NDLR - A Multi-Part Polyphonic Arpeggiator by Steven Barile

[Tchu]

NDLR + DN is amazing too.

[Chinchilla]

Yep, I’ve been having a lot of joy with the NDLR and the Wavestate. An absolute killer combo, what with the multi-timbral keyboard splits and playing the Korg sequencer with the NDLR.
Just the Wavestate sounds like multiple synths.
Endless fun!
I know it’s cheating but I could never accomplish such musicality with just my poor old ham-fisted Bunglitis-ridden sausage fingers and dreadful music theory knowledge, so I unapologetically couldn’t care less!

[Tchu]

@Chinchilla

I know it’s cheating

This ain’t AI music, so you’re good.

[tendingtropic]

wow didn’t know that that was possible!

[GovernorSilver]

If you’re having fun, that’s all that matters

[Chinchilla]

Ain’t that the truth Guv!

[Airyck]

How’s the clock receive on this thing? Is it pretty solid with something like ER-M Multiclock as the master or an Elektron sequencer?
Any major gotcha’s with an external clock source?

I was thinking:

Virus TI, Ambika, and/or Digitone Keys for drone & pads
Shruthi XT, Mopho, Model D, or Eurorack for Motif’s

Slather with Delay, Reverb, and Modulation FX/Pedals.

I’d route the MIDI through individual channels in Ableton Live so I could arp and do MIDI FX whilst recording the MIDI output of the NDLR for manual edits.

It also seems like a good way to create a set of 4 sounds that go together without having to write a bunch of parts first. Noodling in general. Maybe a good jam tool for hanging out with music friends (in my imaginary non-pandemic USA) in the future too?

Does this seem like a good fit?

[vasidudu]

I sequence everything from DT and NDLR.
Although there is a lot of cables and splitter and merger, no clock issue whether from DT or NDLR if used without DT.
Kenton controller to keystep to midi merger 1
DT to midi merger 2
Merger out 1 to tanzmaus to TR-8
Merger out 2 to NDLR to midi splitter to:
Microfreak
Blofeld
AS-1
Deepmind12
MiniNova
It is nice to be able to sequence chord changes from DT to NDLR.
Also polychaining (for pads) is pretty cool
Also being able to mix VSTi and hardware has been really cool

[Airyck]

Thanks Tchu!

@Tchu

I think the NDLR is better at being the Clock transmitter in the sense that you will have to Arm the Parts if you use it as a Clock/MIDI Start command receiver (it kills the workflow in a certain way).

I guess I’ll have to understand the workflow better to know how this is problematic.

Do things need to be armed constantly or does it keep going until you stop a part?

Would it be possible to send a separate start message while the clock is already running?

[Tchu]

@Airyck

Do things need to be armed constantly or does it keep going until you stop a part?

I will have to do some tests, I don’t remember (it’s been a while since I used it like this).

Would it be possible to send a separate start message while the clock is already running?

Good question, I’ll investigate.

Or maybe someone can chip in if he has the answer.

[Airyck]

Don’t interrupt anything you’re doing for me Tchu! I appreciate you responding up to this point <3. If it’s easy to do with your setup and you get around to it let me know the results.

I’ll probably just end up picking one up to try it out anyway. I like the idea, worst case it’s a great noodler for designing cohesive sounds between synths and for playing around with friends/kids.

@Tchu

Or maybe someone can chip in if he has the answer.

+1

[micabeza]

Even if you don’t care for it, they’re holding their value and they sell quick, so it’s worth picking one up.
If it’s not your thing, you might lose 25$ on it, but I doubt it, so it’s pretty risk free.
Was gonna pull mine out this weekend and dust it off. I don’t have an ableton setup, but if you wanna msg me how to best wire up what you’re looking to test, I’ll give it a whirl if i can.
(Also gimme a chance to do something with it I probably never would have)

[jiffybox]

I caved, my NDLR is on the way and set to arrive from Perfect Circuit on Monday. Very excited and glad to see this thread is still truckin’.

[Airyck]

Thank you!

I can message you in more detail if you need.

All I’m looking to test is having all 4 parts playing while NDLR is slave to an external clock (Elektron would be fine).

Once all four parts are running, stop one part but let the other three keep playing.

Next, send a MIDI start message and see if the stopped part starts playing again in time.

How you set this up depends on if you can clock it externally and if you have a device that you can send a MIDI Start message to the NDLR for the stopped part.

[micabeza]

At 1st I was a little underwhelmed, but it just took a hot minute to get how to use the mod matrix right. Gets interesting, particularly when you give it a midi loopback as a mod source.

[micabeza]

That should be easy enough

EDIT: Actually i think the manual itself answers your question. I’ll still verify for ya tho.

External MIDI Clock & Stop/Start/Continue Messages

MIDI Stop/Start/Continue (SSC) Messages: Often sequencers and arpeggiators will send out MIDI SSC messages when being used. The NDLR accepts these messages ONLY on the MIDI 5 Pin port B and USB port 1, all SSC messages on other ports are IGNORED. This provides some configuration flexibility without a lot of extra menu settings.

