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Post by cowboy79 on May 28, 2008 22:07:55 GMT
In case anyone is looking for a quality midi file player for giging. I had been looking for a long time and came across the ESS MBlaster on the web. It gives a great sound and allows you to mix each track. Can have up to 100 playlists of 40 songs. Also plays mp3 and wav files. You can have a 2gb card which cqn hold qbout 4000 songs all for about 530 euros
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Post by simmo123 on May 30, 2008 11:19:05 GMT
Hi folks,just to follow on cowboys comments on the Ess Mblaster2 midifile player,i would like to add a little more info to anyone interested in buying one,they certainly are impressive what with being able to store in excess of 4000 midifiles also the ability to mix mp3's & Wav files in the playlists along with the midis is useful as well as having a total of 40 playlist each holding up to 100 songs.I purchased an ess mblaster2 in Perth WA about 10 months ago for the purpose of using it to play the midifiles around the nursing homes etc as backing for my guitar & vocals & being not to tech minded it took me a little while to familiarise myself with the workings of it however with perseverance i managed to do most of what i needed to be able to take it & play it live. It came with a 512 flash/memory card at the time but bigger ones are now available & are getting cheaper so i invested in a 1gig card.Where i was dissapointed was after editing a midi to my requirements on the computer using cakewalk sonar & an audidgy soundcard i would get the sound i was looking for but when i transfered it to the mblaster player via a usb cable the sounds were a lot different which meant i would have to re-hash it again on the player using their controllers eg. changing some instruments,volume settings treble & bass adjustments although it would hold correctly the key & tempo settings ok.I realise that for anyone who likes to or has a need to do adjustments on the fly this wouldn't be a problem but for myself being a bit of a novice the last thing i would want would to be fiddling around with the player while performing,iv'e got enough on my plate looking for the next line in a song or going to the right chords, in short i need to keep it as simple as possible.OK,next stage comes along when i have a brainwave & decide what if i turned the midifiles into wav files & then play them through the mblaster then i wouldn't have the problem with having to edit the files twice because any volume,bass & treble adjustments can be made on the mblaster which has a facility on their just for this purpose so that you can have an even volume for all your wav files or mp3s.Right next stage turn all the midis into wav files then proceed to download them the same as the midis with a usb cable which is pretty straightforward (coming from me that means its dead simple for anybody else), next thing i an informed tha the memory is full after only putting very few wav files onso i have to go back to the drawing board once more. Right straight to plan C turn all the wav's into mp3s once i had worked out how to do that i cautiously approached the mblaster once more & proceeded to transfer the mp3s across from the computer as usual & managed to fit around 60 mp3s onto the m blaster before it told me the memory was full, the good thing that came out of it was that i was able to get exactly the same sound in mp3 format as to what i had edited the original midifile on the computer which was a big achievement for me.Last stage.. have since got myself a sonic cell so what i do now is edit the midis in cakewalk sonar put them on a memory stick, put the memory stick with all the edited midis on into sonic cell & you are ready to play live,however the sonic cell will only accept around 90 midifiles so to have more selection you would need to have extra memory sticks its not the storage on the memory stick that is the problem its just that sonic cell will not take any more than around 90 songs.I haven't as yet used sonic cell live as i am still not quite comfortable enough as yet,(dont forget your've got a bit of an old crusty here who even has a panic attack if he's undies are put in the wrong draw) so what i am doing is at the moment is after i have done the editing as per usual i record the midi via sonic cell to include all of the incredible instrument sounds that it carries then back into my computer as a wav then into mp3 format which in turn i download onto mblaster having a far superior sound than before & also working from a machine i am used to but when i am ready to play out with the sonic cell it will be a very simple procedure.Well i hope that gives you a bit more info on the ess mblaster2,by the way there is an mblaster before the 2 model which has less features such as only i think just midi in while the latest has midi in/out, hope i haven't bored you SH**LESS,but i get a bit carried away & also its a bit of typing practice as well,kind regard simmo ;D ;D ;D
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Post by Tubbs on May 30, 2008 14:28:46 GMT
dont forget your've got a bit of an old crusty here who even has a panic attack if he's undies are put in the wrong draw) Ha ha ha ha........you crack me up Terry!! ;D ;D ;D ;D |
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Post by Emerald Midi on May 30, 2008 14:44:15 GMT
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Post by Emerald Midi on May 30, 2008 15:08:41 GMT
I found the complete Instructions Manual  Well worth reading. For example I found out this unit can automatically adjust keys on midis to suit male or female singers. How cool is that  |
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Post by simmo123 on May 30, 2008 15:19:50 GMT
Re footswitch,no it cannot take a f/switch,also the sounds are not a patch on the sonic cell,simmo |
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Post by freeway on Sept 2, 2008 11:09:11 GMT
Hi simmo...  ...how are things down Perth way these days........thanks for that very indepth info on your set up.........considering changing to something similar myself ess mblaster 2 and sonic cell as a sound module.....my question plz is........how do you find the display on ess m? is it large enough...? as I need a large display otherwise Im like Mr Magoo fumbling around at the gigs ...........esp nowadays as the venues seem to be have darker lighting .........Im using mini discs at the moment but find either the discs are getting damaged or condensated and sometimes just dont play at all......as well as that I have a bout a dozen discs lying around the place .....which can be confusing sometimes...laptop ......well ....thought about a but thats a no no.......personal choice I suppose.........anyway appreciate any help simmo........regards.....Barry |
