Brad Saucier Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 Time to dig in! First I will say... Nicely thought out packaging and overall unboxing experience. The box has a nice handle and the printing on it is very stylish. You are greeted with the "basic" user manual (advanced "tutorial" manual is online in PDF form) neatly placed in it's own custom recess on top of the styro blocks. The XW-PD1 is wrapped in soft padding and sort of... floats at a cool angle inside the styro blocking. Another smaller white box, also floating like....contains the power adapter. I will update this thread as I get into it more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Null Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 I still think it looks like a banjo built for the mentally challenged, but I will defend with my life your right to own one :D Looking forward to seeing some in depth tutorials on this unit before I even consider plunking down 3 or 4 hundred for one though. (Canadian prices suck these days,) I'll stay on the fence until I can see what these are really capable of. Congrats on the new toy though. If anyone can squeeze the max out of it you are surely the right candidate for the job. Gary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Saucier Posted May 27, 2015 Author Share Posted May 27, 2015 Here are my thoughts so far. I really really like it. The Trackformer has 4 banks. Initially, I like to think of banks as "tracks" since they record in the step sequence like tracks. But "bank" is a better term for live performance since each one pulls up a different set of sounds, effects or phrases on the 16 pads. Starting from scratch, one would assign a pad set (otherwise known as a "tone") to each bank. This can be anything from solo synth tones (bank 1), melody tones, drum kits, or user samples. You can assign a single user sample to a bank, playable on the 16 pads like notes with varying pitch or you can assign multiple user samples across a pad set. For each pad of a bank, you can bypass the "pad set" tone and assign a DSP effect instead. Most factory step sequences have effects assigned to the upper row of pads. The DSP section is deep and has room for 100 user effects with 200 preset effects ready to go. For those of you familiar with the XW-P1/G1 step sequencer.....The step sequencer in the Trackformer is very different from the one in the XW Synths. The Trackformer has 4 banks (otherwise known as tracks) plus 2 controller. Each bank is capable of recording 16 notes per step of the 16 step sequence. This means, in total, the Trackformer can trigger 64 things on each step of a sequence. I say "things" here because steps can trigger sounds, phrases or effects. This can add up to some complex layered sounds. In these early days of my Trackformer experience, layering up multiple drum samples on a single step to create new sounds is very useful and powerful. We have a lot more to explore. It's gonna take some time. Pattern groups are next.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Null Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 You've had some time to get used to the beast by now. Howabout posting up a few small audio samples of what it can do so far? Gary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Saucier Posted June 23, 2015 Author Share Posted June 23, 2015 I have been busy with it. I have a custom creation in the works but it's far from finished. I may just post what I have to this point. I spent about 2 hours on it today digging deeper into the preset step sequences. This PD1 is turning out to be much more versatile than I imagined. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Display Name Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 Yup - the XW-PD1 is very deep -- like the other XW's there is A LOT lurking just beneath the surface. There is a little learning curve, but the rewards are very sweet. Brad has been helping me with the sampling part and I have loaded up a bunch of nice "chiptune" samples for an 80's arcade project I am working on. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Saucier Posted July 2, 2015 Author Share Posted July 2, 2015 Quick clip of what I have been up to. A classic 90's "Jock Jam"! Once I add some effects and samples plus program more patterns I will have a complete performance ready. https://soundcloud.com/bradmz/trackformer-project-progress 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Null Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 It sorta reminds me of Mortal Kombat Nintendo Music Gary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianTheArtist Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 Hey BradMZ, seen you haven't posted since summer, i was hoping that you still rocking with the pd1! Just got mines the other day and was hoping i could ask some questions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Saucier Posted January 7, 2016 Author Share Posted January 7, 2016 I'm still going with it. It's a bunch of fun and so handy for many things. I've used it for simple beats, complex creations, effect unit, sample player. Lot's of fun. Any questions, just ask. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianTheArtist Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 Yeah i actually did have a question. How can you delete the user samples you record into the pd1? Or is that done on the software editor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Saucier Posted January 7, 2016 Author Share Posted January 7, 2016 You don't really need to delete the samples. You can overwrite them. When you record a new one, select the location you want to overwrite. If you really want an empty slot, you can use the data editor to drag the sample to the garbage can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianTheArtist Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 Gotcha, i thought so, but wasnt sure if my samples were being recorded to the next available sample or overwriting them. Thanks. THE workflow gets easier as i use it, you have to think about how you want your bank sounds configured to layer your sounds, thats about the only tricky rhing ive come across. Another quick question, when you use up all 4 pattern groups, is all that info saved on 1 data sequence? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Saucier Posted January 8, 2016 Author Share Posted January 8, 2016 The samples automatically go into the next empty slot. You can use the value knob to select your own slot number. and yes... Everything is saved in one step sequence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianTheArtist Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Thats alot of memory and you get 50 user sequences which is pretty much like saying you could have 50 full beats saved on the pd1 cool! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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