Snapshots - saving control values

This is a feature we always wanted to have in Electra. The version 1.5 brings the very first proof-of-concept implementation of that.

A snapshot is a saved collection of all control values of a particular preset. A snapshot can ve saved, loaded, and sent to the devices.

Each preset has its own set of snapshots. ie. if you save a snapshot of preset A it will not be available for other presets. We will work on this in near future. It feels that a whole new section for the snapshot management will be introduced at some point.

For now we limit the number of snapshots per preset to 30 and the snapshots cannot be given custom names, organized in the banks. Again, that is something for the future. We would like to validate the idea, hear your feedback, and see if and how it works in your environments.

How to use it:

the user guide refers the right-middle button as [PATCHES]. From now on, we consider it to be [SNAPS].

  1. a short press of the [SNAPS] send all control values of the preset to the connected devices
  2. a long press of the [SNAPS] reveals the window where you can pick a location to save current values as a snapshot. Outline only pad is free location, filled pad is a occupied location. Occupied locations can be overwritten.
  3. SNAPS option in the MENU allows you to pick a snapshot to load. The snapshot is only loaded, not send the to devices. Again, very early version. This will be improved.

Tech note:

The control values are sent as individual midi messages at the highest rate allowed by the interface. It might be too fast for some older devices, such as TX81z. As promised, there will be an option to set the max rate per device added one day :slight_smile: Also we want to make it possible to send the control values as a patch dump sysex message when available.

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Definitely an exciting feature, especially for synths that can’t save patches like the Roland MKS-7.

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Wow! This is fantastic! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

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This is excellent! One thing that would be really nice would be a) the ability to group snapshots from different presets into sets, and b) the ability to trigger those by sending (ideally arbitrary) midi to the Electra — that combo would mean that you could sequence coordinated program changes across multiple instruments from any sequencer, regardless of whether or not it understood PCs, etc.

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great idea. being able to create many minor experimental variations of a patch without having to create a bunch of nearly duplicate presets in your hardware instrument (which if its older probably has limited presets anyhow) will be very cool.

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yes, that is exactly the direction we would like to go.ie. quick and easy way to capture many variations and later on permanently save only certain snapshots - with a possibility to compare them.

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This could be a great workaround for synths that do not have temporary patch memory dump abilities!
(e.g.Roland Jupiter-X/Xm).

Looking forward the next batch of electra.one. :ok_hand:

Interestingly, the same underlying functionality that enables snapshots can potentially be used to add randomization as an extra feature. Granted, it can only be truly random over all parameters, but it still seems to me like a great way to inject a creative feature into Electra.

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Yes @akira

Taking inspiration from the Retroaktiv MPG 70 randomization feature… I wonder how difficult it would it be to set something up in the editor to form lists of parameters in a patch that can be randomized?

For instance… choose all the filter settings for one list, choose amp env for another, etc

Maybe it could go as far as allowing choice for value ranges?

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I hope you could consider implementing a link (using a pad for example) to a snapshot. The pad with the linked snapshot could be put anywhere, on any page of a preset. Thanx

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I don’t get something: i create a preset and when sharing the preset i would like it to come with the snaps i saved. How do i “export” this preset (since snaps are not in the editor). I guess we need a save dialog in the console for this? sorry if i’m missing something

Thanx

Hi,

looking for the possibility of an Electra One to control some parameters at Electron Digitakt via CC messages. I’m not sure if both devices stay “syncronized encoder value” when changing digitakt patterns at a live performance. Will the snapshot feature be able to record the settings for each pattern for example ? Any experience with this Electron machine and Electra One ?

Thank you.

Unfortunately, I do not have Electron gear available - Deluge is sitting on my desk :slight_smile:

As there are quite some experienced Electron users I hope some of them will be able to help. The general answer is that a snapshot allows you to save the values of all preset controls and recall them later. Recalling means that the saved values are shown on Electra’s screen and MIDI messages are sent to the connected devices. I cannot say if it will do the job for recalling the patters on the Digitakt.

Hi Martin,

I hope someone, who has both equipment, will be able to test and leave feedback.
Before proceeding to one of the Electra still available, I really need to know more details about the MIDI interaction with Elektron machines, namely Digitakt. I read somewhere that Octatrack works well because of the feedback functionality that Octatrack has for MIDI, but I’m not so sure about Digitakt.

Deluge, great choice :slight_smile:

Thank you.
Have a nice day.

Maybe a separate Preset for randomization only, putting only those parameters/controls into the Preset which make sense to randomize, many won’t depending on the device. Possibly less interesting as a development task if randomization cannot be scaled per parameter (10% for this one, 20 for that). And of course it would require full Patch Request functionality.

Is it somehow possible to autosave the current state of the E1 so that after reboot everything is like before?

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That’s a great feature , indeed .
I already use snapshot with Clyphx .
Do you plan to make Snapshots morph ?
I already use it to move from one preset to another and it’s one of the most powerfull thing i ever seen in midi world . Some already added it to some vsti like Gforce Odyssey or the minimonsta to . There are really few compagny to do this. off course native instrument with FM8 or maschine (if you buy the good controller) . Still the way it is implemented is most of the time counter intuitive or not fully developped. It remains that for me FM8 and the Gforce minimonsta are the best implementation for morphing .
But since i use clyphx i can do this with everything and in the best way i could imagine . With a simple knob.
that would be great to see natively such a feature on the Electra One ?
:slight_smile:

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