BeatStep Pro

[loungedumore]

My Beatstep pro arrived Friday . I've truth be told not had a lot of time with it , but I've been able to jam a bit testing it with a Korg Ms 20 , Minibrute , and Akai MPX8 . So far no issues with communicating with any of the devises . The HZ Volts settings work well with the Korg . I also experimented using the velocity CV as a stepped mod source for filter and other inputs in the patch panel . Seams like most of the issues I had with the original have been answered .
It's very quick to sequence and most certainly fun . I feel no buyers remorse this time around .
Haven't had time to experiment sending the volca's gates to sync or from the clock out yet , but that's the next series of tests / jamming .
Oh and for those wondering they did go with yellow rather than orange for seq 2


Only snag thus far :
One issue and I think it comes down to inaccurate info .... Is the firmware updating .
On OSX it still does the whole creating a generic device in the Audio Midi setup . So the old way of fixing that is still relevant . However once that's handled it asks you to reboot the device prior to installing the firmware . Press and hold the 3 transport buttons on the 2nd power up and you should be fine .

[nathanscribe]

Nice. I have the original Beatstep, but some things are a hassle.

- No velocity over MIDI
- No pattern chaining
- Transposition only by scrolling, no way of doing so instantly
- When changing length of a pattern, timing goes out of the window, reset is instant, not tied to clock.

Does the Pro still work like this, or have they improved these things?

[Yekuku]

I had no idea that beatstep pro was compatible with Hz/Volt, thanks for the info.
Did anybody try to sequence vintage yamaha CS synths ? Any issues ?

[loungedumore]

Nice. I have the original Beatstep, but some things are a hassle.

- No velocity over MIDI
- No pattern chaining
- Transposition only by scrolling, no way of doing so instantly
- When changing length of a pattern, timing goes out of the window, reset is instant, not tied to clock.

Does the Pro still work like this, or have they improved these things?

Velocity .... Yes
Chaining no , but each pattern can be 16-64 steps now .
Transpose .... On the fly . Hold seq button , press "key" or octave pads
Changing length or even division seams on the beat to me .
Also not mentioned but one of my biggest gripes was no triplets , now there are !

I had no idea that beatstep pro was compatible with Hz/Volt, thanks for the info.
Did anybody try to sequence vintage yamaha CS synths ? Any issues ?

Volt per octave , HZ volt , s trig and v trig

[nathanscribe]

Excellent! Sounds like a win. I was waiting to see if these issues had been addressed before adding it to the buy-list, but that sounds like a more solid deal than the original now. Thanks!

[stikygum]

I can't wait to get one of these. This to me is the deal of the year.

[pflosi]

The thread on Muffs is rather long already, they started to show up in members' hands around here; lots of bug reports, but also tips from there onwards.

I'm holding out for now, seems too much of a gamble at the moment IMO...

[clubbedtodeath]

Thanks for the mini-review, loungedumore. I have the original Beatstep, and whilst I love its simplicity, it was a bit annoying that the CV/trig wouldn't work with my MS-20. Good to hear that works now.

[loungedumore]

Yeah I can't speak for all , but the majority of issues I've seen on arturia's own forum are people who had not updated the firmware . Speaking of ...that is kinda a chore on osx much like it was with the original . The info they have in their FAQ is a little off too . You have to delete the generic devise and or the " boot loader " device in audio midi set up and then reboot the device in the force firmware mode ( hold the three transport controls ) then update .
Other than that though I've had no issues .

[loungedumore]

Firmware 1.3 is out now .
New features include PATTERN CHAINING !
Copy / paste from/ to seq1 and 2 .
Settings for loading / playing next pattern or project in time .
Change direction or division in time .
Bunch of sync and midi bugs fixed too .

Edit : before getting too excited ....
the pattern chain feature is on the fly in a temp memory only . No saving , and if you change to a new pattern to edit it will clear the chain . So in other words this is more of a live feature / end game concept . However this being a new feature in 1.3 I have hope saving will be added in another update as I'm sure demand will be high .