ForumsSoftware ← Is anyone else using LinnStrument with Aalto and Kaivo?

After using Roli for 2.5 years and waiting on a Soundplane, I decided to jump into the fold with a LinnStrument. Wow! Very nice compliment to both Aalto and Kaivo.

Anyone else out here in the wide open yonder doing the same?

I know Roger Linn has done some demos with it, which I was happy to see. So there must be others...

Randy, I'll get some demos together with it as well, as soon as I get adept at it...I've had it less than a week. More enjoyable than the Roli and keeps me excited for Soundplane v.2.0!

I bought a Linnstrument a few months ago. I've been playing with a few synths but with Aalto I have begun to understand. I really like it but I like also all the good things that are happening on iOS-land so I'm waiting patiently for Randy to go on his "roadmap".

@tiantong, excellent! I am really enjoying the LinnStrument as well.

Linnstrument Aalto/Kaivo users: videos, please! :-)

I’m waiting for my newly bought Linnstrument 128, Aalto and Kaivo being two synths I am quite keen to try out with it. I will post videos with it at some point. I think there are generally too few Linnstrument playing videos on YouTube, and even fewer showcasing Aalto and Kaivo.

While I can play some things on a keyboard, I think the Linnstrument layout will suit me better, allowing me to both play faster and more expressively as the finger movements are more akin to typing (which I am very fast at) or woodwind playing, which is my main instrument group to play.

I must admit I'm using the iPad with the Linnstrument 95% of the time. There are a lot of good things there but also a lot of distractions and I don't happen to find the "perfect" (all right, the ALMOST perfect) synth.

The other 5% is when I get frustrated with the iPad or just want to remember how it was on my old MacBook Pro and I open Logic and there is Aalto (Kaivo too but it's too heavy) and just sweeping over the presets, making minor adjustments, letting the fingers find their way in the grid of the Linnstrument... there is a song to every preset, every turned knob has a phrase to build something upon.

So I wonder why I don't spend more time with the Mac, being a lot more stable and solid than the iPad, even my old one?

I don't dare to post videos yet. My playing is not that confident. But maybe I could learn a lot from it... I don't know.

By the way, I thought I'd say, feature request: adding a global setting to override presets? I am thinking on MIDI (MPE) mode, pitch bend and mod CC, so I don't have to change every time I surf sounds. That would be great.

Thanks for the impressions of how you are using Mac and iThings!

Parameter overrides or locks for any parameter are definitely on my list of things to add to all the instruments.

I think we've talked about this before but can anybody explain x & y modulation sources again?
Is the manual outdated?

If I get it right, y is mapped to cc74. That works ok but I can't get anything clear of x
Then mod cc# is to map the mod wheel or choose any other cc number. But then what does x do? or what is it mapped to?

I'm getting also a very weird sound of unison mode in MPE mode. When sliding from one note to other on the Linnstrument, it is like one of the voices (or more) get sucked while the others (or just one) finds its way to the new note. Anybody has experienced this?

Let me just add one more comment: Aalto has pitch bend of +-48. That's my preferred setting these days so I don't need to change it in the Linnstrument when changing sound sources (Equator, Alchemy) but Kaivo is only 24. Why this "inconsistency"?

Sorry, the manual is not up to date on MPE outputs.

in MPE mode x is mapped to cc#73, as I answered in more detail here: https://madronalabs.com/topics/7440-aalto-s-key-module-outputs-in-mpe-mode-and-linnstrument

I'll investigate unison mode in MPE and at least make it try to do something reasonable. I don't think this was ever tested, because why would you use unison mode with MPE?

I'll check out Kaivo and see about changing it. Thanks for the feedback.

Thanks for the answer. I knew somehow it had been announced. I just simply couldn’t find it.

As to MPE in unison mode you’re absolutely right so it’s not a priority thing. But it do find myself changing sounds from time to time, from poly to unison sometimes, and this is when stacking the voices together would be helpful.

Again the Linnstrument makes changing modes really easy but I’d just rather stay in MPE mode. I wonder though if others have experienced the same and what do they do on any other MPE controller that relies on a computer for these type of settings.

Yup, that makes sense. I'll see if I can make unison / MPE do something reasonable!