gets me -0.958v. These numbers are consistent between those two ports. But if I switch ports, I get a different range.

And itā€™s like ā€œoh, right. Iā€™m dealing with the physical universe now.ā€

Anyway, Iā€™ll report in when Iā€™ve done something more interesting.

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#96

Iā€™ve not been using my ES-8 for controlling pitch, so this has not been an issue. But Iā€™m assuming you could get a volmeter and calibrate in Max using +~ or -~?

#97

On the one hand, I probably donā€™t need a meter for that.

Like, if I just test the voltages from outlet 1 into inlets 1-4, I can see the offsets needed for 1 and -1, and I can use a [scale~] to correct the whole range in between.

Then, I can check the other outlets, and [scale~] back their ranges to ensure that they match.

Iā€™d still have to calibrate against anything other than itself I might plug into (if those connections are pitch based), but Iā€™d be more confident that any port I reach for will behave identically.

That allā€™s easy enough.

I guess the concerns are:

  • These offsets wonā€™t match anyone elseā€™s ES-8, so anything I build around that is only usable by me. (does this matter?)

  • If everything else I connect to isnā€™t calibrated to each other, does it matter if the ports behave identically?

  • Weā€™re bridging the gap between a world of perfect precision and a world of happy accidents. Is colonizing that world even desirable?

Like, if you built a portal to a magical forest, maybe your first move isnā€™t to cut down all the trees and pave it over.

ā€¦but maybe it is. I donā€™t know.

My post was more an observation than a judgement.

Like, if polyphonic synth patches are the goal, pitch over CV is probably the wrong protocol to begin with. But I needed to examine these numbers to internalize that.

Or something.

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#98

That said, Iā€™m pretty sure Iā€™m misreading how ā€œoffā€ they are.

Itā€™s not 1v or -1v Iā€™m sending. Itā€™s 1 or -1, on a scale of -1 to 1. Whatever the full range of values is. -10v to 10v, I think?

Thatā€™d be 10x less consistent, letā€™s say.

The whole philosophical discussion above still applies, though.

#99

Are each of the outputs not supposed to be individually calibrated like the ES3 ?

Thatā€™s my understanding

I use a bunch of the expert sleepers modules (but not the ES8)

m

#100

I mean, they donā€™t use the words ā€œcalibrateā€ or ā€œcalibrationā€ in the ES-8ā€™s product page or manual, and theyā€™re not in the equivalent ES-3 pages, either.

Soā€¦ maybe?

Where does one obtain such knowledge?

#101

That sounds flippant, but itā€™s a serious question, and probably the first pertinent thing that Iā€™ve said in this thread.

If I develop a patch for other users, what is their expectation in terms of 1v per octave CV? And what is my response when they ask?

  • If thereā€™s a documentation link to forward them, I need that on hand.

  • If itā€™s a standardized procedure, I should do that myself.

  • If itā€™s me including a calibration routine in my own patch, is that something I should develop myself, or is there a commonly accepted bpatcher that I shouldnā€™t veer from?

This is worth knowing, and soon.

#102

@ greaterthanzero

I would have a look at the muffwigglers forum :

https://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=35

I do believe there is also a max external for the ES3/ES4 AND ES5 (I donā€™t use an ES8 unfortunately I don;t have an ES 8) - See http://www.expert-sleepers.co.uk/downloads.html

if you contact OS at the above forum he is super helpful and will answer your questions quicker than most manufacturers. He will sort it out i can assure you

m

1 Like
#103

I have very mixed feelings about that suggestion.

I mean, whether or not the externals work on ES-8, theyā€™re not needed on ES-8, or expected, or recommended. The fact that Expert Sleepers has drawn no connection between those externals and the ES-8 tells me that most ES-8 users wonā€™t go searching through Muffwiggler, much less contacting the developer to research this.

Thatā€™s not to say that I shouldnā€™t, though. I should find out what yā€™all are doing, and ensure that whatever I do to support everyone else doesnā€™t conflict with that.

But it wonā€™t be to require these externals, or to direct users down that path. Because this solution isnā€™t official enough to have gotten a mention in the setup guide. Or in cycling74ā€™s write-up. Or anywhere else that a person could reasonably be expected to look before they get started.

(and if Iā€™m wrong, Expert Sleepers can bring me in line by simply updating their online documentation.)

#104

Cool

I appreciate this g.

Os is an extremely helpful and clever developer and without approaching him and the forum my Es3/5/6/7/4CV/8Gt /8MD (x2) would be a mess of wires and iā€™d have even less hair hehe

I think I need to buy an ES8 :slight_smile:

m

#105

Iā€™m liking mine.

I lost out on an ES-3/ES-6 bundle on eBay last week, and am super bummed about it. That combination (running lightpipe in and out of the ES-8 for additional ports) would be insanely powerful.

#106

it is proper nuts running cv back in to ableton and controlling the cv with lfo etc.

and I use the ES6 & ES7 as audio outs sometimes too

I am obsessed with the expert sleepers modules :slight_smile:

1 Like
#107

been using ES8/6/3 with Max for about a year now. totally love it.

has anyone ever made (or used or heard of) these? https://little-scale.blogspot.com/2017/11/usb-midi-to-eight-gates-and-sixteen-cv.html?m=1

it seems incredible, & since itā€™s MIDI you could have this + ES combosā€¦?

#108

this crowd might be interested in this ->

2 Likes
#109

Thank you for sharing that. Stretta is great and I didnā€™t know heā€™d developed this but it looks fantastic.

#110

Are there any functional differences between the ES-3 and ES-8 as far as receiving and transmitting CV?

Iā€™m going to be using a KMix to send my individual channels and Iā€™m an avid programmer so Iā€™m thinking about incorporating my computer for CV tools that I build myself, so Iā€™m asking this question since it seems like the ES-3 has the subset of functions that Iā€™m looking for.

#111

Iā€™m part of a group buy with a bunch of strangers on Facebook, and will hopefully receive two PCBsā€¦ someday. (edit: I just checked in with them, got a tracking number. so, maybe next week?)

I figured Iā€™ll probably hack the code to be more automation centric (focused on 14 bit pitch bend instead of 7 bit notes or CC).

But, yeah. Seems like what we really need is to revive this project.