#121

I thought I might ask my question here as well.
I’ve ordered the MG with a specific use in mind. I want to use it only to play pre-recorded material, as transitions between songs on stage. But I thing it might not be ideal for this as :

  • I need to access recording quite fast and easily. In the past, I used a SP 303 for this purpose. I might be still playing violin, or keyboard, so on pad to trigger a file was great. I’m going to miss this a lot, won’t I ? Or would you say that loading reels could be done easily, with one hand, and without the risk to select the wrong one while on stage ?

  • Is there a way to protect the card from recording ?

The other option would be to use a dedicated sample player, and use the MG to process it.
Any recommandation for a small/fun/simple sample player ? The Akai MPX8 looked great at first, but I don’t think I can cope with Mono files and the time limit (30MB across 8 pads).
Options might be 1010 BlackBox (no room in my case for a Bitbox module), an SP 404, or ?

#122

If it’s only for this purpose, my own thought is that it’s expensive and cumbersome for that use case. Reel/splice selection may not be what you expect in a distracted situation. I would think a phone or a small CD player would be more appropriate for that use case, or else a Radio Music (which would be no less error prone than Morphagene but at least cheaper and smaller).

That said, Morphagene does a lot and you could use it to create these interstitial sounds. It could even be used to record and manipulate your live sounds so that can be the musical interest while you change set ups. It depends on what you’re going for.

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#123

Is there a way to manually set the input level on the Morphagene? I’m also having issues with it distorting with the auto level and I wish i could manually set it. It’s quite frustrating.

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#124

This is the way to do it, but I’m one if those having trouble making it work though:

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#125

Would be nice to just be able to set it at a fixed level, in the config file. Perhaps in a future firmware?

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#126

I get why you say that and perfectly understand. I will use it for other purposes in the future but for now, I’m looking for a nice player for my next tour.
In fact I’m looking for a long samples player, but I’d like to have some action on it, and not just adding an effect or tweaking a filter. That’s why I am seduced by the “granular” aspect of the MG. It can play samples, but also turn them into landscapes whenever I feel it / have the time.
Maybe I should have a deeper look to the granular mode of 1010 blackbox.
Or maybe consider an iPad with SamplR or something like that.

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#127

I’d recommend a disting mk4 for simple sample playback. There’s a wide variety of playback algorithms that read samples off the SD card. It’s amazing value just for that purpose, and when you’re not using it for that it can do basically anything else you can imagine too!

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#128

Thanks for the suggestion ! Does it allow stereo playback ?

#129

Yes, it has stereo playback (and record!). It can emulate a radio music module but in stereo, as well as a bunch of other modes, including multi-sample playback, clocked playback, dual audio and loads more. I think the SD card based modes of the disting are its unsung strengths. (E.g. it allows for stereo delay times up to over an hour!) It’s under constant development, with new features being added every few months, but you can see a list of its current modes in the manual here: https://www.expert-sleepers.co.uk/downloads/manuals/disting_user_manual_4.14.pdf

(If you can’t tell already, I’m a big fan - I have three of them in my relatively small case!)

4 Likes
#130

Damn, I’m sold after reading all the options that you can add per file !
Thanks a lot for the suggestion !
Now have to wait for availability…

#131

Yes to this, also would be nice to have a more balanced mix level for the SOS. It never seems correct and the repeats die out way too fast, even before the new firmware update.

#132

I think that you may already be able to edit the level in options.txt. The manual says that “the last-used Auto-Level settings and Reel” are saved there, and I think that those may be what’s happening in the first line of the file.

In the manual, the example file starts with 6 46345 0. That might mean that reel 6 will be loaded on startup, and that the last auto-level is 46345. What that corresponds to, though, I’m not sure. According to my SD card, my last auto-level was 155344 for a relatively quiet source, so maybe that helps with the available range.

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#133

Thats interesting, I may mess around with that.

#134

I’ve had to completely stop using rings with the Morphagene unfortunately. I actually find that most sounds with intense resonant frequencies will easily clip the Morphagene no matter how I set the volume.

These days I almost exclusively record Kontakt instruments into it. It does some amazing things to acoustic instruments. I put an envelope to VCA before and after the Morphagene for rhythmic complexity.

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#135

Lame. Thanks for confirming.

#136

Yes, sad to say that’s my experience too and I’ve come to use it mostly as a device for recording acoustic instruments, just as you mentioned above, and do some tricks with those recordings. And it surely is amazing as an odd drum machine.

#137

I mainly had problems with morphagene gain-staging due to the volume inconsistency of sound sources within my system (especially with rings). Had to continuously set re-set the gain in MG.

Now I have a small stereo mixer (knob.farm hyrlo) and an audio vu meter (ADDAC ADDAC812A) before MG. This allows me to monitor the input level and to adjust it accordingly so that the level is always roughly the same (I keep it around 2-3V).

#138

This is slightly off topic, but how do you quickly jump octaves on the Nebulae? I have one and don’t think I’ve figured out how to do this yet.

#139

I did try the trick of setting the volume with a sin wav, as was listed in the video above. It seemed to work pretty well. I was getting less distortion. I only pretty much record acoustic things with it right now, so it generally works pretty well. I just wish they would add a button combo that allows you to set the gain manually aside from the auto-level. The Mimeophone has this… shouldn’t be something too tough to add to the Morphagene I would gather.

Also, I’m not a Rings guy, but have you guys tried attenuating Rings before it hits the Morphagene with an external module? For the record Rings sounds like a PITA, I play with a guy who uses Rings and he always has trouble getting it be in tune to me.

#140

I don’t have the Nebulae anymore, but if I remember correctly there was a button push that would jump octaves. That is one of the things I miss from the Nebulae. I really don’t like the loosey goosey nature of the pitch control on the Morphagene. You can set preset voltages on Pressire points to jump octaves but its extra patching.

Has anyone checked out this new Instruo Arbhar? Its not out yet but its tempting to consider. It seems like a more revised version of the Morphagene, it has separate pots for input gain and also a circuit that compresses in a pleasing way when the gain is too hot, like a tape machine preamp, so you don’t get an ugly distortion when it hits too hard.