SP-16 Copy/pasting track patterns of different types is broken.

After a little testing I came across some problems when copy pasting patterns from sample tracks to midi tracks and vice versa.

Each track type has many different parameter types but there seems to be little to no translation between the two. What happens is parameters of the copied track end up in totally unrelated parameters of the receiving track, which leads to odd or illegal values. For example a midi note value being set with a sample's length value.

This also means midi tracks won't play pasted patterns at all, unless you paste to an empty track and then set it to midi afterwards.

It's all a bit messed up and I'm surprised this slipped through QA and has gone unnoticed for so long (or not deemed worthy of mention). I'm not deluding myself that it will be fixed but wanted to put it out there in case anyone else comes across the same issue.

cerestan 4 giugno 2021 21:09 Con risposta

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Hi Cerestan, I seeing what you're saying. Let me replicate that over where I am and I'll get back to you here on the forum.

I'm suspecting that there is a reason why MIDI and sample tracks are not mutually interchangeable; MIDI tracks are meant to trigger external instruments...like synths and other hardware. Every piece of external gear has different parameters which respond to MIDI messages differently. The MIDI message which changes the "envelope release time" parameter on one synth may not have the same effect on another synth.

So it's not really a "mistake" per se that the parameters of the SP-16 do not correspond to the parameters of external gear. And there's no "ideal" way of copying and pasting pattern data from one to the other.

Let me take a quick look and see what I find.

Rhythm Droid 24 giugno 2021 18:26

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I have recreated what you experienced. I would say that, while yes, it would be convenient if the pitch, velocity, and note length data would copy and paste over back and forth between sample tracks and MIDI tracks, those would be only possible parameters that could be interchangeable. MIDI tracks are designed to trigger external synths and instruments that each have their own individual MIDI spec and list of sound-shaping parameters. I think your solution of pasting to a sample track, then converting that track to a MIDI track is actually quite remarkable, as that preserves the note and velocity data. That is probably the best way to go forward.

Rhythm Droid 11 agosto 2021 04:09 0 voti

Hi Rhythm Droid, thanks for getting back on this, I confess I haven't looked into it further. As you say the tracks are only interchangeable on a basic level so it's no real loss, just strange that pasting to different track types is allowed in the first place. I know there was a firmware update to allow copy/pasting tracks, perhaps the developers forgot to take different track types into account.

cerestan 11 agosto 2021 20:53 0 voti