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Post by simmo123 on Sept 2, 2008 13:49:06 GMT
Hi Barry, good to hear from you again, hope all is well with you & the family,just to update you on the ESS player, yes i am still using it on all my gigs & am very happy with it any small hiccups i seem to have sorted out. firstly the view panel is 40cm x 100 cm & displays 6 song titles at a time which i find is ample compared to sonic cell's size of 25cm x 50cm,also the ESS has a very easy slide control for the overall volume,going back to the switching from one song to another i can go from eg, no.4 to say no.70 on the list in a couple of seconds using a control dial which moves you up or down in lots of 6 songs at a time,all you do then is to move the up or down buttons to place it on the required song out of the 6 displayed titles,then just press the play button.Another handy feature is if you stop a song part of the way through all you have to do if you want to continue on from that point is to press the continue button & it will carry on from the point you stopped at.All of the stuff i am telling you works on the mp3 or wav format although it would probably be the same for midifiles.The key change function relates to midi only where you have the facility to go up or down one key but cannot be utilised when playing mp3 or wav.As i explained in my marathon of a letter earlier i found that the midi sounds carried in the ESS needed adjusting when you transfered an edited midifile from your computer via usb cable to the ESS also the quality left a little bit to be desired, for this reason i invested in the sonic cell hoping it would be the answer where i could edit the midifiles i use to play out with a lot better quality sounds & then intending to recoup a bit of money spent by selling the ESS,the plus side would be all i would need to do is to edit the midi's with the sonar le programme that came with sonic cell load them onto a usb memory stick which is then inserted into the sonic cell,which would have all of the great sounds & then connect to the PA via audio cable & you are on your way.This is probably the way it is intended to be used,i forgot to mention that you can only have a maximum of around i believe 90 midifiles on a memory stick as the sonic cell will only play that amount but the answer to that is that you could have a couple of spare memory sticks with your other songs on as it would only be a matter of swapping memory sticks.sonic cell will play mp3s as well but i'm not sure of the amount at a time can be used.Right!! so i am now the owner of two similar type modules so why have i not got rid of the ESS?? the reason is because i am still trying to learn how to use sonic cell to its fullest & also because like youself i need to see the screen clearly i am a little reluctant to get rid of the ESS at this stage even though my good lady ( the war office )occasionally asks the question as to how the sale of it is going i find it is a very user friendly machine to use so what with impressing her with my efforts in re-landscaping the gardens recently she may just forget that i have actually still got the two machines.So all in all Barry i am happy to go on doing what i explained in the previous post & that is to turn the midis into wav via the sonic cell then into mp3s to be loaded on to the ESS via usb & then played through the PA.I hope i've answered some of you questions let me know if you need anymore info best wishes to you, Simmo  phew!!!!!!! |
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Post by freeway on Sept 2, 2008 16:12:57 GMT
Cheerz for that simmo.....geez your a great man for giving a such a great lengthy response ...appreciate it ...........anyway Im gonna look at few more demos of this machine and maybe purchase before xmas.... unless of course something better emerges in the coming weeks......funds allowing of course...........you see Im no good at landscaping so gotta watch what I spend on music gear ;D....... better take a coarse in gardening or something like that........anyway regards to all and thanx again for the speedy response......Barry |
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Post by cptkay0s on Sept 3, 2008 5:33:02 GMT
Hey simmo, I'd be help to help you in your efforts with your war office in shifting focus away from the fact that you haven't sold the ESS as yet...... You can hide it at my place (lol) Let me know if you're willing to accept my KIND, SELFLESS offer regards Warren ps - may be coming over in December for a few days again - still trying to confirm with "she who must be obeyed". Like to catch up??? |
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Post by simmo123 on Sept 3, 2008 13:07:33 GMT
Hi Warren,thanks so much for your extremely thoughtful gesture re.ESS Mblaster player,just the generosity you have shown in offering to assist myself in this very delicate situation i find myself in at present is indeed heartwarming & i cannot find the appropiate words to express my thanks to you for putting forward such an unselfish solution that would indeed allow myself to be discharged of temporary ownership of the above item,unfortunately the said problem has been resolved in the short term,I'VE HID THE BLOODY THING IN THE WARDROBE!!!!! ;D ;D
kind regards Simmo
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Post by simmo123 on Sept 3, 2008 13:30:57 GMT
Hi again Warren,moving right along to your 2nd item yes it would be great to meet up with you when you come over,we have moved about 50km south of Perth so it wont be a problem at all,keep us informed & we can work something out,regards Simmo ,checking on the wardrobe again ;D |
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Post by cptkay0s on Sept 5, 2008 12:15:37 GMT
No worries simmo - you out Mandurah way?  with regards to the other delicate matter - I also specialise in phony bills of sale if that helps (although you wife may get suspicious is we sell her favourite wardrobe (lol)!!!! always there to help a mate - Kay0s |
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...how are things down Perth way these days........thanks for that very indepth info on your set up.........considering changing to something similar myself ess mblaster 2 and sonic cell as a sound module.....my question plz is........how do you find the display on ess m? is it large enough...? as I need a large display otherwise Im like Mr Magoo fumbling around at the gigs ...........esp nowadays as the venues seem to be have darker lighting .........Im using mini discs at the moment but find either the discs are getting damaged or condensated and sometimes just dont play at all......as well as that I have a bout a dozen discs lying around the place .....which can be confusing sometimes...laptop ......well ....thought about a but thats a no no.......personal choice I suppose.........anyway appreciate any help simmo........regards.....Barry 
phew!!!!!!!
