First post!
I'm also just dipping my toe into the world of circuit bending, so be gentle.
I was given an allegedly broken Akai XR-10 a few weeks ago. I've managed to get it working and have been playing with it quite a bit. The whole Variation & Fill A/B/C concept really is fun to play and I've gotten really excited with the possibilities for live application.
Anticipating some cool results from an improvised jam, I connected it to my set-up and pressed play on my sequencer. Nothing happened. The XR10 did not start along with the rest of my midi gear. After numerous tests and an extensive internet search, I have come to the conclusion that it doesn't output or accept midi clock in pattern mode, only in song mode.
Why, Akai??! Why??!
It is rumoured that Akai issued an updated OS that corrected the problem. My unit is currently running V2.2. Is anyone out there running a later version?