Re: EDP Hardware Interface

[Andre LaFosse <altruist@earthlink.net>]

Hi David,

David wrote:
 
> Let me try this another way again -- because the hardware interface on 
>the
> Repeater is different, you tend to THINK and DO things differently.  I'm 
>not
> saying better, just different.  Because the hardware interface is 
>different,
> you can do different things than on the EDP, right?.

Not really.  You can indeed do different things, but the reason has to
do with the software inside - of which the hardware is merely a way of
accessing it.

So the differences in the Repeater and the EDP aren't a question of the
layout of the interface - it's a question of how the software being
interfaced was designed to run in the first place.

> My point is, if the face-plate hardware of the EDP could evolve once to
> "catch up" with the software, what would you and Kim like to see to make
> things easier for first-time buyers?

Personally - and this is something I've tried to say many times - there
are very deep and carefully laid-out reasons why the seven specific
function buttons are on the front EDP faceplate and footpedal.  Just
about every single snazzy DirectMIDI command I can think of is still
ultimately a souped-up version of a function which is fundamentally
accessed through a front panel button press (or combination of button
presses).  So this actually gets back to your issue about "thinking and
doing" based on the front panel design.
 
> The EDP is so rich in functionality -- yet a user who buys one with the 
>Loop
> IV software will need TWO "manuals" to understand how to get into it.

Yet that richness in functionality is a reflection of the depth with
which the basic core functions have been thought out and implemented. 
The more the core foundation concepts are studied, the more the overall
instrument comes into focus.

There are several DOZEN DirectMIDI commands - that's too many to squeeze
into a reasonably-sized interface, and at a certain point, I think
players who understand the EDP architecture enough will want to start
personalizing their own interfaces, i.e. customizing MIDI pedal banks,
etc.  Until then, though, I still think that studying the core seven
function buttons is important before venturing off into DirectMIDI 
territory.

Enough email for one night, from me, I think, yes indeed, to wit:

--Dre