Yeah, that’s kind of what I’m seeing.
I’ve watched the loopop video deep-dive and have read far too many threads to keep clear in my head at this point.
The technical capability is clearly there, since it was there already on things like the MC-80… and if my RS7000 was just smaller I’d have kept it, since it was absolutely perfect for mixing ‘arbitrary-length’ patters with short patterns and was more than happy to play some tracks looping at whatever, and another track playing the entire ‘song’).
Live will do it. But then I’m in-the-box, and I hate that box, and Logic comes at it from the other end, but will do it, but still in that little box.
(from the loopop video)
It’s the ‘tracks can be up to [plenty] of measures long, but the notes go in patterns on tracks’…
do the patterns have a length, or can they be [plenty] of measures long also?
If so, then that’s fine. It doesn’t have to map perfectly, as long as I can have tracks that, effectively, aren’t really loops, regardless of what they’re called.
Those questions are regarding the Pyramid. I don’t (currently) have the money for a Deluge.
And this article has me worried that even Deluge makes it more complicated than it needs to be (though the article doesn’t have a DATE… argh… really?):
I wanted to sequence several bits of hardware at once, I wanted a sequencer that did not have polyphony restrictions. I wanted a sequencer that could make patterns that were 200 measures long. I wanted endless CC sequencing capabilities. I wanted polyrhythms.
The Pyramid delivered. Beautiful piece of kit. It has caused me next to zero frustrations since it has been the brain of my operations. I’m a fan.
Other than the bugs, which it appears they fixed with this final update, I can’t imagine a reason to get rid of pyramid. like others, I wanted less limitations on pattern lengths, full cc sequencing support, midi fx et cetera and it delivers in spades. It took me a while to grasp everything - which I attribute to my own shortcomings. But it has been well worth it. I would go for hapax but I spent so much time learning pyramid!
That chart is just for PyraMIDI, which is indeed sadly limited.
However, you can assign CC messages to effect parameters, and then you can modulate FX parameters with outgoing CC looped back into Pyramid.
Hello.
Does anyone know what determines the ‘new’ project, as far the names and channel/port assignments are concerned?
Example:
When I create a ‘new’ project, the tracks have names and channel assignments from when I first got the sequencer and I’ve moved things around since then, and sold a few things.
They’re not even on the SD card as definitions anymore.
In fact, I would have expected that a ‘new’ project wouldn’t have any of this at all, and that would be default, which makes me think I’ve ticked some configuration box I don’t know about that saved a historic project as ‘new,’ and now I want to get rid of it.
It’s not a huge issue; I have template projects, but sometimes I forget them and just say ‘new’ and then I’ve got things all wonky for my current setup.
Ahh… Save Tracks Info in General Settings
Must have bumped that at some point as I remember going “I don’t know what that does yet”
And now I do, and my projects match the ‘current’ studio setup template when creating new. I think I’ll reset that though; I’d prefer it to just be empty to remind me to use the templates (or create a new one), but I guess I get the point. I’ll move things - that will not be the correct ‘new’ setting very long for everything.
If you’ve saved track state (names, channels, and a couple of other things) to this location, and then open a saved project, this saved track state will be applied/merged into your previously saved project.
Meaning:
You load a saved project that has your tracks on pads a:1-8, but not on a:9-16 (for example)… they’re unused in this project.
AND the ‘saved track state’ HAS information on a:9-16, it will merge these with your loaded project, and any other project that’s otherwise ‘empty’ on tracks where the ‘saved track state’ is not empty.
I never want anything to ‘add’ things to existing saved projects for me.
I can see why this exists, sort of, particularly for ‘new’ projects, but never, ever touch my existing project state, even if your computer brain goes ‘it’s empty, they want this filled this way.’
No worries. Just unexpected. I always think that existing projects are ‘static’ and in this way they are not on the Pyramid. Super good to know so early in using it.
This is actually exactly the kind of things I like to learn about new gear upfront; organizational understanding is a huge thing to undo once done incorrectly (or in my case: ignorantly)
Thankfully I only have 4 projects on it to clean up and have happily reset this to default settings so there’s no track-state diffing going on (or as it seems to be implemented: the track state diff shows ‘equal’).
I was JUST about to order a Retrokits RK-008 as a birthday present to myself, and then a used Pyramid came up locally for basically the same price.
I’ve done maybe 20 minutes of research, but Pyramid seems like the clear winner. Looks like it does everything the RK-008 can do, but with more performance/composition features, more connectivity, and way better UI.
I’ve no experience with the RK-008 but based on the pics and skimming through the manual:
If you’re shopping for a pocket sized battery powered MIDI field recorder, the RK-008 is the better fit. But if it’s a studio/live sequencer you want, there’s just no comparison at all.
Of course, the Pyramid is discontinued now so there are the usual potential caveats of older devices (but also the perk of knowing exactly what you’ll get and freedom from the upgrade treadmill).
I’m still interested to pick one up, too. Have been following Oxi One development, but used Pyramids on Reverb are almost half the price. Just read through this entire thread and the feedback is generally very positive. Would welcome hearing updates from any newer users.