A couple words about this topic…

• 1. There is no MIDI message for Pause. “Pause” = MIDI message STOP followed by a CONTINUE.
• 2. Many popular sequencers do NOT send MIDI Clock Tick messages when its sequencer is stopped. Note - this will stop the NDLR from playing notes.
• 3. MIDI Stop/Start/Continue (SSC) messages are separate from and not inherently linked to the MIDI Clock Tick messages.

MIDI 5 Pin port A & USB port 2-4 - MIDI Stop/Start/Continue messages are INGNORED

If The NDLR is configured to use external clock but there isn’t MIDI Clock Tick messages being received, The NDLR is essentially frozen in time. With no Clock Tick messages pressing any NDLR Part’s play button will “arm” / “disarm” the Part which toggles the Part’s play/pause indicator blue or black. When MIDI Clock Tick messages are received again any “armed” Part will continue to play from exactly where it was stopped. Be aware that notes can get stuck “on” if the clock stops while notes are playing. Note - toggling The NDLR’s “Play/Pause All” button will resync the motifs.

MIDI 5 Pin port B & USB port 1 - MIDI Stop/Start/Continue messages are ACCEPTED Case #1 – External MIDI Clock messages are stopped and started with the MIDI

Stop/Start/Continue messages (e.g. Arturia’s BeatStep, BeatStep Pro and KeyStep)

•  If The NDLR receives a Start message it will play any “armed” Parts. “Armed” = blue play/pause indicator.

•  If The NDLR receives a Stop message it will stop all Parts that are playing but NOT “disarm” them even though the Part’s play/pause indicator will be turned black. Note: The NDLR stores the position and “armed” states of the Parts.

•  If The NDLR receives a 2nd Stop message (before a Start or Continue message) it will stop all Parts that are playing and “disarm” them. There will be no response to a Continue message. The Part’s play/pause indicator will be turned black.

•  If The NDLR receives a Continue message it will restart all Parts that were playing when the previous Stop message was received. This will also cause the Parts to “re-arm” and their respective indicators will be blue.
  Case #2 – External MIDI Clock messages continue regardless of the MIDI Stop/Start/Continue messages. Or The NDLR’s internal clock is ticking and external MIDI Stop/Start/Continue messages are received.

•  If The NDLR receives a Start message it does nothing. Note: A Start message will not turn on parts that are off.

•  If The NDLR receives a Stop message it will stop all Parts that are playing and “disarm” them. The Part’s play/pause indicator will be turned black.
  Note: The NDLR stores the position and “armed” states of the Parts.

•  If The NDLR receives a Continue message it will restart all Parts that were playing when the previous Stop message was received. This will also cause the Parts to “re-arm” and their respective indicators will be blue.

•  If The NDLR receives a second Stop message it will not respond to a Continue message.

[Airyck]

Thanks! I guess I should have looked deeper in the manual.

It sounds like it stores the position it stopped at and resumes from there.

If I could quantize the stop/continue messages to certain bars this might be worked around. It might require a custom Max for Live device though.
I’m all about routing everything through Ableton so I can grab MIDI or audio whenever I want. I’m fairly set on using it this way if possible.

I need to read more of the manual to determine how the arm and disarm stuff works before I can think of a solution.

I have one on order now so I’ll give it a try once it arrives and I spend some time with it. Thanks for the RTFM copy and paste!

@Tchu

In internal mode, you can set the Parts to start at 1/8, 1/4, …

Seems silly that this was left out in external mode.
I’m creative about working around limitations though. I just hope it’s fun, useful, and fairly quick to work with.

[micabeza]

No worries. I remembered there was something in there that was beyond basic external sync settings.
Now if my damn Torso ever shows up…

[vasidudu]

When you stop a part and re-start it (whether midi message Play or from the device itself) it will play quantised to 1/4 or 1/8 (in the settings) but it will not start from the beginning of the part, rather from where you left it when stopped.
Not sure it is that clear

[Tchu]

I did my tests (with DT as my Sequencer) and these are my observations when the NDLR is in Ext Clock :

Arm All button (ALL) : use this button if you want to start the 4 Parts simultaneously. So, by pressing Start (Play) on your Sequencer, all the Parts will start at the same time. If you press Stop once on your Sequencer and then press Start again, all the Parts will play at the same time but if you press twice on the Stop button of the Sequencer, it will Disarm all the Parts. So if you press Play after a double press on the Stop button, none of the Parts will start.

If you want to start with one, two or three specific Parts, you will have to Arm it/them from their respective button (under the Shift button).

Timing of the Parts (Muting/Unmuting) : Pad and Drone will respect the Quantize setting you chose from the Menu Settings (3) but the Motifs will Start/Stop at the press of their button on any Step.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate. I can do the tests for you (not from a DAW, though). I will be more than happy to answer you.

I will delete my previous posts to avoid any possible confusion.