#352

We should assume firmware updates will clear our tapes?

#353

@altoaiello firmware updates should not affect recorded content! the data structure for them is fixed, and thereā€™s room for a little expansion before breaking anything.

re: Izzy, sorry to hear yā€™all have been having trouble. Weā€™ll be looking into whatā€™s up with some peopleā€™s units as the whole point is that ā€œuser errorā€ should be blocked out!

7 Likes
#354

Good to hear! Congrats btw!

#355

After some early frustrations, I managed to settle in with w/ and get comfortable with a few of the modes. Itā€™s a really fantastic thing once you get the hang of a few basics. Hereā€™s a random assortment of sounds from the last hour - no processing or fx, just a couple of crossfades (and maybe a bit of clipping here and there). Most of the sounds were generated with other Mannequins modules, modulated by hand quite naturally.

https://soundcloud.com/creurer/w1-1

7 Likes
#356

yeah, iā€™m still getting a hang of the basics. seems iā€™ve needed a few system reboots to get things properly workingā€¦ but likely more user error than a bugā€¦ tho itā€™s hard to say!

i do have one questionā€¦ it seems my recording doesnā€™t work unless i FIRST pre-define a loop start and loop end point, by playing blank ā€œtapeā€ā€¦ THEN record, then i can hear my recordingā€¦

but what may be happening, if you donā€™t first make a loop is that you RECORDā€¦ then when you stop and PLAY youā€™re actually continuing the play head from the END of your recording, thus not hearing anythingā€¦

which means you need to stop, rewind and find the beginning of your recording, THEN playā€¦ THEN define your loopsā€¦

seems like a clunky way to go about it, so iā€™ve found that first pre-defining a loop before i record into itā€¦

there must be a better way that iā€™m not quite gettingā€¦ but itā€™s what iā€™ve settled on so farā€¦

#357

I think youā€™ve figured out your problem. Each tape is 80 minutes or so - and it starts off that long, which is very different to how most looping devices work. At points Iā€™ve left the module in play mode while reading the instructions and then realised that thereā€™s now minutes of silence between where I am now, and where I last recorded.

If you want to get the more traditional looping behaviour, hitting L + R together will add a cue and start recording, then when you are ready just hit up on the joystick to add another cue and start looping. :slight_smile:

5 Likes
#358

With regards to the Izzy tutorialā€¦ Initially I thought it was user error but Iā€™m pretty sure thereā€™s a bug in this. After a certain point, it seemed that I needed to perform the action for the next step rather than the current one. I found myself looking at the manual trying to guess what the next step in the tutorial would be.

@rikrak thanks for that. Iā€™ve now worked out how to access it, not sure what Iā€™m doing with it yet though

Despite all this confusion, I love the potential of this module!

#359

This module is really fantastic. This is three sine waves from three sisters going through it, and sounding like little birds flapping around.

https://soundcloud.com/user-462528591-656249947/sister-act-with

Iā€™ve also been recording lots of random audio onto one tape (soundtracks, podcasts etc) and modulating the record overwrite settings. Itā€™s then really fun to zip around the tape and experiment with all the weird sounds.

21 Likes
#360

This often just doesnā€™t work for me. Particularly on a ā€˜freshā€™ section of tape. Likewise inserting cues with up/down and skipping cues with L + up/down often does nothing. I have these issues when only the white loop light is lit, which I believe means I am in a new position (but not sure at all). How do you consistently get it set up loops?

#361

L + R works pretty consistently - The tape has to be playing already for it to work though, could that be your problem?

Iā€™m having similar issues with moving between cue points. It feels like if they are far enough away that I canā€™t jump to them, but Iā€™m also not sure that Iā€™m doing it right :upside_down_face:

edit: Iā€™m not having any trouble inserting queue points, just finding them again after I go away from the module for a while. Itā€™s possible that Iā€™m just consistently trying to move in the wrong direction.
Iā€™ve been finding that to move backwards you have to double tap down, like skipping backwards on an old cd player.

#362

I think the problem I was having was that loop was already engaged when I was trying to set up a new loop (though I donā€™t understand why that would be a problem). If I play a new section, disengage loop (so there are no lights) and then hit L+R (or R then down) to start and the up to finish, itā€™s working fine. Thanks for the pointers :slight_smile:

Also experiencing the same thing with the double down presses to get back to previous cues.

1 Like
#363

Iā€™m experiencing the same thing. It seems like very little is actually working the way itā€™s supposed to. Crashing often.

Iā€™m honestly trying to stay positive here but itā€™s hard not to be a little frustrated. I understand that they purposely donā€™t dispel all information about their modules to encourage exploration but itā€™s starting to seem a little silly to me. For instance, my Just Friends was broken the entire time I owned it and I didnā€™t even know it until someone else pointed it out to me. It worked but didnā€™t totally behave the way itā€™s supposed to even after factory resets and firmware updates.

