#41

happy new year, good health and success to all of you !

5 Likes
#42

New presentation video from yesterday at Perfect Circuit, Burbank, CA -

If you missed the one at Analogue Haven, Santa Monica, CA, here it is -

MATTHS aka matthew hodson just started a live stream series on the SSP -

new multichannel USB streaming update coming up tomorrow -

2 Likes
#43

i’m becoming more and more interested in the percussa SSP as a replacement for my ER-301 which i have not gotten along terribly well with. i just find it too non-intuitive. i’ll have a great a-ha moment with it and then forget how to use it.

the discussion of the SSP over at muffs is negative, at best. people complaining that no one has made youtube videos about it (who the fuck cares?.. well, ok, youtube videos are certainly helpful, but lack of them is no reason to say bad shit about a manufacturer) and, of course, the price. but, youtube and price aside, does anyone have any constructive opinion on the SSP? ideally in relation to the ER-301?

it seems to be able to do very similar things but in a much more user-friendly way and actually does have quite a bit more DSP power.

or maybe it’s just as difficult to use as the 301?

would love to hear any opinions if anyone here has used one or owns one.

thanks
taylor

#44

I seem to remember @TheTechnobear had some knowledge of the Percussa devices and liked them a lot ! Maybe it’ll help to have his opinion on it.

#45

pinging @sonoptik, who posted some lovely glamour shots on IG the other day :slight_smile:

1 Like
#46

This might be the actual best way to sell the SSP to me, so slick and full of possibilities when you look at it like that damn.

1 Like
#47

I really wish the mSSP had been funded. That to me would have been the perfect compromise in price and features.

3 Likes
#48

The SSP has different usability issues. I really wish they’d release the desktop patch editor they developed for the mSSP Kickstarter. I love using the SSP but I don’t love patching with it.

The hardware and feature capabilities are amazing.

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#49

what don’t you like about the patching interface? from the videos it seems somewhat straightforward

1 Like
#50

The I/O lists are very small, lots of scrolling. Strange acronyms. Knobs feel inefficient for 2D navigation. Just cramped in general in spite of the massive screen.

The ER-301 is pretty amazingly efficient given the single encoder and tiny screen. “Scope mode” was all I needed to make friends with it. Usability issues aside, I’ll keep using both of them.

2 Likes
#51

thanks for the insight.

yes, for the small screens the 301 is very smartly designed. but there’s a TON of clicking and weird things to remember that aren’t printed on the panel. when to click UP or BACK or ENTER etc. it doesn’t always seem consistent.

i guess i wish there was a manual. trying to learn it by searching thru videos is tough.

i was/am hoping the SSP is a bit more intuitive with that beautiful screen. the sample display and scrubbing and stuff certainly looks nice.

i just wish the price point wasn’t so high. for $1000 it would be much easier to swallow without looking around the studio for gear to sell. i can get a decent price from Percussa but still a lot.

maybe it’s time to sell my nord g2 that sadly hasn’t been turned on in years (don’t even know if there’s a current functional editor for it)

anyway. hoping more people chime in with SSP user experiences.

#52

This mostly means that Bert hasn’t sent out free units (at substantial cost to himself) for popular YouTubers to review.

We do have these, though:

#53

Menu diving is the bane of so many digital modules.

That’s one of the bigger reasons why I wish the mSSP campaign had gone through – Percussa was planning to divert some resources to an external patch editor. But without those pledges, it’s all on the front panel.

(You’re not going to edit patches during a jam anyway. That’s all pre-production, and saving presets to load up at a show.)

2 Likes
#54

Happy days… new Percussa SSP firmware.

after release of my clds (Clouds) and rngs (Rings) vsts, Ive been chatting to Percussa about a few changes and improvements that could be made to the SSP firmware to make VSTs ‘feel better’.
Bert was super receptive, and today released a new firmware that incorporates these changes (and more!)

