Here's how I avoid the delay between switching styles on the RM1x. First
go into the Setup menu and turn off Voice Setup to TG and Voice Setup to
MIDI. Normally, when you switch to a new style in the RM1x, is looks at
what all the voice settings are for that style and then tells the TG to
reconfigure to all these settings, plus any tracks that are set to output to
MIDI are sent a program change message. All of this happening is what
causes the dealy. The TG takes a split second to load all the new voice
settings for the style, and any external gear usually delays for a sec when
it is sent a program change. I've also had trouble with some MIDI
patchbay/mergers haveing trouble when they recieve 16 program changes all at
the same time.
Now, once you turned Voice Setup for TG and MIDI off, you'll notice that as
you switch through styles, your gear doesn't automatically switch to the
right programs anymore. What I usually do to overcome this is to use a
blank pattern (Usually the last one, "P"), and I make a bunch of 1 measure
phrases containing only the program changes and any other MIDI messages
needed to set up everything for this song. If I want to sit down and work
on a specific song, all I do is start with Pattern P, let it play through
once, and then all my gear is set up for that song.
Now, for live use I can't use my blank Pattern P, since this would be even a
longer delay than normal. What I do is arrange my songs in the RM1x like
this... I put all my actual songs in the odd numbered styles, i.e., 1, 3,
5, 7, 9, etc. And I put transitions in the even numbered styles, i.e., 2,
4, 6, 8, 10, etc. The transitions work as follows. My first song ends on
Patttern J. When this pattern is in its last measure, I turn the style knob
up one click. Since "Voice Setup to TG and MIDI" is off, the RM1x switches
to the next style seemlessly. The next style is my transition, and I've
set this up so that Pattern J is the first pattern in the transition. The
transition then works its way back down the patterns. Going from J to I to
H to G and so on... If the transition is short I might skip a few patterns,
but the point is to have the transition finish up on pattern A, so that when
you switch styles again you'll be back at the beggining of your next song.
(This is considering that you start your songs with Pattern A.) I place all
the appropriate Program changes for the next song throughout the preceding
transition. By spreading all the program changes over a bunch of patterns,
you never have a point where all your gear has to stop playing, and by the
time you finish the transition and hit the next song, all your gear is setup
up to start playing it. I recently recorded a 1 hour continous mix using
the RM1x as my only sequencer. I didn't hit stop once, and all the style
changes were smooth. Later.
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Positronica
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