Gestalt: ROLI Lightpad M

Posted on January 16, 2023 by pj

Alright. I bought a cut-rate ROLI Lightpad M. 🙂 I spent the day charging, registering, downloading, installing, and updating. Over 3 gigabytes later…

I will eventually blog about the ROLI Lightpad M itself. For the moment, I’m going to ramble about the ROLI gestalt.

And you may ask yourself, "Where is that large automobile?"
 And you may tell yourself, "This is not my beautiful house"
 And you may tell yourself, "This is not my beautiful wife"
 And you may ask yourself, "Well, how did I get here?"
-- Talking Heads, "Once In A Lifetime"

Starting out with Lightpad M feels like my first day with Akai MPK Mini. Lots of downloading and plenty of gifts to unwrap. Unboxing Lightpad is more “Apple chic” than “rack ’em and stack ’em.”

You first need to download ROLI Connect — ROLI’s content manager. Yes, yet another content manager. Plug in and ROLI Connect recognizes the Lightpad and guides you through registration. For some reason, ROLI Connect refused to show the Lightpad on its “Devices” tab. A minor quibble as the Lightpad magically appears after a reboot, etc.

You get a pretty decent bundle of stuff (Mac/Windows) just like Akai:

ROLI Studio Player
ROLI Studio Drums
ROLI Dashboard
Ableton Live Lite (redemption)
Cycling MAX ’74 (3 month redemption)
Melodics (3 month redemption)
Tracktion Waveform (redemption)

I downloaded and installed Studio Player, Studio Drums and Dashboard, leaving the rest for another time.

Sound-wise, you get quite a few packs:

5D EDM
Chillwave Drifting
Cinematic
Colours of India
Elementak EDM
Elements *
Equater 2 Fundamentals *
Experiments
Giant Dubstep
Modern Electronic
Session Keys *
Structure
Synthetic Resistance
Video Games
Vintage Electronic
World Colours

I wish ROLI Connect displayed the download sizes before starting the actual downloads. Equator 2 Fundamentals alone weighs 2.5GB. Begin sliding into the deep…

Hmmm, no free SWAM on Mac/PC. Somewhat understandable, as the full Mac/PC titles are tres cher. Still, I was hoping to try a few more SWAM instruments.

Fire up Studio Player and it recognizes the Lightpad M. All good.

And you may ask yourself, "How do I work this?"

That’s when you know you are in the deep. So, I tapped, swiped and pushed at random. Then spent the evening watching videos. 🙂 Although tedious at times, videos show me how other people use Lightpad and the ROLI software.

When you buy ROLI, you buy into the ROLI ecosystem. That may be a good thing; it may be a bad thing. This situation isn’t too different than buying into Akai’s MPC universe, Arturia’s Analog Lab, or Native Instrument’s Komplete, just to mention a few similar ecosystems.

An MPE ecosystem is not necessarily evil. Controller and synthesis need to be carefully matched as I discovered using Keith McMillen QuNexus with SWAM Flute. ROLI Studio Player incorporates Equator, FXpansion Strobe and FXpansion Cypher (all version 2). Studio Player has the patch browser and real-time performance tools (smart chords and multi-layer arpeggiator) which can be assigned to the Lightpad M.

Some punters have diss’ed the presets as all sounding alike or some such. Well, upgrade to full and make your own sounds. It’s a synthesizer. Buying a Lightpad may be a way to get full Equator for less. Do the maths and then go to work.

What you might not know (I didn’t) is that you can suck Studio Player or Studio Drums into Cubase as a VST, not just Live or Tracktion. You get a VST with superpowers like smart chords, arpeggiation, etc. Neat. A tool that embeds in a bog standard DAW? Now you have my attention!

The ROLI ecosystem is all well and good, but I want to use Lightpad as a controller to add the touch missing from Arturia Keylab Essential. [I will surely try this and blog about it.] Lightpad has an XYZ touch pad mode which is configured through the ROLI Dashboard. The Lightpad is small enough to fit into the upper left corner of the Keylab Essential 49 (above the pitch and mod wheel). I expect to do a lot of tweaking to SWAM Flute (Cello, etc.) to adjust parameter sensitivities, ranges and so forth.

