Hi Arturia, thank you already for this incredible synth! We want to take it really far and sometimes little things get stuck. Here are some cases that I have noted:
(I am more comfortable in French than in English, so sorry if the sentences are not all correct).
1 - The communication between Keyboard and Software is not fluid when editing a sound of the Keyboard from the Software while both are connected via USB. I end up building the sounds on software before transferring them to the keyboard.
If I edit the split between two stacked sounds, I sometimes have note or octave errors in the distribution.
Same in case of split if I play a note it sometimes ends up playing two octaves at the same time in the software, impossible to set its octaves and its split correctly from the software, I end up editing them from the keyboard.
Sometimes the “Octave transpose” do not follow between Keyboard and Software.
In all these cases I checked the octaves, the midi parameters, tried with another independent MIDI keyboard etc… nothing helps, when there are Split or “Transpose Octave” on stacked sounds, there are often problems.
2 - Really too bad not to have a MID parametric EQ on the 3-band EQ of the master. I am often forced to sacrifice an FX to add an EQ.
3 - I tried to assign from the software the rotary buttons to different parameters to make my sounds live while playing. No problem on software but some assignments do not work once the Preset is transferred to the Keyboard.
4 - In the different types of Delay offered, some do not follow their quantization. Ex: if I choose 1/16 I hear 1/8. If I choose 1/8 I hear exactly the same thing, that is 1/8….
Also the Analog Delay sometimes refuses to have two different values e.g.: L 1/8 + R 1/16, it will choose to play one or the other.
5 - In CHORD mode, you can record a custom chord, however the keyboard does not memorize the order of the recorded notes. This means that you cannot build an inverted chord since it necessarily considers the lowest note as the fundamental. Too bad the keyboard does not remember the order of the notes when you record this sequence, considering the first as the foundation of the Chord.
6 - PIGMENT: Super practical for using a sample and giving it life in Pigment. However, big problem on my side: each time I click on a Preset with samples the software asks me again for the access path of each of the samples, independently!!!
why does the software not memorize the access path? Should I put it in a specific folder?
why not just be able to choose a “folder” in which the synth would find the missing samples by itself?
7 - Managing presets and playlists is complicated, sometimes even a bit obscure:
you can have a Preset and save it under the same name without it overwriting the previous one despite the fact that I have the choice between “save” and “save as”.
When I enter a preset on the Keyboard, it is impossible to know where it really is if I do not put it in a playlist. So I think I can have duplicates without knowing it…
ex: I import a sound from the Keyboard to the Software. I delete it from the keyboard. I modify it and rename it in the software then put it back in the keyboard = my preset will automatically take back its old name, as if the Keyboard had remembered that it already existed before, or rather as if the sound had only been deleted from its playlist but not from its memory.
It would be great to have an overall view of the Presets in the keyboard, like a general folder of all Presets, and to be able to assign them to Banks, Playlists, Liked Presets, instrument types, etc. just to classify them and access them via its organization shortcuts.
Impossible to drag or save an entire playlist from the Keyboard to the Software
Impossible to create a Bank in the software from the Bank menu, you have to save a sound and create a new Bank. Overall, we would like to be able to classify and organize our sounds more easily than saving sounds by sounds.
8 - the central rotary button on the keyboard is not practical, especially when you have to click to validate, it often happens that the button turns rather than clicks.
Hoping that all this helps unlock the astrolab’s abilities 