When a module already works in odd ways by design I think it might not be the best idea to also be purposely cryptic about its functionality. It makes troubleshooting difficult and you could be constantly questioning if itā€™s broken or just a weird design. A little more transparency would be nice. Maybe even just one detailed video tutorial for the basics of getting started?

Also, after two years in the making, did they just not send this out for beta testing at all?

With all that said, I donā€™t want to be a total bummer. I love using their other modules and Iā€™m positive this one will be just as amazing after some much needed firmware updates. Once this thing is working properly I could even see myself buying a second one.

10 Likes
#364

If you looping is already engaged, you can just hit up to add a new queue point and split the existing loop! I think L + R is good for when you are starting a new loop and you want the queue to be exactly at the start of your recording

The place Iā€™m having trouble is in cue mode. Iā€™m finding it really difficult to generate any triggers that are short enough to reliably trigger one shot samples. It turns out that all my modules only output gates.

1 Like
#365

This is even worse when English is not your native language.

5 Likes
#366

While part of me enjoys the challenge, I agree this definitely would benefit from some clearer documentation (Iā€™ve never thought that about the other Mannequins modules) Given the interface on this, users probably need more explicit instructions. To start:

How to use as a standard looper.

Get to a fresh section of tape
Set to LIVE mode: Press the play button (White light on)
Add a cue and start recording by either

  1. Pressing L & R at the same time, or
  2. Pressing R to engage record then DOWN to insert the cue

Play audio into IN
To end the loop and stop recording add a cue using UP
While looping:
To overdub the loop press R to engage, then press R to stop
To overwrite sections press R and DOWN, then press R to stop

19 Likes
#367

I echo the points raised above.

I agree that it seems as though it would have benefited from more user-testing. Especially the Tutorial - which is a great idea in principal but needs to be totally fool-proof because we are ALL ā€˜foolsā€™ going in.

Mine crashes a lot - but itā€™s difficult to ascertain if it is faulty software, hardware or user error at the moment.

I think some of my early problems were caused by the fact that you enter Global mode by long-pressing Record. This is a baffling design decision.

This means that, when you are trying to make a recording, itā€™s possible to suddenly be in a different mode if you donā€™t act quickly enough! I respectfully suggest that long-pressing Play (which doesnā€™t currently do anything - a quick press is required to toggle play/stop) would have been a better option.

I noticed that the example bug report at the link from @Galapagoose post above is that the machine freezes when changing tapes - so Iā€™m hopeful that that will be fixed imminently. However, I am a little worried that there may be some faulty units - not just firmware issues (I am inferring this from the same post).

I do feel like it will become a very useful, musical module once these teething problems are sorted. I have already made some lovely sounding loops.

2 Likes
#368

Yeah, similar thought

Waiting on my w/ (so I canā€™t speak with full knowledge on the matter) I want to say two things in defense of Trent & WR

  1. He is crazyā€¦most would agree, a good kind of crazy when it comes to music and instrument design. But the docs and machines come from the same mind and six modules (and manuals) into his collection it should be clear to any observer who he is. Peter Blasser is crazy too. Neither one is putting on an act and both seem equally unlikely to change. Mabye Iā€™m wrong, but it would be illogical/unreasonable/unfair to expect radically new ideas without some esoteric obfuscation from these guys.

  2. He was willing to concede a bit to new/baffled users by building Izzy. I give him some credit for trying to make the learning curve a bit easier to handle. It was a risk to take such an innovative approach with the guiding tutorial itselfā€¦potentially helpful but very frustrating if the gamble doesnt pay off. For some of you it clearly hasnā€™t (which is unfortunate and Iā€™m sorry to hear it).

I hate to put him on the spot, but, I wonder if @MengQiMusic had any of these issues while testing? Perhaps, one solution for WR wouldve been to announce the initial run for those willing to beta test until the 21st.

I guess the fact that they didnt means they are confident theyā€™ll be capable of fixing all bugs quickly for frustrated early adopters. Hopefully everybody gets their problems sorted out.

13 Likes
#369

For the record - I think Trent/WR, Blasser and MengQi are geniuses.

I find the obfuscated manuals are a challenge - in a good way.

Love the modules Iā€™ve tried. They are instruments in the true sense of the word. The player must spend time learning to play them - and W/ appears to be no exception.

Iā€™m confident the problems can be fixed - assuming there isnā€™t a dodgy batch of hardware.

3 Likes
#370

Has anyone found any reproducible bugs? I thought mine was broken at one point - but Iā€™d just reached the end of the reel, at which point it seems that playback stops.

@Galapagoose - is there a quick way to return to the start of a tape? Iā€™m finding myself holding down loop and repeatedly hitting down, which with a lot of cue points can take a long time.

https://soundcloud.com/user-462528591-656249947/selections-from-w
here is four minutes of my w/ playing back. I really really like this module.

14 Likes
#371

havenā€™t seen any confirmation about CV recording vs audio recording is this a possibility?

this module it will be battling W/ my LZX setup I think