I think ROLI/Luminary have focused wisely during their re-birth from bankruptcy. Keeping Lightpad was a good business decision as well as letting Studio Player make friends through the existing VST mechanism. Ditching the control BLOCKS (Live, Loop and Touch) was sensible, too. The control blocks were rather expensive key pads that sent control messages to Studio (or Noise). Not super necessary given the capabilities in Noise and Studio Player.

In the long run, I wonder how Lightpad M and Lumi Keys will relate. Lightpad M seems to be technically reliable, but I see negative comments about Lumi Keys on Reddit that give me pause (e.g., not charging, Bluetooth connection issues, etc.) Luminary still have a way to go in their recovery.

Luminary want to make money through Lumi subscriptions (lessons and songs). This is a dubious business decision. People are wise to the subscription scam. A subscription makes sense only if it delivers genuine value to the end user and keeps delivering value over the long run. I would rather see Luminary (any company, really) focus on reliable products sold and bought once — not promises.

Next up, I’ll try Lightpad M with Noise on Apple iPad — a good way to fill in the commercial gaps while watching football.

A cheapster for MPE

Posted on January 10, 2023 by pj

Like the undulating Seaboard surface, ROLI (the company) has had its ups and downs.

ROLI made waves with its innovative alternative controllers like the Seaboard and Lightpad. Hardware is a tough, unforgiving business and, no doubt, the COVID recession hit ROLI like SARS-CoV-2 itself. ROLI reorganized in September 2021 becoming “Luminary.” ROLI sifted through the ashes of its IP and are now focused on three hardware products: Lightpad Block Studio Edition, LUMI, and the Seaboard RISE 2.

No matter what one may think about the ROLI hardware, they have produced some excellent software tools and ROLI-focused sound libraries: Equator, Cypher and Strobe. The Equator (now Equator 2) synth is widely respected. ROLI’s software has been the teaser driving its MPE hardware sales.

So it goes with the free ROLI Noise app. Noise quite effectively simulates a ROLI BLOCKS set-up consisting of a Lightpad, LIVE BLOCK and 2 octave Seaboard BLOCK. ROLI has five short “getting started” videos:

I also recommend the Roli Noise tutorial from the Sound Test Room. This last video demonstrates a more up-to-date version of Noise.

Two finger gesture on the virtual Seaboard

Noise gives you MPE thrills on the cheap. You can tap and swipe to your heart’s content without owning a Lightpad or Seaboard BLOCK. I especially like the virtual Seaboard — all of the fun without the Bluetooth connection issues which seemed to plague the Seaboard BLOCKS. [ROLI need to get on top of this issue with LUMI, too.]

Noise was clearly intended as a loss leader (AKA “driver”) for hardware sales. As Lou once sang, “gives you sweet taste.” You need a Lightpad or Seaboard BLOCK to unlock its extra sound bundles. Noise works with only Roli hardware; It didn’t recognize or receive MIDI sent by my Akai MPK Mini. Noise does not have MIDI settings, so it’s Roli’s way or the highway.

The free sounds are not bad and include Audio Modeling’s SWAM Viola. Naturally, you don’t get SWAM parameters to play with. That would definitely tick-off folks who pay good money for SWAM. Still, I’m grateful for the freebie and I’m happy to see partners working together to expand the MPE market and ecosystem.

That’s the good news. Unfortunately, ROLI haven’t updated Noise in recent years. Given Apple’s relentless disrespect for stable APIs, one doesn’t know how much longer ROLI Noise will run on IOS. [Grrr.] I would love to see a renewed Noise app in support of Luminary’s current product line.

Artiphon Orba MPE

Posted on January 9, 2023 by pj

Is a bird in the hand worth two in the bush?

