Moog Music Forum

Hi,

I am an owner of a MIDI MuRF and a MP-201. I think the premise behind the MP-201 is great. Unfortunately, at the present it behaves in a way that makes it pretty much unusable in live situations for me.

Let me say that I play guitar and sing, so my needs may be a bit different from other posters. I am more about creating and switching patches and will probably never use the single channel on/off stuff. The MP-201 probably originated from a different perspective.

Judging from this forum though, I must say I have a great impression of the responsiveness from moog (Amos), so I hope these issues will be addressed in a future update. I'd love to be able to use the MP-201 live.

In order of importance:

#1 Global Tap Tempo

As it is now, every time I change the patch the LFO that controls the tempo starts from the initial value stored in the patch. Changing patch in the middle of a song throws away the tempo I tapped in - making it impossible to change patch.

I think tap-tempo need to connect to a global variable that is used to initialize each channel with LFO SYNC set to TAP.


#2 One shot MIDI CC messages

In order to initialize the MIDI MuRF I need to be able to send MIDI CC commands when calling up a patch. This would allow me to set all parameters of the MuRF when calling up a patch, even those that not connected to a MP-201 channel. As it is now, the MP-201 cannot fully recall the MuRF settings - even if I blow all the channels at just that

This is actually pretty specific for the MIDI MuRF, because it only changes the pattern on a program change and does not do a full recall.

I would like to see an array-like list (preferably of dynamic length, but lets say 10 slots) of CC numbers and values that are sent out when a patch is recalled. It could be implemented under the ALL edit menu with the other MIDI stuff.


#3 Footswitch layout

As I said, play guitar and sing. This makes it a pain to hit foot switches correctly, as there is not always time to look down. The ones that are easiest to hit reliably is the lower row. The thing I need to do is to most often is switch patch (between verse and chorus, for example). Right now those switches are located at the hard-to-hit top row.

I would love to have a new mode, let's call it "patch-mode", which remapped buttons 1<->3 and 1<->4. This would improve ergonomics enormously for me. Please make this a global option. It would really make a world of difference.

Also, in the "patch-mode", it would be great if the tap-tempo button were dedicated to just tap tempo in this mode, and sent a MIDI Start Clock every time tap-temp is pressed (a single tap would just sync the pattern). This would make it possible to start songs in a predictable way.


I think these relatively small changes would make a big change for people in my situation. For me they would change the MP-201 from a no-go to indispensable. Here's to hoping they get implemented!

Thanks for reading

I can't speak to your (what I assume is the newer MIDI) Murf problems, but I think what you're getting at would be better suited for a separate MIDI Program Change pedal. The V2 firmware has a "QUAD/mono mode for guitar guys like us, but if your issue is not being able to navigate all the button pushes to access the mode of operation you need (maybe I'm not understanding your post...I apologize, if that is the case) because you're singing, then perhaps a dedicated MIDI Program Change pedal in conjunction with the MP201 might better help you achieve your goal.

I too would love to see a global tempo option in the future (with a BPM viewing option would be even better). In the meantime, you could set all of your LFO's to external MIDI and get a cheap Korg Electribe or whatever and set it to be your time piece. Then send it tap tempo (via a dedicated Tap Tempo CC from your external MIDI PC Pedal) and all the effects under control of the MP201 would follow suit.

I know thats alot of stuff to buy, and I want my MP201 to do alot of other stuff too, but you kinda have to consider what its designed to do and what other products out there already do. Just my 2 cents. Hope that helps.

::lord