E-mu Beats Mode: Vortex Roots

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I've been delving into my 'new' old E-mu hardware lately ... and discovering 'Beats Mode.' It is surely the conceptual ancestor of Vortex. Very fun to work with and potentially powerful.

It lacks one essential ingredient of Andy's masterpiece: you can't capture the midi note data it generates.

You can capture the 'control' midi that drives the changes you make in real time with the E-mu controllers, but not the individual notes by track.

Como
Help! I've fallen up and can't get down!

Win7 x64 Dual Dualcore Xeon 3.0 Ghz 16 GB Ram. Cubase 6, RapidComposer, BIAB, Abelton 6, Acid Pro 6,Roland XV5080 & Super JD, E-Mu CS PX7, Korg Radias R and MI-EX R, ASR-X Turbo, UAD 2 Quads, stuff.

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I haven't actually played with beats, although I have had some good fun with the sequencer a couple of months ago, it's very well implemented and easy to get a groove going. :)

I thought you could output the midi, I seem to remember a setting for duplicating midi to the midi outs, it's a shame if it doesn't do that for ARPS and Beats...

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Astralp wrote:I haven't actually played with beats, although I have had some good fun with the sequencer a couple of months ago, it's very well implemented and easy to get a groove going. :)

I thought you could output the midi, I seem to remember a setting for duplicating midi to the midi outs, it's a shame if it doesn't do that for ARPS and Beats...
You can output the midi. There is a setting under the midi menu called 'transmit' that you can turn on or off for 'Riffs' or 'Patterns.'

You can play the patterns or audition different instruments and real time record the midi note data from the 'Riffs,' which are used for the audition feature or from the playing patterns.

The Beats or 'Bts' work differently ... since they essentially represent a hardware version of Vortex in which midi note data triggers sequences on different internal midi tracks. When you record midi while tweaking Beats with the knobs or a keyboard, you get the midi control data that triggers the sequences, not the note data of the sequences. So you can capture a performance to repeat it on playback, but it is the whole triggering midi notes, not the notes triggering what you hear. So, you cannot, for an example, lift a nice little conga pattern that you hear playing in the beats.

You can of course record the audio out, but all the data is mixed on output. I love the fact that with Vortex you can use the midi to trigger 'tracked' sets of percussion or drum kit, with each voice played on different midi channels and there by track to audio each voice separately for later audio mixing.

Como
Help! I've fallen up and can't get down!

Win7 x64 Dual Dualcore Xeon 3.0 Ghz 16 GB Ram. Cubase 6, RapidComposer, BIAB, Abelton 6, Acid Pro 6,Roland XV5080 & Super JD, E-Mu CS PX7, Korg Radias R and MI-EX R, ASR-X Turbo, UAD 2 Quads, stuff.

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Oh I see, makes sense I suppose, I shall have to have a play when I get some time... The P2500 is such a bargain these days, it's such a powerful architecture and the sounds mix very well, I'm not sure why EMU gear loses it's value so much. In the mid 90s I had an AWE32 ISA sound card which had a hardware mutitimbral sample based synth (the birth of soundfonts). Vienna was an incredible patch editor, plus there was a digital output on the card itself which I connected to a higher quality card. I was blown away by it and used for music until ISA slots were dead and gone. Even though followup creative cards have kept the SF synth engine it was never quite the same as the AWE32. I think creatives marketing completely missed an opportunity to sell them at the time as they were short lived. The new cards used shared ram whereas the AWE32 took simms and could be upgraded to 28mb, so they didn't touch any of the precious PC resources. I've been a fan of EMU ever since those days, they were very good at creative vision.

The card was about 2 ft long :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Blaster_AWE32

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I've made a big buy into E-mu and Ensoniq over the past several years, except for the 'table top' ASR-X Pro, entirely rack modules.

Prices can be ridiculous. I saw an MP7 Command Station on eBay for a 'buy it now' price of US $229.00. You not only got the Mo' Phatt module, but one of the best hardware sequencers going. With free editors like Prodatum or Proteum, you can create all the patches you could ever want.

Prices depend a lot on the desirability of the sound source ... just like in Roland SRV-80 cards where 'Keyboards Sounds of the 60's and 70's' and 'Vintage Synths' sell for double the other available expansions.

Same with the E-mu ROMS with models like Orbit 3, a Proteus 2000 model that includes Rob Papen's Beat Garden and Techno Synth Construction Yard go for almost double other modules.

The valued ROMs are 'Sounds of the ZR,' which was in the Ensoniq Halo, Planet Earth, Vintage Keys, Protoza ... a compilation of sounds from the Proteus 1, 2 and 3 ... and B3, sounds of the Hammond Organ.

I think softsynths, Kontakt and the extra cost of setting up a midi studio all cause these things to be ridiculously undervalued.

I have an Ensoniq MR Rack, which I love, that I bought for less than 8% of it's original price.

I'm all into 'hybrid,' mixing hardware and software. No need to worry too much about creating patches with the E-mu ROMS when they are all pre-programmed with 16 midi controllable 'patch cords' for all kinds of dynamic sound modulation.

I love the stuff.

Como
Help! I've fallen up and can't get down!

Win7 x64 Dual Dualcore Xeon 3.0 Ghz 16 GB Ram. Cubase 6, RapidComposer, BIAB, Abelton 6, Acid Pro 6,Roland XV5080 & Super JD, E-Mu CS PX7, Korg Radias R and MI-EX R, ASR-X Turbo, UAD 2 Quads, stuff.

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