#61

Yep, that’s fair and something like stability can be classed as a non-functional requirement. The “non-functional” is a bit of a red herring in this case since it implies negation (though that’s not actually what it describes). What I was interested in moreso were your functional requirements.

It’s a bit pedantic but functional requirements are the “artist space” of a piece of musical technology. Non-functional requirements are like, yeah, it needs to be stable. It can’t break, etc. Those are two different but intersecting trains of thought in product design but given a finite set of resources, how much do you privilege the functional (I want to loop Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” endlessly at 1/4 speed because this is my art) vs the non-functional (Metallica looping more difficult, module more stable).

In other words, other than stability, what are you trying to do with the module, as an artist.

2 Likes
#62

I’m chainsmoking and my phone is gonna die, so last thought for today.

An old boss of mine, ex-MSFT, said one day à propos nothing, “Forums are where good information goes to die.”

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#63

Here was a fun patch from earlier today using W/Tape in Echo Mode. My guitar was triggering an envelope from Ears that was messing with the tape speed and triggering a note from Mangrove.

One thing I noticed was that when I unplugged the envelope that was being sent, the Tape Echo was stuck almost a half step higher than what I was playing. It stayed like this until I turned it off and on again.

8 Likes
#64

@Galapagoose really enjoying this update and appreciate the amount of work done. It feels like a new module. I have a quick question.

In W/Syn mode, how do you change the Params to shape the sounds from the front panel. I saw a button combo in the video and adjusting the sound parameters with the up and down but not sure how you did it and I can’t find it in the wiki. Update : scrap that - i found it - select your light of choice and toggle up and down with the switch quick video here Mannequins W/ (with)

Ps - the github link to Crow v2 doesn’t work in the top post - I loaded up the Crow v2 RC1 from the releases page, but no joy getting W/ to do anything using your video script so I guess it isn’t up to date.

What you did at the end part of the video with the dual FM synth lines was brilliant and reminded me of Keith Whitman’s - Generators

4 Likes
#65

I’ve only played around with w/Tape so far. Thanks @galapagoose for all the work and thought that went into this! Overall. Immediately a lot of fun and easier to know what’s happening and what I need to do. All without sacrificing some of the mystery/weirdness that lead to fun surprises.

  1. Hopping Around
    I really miss being able to set up a few short loops and jump around them all. With 2.0, I wish the loop(hold) function was available via CV to toggle looping on/off. Maybe triggers tap loop and gates of 0.5s (arbitrary, short number) perform the hold function? I guess I’m thinking it would be nice to listen to have a loop playing for a bit, turn off looping so that the tape moves forward to a new section, then start looping again in a new spot. Also open to other thoughts on accomplishing something similar with w/2.

  2. Doubling Loop Size
    Sometimes it seemed like the double length went <-backwards on the tape and some times -> jumped forward. It seemed like it might have been based on whether you are in the first half or second half of loop? Mainly want to confirm that this is the case, sometimes it was hard to tell when/if I was in the beginning half or end half of a loop and wasn’t sure which direction the loop would double into.

  3. Multiple Tapes
    Are the six different tapes gone? I guess with the new interface controls there is no way to access them easily, but curious if it’s possible. Personally, I’d love to still have access to a few tapes.

  4. This/That Loop
    When holding record while plugging into THIS or THAT and then selecting loop, both lights over loop flash. Flick down to make the selection, but then it doesn’t seem to respond to trigger inputs. I couldn’t get it to trigger loop taps or reset. Possibly user error. Maybe pulse width of my signal is too long. I’ll try with different signals when I’m able to.

  5. Gate into THIS or THAT with record selected.
    The first time the loop hits the end and restarts, if the gate is still high then there is an audible scratching sound. It doesn’t record on to the tape, but sounds gnarly. Doesn’t happen on 2nd, 3rd, etc pass as long as gate is held high. Seemed to happen with and without anything coming into the other THIS/THAT input.

1 Like
#66

Thanks for this big update! I’ve been especially looking forward to expanded ii commands and it looks like it covers what I was hoping for. I’m excited to dive deeply into it, but in the meantime one feature that I already know I would like to add my vote for to come sooner rather than later is the tape erase feature.

Thanks again for your hard work on this.

1 Like
#67

Ok - had time to install and a quick play - first impressions - this is much more intuitive - mine has sat in a box for the last however long since I’d found it too fiddly. Feels like a great companion to crow as well - now wondering about getting another one! :slight_smile:

7 Likes
#68

As noted - its BETA so bugs and “stability” are part of the meal at the moment. Im loving it so far, if it goes where I hope I is, I can see another 2 and another crow
its got such an organic feel to it - reminds me of harvestman but not a particular module, just that vibe.

#69

So, this new firmware doesn’t support Teletype and there aren’t plans to? Just crow now?

1 Like
#70

Trent only said that he doesn’t feel like doing it personally. The hooks are there and if you look at the teletype discussions, people are already discussing what to name the w/2 ops.