I bought an Artiphon Orba (version 1) when the Orba first hit mainstream retailers. Orba implements MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE) and transmits MIDI over USB-C or Bluetooth BLE. Might the Orba be an interim MPE controller?

The Orba is pitched as a musical tech toy to while away the hours making beats and songs. If you’ve never held and play one, Orba is the size of a small grapefruit (a large orange?) cut in half. It fits rather neatly in the hand. The top surface is subdivided into eight wedges with a button in the middle of the wedges. [Dang, this does look like a grapefruit prep’ed for breakfast. 🙂 ] The wedges play sounds unless the center button is pressed first, requesting a change in mode (i.e., drum, bass, chord, lead, record, octave change, etc.)

The wedges respond to pressure, up/down swipes and right/left swipes. Orba’s internal sensors respond to tilt and shake. Depending upon the preset voice, all of these gestures warp the current sound — and send MIDI MPE messages. Orba provides haptic feedback through vibration, something I turn off in order to save power.

Orba’s MPE abilities aren’t promoted aggressively although the Orba manual does a decent job of describing its MPE implementation. The Orba app (personal computer or tablet based) has a few parameters to control Orba’s behavior as a MIDI controller:

MIDI Mode: MPE, Single Channel, Channel-per-part
Mobile MIDI Mode: Consolidates MIDI into a single port
Pitch Bend Scaling: 0%, 25%, 50%, 100%
Orba Sounds: Local OFF

Local OFF is a bit quirky. It doesn’t always turn off the internal synth! I compensate by turning the Orba’s volume all the way down.

Orba’s size and gestural response are the neatest things about Orba as a MIDI controller. Everything is small and self-contained. Under battery power and Bluetooth, you can pretty much fling the Orba around without wires. This assumes, of course, that the destination synth can receive Bluetooth MIDI directly from Orba. This isn’t a problem when using software instruments on iPad, but would be an issue for a non-Bluetooth synth like Modal Skulpt SE.

In typical use as a tech toy, Orba is a four track sequencer. Each track has a preset voice and role: drum, bass, chord, and lead. Drum, bass and lead record (play) individual notes. Chord plays multiple notes. Everything follows a particular musical scale which is set through the Orba app.

This is where use as a MIDI controller is limited. When you hit a wedge in bass, lead or chord modes, you’ll get notes belonging to a pre-defined scale. If you go off-piste in the melody, there isn’t a way to play non-scale tones. Forgot a lot of Beatles tunes or many, many Christmas carols!

Let’s say you want to augment a keyboard controller using only Orba’s gestural control i.e., play notes on the keyboard and bend them with Orba. Forget MPE in that case. The MPE channel and messaging model won’t allow that. An MPE source needs to keep track of the note-to-channel assignment and send certain control messages to the channel associated with the note to be modified. The keyboard and Orba have their own ideas about channel assignment and you can’t “cross the streams.” [Sometimes you need to cross the streams, Egon. 🙂 ]

All is not lost, however. I had fun in single channel mode with Audio Modeling SWAM Flute and SWAM Cello. Cello is a real kick; playing vibrato with finger gestures is totally cool.

Whatever MIDI mode, Orba sends MIDI note ON (note OFF) when a wedge is touched (released). There needs to be a way to tell Orba, “Don’t send MIDI note ON and OFF”. You can kinda, sorta work around this issue by touching a wedge and leaving it there. Sure, you get the initial note ON, but then the keyboard controller overrides the initial note value. I can’t see doing this in front of a live audience (congregation). In the studio, yeah, especially if you can delete unwanted notes from a recorded MIDI track.

At a meta-level, I wonder if companies have actual musicians try their prototypes during advanced development? All MIDI controllers have these little frustrations and limitations. Argh! Once again, please add scripting and let us make fixes. Developers simply cannot anticipate all usage models and modes!

Review: KMI QuNexus

Posted on January 4, 2023 by pj

So. KMI QuNexus RED. What happened?

