MIDI Perform Mode is now available as an open beta update for Play and Play+. This firmware also includes planned fixes for the 1.1 and 1.5 launch on Monday as well as the PERC drum synth engine for Play+.
NEW FEATURES
MIDI Perform Mode
Play+: A fifth Synthesizer model: the PERC
UI Changes:
2 Pages in Performance mode, with independent settings for each page. Press shift + pattern to toggle performance pages, with MIDI/Audio switching now unified for all modes.
Each page has an independent set of selectable presets on the pads.
When in the pattern editor, switching between MIDI and Audio clears the selected tracks. When in performance mode paging is unchanged.
When selecting a track in MIDI mode - All the MIDI channels and Synths on the selected track will also be selected on other tracks with the same Synth or MIDI channel.
Sample State/Sample End and Sample/Folder knobs are disabled in MIDI perform mode.
Audio:
Master effects(Audio Loop, Reverb, and Delay) presets share a common send in both modes, with Audio changes overriding MIDI for these settings. Note that MIDI delay and reverb changes will not change the amount of the send, only the preset.
For CC parameter changes, performance pad presets overwrite step values. Knob values are added to pad preset values.
When exiting perform mode, the last step CC value is sent. If CCs were not used before engaging performance mode no MIDI message is sent when exiting.
Beware that beta releases might introduce new bugs that may lead to loss of work, data corruption, performance degradation, or crashes. We recommend backing up your SD card before trying the beta.
If you run into any issues please share them with us by logging a Bug in Backstage.
Thank you.
A great update! Iām glad that there are two different effects panels, one for samples and other for synths. Great, thank you very much. Play,+ is an awesome device and I hope in a future to see more amazing updates like this!!
Wait, so itās supposed to be separate perform pages for samples/midi& synths? I thought that was a bug before I reread what was above Will there be an option to affect both at the same time (where possible) at some point?
Itās a separate perform page just like everything MIDI/Synth is on a different āpageā when Sequencing. I does also bring some uniformity to the Shift function as to how Shift with Pattern works with switching between MIDi and Sequencing pages.
It could be an interesting idea for a wish, but Iām curious as to how you would envision a Pattern page that could impact both MIDI and Samples with all the options available to both?
Iād mainly want Rearrange, Repeats, or Loops to affect both Samples & Synths/Midi at the same time. Additionally having something like delay or reverb affect samples/synths at the same time (of course this would not work on Midi).
Having some issues when I hit shift/patterns where occasionally it will jump out of performance mode, so maybe what Iām asking is possible but I canāt get it to work Would be helpful to get a manual to understand how it should be functioning
Separately, the perform mode delays are LOUD on the synths. Any way to tone those down?
Your use case could make for an interesting wish. A bit like how the Tracker Uses Perform Mode. You have certain slots, and you define what they impact (with options for both MIDI and Samples on every slot).
For now Iām going to bask in the glory of having the MIDI performance available as it is, but I encourage you to draft a wish on this idea
I like it separate, in my opinion itās a better idea, but I would be great too an option per project to affect with one page all synths/samples.
And best of all, in the performance page there is two rows per FX, so it would be great one and only page (as an option in the project settings) and each FX row type affects sample/synth. For example, in the delay two rows, left row for samples and right row for synths. Sure there are limitations to that but the definitive and perfect solution would be to be able to select which preset you want from the selected FX.
The variation row would be for select sample tracks and the most right row for select synths.
I agree that the fact that audio and MIDI perform modes are separated makes the Play way more powerful performance instrument, as we basically have two perform āscenesā with different FX activated on each.
But on the other hand I think there must be a way to apply the same effect to samples and synths simultaneously.
Some use cases:
to transpose all melodic parts - both samples and synths - to make a scale change (if your tune is in major and you transpose all notes three semitones down, it becomes parallel minor). This is not possible now.
to make the whole mix to sound darker or brighter with the filter FX pad column
the same with distortion
to apply the same repeat type to all drum parts or melodic parts in our track
etc
Because of this separation, perform mode kinda loses its, idk, āintegrityā (not sure about the word here), as we canāt change how the whole thing sounds with just one pad press.
I guess this could be done via Shift + FX pad? For example, if I hold Shift and press the -3st pitch down pad, all the selected tracks, both samples and MIDI, get transposed three semitones down.
@Mitch what do you think? Maybe worth considering my suggestion while the feature is still in beta.
Having 2 sides of performance mode felt like the most natural extension of Play but that is a fair request. However I donāt believe it would be a trivial change, and with people waiting for this as long as they have we want to polish this as fast as we can and get this to an official release without adding anything else. It could be a potential update in the future though and I would recommend a wish for it after the final MIDI firmware is launched.
Ive noticed that in this release this two bugs are still there. IĀ“ve lost track if they were going to be adressed in the final release, but just in caseā¦
Unfortunately, this bricked my device on startup for me. Luckily, I was able to revert back to 1.4.2 with the Polyend Tool. Let me know if there are any files I can send over to help reproduce this. What happens is the Polyend logo loading screen shows up with an empty loading bar and hangs, seemingly indefinitely. There is a project autosaved that should be loaded
Very Very interestingly, autoloading an empty project allows the device to bootā¦ Unfortunately, my account is too new to upload the offending project
Updated to this beta. Connected to Microfreak, without any programming, worked! I have to map filter but I would expect that not everything would be 1:1.
It sounds like the issues on the play hanging up after updating have been corrected in firmware 1.5. Is it possible to update the two open beta firmwares with that fix implemented because I keep having to pull out the usb cord to power off the play when it hangs during startup and I worry that might cause issues. I also worry the sd card is more likely to have problems since I am often ejecting it in order to erase the workspace folder. Or maybe the corrections have already been made and I am doing something wrong.
Beware that beta releases might introduce new bugs that may lead to loss of work, data corruption, performance degradation, or crashes. We recommend backing up your SD card before trying the beta.
Will there be an option to affect both at the same time (where possible) at some point?
Would be helpful to get a manual to understand how it should be functioning