Im happy to say, Ive had access to betas to help test, so my clds and rngs are updated and released, and already make use of the new features in the firmware :slight_smile:

but theres ‘one more thing’ …
Today I also release PMIX, a performance mixer for the SSP.
this is an 8 channel in , 4 stereo channel out mixer - with mute, cue , solo and aux (send) outputs.
(of course with the SSP you can chain them! )

I’ve had it in development for a while and its really changed how I use the SSP, because it makes doing things like send/return so easy - or ‘cue-ing’ things to my Octatrack for recording.

anyway, here is a quick glimpse of a little rig I’ve setup

I plan to do a demo now the release is done…
but this is a fun rig, all audio is from the SSP… using my VSTs (including an unreleased one :wink: )

for the proper demo, I’ll be using the CV IO from the SSP, e.g. to get CV from the madrona labs soundplane (via bela) … but was a bit quicker (tidier?) to just send midi directly from Hermod to SSP.

talking of ‘easy’ … all this audio came straight to my phone over USB from the SSP, hence no patch cables…

4 Likes
#55

just want to stress out how important is giving up some time for practice and developing muscle memory with every piece of complex hardware. of course the user experience is partly objective and partly subjective, so a tool that feels super comfortable to one persone can be hell to another…
but i suggest you give it another shot, maybe trying to approach it methodically over one month, like even 10 minutes a day for an entire month. i think you will end up finding it much easier and friendly.

1 Like
#56

Quick update… Ive been pretty busy on the dev front on the Percussa SSP.

I’ve now developer 8 plugins for the SSP!

ones already mentioned are :
CLDS - MI Clouds
RNGS- MI Rings
PLTS - MI Plaits
PMIX - a performance mixer with panning, main/out outputs and aux sends

recently I also released:
MSW8 - a matrix switch - kind of like a sequential switch, but you can modulate both input and output destinations.
MMX4 - a stereo matrix mixer with cv control

and today… (as I said been busy)
SHQ - a sample and hold with optional quantiser
SWAT - a multi functional module, that has 17 different ‘algorithms’ , from display functions, delay to comparators.

the idea behind SWAT is a kind of like a dist-ing,
it actually started out as a small test/dev tool which I was using to help dev of SHQ, but realised it could be a nice way to ‘release’ simple functions very quickly with parameter and CV control, but without having to develop a full VST.

anyway… Ive still lots of other exciting ideas for plugins for the SSP.

also, Im planning on releasing some videos on my youtube channel where I hope to cover not only using these new modules but also some general patching techniques that Ive been exploring on the SSP.

on a more general front, referring to some of the comments above…

I think the SSP is fantastic.

if you read muffs etc, then for sure, there is a lot of scepticism around it - which seems to stem from a few users with ‘expectations’ issues, and also some who just did not like Bert’s (percussa owner) attitude/responses - and as often happens on muffs it all got a bit heated/flame etc.

is the UI perfect?
no… there are places it could do with some improvements.
but it’s perfectly usable, Ive been creating many patches for months now, and I’ve had no big issues with it… its also pretty fast to patch.
to give this context, I do a lot of ‘patching from scratch’ , also I think my patching is pretty advanced compared to many (given patches Ive seen, questions asked)

is it complex?
frankly, I don’t think its any more complex that what Ive seen of the ER-301, but like any complex module - you have to get used to using it… you also have to know what each module does.

factory modules / sound - good? ok?
generally most things are fine, there are a few small issues that can catch you out…
in a few places, I think the modules are a bit too focused on ‘flexibility’ rather than usability.
I think this led to disappointment e.g. the LFO module is used at audio rate, but was not really designed to be (its not bandlimited)

However… the SSP has third party DSP support via VST, so PLTs and RNGs sound fantastic thanks to the SSP fantastic hardware.

