Geoff Hood

I've got two lightpad blocks which I'm trying to use with the blocks package. I can get everything working with one block but

I'm struggling to work out how to get two working. It says both are connected but I can't get at the second.

I've read the help files but am confused.

Am i meant to create two blocks.pad objects? Or assign more scenes to one blocks.pad?

Or should I be using the blocks.topology object.

I've got two lightpad blocks which I'm trying to use with the blocks package. I can get everything working with one block but
I'm struggling to work out how to get two working. It says both are connected but I can't get at the second.
I've read the help files but am confused.
Am i meant to create two blocks.pad objects? Or assign more scenes to one blocks.pad?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks
Geoff


multiple-roli-lightpad-blocks

If you look in the blocks.pad help file, scenes tab

"You can also do complex scene switching with pairs: for example if you had two blocks, assign scene 0 to block 1 and scene 1 to block 2 with scene 0 1 1 2"

"You can also do complex scene switching with  pairs: for example if you had two blocks, assign scene 0 to block 1 and scene 1 to block 2 with scene 0 1 1 2"

Thank you for getting back. Ah I see, I had thought that scenes 1 to 16 would be block 1 and 17-32 would be block 2...That makes more sense, 16 scenes which you choose from amongst the two (or more i presume) blocks.

However, when I try and use that message I'm still getting nothing on block 2.

I definitely have two scenes set correctly - because if i send block 1 two messages "scene 0 1" and "scene 1 1" it correctly switches the two scenes. It also says I definitely have two lightpad blocks connected. Block 2 remains blank however when I send "scene 0 1 1 2".

Thank you for getting back.  Ah I see, I had thought that scenes 1 to 16 would be block 1 and 17-32 would be block 2...That makes more sense, 16 scenes which you choose from amongst the two (or more i presume) blocks. 

However, when I try and use that message I'm still getting nothing on block 2.  

I definitely have two scenes set correctly - because if i send block 1 two messages "scene 0 1" and "scene 1 1" it correctly switches the two scenes.  It also says I definitely have two lightpad blocks connected.  Block 2 remains blank however when I send "scene 0 1 1 2". 

Make sure all your firmware, BLOCKs externs etc are up to date.

Is there only one USB cable? If you still can't get any luck, drop a note to support, let us know how you are connecting them etc

Updating Blocks firmware did it, thanks! I had managed to get this far without downloading the Noise App (no interest in using that, only bought them for Max). Guess, I'll have to keep the app installed for firmware updates!

Updating Blocks firmware did it, thanks! I had managed to get this far without downloading the Noise App (no interest in using that, only bought them for Max).   Guess, I'll have to keep the app installed for firmware updates!
Thanks for your help,
Geoff


Ok so it's working however i find that Block 2 is really slow to update and there is a noticeable latency. Is this normal? Hope not, because it seems the second block is a little unusable at this point. Block 1 is fine.

I'm using one usb cable to connect. Latest firmware, latest blocks externals and latest max.

Also, am I right that if i send scene messages to a single block the other block loses focus, i.e. in order to update the scene on one block you have to update the scene on both (by using scene $1 1 $2 2). Hopefully the attached example makes sense...

Ok so it's working however i find that Block 2 is really slow to update and there is a noticeable latency.  Is this normal? Hope not, because it seems the second block is a little unusable at this point.  Block 1 is fine.

I'm using one usb cable to connect.  Latest firmware, latest blocks externals and latest max.

Also, am I right that if i send scene messages to a single block the other block loses focus, i.e. in order to update the scene on one block you have to update the scene on both (by using scene $1 1 $2 2).  Hopefully the attached example makes sense...

Noticed something else odd (although perhaps this is a limitation of snippets). If you load a saved patch which has objects (e.g. blocks.slider) on the blocks.pad presentation view everything works as expected.

If you save things a snippet and drag the same patch into a new patch you have to move the objects around in presentation view to get them to show up - during this some objects can't be put back where they were (for example a slider on the far right of a blocks.pad refuses to go back there and you get a little orange line around the object). I'm not sure what's going there.

