EMX1 as Sequencer for External Synths / EMX1 as a Drum Synth

[Jive Talking Robot]

I ordered a RADIAS-R and it should be here next week. I have been toying with the idea of getting an EMX-1 to drive the Radias for some old school fun. I read the EMX-1 manual last night, but, unless I missed something, it says precious little about how it works sequencing an external synth, so I have just a few basic pre-sales questions.

1) From what I have gathered online, EMX-1 can sequence external synths. However, it seems I can only assign the 1 to 5 “Synth” parts of the EMX-1 to do this if I want to sequence melodies and/or chords – am I understanding this correctly? And I assume I can have it sequence BOTH the internal EMX-1 sounds AND the Raidas, correct? Any other thoughts/limitations to be aware of?

2) I know the Motion Sequence feature captures real-time knob movements on the EMX-1… but can the EMX-1 use Motion Sequence to capture real-time knob movements from an external synth as well (like the RADIAS)?

3) I know it ships with PCD drum samples, but I assume you can use the synth engine to make a pure "Virtual Analog" style kit that is free of samples as well? If so, how well does it work?

4) Finally can I use the EMX-1 Audio INS to simply monitor the out of the RADIAS, or should I go the other way around (i.e. running the outs of the EMX-1 in to the Ins of the RADIAS)? I am not interested in effecting the signal in any way... just looking to eliminate a mixer from the setup for basic monitoring purposes when I am away from my home DAW setup.

Many thanks in advance for your time in responding!

[roxxx303]

<1) From what I have gathered online, EMX-1 can sequence external synths. However, it seems I can only assign the 1 to 5 “Synth” parts of the EMX-1 to do this if I want to sequence melodies and/or chords – am I understanding this correctly? And I assume I can have it sequence BOTH the internal EMX-1 sounds AND the Raidas, correct? Any other thoughts/limitations to be aware of?

The EMX-1 sends all note data of the sequencer to midi-out on midi-channel 10 (drum-track) and midi-channels 1-5 (synth-tracks).
The synth-channels are monophone, so no chords! (But you could use 3 Synth channels for a 3-note-chord).

So you CAN sequence internal and external BOTH at the same time!


<2) I know the Motion Sequence feature captures real-time knob movements on the EMX-1… but can the EMX-1 use Motion Sequence to capture real-time knob movements from an external synth as well (like the RADIAS)?

The EMX-1 sends some Knob-Movements as CC-Midi-Messages to midi-out. So you could drive the filter-cutoff of the RADIAS by cutoff-knob-movements of the EMX-1 (CC74 I think) - but the other way round maybe - I don't know!. I will test it at home!

<3) I know it ships with PCD drum samples, but I assume you can use the synth engine to make a pure "Virtual Analog" style kit that is free of samples as well? If so, how well does it work?

The drum-pads are fixed to PCM-Drum-Samples. So you could only use the 5 Synth-parts for the synthsized drums (only 5 different drum sounds), but then you loose them as melodic-synth-parts!


<4) Finally can I use the EMX-1 Audio INS to simply monitor the out of the RADIAS, or should I go the other way around (i.e. running the outs of the EMX-1 in to the Ins of the RADIAS)? I am not interested in effecting the signal in any way... just looking to eliminate a mixer from the setup for basic monitoring purposes when I am away from my home DAW setup.

I don't know the Radias, but you could use the EMX-1 audio-input without effects so you need no mixer - but I assume that you loose one synth-channel for this (- but I am not sure)!

[Jive Talking Robot]

Many thanks for your helpful answers! After your post, I found the section in the manual about how you can assign CC to the ESX knobs... brilliant!

Thanks again for taking the time to post.