Getting started with the Linnstrument

[NightMachines]

I feel compelled to offer a different perspective here,
...
Anyway, I hope this helps.

Hey John, thank you so much! That actually did help a lot and while I still need to dive into the theory, your post motivated me to just go ahead and record some improvisation using Minor 7 chords and the Blues scale in the simple key of Cm.

It's my first recording and I only had the Linnstrument for a few days, so my feeling, timing and finger precision to hit the correct notes is still off quite a bit and I guess I overdid it with the layered noodling ... but it was fun(!!!) and the video will hopefully serve well as a first entry in my Linnstrument music diary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EIV-DG ... dex=2&t=0s

[jsterne]

The one refreshing, forward-thinking aspect of the Roli apps is that they have a built-in MIDI channel filter, so you can use them alongside other apps and outboard gear, and incorporate them into a broader workflow, without them hogging all the MIDI channels... Very useful. Ahem!

It’s not just missing in most apps though. Initially I wanted to get a MicroMonsta and a DoubleDrummer for the Linnstrument. The MM also doesn’t have MIDI filtering though, so it would react to the DD's MIDI notes as well, which I would want to sequence via the Linnstrument's handy drum sequencer I wrote the devs aout it and while it’s on their radar already, they haven’t committed to implementing the feature yet.

In IOS, AUM has a per channel MIDI filter that can be put to good use.

[NightMachines]

In IOS, AUM has a per channel MIDI filter that can be put to good use.

Cool! That's good to know. AUM is an impressive app, which I use all the time.

[John the Savage]

The one refreshing, forward-thinking aspect of the Roli apps is that they have a built-in MIDI channel filter, so you can use them alongside other apps and outboard gear, and incorporate them into a broader workflow, without them hogging all the MIDI channels... Very useful. Ahem!

In IOS, AUM has a per channel MIDI filter that can be put to good use.

Question:

If you use the filter in AUM to restrict what MIDI channels are being sent to whatever MPE app you're using, does it still allow MIDI clock and transport controls to get through to the app? That's the issue inside of Audiobus: i.e. I can use a third-party channel filter, like MIDIflow Channels for instance, and it works, but it prevents clock and transport from reaching the app.

This doesn't happen when I use the Roli apps with their in-built channel filters. I just don't like the Roli apps.

I suppose, for the $25.xx it would cost me, I could just buy AUM and see for myself (smirk). It's just that I'm using Loopy in my setup, and it won't run inside of AUM, so I've just been using Audiobus on its own thus far. And even if AUM does work, it's a moot point if I can't run Loopy anyway (sigh).

Cheers!

[John the Savage]

I feel compelled to offer a different perspective here,
...
Anyway, I hope this helps.

Hey John, thank you so much! That actually did help a lot and while I still need to dive into the theory, your post motivated me to just go ahead and record some improvisation using Minor 7 chords and the Blues scale in the simple key of Cm.

Sounds like you're pointed in the right direction. Glad I could help.

Cheers!

[NightMachines]

Another Jam with the Linnstrument and other stuff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjQTWcJS ... dex=2&t=0s

I'm using Loopy in my setup, and it won't run inside of AUM, so I've just been using Audiobus on its own thus far. And even if AUM does work, it's a moot point if I can't run Loopy anyway (sigh).

Loopy does connect properly to AUM on my iPad Air 2. You can even pipe Loopy's individual tracks to their own mixing bus inside AUM and then add further effects to them. Of course both apps should also sync clock. I completely dropped Audiobus since discovering AUM. It's such a powerful app, that shows how far the iPad has come for making music.

[John the Savage]

I'm using Loopy in my setup, and it won't run inside of AUM, so I've just been using Audiobus on its own thus far. And even if AUM does work, it's a moot point if I can't run Loopy anyway (sigh).

Loopy does connect properly to AUM on my iPad Air 2. You can even pipe Loopy's individual tracks to their own mixing bus inside AUM and then add further effects to them. Of course both apps should also sync clock. I completely dropped Audiobus since discovering AUM. It's such a powerful app, that shows how far the iPad has come for making music.

Yes, the AUM/Audiobus relationship is certainly well-integrated and imminently useful. However, I have very particular workflow needs. For starters, I'm already pushing my 2017 iPad to the limit, so a two-platform solution would only exacerbate my CPU woes. But mostly, it's about keeping it all on one page: i.e. as it stands currently, I can control any pertinent synth parameters from the LinnStrument itself, and that allows me to keep Loopy in the foreground for immediate access. I'm using the iPad as a peripheral in an all-hardware setup, live, onstage. Sufficed to say, I already have my hands full with other tasks, and simply can't afford the luxury of mousing around on the touch screen, switching apps, and whatnot. I have hardware loopers on the floor to manage as well. I'm really only using Loopy because it already lives on the iPad with the synths, and therefore represents the shortest distance from A to B.

Anyway, I'm not one to accumulate apps unless I absolutely need them, but I just now purchased AUM to suss this out for myself. In the end, I might just expand the patch-bay on my pedal-board and send the iPad audio to the hardware loopers. That way I can just use AUM as my host, and ditch Audiobus and Loopy altogether. It's a work in progress, this new MPE rig...

Cheers!

[NightMachines]

Is anybody else playing or practicing with only the root/accent lights on?

