Sequencing Volca Beats with E2 sequencer [SOLVED]

[thebiglebowski]

Hi,

I've tried to search for this but so far I've found only answers for syncing MIDI clock, which isn't what I'm looking for.

The Volca Beats sequencer has only 16 steps so I wanted to connect it via MIDI to my E2 to program longer sequences.

The Volca midi receive channel is set to 10. I'm trying to sequence it via the corresponding part on the Electribe - #10. I've programmed a simple sequence with a C1 note which is mapped to the kick drum on the Volca. When I press play on the E2 the Volca plays the currently selected pattern in its internal sequencer, instead of my e2 sequence.

I've tried to clean the Volca pattern, then it just plays nothing when triggered from the E2.

The volca reacts to the pads in keyboard mode, it also reacts to the touchpad in touch scale/gate arp mode. So it kinda works like a sound module controlled via MIDI, but it is not controlled by the E2 sequencer.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks

[akozlov]

Hi,

I've tried to search for this but so far I've found only answers for syncing MIDI clock, which isn't what I'm looking for.

The Volca Beats sequencer has only 16 steps so I wanted to connect it via MIDI to my E2 to program longer sequences.

The Volca midi receive channel is set to 10. I'm trying to seqeunce it via the corresponding part on the Electribe - #10. I've programmed a simple sequence with a C1 note which is mapped to the kick drum on the Volca. When I press play on the E2 the Volca plays the currently selected pattern in its internal sequencer, instead of my e2 sequence.

I've tried to clean the Volca pattern, then it just plays nothing when triggered from the E2.

The volca reacts to the pads in keyboard mode, it also reacts to the touchpad in touch scale/gate arp mode. So it kinda works like sound module controlled via MIDI, but it is not controlled by the E2 sequencer.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks

Do you have "Midi Send Filter" set to "Short" or "Short + Program" in Global Parameter menu, by any chance?

[thebiglebowski]

Do you have "Midi Send Filter" set to "Short" or "Short + Program" in Global Parameter menu, by any chance?

Nope, it was at the default setting (Off).

[thebiglebowski]

UPDATE:

Took me a while to figure it out...

For some reason the midi implementation in the Beats manual is wrong, at least for the E2. So for example the kick is not mapped to C1, but C2. Just one octave higher for all note mappings and it works.

But then I couldn't layer sounds, for example have a snare and a clap at the same step - only the last note entered in the step editor was played.

Thats because the part was set to Mono of course... So now its Poly and I can sequence the Volca from my E2.

[Steinberger]

Well at least a max of four drum notes in a step.

[thebiglebowski]

Well at least a max of four drum notes in a step.

Good point! That's the limit.

[roblabs]

In my opinion the electribe2 is not the best device for triggering and sequencing the volca beats, due to the hardwired midi channels - which results, as you've mentioned, in a limit of 4 voices at a time under one of the poly modes.

I've had a better experience using the old ES1 - here you can assign each Part a different Note number and thus can use up to 9 of the 10 Beats voices. If the ESX operates the same way (ive never used one), that would be even better, as you can use all voices.

The electribe2 works very well sequencing the Volca Sample, because each part on the Sample transmits and receives on its own midi channel (1-10) so it goes hand in hand with the electribe2.