Either way, my second block is still VERY glitchy/slow/unusable. I've switched the blocks around (it's not a firmware issue on one block) and i've tried having both plugged into USB...same problem : (

Noticed something else odd (although perhaps this is a limitation of snippets).  If you load a saved patch which has objects (e.g. blocks.slider) on the blocks.pad presentation view everything works as expected.

If you save things a snippet and drag the same patch into a new patch you have to move the objects around in presentation view to get them to show up - during this some objects can't be put back where they were (for example a slider on the far right of a blocks.pad refuses to go back there and you get a little orange line around the object).  I'm not sure what's going there. 

Either way, my second block is still VERY glitchy/slow/unusable.  I've switched the blocks around (it's not a firmware issue on one block) and i've tried having both plugged into USB...same problem : (


Ah yeah, I can see the problem with "focus" - thanks for that. We'll have a look, but sending multiple ordinal pairs in one message seems to be a good workaround, sorry about that.

Multiple connected BLOCKS pads don't have awesome performance at this stage. We're hoping that future firmware updates will help make this better.

Thanks Andrew. I've asked Roli support how likely it is that a firmware update will fix the problem. For how I want to use the 2x lightpad blocks the current performance would drive me nuts!

Fingers crossed firmware update could fix...the first connected blocks works like a charm : )

Thanks Andrew.  I've asked Roli support how likely it is that a firmware update will fix the problem.  For how I want to use the 2x lightpad blocks the current performance would drive me nuts! 

Thanks again, appreciate your support.
Geoff


Pleased to announce that with new firmware 2x lightpad blocks work much better! I picked up a Rise25 also too so I'm in MPE heaven.

Hi Geoff and Andrew, thanks for the examples and explanations, that got me up and running with my 3 (temporarily) lightpad blocks.

However, even with the latest blocks firmware 0.2.6, it is rare to get two blocks to send touches at the same time. Most often, when passing to another one, the previous one stops updating.

Hi Geoff and Andrew, thanks for the examples and explanations, that got me up and running with my 3 (temporarily) lightpad  blocks.
However, even with the latest blocks firmware 0.2.6, it is rare to get two blocks to send touches at the same time. Most often, when passing to another one, the previous one stops updating.
Do you still get that, too?
Cheers!



Just want to tell everybody, who is interested in using Blocks with Max/Msp, that in 2018 using multiple blocks is no problem anymore - no dramatic latency. I am using 2 blocks with a seaboard and everything works fine - thanks again to Geoff and his patch, which was very useful to send different scenes to the two blocks.

I'd like to have one Lightpad Block show the loops, one Lightpad Block show the instrument view (like in the video) BUT have both Control Blocks assigned to the Lightpad Block that's set to the instrument view. I want to be able to start and stop recording (Loop Block) AND switch scales (Live Block) without going to my iPad. Currently, when all the Blocks are attached to each other (as they are in the Beatmaker Kit, I lose some of the functions on one of the Control Blocks. You can even see in the video that 5 of the Live Block's buttons aren't lit. If attach the Live Block directly to the Lightpad showing the notes view, then I get all the functions. BUT, in order to do that, I have to take the Live Block out of the case. I'd like to keep them all in the case and still be able to the full functionality of both Control Blocks.

I'd like to have one Lightpad Block show the loops, one Lightpad Block show the instrument view (like in the video) BUT have both Control Blocks assigned to the Lightpad Block that's set to the instrument view. I want to be able to start and stop recording (Loop Block) AND switch scales (Live Block) without going to my iPad. Currently, when all the Blocks are attached to each  other (as they are in the Beatmaker Kit, I lose some of the functions on one of the Control Blocks. You can even see in the video that 5 of the Live Block's buttons aren't lit. If attach the Live Block directly to the Lightpad showing the notes view, then I get all the functions. BUT, in order to do that, I have to take the Live Block out of the case. I'd like to keep them all in the case and still be able to the  full functionality of both Control Blocks.


Multiple Roli Lightpad blocks