Feature Request | Emax Mode

It would be amazing if we could place the S2400 into an “Emax Mode” which would allow it to function as an 8 voice synthesizer. I wouldn’t mind copying all waveforms and setting all the MIDI CC values the same manuallt for each Track / Channel as long as the voice allocation would work properly if there isn’t enough memory to implement.

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this would be very cool, it would need some sort of round robin mode for incoming midi i expect

if not we do have 8 mono synths and arguably an 8v poly if you can split the midi keys enroute to the 2400

YES, that’s what been missing on things like the Octatrack, being able to allocate some or all voices to play it as a polyphonic instrument, as if post MPC samplers had to be solely for beatmaking.
Straying out of SP territory a bit but it doesn’t seem far fetched either to try and capture some Emulator Emax magic as well. Especially with the choice of analog filter add-ons coming up

An excellent idea. In the meantime I suppose something like a Midipal could be used to assign successive MIDI notes to 8 MIDI channels and allow polyphony.

You can take an RK-02 smart midi cable and turn the Octatrack into an 8 voice instrument to play from a remote keyboard. Seems like a waste of an Octatrack to me, but it’s fun to do. I LOVE the idea of EMAX mode. I think finding an alt firmware, or a side mode which might convert a track into a polyphonic sampler is genius! Just what I’ve been missing… Instruments and velocity zones in a hardware sampler.

I bet you anything @Mickey could do it too.

But you know, as great (even exciting) as this idea is, let’s get midi in, and all the bugs squashed before we start hassling these brilliant people to make the S2400 into something else?
But I totally see an Isla Instruments Re-Max II in the future. It’s a no brainer at this point.

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yes, i use OT in many ways and as a stack of synths is one of them

but i agree wholeheartedly, i want to see the 2400 rock solid first and foremost, as does everybody else inc. and especially brad et al

the feature requests are just people voicing ideas and hopefully some are brought to us one day, if not it matters to me and most i imagine so long as the sampler and seq: are solid, that is what i / we paid for and desire - extras would be unexpected

Yes, this feature request is something I envision as hopefully being possible well after all core functionality has been addressed (ex. you’d need MIDI IN working 100% even to just think about implementing this).

I think the existing architecture lends itself well for such an implementation though. For instance, the Mix out already multiplexes all the other channels if they aren’t connected so that if you panned each voice slightly, you could achieve Oberheim OB-Xa panning effects on the stereo out of the Main Mix out. Moreover, you could also achieve suped up 8 channel Vermona Perfourmer like functionality simply by plugging in jacks to each of the channels you wished to affect independently. You could even have different voice allocation modes (ie, leave a single voice out as its own bassline sequenced, whilst leaving the 7 others to play live from a MIDI keyboard). There are lots of possibilities but I don’t want to get too far ahead or result in a bastardization of the product.

I think this could possibly lead to a surpassing of what Dave Smith’s Tempest had envisioned if the pitfalls of software and product lifecycle abandonment are avoided and we are not left with a hybridized mess. I’d take 100% working sampler over hybridized mess any day but I think this architecture does lend itself well to this possiblity. Especially if tasty filter daughter boards are also thrown into the mix.

I think this also has the potential to expand the existing market of sample hungry users into synth territory with only some slight firmware modifications hopefully.

Just trying to plant some seeds.

. . . this might even be possible as a complete firmware revision if there isn’t enough memory to expand existing functionality. Imagine Firmware SP-Mode and Firmware Emax-Mode stored on a USB. Simply boot up which mode you want to use. It would be similar to how Korg implemented the same fundamental hardware architecture on their Electribe 2 series but essentially have 2 different products with just a firmware modification.

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