UI… ok, 4 encoders is always going to be ‘limiting’ , and a bit menu dive-y.
however, the SSP has midi support, so the UI can be extended.
(I’ve some interesting ideas for this - watch this space :wink: )

Compared to ER-301…
well I don’t have an ER-301, but I have looked at it very closely whilst considering purchase.
so listening to demos, reading forum, and looking at the underlying hardware and software very carefully.

ok, this is an inevitable comparison but frankly it’s apples n’ oranges.

the ER-301 software is fantastic, and its a really well executed module - also developer (brian?) has really done well at updating it and adding features - its awesome, and Im not surprised its really successful it deserves to be!

the SSP has tons more potential…
but this potential and flexibility, I think at times means its not as consistent… it’s trying to be so many different things. if you want to be hard on it… you could say its not as focused, slick. (windows vs mac?)
but that’s ignoring the fact its scope is so much more over the ER-301.

sure… if you want a virtual modular that does a 4 voice synth, and fx… perhaps the ER-301 is enough (also half the price?)

but… I needed more, things the ER-301 does not provide

  • 16 channel audio interface
  • DC coupled outputs (so send CV from SSP to rest of your rack)
  • ability to code your own DSP modules ( ER-301 is limited to combining existing modules)
  • built in recorder
  • MIDI support
  • more processing power (*)
  • open-ness (**)

(*) the ER-301 uses same chipset as the Bela, which Im very familiar with, and whilst its fine - id say its 20-25% of the SSP chipset, not only single core, but due to a pretty limited FPU.

(**) synthor software is not open, but allows VST plugins, and you can you can also access the SSP hardware directly (even stopping synthor) eg. I recently got Orca running on the SSP :slight_smile:

for an end-user, I do think its a tough call…
as Apple have shown, ‘ease of use’ and polish is very important to end-users, and I think really important for a musical instrument. of course, how much ‘polish’ is needed is down to the individual, their tastes, and also their background/skillsets.

anyway, Im hoping over next few months to continue to help push the SSP forward.

also as mentioned earlier, Im hoping to do some videos that start to show off the SSP, including patching techniques, and exploring what the SSP is really capable of.

I agree, most videos for the SSP are a bit tech focused - and don’t really show it off much
exception being @motoko’s awesome videos :slight_smile:

10 Likes
#57

Thanks for this! I’ve been following your work on the SSP and I’m seriously thinking of getting one at some point. It looks amazing.

1 Like
#58

The SSP becomes more and more interesting. I wonder what people’s opinion is on using the SSP as a stand-alone piece of equipment, so not as part of a larger eurorack system. I’ve been focusing a lot more on having separate standalone instruments to play with as I got too carried away building, growing, changing modular systems. And I’m not planning on starting a modular system again. So I’m really interested to hear opinions about SSP as a self-contained instrument.

2 Likes
#60

It has a sequencer and contains sound generators and modulators. Pretty complete system. That being said, integrating with eurorack is really its value proposition. If you wanted a stand-alone version you might contact Bert about Synthor, which is similar functionality but lacks the eurorack i/o and adds more UI control. This is key because I often feel SSP is trying to do a little too much with a screen and knob/button UI that is large for eurorack, but still quite small for a computer.

The ergonomics of that screen can be a bit confounding. Happy to hear perspectives from other SSP owners that disagree, but I’m often frustrated by the size and visual weight of various elements on the screen. I feel like there just wasn’t enough time/resource to do the research and iteration that nailing the UI would require. I’m sorry Bert and Celine, if you’re reading this. I hate to say disparaging things about an obvious labor of love, but I want to redesign the UI every time I turn on the SSP.

But I keep it. It plays a role in my tiny rack. The hardware is very powerful and very useful. @TheTechnobear has recently been adding a ton of new vst plugins that greatly expand its capabilities. These types of things make it worthwhile for me to ignore the teeth grinding the ergonomics of the UI sometimes give me.

I think if I wanted a groovebox right now, I’d be looking at 1010 blackbox, or MC-101 or MC-707.

2 Likes
#61

Thanks for the elaborate answer, Jason. You’re making some very good points. Really don’t want to start a eurorack system again. I will watch some hands on video more focusing on the interaction design than the sounds and features to see how I feel about UI/UX. Probably not easy without using one.

1 Like