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In the meantime, it's possible to sequence or automate VCA MUTE with an external sequencer e.g. Ableton Live.

Since the latest firmware update (1.24) it's now possible to sequence or automate any parameter on the panel that is accessible via NRPNs.

As an experiment, I made a MIDI recording where I made spontaneous and arbitrary changes on the panel such as muting the VCAs while a sequence was running, changing OSC levels or switching filter types. Live played the performance back perfectly.

The option to assign a standard MIDI controller such as Breath (CC02) to Morpher 1 would be great!

Personally, I would prefer that it not replace manual control of Morpher 1, but rather behave in the same way as Morpher 2 and the expression pedal (CC11) which only override values, though perhaps there is a hardware limitation I'm not aware of.

I would also prefer to see a simple solution for external MIDI control of Morpher 1 first before getting into the complexities of "morphing the morphers" 

To begin, let me say I love this instrument. The Pool is beautiful and remarkable. I am very pleased with it. So, it pains me that my first post on the forum regarding The Pool is a bug report.

When I connect The Pool to a DAW on my Apple computer (running Logic Pro X or Ableton Live 11), I'm getting unexpected behavior from the panel. For example, the following parameters all exhibit strange behavior:

1. VCO FINE TUNE
2. VCO PWM
3. VCF ENV (AMT)
4. VCF MIX

Unipolar parameters such as VCF FREQ, VCO MIX, simple button presses (e.g. 24db or 12db) all behave as expected, but bi-polar parameters such as VCO FINE TUNE or ENV do not. I just sent you a short video recorded on my iPhone that will illustrate the problem. The DAW used in the video is Logic Pro X, but I get the same behavior in my other DAW, Ableton Live.

My apologies for the long response - I thought describing my setup might be helpful.

The longer the better!

I find it interesting how others are using The River.

I like this idea of using Layer 4 with a flexible MIDI channel.

I’m going to try that. Thanks!

If it's technically possible, can you add an option on the OPTIONS or SYSTEM menu giving us the choice to bypass or not the 8 individual outputs even if cables are connected on them?
It's not practical at all to unplug all 8 jacks to the individual outputs when we want to send all 8 voices to the master output (for a global recording of The River, including FX if we use them) and then have to replug all 8 cables to the individual outputs at the back when we prefer a surgical and pure recording of each River's voice?

My solution is to have the cables already inserted but not entirely. They can be inserted approximately 2/3s of the way in before they will engage and remove the voice from the main mix at the sound of a "click". This way, all that’s needed is to simply reach behind and pull them partially out or insert them all the way in. It literally takes only seconds to reconfigure and can be done blind by counting cables left-to-right (meaning you don't have to see the back of The River) beginning with Voice 8 on the left.

I'm interested! 

In the next software update I would like if you can put "Local On/Off" in the first place in "System" menu please.
Because thats the function you go to most while changing between playing the synth itself or using it with a DAW.
The other functions are not changed as often.

In the meantime, there's a River Key shortcut for Local On/Off which is SHIFT + F7.

I can also confirm that MIDI (both DIN and USB) is working properly under Mac OS High Sierra.

When I first got my River, however, I was also experiencing consistent crashing while using Ableton Live. Oddly enough, it would never crash using Logic X. I finally traced the problem to Ableton itself which uses a non-standard MIDI NRPN implementation.

One thing to watch out for, though, are MIDI feedback loops between The River and your DAW. This is especially true if you have more than one of The River’s three possible MIDI connections going at one time (USB Key, USB Panel and DIN MIDI).

This is indeed helpful information.

I had already figured out most if it on my own, with the exception of using the FX02/20=Bypass as a means of auditioning patches without FX.

I’ve only been using Bypass when tracking with external FX, having noticed a slight increase in gain, giving me a better signal/noise ratio when recording.

Exactly. More is not needed. 

Merci, Laurent!

This information will help me build a device in Max4Live to control The River using NRPNs. 

Without such a device, the recording and playing back of panel movements in Ableton is unpredictable. 9 times out of 10 it will lead to a hard crash of The River.

Apparently, Ableton uses an unorthodox method of filtering NRPN messages. Using Max4Live is the only workaround I'm aware of at the moment.

On the other hand, Logic Pro X is working very well for me recording and playing back panel movements.

I have used in my current setup the XLR outputs of The River and record the River as a stereo with its FX to my Metric Halo LIO-8 interface.
Newbie question:
I want to record a bass and other certain type of sounds as a mono. What is the best way to do that?

If you're using only one voice and don't need FX from The River, the easiest way to record mono is to take that single voice straight out from the individual outs 1-8 and into your interface.

If, however, you're wanting to record in mono using multiple voices, I would sum the stereo output of The River in a mixer first then record that as mono.

Another method would be to pan voices either hard left or hard right on The River. If, for example, I wanted to record a split patch using two different sounds, but also wanted to be able to mix or process them later individually, that's what I would do--pan all the voices for sound 1 hard left, all the voices for sound two hard right--then record each channel separately as a mono track in my DAW.

As far as I know, it isn't possible to have the jacks permanently connected and still use the voices for normal purposes within The River because, as you noted, when a jack is inserted it automatically removes that voice from The River's main mix.

My solution is to have the cables in place, but pull the jacks out from the back just enough to allow the voices to stay reconnected to The River until I need them for external purposes. It does require reaching to the backside, but it can be done easily by feel only--that is, without looking. If I need to connect/reconnect a specific voice, I simply count the cables by touch, again without looking, backwards from left to right, voice 8, voice 7, voice 6 etc.

Probably not the solution you were hoping for, but it's the only one I know of at the moment.