I was wondering how widespread the use of touch screens is on PC's. Before I start redesigning OMB to make it suitable for touch screens I would like to be sure that Frank L. Rosenthal is not the only person that will have benefit from this. Does anyone besides Frank has a PC (that runs Window 98/2000/XP) with a touch screen?

Jos

Jos, even I have not got a touch screen but will likely try/buy one next year. I talk about it once in a while as a way to further improve the control surface for software based systems. Jos so any improvements you can make will be useful for everyone.

Keep up the good work.

Frank,

I know you like touch screens. But as I said I would like to have an idea how many people have a touch screen. I agree that it would be a handy tool but I don't expect people to buy a $1000 hardware to be able to use a $30 software.

Jos

[This message has been edited by Jos Maas (edited 11-10-2003).]

Jos, you are correct that many people will not spend that kind of money to purchase a touch screen. The prices will likely fall over time. My main interest is to get the GUI of the software simplified and streamlined for live performances & studio applications. This will support the use of touch screens or future hardware based control surfaces. Also keep in mind I am aiming towards very high quality systems - not average home use applications.

Frank,

If in 2 years time people will have a touch screen or will consider buying one, then I will add touch screen features in OMB. At this moment it doesn't make sense designing functions that nobody will use.

Jos

[This message has been edited by Jos Maas (edited 11-10-2003).]

Does anyone here besides the creator Jos Maas has an mp3 sample of music created using OMB that is as good as sample using Yammy PSR2000 ? thx.

Can I use a laptop and a cheapo CASIO like WK-3000 to build a homemade arranger ? How about the voices - is it something I can just buy online and download to the laptop and use it in the OMB ? How about delay issues when pressing the fill buttons (I guess using one of the laptop keys), etc ?

luk,

I don't really know how the WK3000 sounds, but you can adjust the style voices to fit any board ( lots of work though ) . I think if it were me, I would consider an xg based keyboard, even an older one like the PSr 530 - 730 series, ( 530's can be had for cheap if you can find one ) or an xg soundcard / software module.

I have the sy100xg software module. It could be better, but it works fairly well just the same, and the xg voices can be edited in xg edit just as can be done on an g based synth / keyboard .

AJ

OK, so I guess forget about the CASIO board and OMB. Too bad.

I just downloaded the OMB and tried playing it using my pc keyboard and the cheap built-in internal sound card. It was awkward and sounded bad but I was able to make a song in a few minutes and recorded it in a midifile.

Now, if I buy a midi cable and hook it up to my PSR2000, will it sound much better or at least sound like my PSR2000 built in styles and voices ?

Ummm my VA5 has a touch screen lol

Lukitoh,

Put the midifile that you just recorded with OMB on a floppy and load it in your PSR2000 to hear what it sounds like.

AJ,

Do you use the sy100xg with OMB when you play in real time? Is the latency acceptable?

Rolandfan,

Can you persuade Roland to let the touch screen be accessible thru MIDI or USB connection in future models.

Jos

Jos,

yes, I'm able to get the setting down to where the latency is barely noticeable.


AJ

Hello...........I use a program called Roland Sound Canvas Pipe Organ Project (SCPOP) and many users use a touch screen to control it to make changing stops easy. I hear they make (made?) touch screen overlays that go over your monitors screen and they are fairly cheap?? I need to find one - charley

Charley,

I don't know about your budgets, but for me $3000 is not cheap!
http://www.plasma-screens.co.uk/touch_screen_plasma.htm

Jos

Jos,

If you want to make OMB more user-friendly, you may want to consider assigning each function to a key combination (Ctl+A/B/C/..., Alt+A/B/C/..., etc)

This way I could connect several USB keyboards, and have each of them with a Ctl or Alt key taped down, so that it would only take a single key press to activate functions or make a style selection.

Regards,
Alex

Alex,

If you have several keyboards hooked up, then it wouldn't be user-friendly if you still had to use a ctrl-key combination to switch from one keyboard to another. Simply pressing a key on the keyboard should be sufficient.

At the moment I'm only doing interface adjustments for users of special gear like MIDI-guitars and MIDI-accordions. Keyboard owners already have plenty of options.

Jos