Magma EOwave, Owner'S Manual

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2. GETTING STARTED

2. GETTING STARTED

•  USB: For MIDI via USB and firmware updates. 

•  MIDI IN: To control MAGMA from MIDI devices not equipped with USB. 

•  If you want to synchronise MAGMA with an external MIDI device via MIDI clock, connect the MIDI 

output of the respective device to the MIDI input of MAGMA and send a MIDI-clock signal to MAGMA.  

•  If you want to play MAGMA from a keyboard, connect the MIDI output of the keyboard to the MIDI 

input of MAGMA. 

The default MIDI channel setting is 1 and should not be messed with at this point.

Please note that USB port and MIDI sockets should not be connected at the same time.

One short but important note about MIDI loops: 

When using MAGMA in connection with a software MIDI sequencer, please make sure that 

the MIDI-through function of your software sequencer has been disabled, at least on the MIDI 

channel that is used by MAGMA. Otherwise, MIDI data (sequencer notes) output by MAGMA 

are fed back into MAGMA, causing data overflow and thus erratic behaviour. Especially users of 

Steinberg Cubase should keep an eye on this, since Cubase causes a MIDI loop when using its 

default settings.

2.4. Check it out / First encounter (of a closer kind)

You are pretty curious to hear some sounds now, aren´t you? Because of your (perfectly understandable) 

impatience, we will first go on a quick tour at this point. The following section will teach you how to load 

some presets, run sequences and tweak some pre-programmed sounds. Everything else will be covered 

later. Here we go:

•  First turn down MAGMA‘s 

VOLUME

 control fully counter-clockwise. 

•  Power MAGMA up. 

•  Turn up 

VOLUME

 to a suitable level. When it hurts, it is probably a tad too much. 

When running MAGMA together with a mixer, turn MAGMA‘s VOLUME up to the max and adjust the input 

level on your mixer. This will yield the best signal-to-noise ratio possible.

As you might have guessed by now, MAGMA is a monophonic synthesiser with an on-board sequencer. So 

what could be more obvious than checking out some sequencer patterns and listen to the sounds. Here we 

go (again):

•  Hit the 

START/STOP

 button. 

•  You will hear the machine playing and you will see the 

STEP

 buttons / 

LEDs

 light up. Pretty nice, 

huh? 

•  Choose an adequate tempo by moving 

TEMPO/VAL

. 

•  To stop the sequencer, simply hit 

START/STOP

 again.

Now that we have got your attention, you might want to listen to some more presets. Go on like this:

You already guessed it - hit 

SHIFT

 and keep it depressed while hitting 

PRESET

. 

Then hit one button of the lower row to select a sub-bank. Keep it depressed while hitting one button of the 

upper row – now you have changed sub-banks as well as presets.

Have your go at it and try out presets as you desire – enjoy!

To change tempo, leave the preset mode by pressing 

SHIFT

 and hitting 

NOTE

 (because in this mode, the 

encoder will change presets). Now you are back in note mode and the 

VAL

 encoder adjusts the tempo.

Connect a MIDI keyboard to MAGMA via MIDI DIN connection. Set the MIDI channel of your keyboard to 

#1. Now play some keys. The current sequence is transposed depending on the keys played. Please note 

that keyboard velocity controls the volume of the sequence.

While a preset is active, you may also tweak the sounds by turning MAGMAs knobs. Feel free to experi-

ment. 

All explanations about sound generation and programming the sequencer will follow later on.

TRANSP

A

SHUFFLE

B

SWING

RST

+

hold

move

TRANSP

A

SHUFFLE

B

SWING

RST

+

+

hold

or

Subbank 1 – 8

Pattern 1 – 8