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I find that the green Cmaj lights sometimes confuse me when playing in different keys, because it seems like on the Linnstrument (or a Guitar) it's more about finger patterns and note intervals than having "black and white" keys for orientation. Does that make sense?

[Roger_Linn]

I noticed a LinnStrument player who does that at 3:40 in this video:

https://youtu.be/ypHCxq93Jsk

I think many people use the C major scale lights as many use the white keys on a piano, playing minor music in D minor or A minor by using the lights starting on D or A, or playing Mixolydian mode starting in G, or Lydian mode starting in F, etc.

[NightMachines]

I think many people use the C major scale lights as many use the white keys on a piano, playing minor music in D minor or A minor by using the lights starting on D or A, or playing Mixolydian mode starting in G, or Lydian mode starting in F, etc.

Ah, that makes sense! I still need to get my head around the fact that the same note progressions are actually different keys/modes depending on where one starts Thanks!

-----

On a different topic: I haven't had any time to do something with my Axolotis so far, so I ordered a MicroMonsta to finally experiment with an MPE hardware synth that requires less setting up to play with the Linnstrument.

While I'm waiting for that to arrive, here's another recent Linnstrument video from my YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO0jrYLGMcw

[John the Savage]

Is anybody else playing or practicing with only the root/accent lights on?

I find that the green Cmaj lights sometimes confuse me when playing in different keys, because it seems like on the Linnstrument (or a Guitar) it's more about finger patterns and note intervals than having "black and white" keys for orientation. Does that make sense?

Yes. I've been playing my LinnStrument like this since I got it. I'm a guitar player, so of course I use the guitar tuning configuration, and the only note I have lit up is 'E'. I chose 'E' because it gets me the closest to standard fret markers. I agree that having an entire scale lit up is distracting (and somewhat blinding in the dark onstage!). I originally wanted to play without any lights on at all, but because of the perfect symmetry and vastness of the playing surface, I found it to be disorienting. There simply wasn't enough physical feedback to keep oriented without constantly looking down. Anyway...

And with that, here's me making a feature request (sheepish grin): it would be nice if the guitar tuning configuration came with the option of lighting up "fret markers" instead of the user scale.

This would also solve another paradox: i.e. because I only have one note turned on in the Global Settings, I can't enter any other notes in the step sequencer, which is restricted to the selected user scale. So if the guitar tuning configuration defaulted to fret markers instead of notes, I could leave all the notes turned on in the Global Settings for use in the step sequencer when I need them (wink, wink).

Cheers!

[BobDog]

I did change the code to give the guitar markings when I first got the linnstrument, the problem was that as the updates kept coming I couldn't be bothered to keep the code updated.

In the end I stopped using the guitar tuning and just got used to it!

[John the Savage]

I did change the code to give the guitar markings when I first got the linnstrument, the problem was that as the updates kept coming I couldn't be bothered to keep the code updated.

In the end I stopped using the guitar tuning and just got used to it!

I honestly think it would do the LinnStrument a service if fret markers were an option in the guitar tuning configuration. It's a subtle detail, but seriously, if I had a nickle for every guitarist who has approached me after a show to inquire about the LinnStrument and was surprised to learn that it was laid out like a fretboard... And really, in many ways, string players are the LinnStrument's target demographic. Anyone with a background in keys is more likely to adopt a Seaboard or a Continuum because of the familiarity of the interface. So anything that could be done to make the LinnStrument more inviting to guitarist and bassists, especially something as easy to implement as fret markers, seems a no-brainer to me.

The first two things that I inquired about, when I first got my LinnStrument, were whether or not I could tune each row independently like strings, and whether or not I could light up "fret markers"! Roger said he hadn't received enough requests for those features, but I think that's because the LinnStrument simply isn't on the radar of most guitar players; not because they wouldn't be interested in owning one, but rather because it just isn't obvious at a glance what the LinnStrument is, certainly not in the same way that a Seaboard is clearly a fancy piano. Anyway... Just my proverbial two-cents worth (grin).

Cheers!

P.S. Since we're daring to dream here, should it ever happen, I'll put in my request right now that the markers not be the entire column, but rather just the appropriate "frets" on rows 3 and 6 only. Anything more would be too bright in the dark onstage and completely gratuitous! That said, I could also live with having the markers on rows 1,3,6, and 8 if that proved better for people. I just wouldn't want the entire column lit up.

[Roger_Linn]

While I'm waiting for that to arrive, here's another recent Linnstrument video from my YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO0jrYLGMcw

Very nice--thanks.

[Roger_Linn]

Hi John--

Regarding arranging the lights as fret dots, I have received a few requests for this over the years. That said, usually after people play LinnStrument for a while, they find fret dots less helpful because given the lack of open strings, they prefer the isomorphism of the 4ths tuning. So fret dots are more helpful for familiarity to guitarists, which is certainly legitimate in the same way the early Macintosh was essentially a paper simulator, providing a familiarity to paper workers.

The problem is providing a way for guitar dots in the current UI, which is difficult without a kludgey implementation. And from your P.S. comment, it seems that different people want different guitar dot implementations. Maybe a better way would be a future feature in which after someone paints the note lights as they wish with the external app, Linnstrument remembers it in a special Note Lights memory after power is turned off.

And on a different topic, we're about to release a new beta that includes the ability to independently tune each row as you wish.