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Mobius, an EDP emulator




I didn't want to say anything until I was farther along, but it's
going to be increasingly obvious from my questions.  I'm writing a
Loop IV EDP emulator.

The the architecture is fairly stable now, and I'm in the testing and bug
fixing stage.  Let me know if you're interested in details.  I hope to
make it available in a few weeks but I've got a long test plan to get
through and I wanted to get feedback on some behavior that I don't
fully understand.  I don't have an EDP, I've been relying solely on
the manual so I'm sure I've misinterpreted some things and missed some
others.  I appreciate the support that has been provided so far.

I hope this is viewed as a positive thing.  I'm not trying to compete
with the EDP and I have no illusions of making any money from this.
It will be free and I promise to publish the source code when I can no
longer maintain it properly.

I plan to call it Mobius.  I wanted to start with an EDP
emulation because its, well, amazing.  But I hope to evolve it to
include other looping and live-performance features.  It's stereo, has
unlimited memory, and you can run more than one instance at the same
time and switch control between them.  For example, you can set up a
drone in one instance, "Next Looper" over to another  where you
build up a solo loop, they both play at the same time, and you
can bounce between them.  Precise synchronization is still a problem,
but will be addressed.

I've been focusing on the engine so the UI is very crude.  It's better
than an LED, but not much.  Everything can be controlled with MIDI. It
is a standalone application but I will be making it a VST.

The following features will not be supported initially because
they're...um...hard.

    Synchronization
    Event "gravity"
    Loop/Delay InterfaceMode
    Loop Windowing
    Long presses

Synchronization will be the next major task.  Then VST.  I've chosen a
memory architecture that is good for many things but makes Loop
Windowing very difficult, I'm not sure when I'll get to that.  Long
presses aren't really necessary, but they're not that hard either.

Event "gravity" is the term I'm using for the way the EDP automatically
quantizes button presses if you hit them within a few hundred
milliseconds of a quantization boundary.  Some of these are documented
but I'm sure there are others.

Everything else in the manual with the exception of things that are
obviously hardware related should be supported as far as I know. 
A list of questions is attached, I appreciate any answers, advice,
(or warnings :-) you may have.

Thanks,
Jeff Larson

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Questions
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Are InsertMode=Replace and InsertMode=Substitute always SUS functions?

When you set StartPoint, does the loop revert to a single cycle
like unrounded multiply or do the cycles just become shorter?

When waiting for a quantized SUS operation (Replace, Substitute)
where both the start and end times have been quantized,
does the "Escaping Quantization" concept on 4-38 apply? 
If yes:
  If the function then starts immediately, when does it end?
  If the down transition triggers the escape, is the "dangling"
  up transition ignored? 
  If you have passed the function start point and are waiting
  for the quantized stop point, will initiating the function
  again (down transition) escape the stop point and stop immediately?
  What happens to the dangling up transition?

When you are in Rehearse mode, must you end the mode with Insert or
are all of the other Insert alternate endings available?

For sustained buttons and SUS MIDI commands, are alternate ending
functions allowed during the sustain or must you end the sustain with
the default ending?  Text on 5-45 suggests no, this is only possible
with SUSOverdub.

Are SUSRoundInsert and SUSRoundMultiply like InsertMode=Sustain
except that they don't perform unrounded insert/multiply and
restructure the loop?

If InsertMode=Sustain, the end of the unrounded insert is subject to
quantization.  When ending an unsustained Insert with Record, is the
Record subject to quantization or will it always happen immediately?

When you enter the quantize period after ending an Insert, is the
insert end subject to undo?  Presumably this means that you drop
back into Insert mode and continue.  If you were in the RoundMode=Off
period of silence insertion, the audio that would have been recorded
during that time will actually be recorded.

Text on page 5-11 says that when Quantize=On then RoundMode
is ignored when ending the Insert.  What if Quantize=SubCycle,
wouldn't the end of the record be quantized to an 8th boundary,
then silence until the end of the cycle?

If you are in overdub, enter a new layer, then undo back to the
previous layer, are you still in overdub?

When you are in the quantize period after SwitchQuant=Loop, will
Undo cause immediate switch like it does in SwitchQuant=Confirm, or
will it cancel the switch?

When record threshold is non-zero, and you switch to an empty
loop with AutoRecord=On, do you pause for the threshold or
just charge ahead?

Are Replace, Substitute, Reverse, and Speed confirming actions
during the switch quantize period, or just Insert?

If you Reverse shortly after the beginning of a loop and then
return to the beginning, is this considered the end of a "pass"
for the purposes of feedback and undo? 

When stacking loops with SamplerStyle=Once and NextLoop, text says
"when the second loop finishes playing one more time".  Do we really
play the loop we return to all over again even if SwitchQuant != Loop and
we switch in the middle?

When Velocity=On, and a loop is triggered, how long does the
attenuation last?  Is this effectively the same as moving
the Output knob or does it get reset after another event.

Does MultiIncrease work when InsertMode=Sustain?  Does each
down/up transition add another cycle?

Is Rehearse mode possible when RecorddMode=Sustain?  How do
you perform the Insert alternating ending?

Error: 5-65 Using Substitute: third bullet should be "InsertMode=Sub"

Error: 5-33 Reverse alternate ending.  Phrase "immediately toggle
Overdub mode" should be "immediately toggle Reverse mode".
     

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