Two new Sequencer Bugs with odd time signatures :(
31 Jan 2009, 16:11Very sorry to report two new bugs when using odd time signatures, not being negative but if there's any hope of getting these fixed we have to draw attention to it.
At first I thought that the Fantom Sequencer's problems with odd time signatures were only apparent in the Microscope editor, but it's affecting just the regular parts of the sequencer as well.
End Sw / Rec Length Display
1. Create a new song, and record two bars of 4/4 at the beginning (this is the count-in for my song). Use the End Sw. to stop the recording after two bars.
2. Click on Song Util -> Track Edit Insert, and insert 4 bars of 7/4 at measure 3 (END).
3. Now I want to record one bar of 7/4, again using the End Sw. Hit REC to go into standby mode, and set the Rec End Point to 4.01.000 and notice that the "Rec Length" says 1.04.000 when it should actually say 1.00.000 because we are recording 1 bar of 7/4. But it gets worse... 1.04.000 means "1 bar 4 beats", when it should really be 1.03.000 to achieve 7/4... but if you change the Rec Length to 1.03.000, then it will automatically change the Rec End Point to 3.07.000!!!
As a result, you have no choice but to either a) Record 6 beats (one beat short of a bar of 7), or b) Record 8 beats (one extra). May not seem like a big deal but as you'll see with bug #2 it totally ruins the whole pattern-based sequencing idea.
So because I have to actually play some notes on the 7th beat I am forced to record one extra beat, making my phrase 8 beats - oh of course... a multiple of 4
This leads me to the next bug, I now want to make 3 copies of the 7/4 phrase:
Copy Phrase Behaviour
1. Select the 7/4 Phrase and hit Copy 3 times
2. As you will see the phrases do not line up with the bar lines, they are stuck immediately after the end of the (extra-long) phrase (so copy1 ends up at 4.02, copy2 ends up at 5.03, etc). So now you have to go in and manually drag each phrase back onto the correct bar.
Now you could argue that the Copy is behaving as expected, but since there is no way to actually record a REAL bar of 7/4 (and there is also no way to truncate a phrase so that it is really only 7 beats), the whole magic of "Record a phrase, hit copy, bam bam you're done" just totally breaks down.
So in essence not only is Microscope mode totally fubar'd with odd-time signatures, so is the rest of the Sequencer.
At this point it really seems that the only way you can ever work with odd time sigs is to leave it in 4/4, turn off the metronome, and just fly by the seat of your pants, forget actually SEQUENCING anything
Come on Roland, I love ya but this is killing me
- Rick
At first I thought that the Fantom Sequencer's problems with odd time signatures were only apparent in the Microscope editor, but it's affecting just the regular parts of the sequencer as well.
End Sw / Rec Length Display
1. Create a new song, and record two bars of 4/4 at the beginning (this is the count-in for my song). Use the End Sw. to stop the recording after two bars.
2. Click on Song Util -> Track Edit Insert, and insert 4 bars of 7/4 at measure 3 (END).
3. Now I want to record one bar of 7/4, again using the End Sw. Hit REC to go into standby mode, and set the Rec End Point to 4.01.000 and notice that the "Rec Length" says 1.04.000 when it should actually say 1.00.000 because we are recording 1 bar of 7/4. But it gets worse... 1.04.000 means "1 bar 4 beats", when it should really be 1.03.000 to achieve 7/4... but if you change the Rec Length to 1.03.000, then it will automatically change the Rec End Point to 3.07.000!!!
As a result, you have no choice but to either a) Record 6 beats (one beat short of a bar of 7), or b) Record 8 beats (one extra). May not seem like a big deal but as you'll see with bug #2 it totally ruins the whole pattern-based sequencing idea.
So because I have to actually play some notes on the 7th beat I am forced to record one extra beat, making my phrase 8 beats - oh of course... a multiple of 4
This leads me to the next bug, I now want to make 3 copies of the 7/4 phrase:Copy Phrase Behaviour
1. Select the 7/4 Phrase and hit Copy 3 times
2. As you will see the phrases do not line up with the bar lines, they are stuck immediately after the end of the (extra-long) phrase (so copy1 ends up at 4.02, copy2 ends up at 5.03, etc). So now you have to go in and manually drag each phrase back onto the correct bar.
Now you could argue that the Copy is behaving as expected, but since there is no way to actually record a REAL bar of 7/4 (and there is also no way to truncate a phrase so that it is really only 7 beats), the whole magic of "Record a phrase, hit copy, bam bam you're done" just totally breaks down.
So in essence not only is Microscope mode totally fubar'd with odd-time signatures, so is the rest of the Sequencer.
At this point it really seems that the only way you can ever work with odd time sigs is to leave it in 4/4, turn off the metronome, and just fly by the seat of your pants, forget actually SEQUENCING anything
Come on Roland, I love ya but this is killing me
- Rick
Rick
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