A few questions about SparkLE

[Niph]

I am a proud new owner of a SparkLE, but there are many open questions that I have.

The most important one: Is there a proper manual detailing all the shortcuts on the Hardware Device? I watched the Tutorial Videos on Youtube and learned a few things that (to my knowledge) are not documented anywhere, f.e. pressing Select and 1-x to navigate the Screens in the Software. It's a bit weird that one or several UX-Designers spent a lot of time creating all these interaction patterns for the hard and software and it seems that this is documented nowhere.

Related to that: How do I change the Shuffle using the hardware device? The Software shows a dedicated Shuffle Knob that is missing on the hardware and I can't figure out how to do this.

Other questions:

Is it possible to rearrange the instruments in a kit? Whenever I made a new sequence and change kits the sounds are off because there is no consistency in the pads between kits, sometime the snare is on pad2, sometimes on pad3, sometimes on a completely different pad.

Is it possible to save single instruments? I want to create/edit single instruments and create a library of my own drumsounds, but it seems I can only save an entire project with all instruments. Not what I want. Generally the whole Software feels more like a ROMpler instead of a tool to create your own drumkits from scratch or by combining existing drums-instruments. It's all very tedious.

Is there a tap-tempo function? If not, why is a beat-creation suite made of hard and software missing a simple tap-tempo function?

Is there a way to speedup the delay of the preview function? Click, wait at least one second, hear the preview. Click, wait at least one second, hear the preview. This is extremely tedious.

These are the most pressing questions I have at the moment. Would be great if someone could answer some of these.

Thanks!

[Terrym]

Hi niph , Here are some of the short cuts you need.
select+ step 1 = MAIN
select+ step 2 = SEQUENCER
select+ step 3 = SONG
select+ step 4 = STUDIO
select+ step 5 = MODULAR
select+ step 6 = MIXER
select+ step 7 = LIBRARY
select+ step 8 = PREFS
select+ step 9 = SAVE
select+ step 10 = REDO
select+ step 11 = UNDO
select+ step 14 = METRONOME
select+ step 16 = VELOCITY

The shuffle on the hardware is not possible but may be implemented in the future.

You can change the instrument while the sequence plays to what ever instrument you like in the library/instr view as you play

If you want the tap tempo you can use the one in spark creative gui as there is not one in sparkle.

The preview maybe slow due to hard drive read speed .mine is fine for previewing

hope this helps

regards

terrym

[Niph]

Hi Terry,

thanks for answering and giving me the list of shortcuts.

As for the shuffle, I instinctively thought that holding select and dialing the tempo button would change the shuffle, but no. Maybe in a future update.

I know I can load instruments, what I am looking for is saving a specific instrument, but that does not seem to fit the concept of Spark. I guess creating a full banks of f.e. kicks or snares is a way to work around this, this way I have those as kicks/snares as available instruments.

The tap tempo, there I thought Select+Tapping the Stop button might work, but it does not. I actually don't want to change the interface to the Spark one, I do have a SparkLE and seeing a different interface on the screen is just weird.

With the preview, I have my library on a SSD, so that can't be a problem, it seems the delay is built into the software, which makes sense. While browsing through instruments/kits you don't want them to preview right away. However, the current delay is just a bit too long for me. Again, maybe in a future update.

Thanks again for your help!

[019297]

I second the need for a hardware tap tempo shortcut. It's a pain to go into the other GUI and tapping it with your mouse. It doesn't work for me that well, and this is a machine designed for live performance, right? Why no tap tempo on SPARK le

[orez]

Hey there, please make tap tempo shortcut on sparkle! it is much intuitive and necessary for live performance and the alternative just doesn't work very well (GUI).

Thanks,

[noou]

Hello there, just passing by I thought it's worth mentioning that I'm currently collecting a list of undocumented function of the Spark LE. Ideally I'd like to make a sticky post.

[Astraios]

Hi there,

If you see other settings as I do:


MIDI Control Center --> SpakLE
Factory Templates --> default

Select --> Switched Control || Cha 1 || CC No  121 || Toggle

Step 1-16  --> MIDI Note || Cha 1 || Toggle || D"1 - F#3


hmm, but these settings won't do the trick with my BSP in Control Mode