I’ve recently acquired a Pyramid MK2 for my all-hardware setup, and I think about it all day when I’m at work.
I have my setup info and a few questions which I’m going to lump in here all at once. If there is a better way to do this in terms of guidelines, etiquette, etc. please let me know.
Also in the mix, but not dealing with at the moment:
RC-505 looper
GR-55 guitar synth
Adrenalinn III
Prior to the Pyramid, everything was slaved to the looper. If there are members here with MIDI loopers, I’m interested to hear their configurations.
Issues:
Downward pressure on MIDI jacks causes a short in screen illumination. Additionally, if exacerbated, this can cause garbled MIDI output and at worse, loss of MIDI signal. I am the second owner of this unit - I got it just before the holidays from very far away and did not discover all this until later, so it’s my problem now.
Submitted a technical support email last week. Haven’t heard back from the Squarp people. Does anyone know the approximate length of time in general it takes for replies?
Metronome: (TR-8s, RS) It has a nominal volume with an accent on the downbeat. When I start to play, the accent note jumps way up in volume. So, if I have the metronome set to a good level and then start playing (on the MPK249), the metronome suddenly becomes way too loud.
Random stuck notes. So far, the solution is to adjust my echo settings, but at the moment, I’m not sure if this is a known issue, a newb issue, or a PCB issue solely on my unit.
hardware issue- ouch, that does not sound good. I hope you can get it sorted.
Squarp are usually pretty quick (a few days), but they are a small team… so perhaps are busy e.g. they are doing the Pyramid Beta 4 at the moment, so perhaps a bit busier with that than normal.
are you sending metronome ‘notes’ from the pyramid?
I cannot remember for sure, but it may be the pyramid is sending a high velocity for the first beat in each bar…
theres not much control over pyramid metronome except note/ch (see settings → misc )
I usually rely on a metronome generated on an instrument (that is sync/slaved to the pyramid)
you could use the midi monitor on the pyramid to see what is going on
settings → input → midi out
tip: turn off sending clock whist doing this, to reduce number of messages
the pyramid is a mature product, so generally , no there are not known issues with stuck notes.
however, its quite easy with midi to get into things like midi feedback loops.
generally, you would turn local echo OFF on the device.
there is a midi echo option (settings → midi in → midi echo) though I think this is primarily for devices that where you cannot turn local echo off on the device… I try to avoid using this, as I see it as a ‘band aid’ at best
as you say, if your pcb is damaged, it could be you have an intermitent connection, which would potentially drop note-offs and leave you with hanging notes.
again you could check with the midi monitor to see if the note-off is being sent or not.
Hi. I had some problems with a passive midi merger box and it went away when I purchased a new midi merger box that was powered. My problem was slurred midi notes but just thought I’d throw this out there.
I think the hardware stuff can be sorted. I heard back from Squarp today with some recommendations. Fortunately, I’m set up to diagnose board issues, but I always like to go to the source before diving in.
As for the metronome thing, I’ll have to investigate further. What I did was assign metronome to MIDI A10, C#2 (RS), on my TR-8s. It behaves normally until I begin playing keyboard, wherein the level/velocity of the metronome increases substantially. The effect is like the SNL Cowbell Sketch - where everything starts out normally, but as soon as I begin to play, the metronome becomes very loud. And to clarify, I’m playing my TB-03 on MIDI A2 with the metronome on A10.
I’ll try the MIDI monitor…now that I know there is a MIDI monitor…I can also do workarounds with this if I need to, but I’d rather figure everything out. Roger on turning off the sending clock.
The issue with stuck notes is a tossup at this point. The echo settings appear to play a prominent role and I’ve found that the Auto setting doesn’t really jibe with my setup.
I appreciate your thoughts on this and I hope you will weigh in when I do my newb post regarding track/pattern organization.
Thanks for the info. I am using powered units, but in terms of running down gremlins in my system, everything is suspect. I’d say I’ve had some MIDI notes that could be described as “slurred”.
