Myrk

So I've been fiddling with the arp (I'm big on arpeggiators!), and it's a tad strange and lacking some vital features imo. From my own feelings I think Novation might be the best company when it comes to arps (with the features available) - very similar to Roland but with a few added extra features in there that tick all the boxes.

Firstly wanted to address the "rate" control - do other people find this is a useful feature (the way it is represented), because to me it seems non-sensical to have the number 25, and have only 5 notches of usability before it goes into non-musical / drone territory, or covered by another feature like Sync. Surely rate could have 'Straight', 'triplet', 'quintuplet', and 'septuplet'. Then combined with the sync you could set sync to be 8th, and rate to be triplet, so you'd get 8th triplets. Or 16th sync and rate of quintuplet, so you get 16th quintuplets (obviously at this stage if recorded the deluge would quantize to triplets or straight divisible notes as 5ths and 7ths only exist through sync-scaling). This would be far more sensible in my eyes, but curious what others think on this rate=25.

My other, more important feature request is with the arp "mode" - could we have some more variants of "both" (maybe better to call it UD for "up down") - UD1, UD2, UD3, etc. At the moment "both" is step 1, 2, 3, 2. Would be useful to have 1, 2, 3, 3, 2, 1, and other typical variants that are prominent in other manufacturers arps. This really has a massive impact when it comes to the octaves set for the arp, as currently if I hold 3 notes on "both" with 2 octave setting I get a normal 4 note up down, followed by a 2nd 4 note up down 1 octave higher (as expected so far), then back down with just 2 notes which is odd, then repeat - I'd expect just 8 notes with 2 octaves not 10. This is also effected by not having the triplet function within the arp, which would allow the arp to deal with the way octave jumps would work in 3 note patterns etc. especially if using UD2 (1, 2, 3, 3, 2, 1) with dual octave which in triplet mode would give 12 notes that fits into a standard bar as triplets.

I can't be alone here in seeing that the Deluge faces MASSIVE problems when sequencing external drum modules, especially when working between portable (internal sounds) and sitting in the studio controlling external modules?

So currently if I write a drum line using internal sounds (lets use kit 10 as an example) it is almost useless to me when I go to an external drum module. The issue is that the note assignments internally are different to my modules. Most drum modules use the GM drum map (see below) but not all use this! Some modules can have drum maps re-assigned internally (TR-626 for instance) but many cannot (TR-8 for instance).

My TR-8 uses this standard GM map, but on the layout of the deluge I have a fair number of spaces (as not every note is used - e.g. toms used on TR-8 are just 43, 47, and 50 - toms 41, 45, and 49 are unused) so the entire drum map is only visible over about 3 full page scrolls rather than all on 1 view. Whilst having the mapping of Hi hat closed at 42 and open at 46 works on keyboard, on the deluge that means there's notes 43, 44, and 45 between the closed and open sound. Moving from internal kit 10 for example to a midi channel drum module means moving every note (I can hold about 5 at a time max, so it can be really tedious work).

Unfortunately this current limitation really means that using the deluge as a scratch track for writing songs on the go is a no go, as drums cannot be simply remapped.

A proposed workaround is the implementation of drum maps, AND note assign on internal drum sounds. These 2 features combined would solve the issue. The drum map is essential for making the layout more convenient in midi mode when using an external drum module. We need to be able to weed out the unused notes, and move the pads to make sense on the deluge unit. This would mean I should be able to move open hi hat (46, or A#1) to be next to closed hi hat (42, F#0) to allow easy and sensible arrangement of the notes for writing. The note assign on internal drums would allow any mapping used on an internal kit to instantly translate to the external drum map. So when I'm on kit 10 and have my beat, I could press midi and select the drum map and have it play the right notes. Flicking back to internal would flick it back to the internal sound, again in the right place. IMO I would personally still push for my other idea of MIDI KIT and MIDI SYNTH so we can save the settings of maps into presets, along with all the other assignments. I remember hearing word about default menu with a velocity setting, but this would be better off stored within the preset, as generally speaking the default velocity I'd use for drums may be 64-100, but on synth I'd use a different velocity mapping - synths and drum modules are totally different in the way the act so the deluge treating both as the same at the moment isn't really working I don't think.

I'd be really curious to hear how others deal with external drum modules mapping, and especially those who also take the deluge out and about and write on the go - how do you write drums on the go yet use them on an external module?

Name of the thread says it all, as currently we are locked to 1 track for 1 midi channel like the internal synth behaviour. I believe it should be possible for us to be able to assign multiple tracks to the same midi channel, letting the synth decide which notes it wants to play. This has a big effect for me as I like to often have 1 midi line, and then add in a 2nd to the same synth which would then create a more complex line, usually first like in 4/4, second in 3/4, another in 7/8 etc, so my synth line has a more evolving feel about it.

