Couple of timing issues

[The Elf]

I'm really liking the NDLR so far, but I have a couple of small issues...

1) The option to quantise chord changes really should have a 'bar' option. 1/4 note is too tight to always get a clean change. I notice this subject has been brought up before - I'd like to add my voice to the call for this.

2) Although I've got chord quantisation set to 1/4 note, I'm noticing that a repeating 1/8th Motif note during the last 1/4 note changes to the new chord if I've triggered a new chord during the last 1/4, but before the last 1/8th. This makes part of my chordal change jump in early before the next bar. This is using an external keyboard to trigger the chord changes.

3) When playback begins from MIDI clock, a Drone set to play only on chord changes does not trigger at all until a chord change is received, even though it shows as active on the NLDR's screen.

I'm always prepared to be told that it is me that is doing something dumb, so feel free to tell me if that's the case. I have read the manual through a couple of times, but it could always have missed something.

[Jesse Johannesen]

I'm really liking the NDLR so far, but I have a couple of small issues...

1) The option to quantise chord changes really should have a 'bar' option. 1/4 note is too tight to always get a clean change. I notice this subject has been brought up before - I'd like to add my voice to the call for this.

2) Although I've got chord quantisation set to 1/4 note, I'm noticing that a repeating 1/8th Motif note during the last 1/4 note changes to the new chord if I've triggered a new chord during the last 1/4, but before the last 1/8th. This makes part of my chordal change jump in early before the next bar. This is using an external keyboard to trigger the chord changes.

3) When playback begins from MIDI clock, a Drone set to play only on chord changes does not trigger at all until a chord change is received, even though it shows as active on the NLDR's screen.

I'm always prepared to be told that it is me that is doing something dumb, so feel free to tell me if that's the case. I have read the manual through a couple of times, but it could always have missed something.

Hi Elf,
Jesse here with NDLR support, let's see if I can straighten any of this out.

1. I think this falls under the umbrella of changes that aren't likely to happen due to limited flash memory on the device. because the save states take almost all settings into account any changes we make that add an option take 8 times as much space in memory, and there just isn't that much left to go around. I can add a note to the feature request but I don't know if there will ve much we can do for this at the moment. we're sorry for the inconvenience.

2.The Pad quantization only applies to the Pad part, so if you change chord degrees after the last 1/4 note of a bar, the Motif will change immediately and the Pad will change at the next 1/4 note (the 1). It is possible to get more control over timing on those changes by either exploring the Chord Sequencer, or by incorporating an external sequencer like the beatstep or keystep to send changes on the NDLR Ctrl channel. You can also use the mod matrix! By changing an LFO to use a Motif Pattern as a shape, and sending the modulation to Chord Degree, you can edit the pattern to sequence your chord changes. This is absolutely the most experimental solution, but it is also the most rewarding in my experience. Give it a shot and let me know how it goes. 

3. I think I see what you mean, so if I have Chord degree 1 selected and NDLR is stopped, and I play all, the Drone doesn't sound unless I press another chord degree? It seems like it would be better if it did fire off a note when play is enabled. I'll talk to Steve and see if this is like that for any particular reason and see if he agrees it should fire of an initial note. This doesn't sound like it would be too terribly difficult to implement if he agrees.

I appreciate you bringing this kind of thing up, as it really helps us find the things that improve the user experience and without these posts we wouldn't be able to address those. Let me know if you find any other issues.

Jesse

[The Elf]

Thanks for the response - I very much appreciate it.

1 - Rats, that's a shame. I would have thought that the parameter would be in a single storage location and just change in value, not increase in size. Speaking personally, I'd take fewer memories for expanded functionality, but it's not just about me, of course!

2 - That's not a solution for me, I'm afraid. I'm performing *live* with NDLR, changing chords with my left hand and playing lead with my right. The last thing I want to have to do is use a fixed sequence.

3 - I'm glad this sounds sensible. It would be good to have this one fixed.

To put this into perspective, this is all about performing *live* with the NDLR, something I'm very keen to do as part of my set (once we're back to some sort of 'normailty', of course!). I'm currently generating a rhythm into my in-ears to help me with (1) above, but that does kill the feel, TBH.

Again, thanks for responding.

[The Elf]

Any progress on this? I'm a bit concerned that updates are looking a bit thin on the ground now.

[Jesse Johannesen]

Any progress on this? I'm a bit concerned that updates are looking a bit thin on the ground now.

While these issues have not been solved yet, we've actually had a pretty sizable number of firmware updates for the NDLR (I've been on the team since last December and I think we've released 5 or 6 in that time) and it usually doesn't take to long to tackle a problem if it doesn't require a reworking of the entire system. 2 and 3 have been added to the request list, but I know Steve's been tied up with the MRCC code lately and so it will likely be after release that we next tackle some of these issues.
Thanks for your patience on this,
Jesse Johannesen

[racecube]

Any progress on this? I'm a bit concerned that updates are looking a bit thin on the ground now.

Yes, seems that there is a lot more of work done on the MRCC rather than the NDLR

[The Elf]

Any progress?

[Jesse Johannesen]

Any progress?

Hi Elf,
Our schedule for the next couple of months is pretty tied up with the MRCC Launch. I don't expect to get any non-critical firmware modifications to the table before March. Once that's all rolling, I expect to be able to sit down with Steve and get a bunch of bugs worked out all at once. Thank you for your ongoing patience.
Jesse

[The Elf]

Any progress?

Hi Elf,
Our schedule for the next couple of months is pretty tied up with the MRCC Launch. I don't expect to get any non-critical firmware modifications to the table before March. Once that's all rolling, I expect to be able to sit down with Steve and get a bunch of bugs worked out all at once. Thank you for your ongoing patience.
Jesse

OK. Thanks for responding.

Looks like I'll have to come up with another solution for the next live streams I have planned.

[The Elf]

A few years on...

Since I couldn't get the problems above fixed I abandoned NDLR. Did any of the points above get fixed? I'd love to re-join the fold, as I liked so much of what NDLR did for me.