New Features For The LinnStrument: Note Animations, New Performance & Sequencing Possibilities

The software developer of the LinnStrument (Geert Bevin) released today a new significant update with a lot of new cool feature for this special and innovative midi controller.

New in the software version v.2.1

New Feature: You can now turn on light animations that surround and emanate from the played note pads, responding to velocity and pressure. In Per-Split Settings > Color column, hold PLAYED. Swipe L/R to select one of the following options:

Cell (only lights pressed cell)
Same (lights notes of same pitch on other rows, as in previous software versions)
Crosses
Circles
Squares
Diamonds
Stars
Sparkles (Roger’s favorite, because its shorter duration is less distracting from the note lights. Try it in white.)
Curtains
Blinds
Targets
Up
Down
Left
Right
Orbits

New Feature: additional Panel/Foot Switch options have been added. In Global Settings > Assign Switch, hold Tap Tempo then swiping L/R to select one of the following options, independent for the 4 switches:
- TAP: Tap Tempo.
- LEG: Legato. While switch is on, notes or chords are sustained after release until the next note or chord is played.
- LAT: Arpeggiator latch. While switch is on, each pressed & released note will be added to the arpeggiated chord.
- PR+: Preset +. The Preset number shown in Preset screen is incremented.
- PR-: Preset -. The Preset number shown in Preset screen is decremented.
- PCH: Pitch slide on/off. Reverses the selected state of Per-Split Settings > Pitch/X column > On. This is useful, for example, to quickly switch between smooth pitch slides and semitone slides as on a guitar.
Plus the following 3 only for the Foot switches:

PLAY: Start or Stop the internal step sequencer. This can also be controlled by MIDI NRPN messages.
PREV: Previous Sequence, of the 4 sequences in the Step Sequencer. This can also be controlled by MIDI NRPN messages.
NEXT: Next Sequence, of the 4 sequences in the Step Sequencer. This can also be controlled by MIDI NRPN messages.

New Feature: added support for negative row offsets and inverted guitar tuning.

In Global Settings > Row Offset columns, you could previously hold OCTAVE then swipe L/R to select any row offset from 0 to 16. Now the options include -16 to -1 and -GUI (inverted GUItar tuning).

New Feature: Mirrored split pitch direction. Previously, turning on Left-Handed Mode (Global Settings > Column 1, 4th note pad from bottom) would reverse the pitch direction (R to L instead of L to R). Now you can reverse the pitch direction for one split only, permitting mirrored split tunings.

In Global Settings > column 1 > hold the 4th note pad from the bottom and Swipe L/R to select one of 3 options:
1. REV: reverse pitch direction of both splits (same as previous versions).
2. REVL: reverse pitch direction of left split only.
3. REVR: reverse pitch direction of right split only.
Note that you must turn on the note pad (col 1, row 4) for the selected pitch reversal to be on.
New Feature: The Step Sequencer now responds to MIDI Song Position Pointer messages, thereby maintaining correct sync position if the external DAW is started from a position in the song other than the start.

New Feature: in Assign Switches, permit SUSTAIN and CC65 to be reassigned to any CC, and independently for the 4 switches.

In Global Settings > Assign Switch columns, hold SUSTAIN or CC65. Swipe L/R to select option.

New Feature: For Low Row’s CC1 and XYZ=16-18 options, as well as for the CC Fader options, you can now select Channel Pressure in addition to the CCs 0-127.

In Per-Split Settings > Low Row columns, hold either CC1 or XYZ=16-18, then swipe all the way to the right. In Per-Split Settings > Special column, hold either CC FADERS, then swipe all the way to the right.

New Feature: added support for a configurable start value for the CC value sent when Per-Split Settings > Timbre/Y column > Relative is turned on. Previously it was always 64. Now it can be any value from 0 to 127. For example, if using Y-axis to add a modulation amount, this now permits the value at first press to be zero, then increased by tilting your finger forward. In Per-Split Settings > Timbre/Y column, hold Relative. Swipe L/R to adjust value.

New Feature: Channel Per Row mode’s channel order can now be reversed, permitting for example the highest row to send on channel one and lowest on channel 8. This is useful when using some guitar synthesizers that prefer the high E string to use channel 1 and the low E string to use channel 6. In Per-Split Settings > MIDI Mode column, hold ChPerRow. It will light in the accent color to indicate reversed channel order.

New Feature: Previously, if the Arpeggiator was on and LinnStrument was synced to an external source, the Global Settings button would blink 1/4 notes. Now it also blinks if Arpeggiator is on and using internal tempo. This helps by showing you the Arpeggiator tempo before you start playing.

Improvement: Previously if using One Channel mode and you played two note pads of the same pitch, releasing one of them would terminate both notes, because MIDI only permits one note of the same pitch per channel. Now the heard note is terminated only after releasing both note pads.

Improvement: When synced to external MIDI clock, LinnStrument no longer also sends MIDI click. This prevents MIDI clock loops with external DAWs.

Improvement: Incoming MIDI handling and response to external MIDI clock are now more reliable.

Improvement: The 4 All-Settings Presets (on the right side of the Preset screen) now store and recall the status of the Split button, as well as which split is current selected.

Improvement: When changing the MIDI Mode (in Per-Split settings), zero values are sent for the X, Y and Z messages, thereby preventing the external synth from adding the last-sent One Channel and Channel Per Note values.

Improvement: the fourth/highest “All Settings” preset (on the right side of the Preset screen) is now configured by default for playing auto drumbeats on the left split and auto bass lines on the right split, as shown in the LinnStrument Introduction video at 4:36.

Improvement: the entered tempo value is now saved after disconnecting and reconnecting power.

Bug Fix: A rare bug existed in version 2.0.0 and later that causes the upper 2 note pads in columns 4 and 5 to stop working. This was due to a bug that caused the calibration values for these pads to be corrupted. We believe we fixed the cause of the bug but in case it happens in future and you notice that these 4 notes pads aren’t working, simply remove and reconnect power to make them work again.

Bug fix: the sequencer’s Event Edit sliders (lower right of sequencer screen) would sometimes not return from the numeric display when a touch was released. Now fixed.
Bug Fix: Previously, there were small inconsistencies in quantized pitch bend ranges. This is now corrected.

Bug Fix: Previously, if Split was on, and a panel switch was assigned to Arpeggiator, is was sometimes impossible to turn the Arpeggiator on/off using the panel switch. This is fixed.

More informations here: LinnStrument Software Update