From legion@voicenet.com Tue Jun 25 10:27:19 1996 25 Jun 96 13:25:53 +0500 24 Jun 96 14:08:35 +0500 ID ; Mon, 24 Jun 1996 13:46:48 -0400 (EDT) ID ; Mon, 24 Jun 1996 13:45:42 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 24 Jun 1996 13:47:52 -0400 (EDT) From: David Talento Subject: MMT8 vs Q80 Well I was writing a full blown spec sheet on these tow buggers but i don't have the time right now. If anyones intersted let me know and I'll add more later for the archives. Still here's my quick impression of these two machines based on the discussions a few week ago. 1. Both are affordable as opposed to an AKAI ASQ10 ($700+ or computer and software ($500+++ depending on the system). Q80s are much more difficult to find in my experience though. MMT8s go for around $100-150 all the time. Q80s seem to hold in the $250+ catagory these days. The two I just looked at from a dealer were $275 for the Q80 and $320 for the Q80ex which had more memorty and could read direct SMFs on disk) User interface. This is an either or depending on your taste. For what's its worth: Screen: They have the same exact size display. Both are backlit although the MMT8 needs to be at a certain angle to see it right. I found the Q80 easier to read. Buttons (for features): The MMT8 has a ton of buttons for almost every feature and arrow keys for getting to the different numbers or screens. The Q80 Has four banks of buttons for it's features and one sub button to run down into the right section. It has a nice data wheel which is a decent size and feel that scrolls through the features as well as two buttons for moving on the screen. Buttons (style): The MMT8 uses rubber pads which are notorious for wearing out making it almost impossible to use. I have found this to be a very real and serious drawback on this machine. I have cleaned mine with all the right stuff, scraped the carbon contacts fresh and swabbed the PC board all to no avail. If I leave the machine for a week it needs to be opened again and cleaned before I can use it for the most minor thing. Bleah. The Q80 uses small plastic buttons which are tiny but accurate in my use. They do not have the chunky feel of the MMT8 but they work all the time which is a big plus. Incidentely these do not appear to be the same buttons/mechanism as on other Kawaii gear such as the XD5 or K4r. they look similar and are the same size but respond a little firmer. Tracks: The main differenec in these two machine seems to be in the way you make a song or pattern. The MMT8 is is very drum machine oriented. It has 100 "patterns" of 8 tracks each. these are then strung together into a Song. So you work from a basis of sections on a pattern. You can define the length of each pattern within limits of memory. I'm not sure how many songs you can have at one time but it appears to be within the limits of memory as well. The Q80 has 10 "songs". Each is made up of 32 "tracks". In this case the philosophy is more Multitrack song oriented than pattern based. You play one track and then cut and paste or edit it onto itself to create that section of the song for the entire length of the song. There are lots of editing features for this but rather than building from a part as in the MMT8 to build an entire track. The Q80 also has what it called 100 "Motifs". These are patterns similar to the MMT8 in that they can loop and play that part over and over. You can create and then paste a Motif into a track if you'd like which saves memory. Each motif is like a mini song in that it has 32 tracks an operates with the same basic editing features on the songs as well. Live Mute: Both machines have buttons on the front pannel for turning the tracks on and off while you're playing them live. The MMT8 has 8 buttons only (on for each track) while the Q80 has 8 buttons accross and then one button to select the series of tracks (in groups of 8) that you want to mute (ie: 1-8, 9-16, 17-24, 25-32) Live Play: You can change from one pattern to another instantly on the MMT8 while it's playing but I think the tempo stays the same. The Q80 can change motifs this way (with assignable tempo). You need to chain Songs together on the q80 to get them to go from one to another. Other features: Both offer sysexs dumps of memory, "dumb mode" FSK sync to tape (I tried the Q80 and it worked like a charm), recording of various midi features (sysex, velocity, aftertouch, etc>. The Q80 has a built in disk drive (DD) that stores sysex dumps from other instrunets (64k) and song and motif memory. This is a *nice* feature. load time for a full 5 minute song of 7 tracks I did was a couple seconds. The MMT8 has quanitization for each part while the Q80 offers this plus an "active' quantizataion that allows the user to define how close you want it to floow on the note. I haven't tried this but it sounds like a neat idea for adding a more "human" feel and still keeping the beat. One big difference is that the Q80 offers step recording. there are dozen of parameters you can set for this or you can just hook it up and go. Works perfectly as you can edit it fairly well as well in step mode. the buttons for the tracks and track selection groups double as a note values here and there is an easy to read chart on the front pannel ot make editing a snap. Both use wall warts, the MMT8 is smaller and lighter although the Q80 ain't so bad. Both have midi in/out/thru, click(metronome) outand a start/stop footswitch out. Conclusions: Well they are both fine machines. I have never taken my MMT8 out live due to it's button problems but i intend to use the Q80 next gig for some jamming stuff. The MMT8 is more straighforward for part based songs and certainly is a breeze for techno that uses loops over and over while tweaking the gear. The Q80 *can* do this however in it's motif mode and has 32 tracks plus some other goodies so I'd say this is a wash. If you've been holding off trying a Q80 becaue of this I'd say it's a non issue (and I don't like midi at all!) I haven't really challenged either of them with a lot of midi info or multiple instruments yet so I can't say how they would respond to this. I did crash the Q80 and needed to reset it while messing with Sysex though. (You need to press and hold down the select button while turning on the unit). To be fair I never challenged the MMT8 like this though so I doubt it's any better. I intend to use the Q80 a lot more than the the MMT8 from now on mostly because it works fine and can load easily. It will download a decent size sequence from a computer if you slave it and just press go so i coul deven use it to ru stuf I've made elsewhere and load 'em in and/or back 'em up on disks. For the first time ever I feel confident enough to use my drum machine as a module rather than a sequencer which is a biiiig step for me (I won't try this live just yet though...:)). Hope that helps someone. david --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help Wanted Productions - Bringing you the best in organic electronic and sweaty rock music since we started. Http://www.voicenet.com/~legion Now available for order: Electronic Music Project compilation cd. Over one hour of electronic music from Space to Jungle. Only $10!