Not sure if the Deluge's architecture is written in a way that could take it (could be wildly complex), but on some arturia gear there is a Randomness and Probability scroll wheel - the first specifies how whacky the randomness gets and the 2nd determines the probability that the randomness will occur. Have to say this feature (with 2 controls) was an amazing feature on the Beatstep pro and DrumBrute - after coding a simple line and turning randomness to say 10% and probability at 20% you get drum grooves and synth lines that sound much more like a real person as there are variances in the play rather than rigid to what has been coded. Can't stress how awesome this feature is, and if it was on the Deluge it would be incredible!

A simple firmware suggestion - can we have the ability when loading multi-samples in a synth patch to not use the internal pitch detection and correction, but just load up the notes as they are named and do nothing to them?

I use a lot of complex sounds and to be honest the Deluge just isn't handling it well at all - I often load up 30+ samples, all nicely named, and they come out all over the place with multiple ascents in pitch which really makes no sense, and in such a way that it's almost impossible to correct with manual tweaks. As a result I am mostly assembling multi-sample synth tracks fully manually which takes a long time.

This would also be really handy if the sounds on the multi-sample synth are not all the same, but maybe a strange variety of tones - great for quick splits!

Tried a search but surprisingly didn't find it in the suggestions (if it is admins please link to it in here or delete this post!)

It would be great if the note velocity controlled the brightness of a pad, so you can visually see the different velocities going on. I often will have a load of straight notes in a row, but vary the velocities to give a rhythm to the notes. The only downside I could spot is if someone coded some light notes (all the same) after a heavy note which could be conceived as a held note, but I think that's a very minor issue in comparison to not seeing the notes.

Also, if we get a default menu it would be great to be able to set whether holding several notes and changing velocity just increases and decreases them all independently (as current) or whether they fix to the same value. For instance if I have 2 notes, one with velocity 64 and another with velocity 30, and turn the knob up 10, I get 74 and 40. The ability to base off the first held note would be great, so if I held 30 then 64 note velocity pads then tweaked up 10 both would be 40. I find myself often pressing each pad individually just to avoid having a load of different velocities all over.

Ok so during playback of 1 song you load a new song, and it goes into that loading semi dimmer version of the song you are gunna play next, then realise "ah no, I wanna load song 28c not 28d" but... you can't as after pressing the load button to load song 28d you are locked out of most functions, including load, and mute/unmute of future tracks in the next song. In a live situation if I accidentally press the load button on the wrong song I'm basically screwed! Can we have the ability to use the load button again in playback after loading another song, to either allow selection of another song or an abort of the loading of a new song to continue on the current? Kinda like an undo for loading? Also ability to use mute/unmute on the song being loaded up would be fantastic, otherwise you have to do a much more pre-meditated preparation for saving songs in certain states of mute/unmute ready for loading. Both of these features would exist during the mid loading "screen" between songs in playback mode, and would allow a more fluid jam between songs and less advanced preparation.

Ok so my understanding is that the mod matrix gets a bit underutilized, but it's a truely great way to add a bit of organic texture to a line. Coding a hi hat beat to have a bit of random (3rd up far right pad) on the master volume (1st up 7th across) makes it sound much more like a real drummer, which is fantastic. Also binding the LFO in a time lock with a sine wave to the arp rate gives a really whacky and fun tempo changing but locked in arp - very fun stuff!
What would be really cool is if the velocity of notes when targetting external midi devices could be integrated into the mod matrix, as currently only the arp is available (and we also can't mod the arp in midi mode). Having the ability to use the deluges random or LFO to control midi velocity would be a really fantastic feature!
Taking further, the mod matrix could be utilized to control the cc values too. An infinite wealth of possibilities would be opened up for people like me who use external devices with the deluge!

I've read the manual and everything, but the entire purpose or usability of the Line-in is not so clear. I have the midi out going to a TR-626, and the audio coming out mono to the line-in of the deluge, but I hear nothing. Is this normal? What is the Line-in designed for specifically?

+1 I find the deluges value systems to be completely nonsensical... in particular the arpeggiators "rate" control. And the fact that it keeps flicking between 0-50, and 127, etc... it's really quite confusing and has no basis within the mathematical world of music. Based on how logical the rest of the device is this really does shock me that they chose to use these numbers! Curious how it works in a CC 0-127 valuation when only using values up to 50? It has a multiplier of 2.56, so a value of 40 has a CC value of 102.4, which is impossible. I'm guessing either the system doesn't work like this, or rounds up/down values which would be really haphazard!