Also worth adding, if/when the time code stuff gets more or less ironed out, it’s theoretically possible to recreate the cue system, if even just slightly. It will require a little work and would probably be best served with either a TT and a grid for control, or a crow Max/Druid patch. Not preferred for many, but still an option with a little elbow grease.

4 Likes
#71

Hmmm, putting this out there for those who might be able to code for Ansible and ARC where each knob is a tape and we can scrub through the recordings.

4 Likes
#72

That’s what I’ve been thinking about a whole lot! Although, if I get my head around the arc programming, it’ll probably originally be in the Max world, not Druid.

2 Likes
#73

Thanks for the new firmware!

I’m just trying it out in tape mode. All lights correspond with the various controls and actions as described in the wiki above (as far as I can see), but I’m not getting any sound when playing back. Sound is monitoring fine going through and I’ve tried recording forwards and backwards and at various overdubbing strenghts and also levels, but I get only silence when I play back (in both directions).

Curious if anyone else is experiencing this or have troubleshooting tips.

Do you you hear sound when rewinding the tape – either from stopped tape or playing tape, or any one of those, or both?

If tape is playing forwards and you are recording do you have: white light at play + white light at record + yellow light at record showing amount of overdubbing (so possibly being entirely off if your style is erase)? (Hope that was not confusing)

#74

Having way more fun with this that I had with the last firmware

Some notes:

does rewind, fast forward go faster on “empty tape”? I rewind just past what I recorded and it can take an age before sound comes. If I rewind to while there is still sound it is fine. something odd there anyway

record and then play backwards doesn’t seem to work very well

I’ve got a loop setup and a fader from f8r controlling the record level via That - doesn’t seem to like recording into the loop - if I clear the loop but don’t change any other settings it records fine

#75

Here’s just guitar layers recorded in to Echo mode and messed with. I’ve noticed that when you change tape speeds after something has been recorded, you get some digital noise. It mostly stays clean when the speed is unchanged tho, and there’s no noise build up—just a bit usually at the beginning of the loop.

3 Likes
#76

Didn’t get around to trying W/Tape until today because W/Del was so fun. Assuming it’s the same “squeaky noisiness,” I get this whenever Record is enabled and there is existing material on the tape. Overdub-related?

This might be a misunderstanding on my part or simply user error, but I can’t seem to simply record to tape outside of a loop. I need to first tap Loop once to create a loop start point and then it will start recording. If Tape mode is indeed intended to let me simply jot down ideas independent of wanting to loop them, what am I doing wrong?

#77

Does 2x gain mean I can plug a line-level signal into W/2 :slight_smile:

1 Like
#78

That reads to me that it will allow hot signals, not boost low level signals.

1 Like
#79

I have not been able to replicate the squeaky noisiness—was able to repeat it a couple times within that session before posting that, but hasn’t happened since… in any case, I was referring to something I experienced in delay mode not in tape mode… Trent’s referring to tape speed manipulation may mean I was misunderstood there… which may mean I was mistaken (definitely possible)…

I just experimented with it and definitely able to record without a loop. I have had some trouble recording and playing back when the tape is going in reverse but haven’t quite nailed down what’s going on there yet. If I am playing and recording and I hit loop once to mark the tape and again to begin looping. If I hold down “loop” the loop points disappear and the tape continues past the end of the loop seamlessly, and continues recording. I was able to rewind and playback without beginning another loop and material was successfully recorded. Hope that description is helpful! Should be able to start it up, play, record, rewind, listen back/overdub/etc without any looping but you’ll have to use the rewind or play in reverse features since you can’t jump to cue points (of course, there’s ii ways of doing it that maybe someone else can speak to better than me).

@tejomay Did some tests: using a PO-12 I could get it to an okay volume with the PO volume set to full and 2x gain. Doesn’t sound anywhere near as thick and full as using the RIP as a line in, or phonogene preamp (which has a lot more gain too). Don’t have the tools to give you any hard numbers, so this is just an ear test. There may be some impedance thing going on that I don’t understand. My Shnth runs in at x2 gain and sounds great, but it runs pretty hot and may have an impedance that’s more conducive to eurorack(?). I probably wouldn’t rely on it to bring line level instruments up, but it might work in certain cases/in a pinch. That being said, I was just able to make a lil lofi beat to study and relax to using that po12 and shnth into w/ but ymmv :slight_smile:

2 Likes
#80

When I’m playing at half speed and press “play+down” again, the tape stops but the “play” LED is still lit as if it’s playing back—seems like hitting this twice should have zero effect. It doesn’t lock up, you just have to hit play+up to get it back to half speed. If you do the equivalent at double speed (try to double it again), it has no effect. Also, sometime it seems to not acknowledge “play+(up or down)” and I have to do it multiple times for it to register. Not sure if that’s a bug or user error, but I don’t think I’m doing anything differently when it is working :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: Again, no lock ups though, just keep trying and it works eventually.