emusonacid! legacy

hey everyone, i need some help.
basically, i'm trying to achieve LFO modulation synced to an external sequencer (Nuendo 2.0). i read the manual and i have got it to work, but only on long sustaining sounds...like sub bass tones.
but on drums it doesn't seem to work...should it be able to?

say you have a slow sine wave LFO set to "free run" and you route this LFO to modulate a filter, to achieve the common filter sweeping effect. i can do this and play my drums (i play a midi kit) and achieve the effect fine, great...but i want to sync the LFO to my sequencer so the sweeping is perfectly matched to the song's BPM. but after setting up the sync (routing a clock divisor to the LFO trigger start), it doesn't seem to modulate over time anymore, like it's not doing a "free run" LFO anymore...although it is set that way. (yes, the CORD amount for the LFO sync is above 0 and yes i realize you have to get the LFO rate reasonably close for it to sync and yes the E4's sequencer is set up for external clock).

i don't get it, on the other hand i've taken a sustaining sub bass note and succeeded in syncing the LFO modulation for it. but the difference is that the sub bass tone is one sustaining note, and the modulation happens during the sustain...so it seems the LFO gets retriggered after each note, b/c with drums, of course there are many notes without sustain, so it seems like the LFO gets cut off with each note, i guess that is whats happening, but why when the LFO is set to "free run"? i guess this is how it works and what i'm trying to do can't be done???

anyone have any knowledge to share?
it would sure suck if it can't be done...i'm a live drummer w/ no extra hands for realtime modulation...this is my only hope for cool modulation that doesn't require limbs.

well, if the lfo is set to free run, then the lfo will run in the back ground regardless of wether you are playing a bunch of notes or a long one. if the lfo you have is set to key then of course your lfo will restart every time. what you want should be possible.

so let me imagine your set up... you have a computer running nuendo and you have your e4 hooked to it, and from there you have your midi drum kit that you play... basicaully hitting the pads trigger whatever drum kit you have loaded in your emu. so i guess you hit the start button on your sequencer then start drumming. and at some point you want to modulate your drums. the only thing that i don't understand is; do you have any other midi information playing at the same time? like the rest of the song? I would figure you would....

here are a few ideas provided that this is actualy what you are doing...

do you have the percentage set right on the filter? remember if you set the precentage the wrong way, you will hear no filtering what so ever.

lets see, the your cord(s) should look like this:

cord 1: lfo>-fltrfreq-(+/-)x%
cord 2: clockdivisor-lforate-+100%... whatever gets it to work. and of course the lfo> and lfo rate must be the same lfo... and of course you have to make sure you have it set to free run if you want it to mod all the time.

maybe you need to make sure to high light the channel in your sequencer that your midi kit is controlling for your drums. i wouldn't think this would be an issue but you never know.

i guess the only other thing is creat an extra limb... or draw in the controller values that you want so your kit will start to filter, then loop your sequencer.

also, do you have filters set up on every single sound you have in your drum kit in your emu. the best way to edit them so they will all be the same is go into the group edit section. that way you know they are all set proper.

other then that i am out of ideas. hope i got you going the right direction though.

to check if things are setup correctly try routing to pitch instead of filter as it's very easy to check if something is happening to the sounds when it is being pitched..

emugonzo

sampleandhold wrote:lets see, the your cord(s) should look like this:

cord 1: lfo>-fltrfreq-(+/-)x%
cord 2: clockdivisor-lforate-+100%... whatever gets it to work. .

lforate? ah, the manual says to route the clockdivisor to the LFO triggering (lfotrg), but maybe this is what is screwing it up. wouldn't setting it to lfotrg make the LFO start over every time the clock runs low? but wait, why would that matter in my case? say you had a double whole note clock divisor....shouldn't the lfo run (and yes i do have it set to free run) and not be re-triggered until after two measures (and not necessarily have it's rate synced with the tempo)? that's what i imagined but it's definintely not doing that.
so then i guess i do need to set the clock divisor to modulate lforate...hmmm...why didn't the book say to or explain this at all?
well, i'll try that. maybe i'll try syncing both lfotrg and lforate to see what that does. thanks for the idea and i'll see how it goes.

fuck, it didn't seem to work, patching a clock divisor to lforate instead of lfotrg that is. thanks btw for the replies. i'd REALLY like to see this work. and i'm not giving up!
i guess it's a matter of better understanding the clock divisors and how it all works. let me talk out of my ass for a moment to see if i understand

so if i routed, for example, a whole note clock divisor to lfo1 trigger (with an amount of 1 or greater) and lfo1 being set to "free run", what would this do? i would imagine that every four beats (assuming 4/4 time here), the clock would restart the LFO, right? the LFO rate would be untouched by the sync, so it modulates at whatever rate it's set to, but once four beats are up, it stops and starts again. does this sound right?

so on the other hand, if i routed, say, a quarter note clock divisor to lfo1's RATE, again lfo1 being "free run" of course, what would that do? i guess this is where i'm stumped. i would think (and hope!) that every beat (quarter note) the LFO will complete one full cycle and start over perfectly for the next beat, so a precise beat by beat LFO cycle would be achieved...but i don't think this is what happens!! at least it didn't seem to me. but wait, i also noticed that increasing the CORD amount for clock divisor->lfo1rate made it faster? makes sense and all, but why? what do the different numbers indicate? what is a +1 amount doing different rate wise than a +100 in the CORD amount? making the rate faster, but in terms of what beatwise/clockwise?...shouldn't it just be clock synced LFO rate perfection!!?? it doesn't seem to be, and that's what i'm needin'!!! FUCK! i'm goin crazy!!!

all i want, after saying this all, is to have an LFO's rate be perfectly matched to the BPM of the song...duh...
like a sine wave LFO slowly sweeping up for X beats (1/2/4/8/whatever), sweeping down for X beats, going down below zero for X beats, and coming back up to the start point for the same X beats and staying in sync with the frigggggin song tempo!!
or a square wave LFO so i get something like two beats with a filter on, then two beats with it off, back and forth but BPM SYNCED!!!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

sorry, all this thinking is driving me crazy. not to mention listening to lfo's for beat matchedness...that'll drive you nuts too.

any input? please!!

help i s s uper a pprecia ted.
p.s. this forum kicks ass
d

actually, pardon my double post, but i'm continuing this on the troubleshooting side:
viewtopic.php?p=2284#2284