Ever since I started playing SWAM software instruments on iPad, I wanted to begin experimenting with MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE). Like most folks on a budget, I established a price threshold — $200 or less — and cast around for likely candidate controllers. $200 is a bit more than “impulse purchase.” $300 is definitely too much for a trial. (Sorry Lumi.)

A note on budget, toys and reviews. I don’t get free products for review. Like you, I spend my hard-earned cash. No B.S., here.

I considered using an iPad app like GeoShred, but screen-based controllers don’t have the tactile feel of a physical instrument. I tried the Roli 5D app, too, and found the virtual keyboard to be too small for my fat fingers, although I get why people dig Seaboard.

There are several “alternative” controllers implementing MPE and I decided against them. Give me keys or at least a keypad. Budget and key considerations narrow the field of candidates considerably.

Keith McMillen and Keith McMillen Instruments have been designing and making electronic instruments for 35+ years. They offer two products for $200 or less: QuNexus RED ($199USD MAP) and K-Board-C ($119USD MAP). The two models are physically similar: a small form factor (12.8″ by 3.3″), a two octave keypad, a group of control buttons to the left of the keypad and USB-C connectivity.

The QuNexus is the older and more capable brother to the K-Board-C. QuNexus sports additional connectivity options including control voltage (CV) IN/OUT and a MIDI expansion port. KMI supply a compatible 5-pin MIDI expansion dongle with the QuNexus. The extra connectivity swayed me in favor of the QuNexus over the K-Board-C. The QuNexus is smarter, too, and has a multi-track sequencer, arpeggiator, etc.

A word about styling. I love the K-Board-C colors. I may need to buy one just because they are so cute. A number of on-line reviews complain about the QuNexus RED. In person, the RED is more “grapefruit orange” than “fire truck.” It’s rather attractive and I wouldn’t let the color put you off.

I purchased QuNexus RED from Patchwerk‘s in Seattle. Delivery was delayed by snow, so I was very excited when it finally arrived. I played QuNexus with Korg Module and Audio Modeling SWAM Flute.

The keys and buttons resemble fat chicklets. They have a pleasant, solid feel. They are not squishy in the way Roli Seaboard is squishy. There’s a fair bit of resistance. I have several concerns with the keypad:

Its short width precludes two-fisted playing.
The sharp/flat keys are not raised, i.e., higher than the “white” keys.
The key layout and size conspires against certain chord fingerings, e.g., playing F# and A together with my 3rd and 5th fingers didn’t work for my hand.

Of course, one shouldn’t be surprised by these concerns; just look at a picture or two.

If you’ve read some of my other posts, you’ll know that two octaves is not enough. I played Christmas music while testing and found myself out of keys at the bottom and at the top. If a manufacturer must make a two octave keyboard, I strongly recommend an F-to-F layout which better covers the range of the human voice (most melodies).

Knowing all that, I was fully prepared to shed with QuNexus. Being no stranger to mini-keys, I quickly learned to play melody lines without looking down at my hands. Although the QuNexus fits neatly on one’s lap (angled for comfort), it is more at home on a desktop.

QuNexus has four preset configurations. The first two configurations (non-MPE) worked quite well in Korg Module and SWAM Flute. The third configuration implements MPE. I tested the first three configurations in SWAM Flute. I did not test the fourth configuration, drums.

Again, the first two non-MPE configurations played well with SWAM Flute. MPE (the third configuration) was a bit alarming. SWAM Flute responded to all gestures, but the response to tilt (mapped to flute flutter) was too much right out of the box. As to tilt, the key pads seemed to be rooted at the bottom. Striking and holding keys near the bottom tamed tilt and the flutter. Playing and pressing near the top of the keys brought in much more tilt. Clearly, this is going to take some practice!

So. KMI QuNexus RED. What happened?

My QuNexus suffered from a few sensor defects that made it unusable. Three keys (Eb, A and middle C) spontaneously triggered ON or would trigger with the slightest touch. The notes did not turn OFF by themselves. (All verified using MIDI OX.) The end result was random stuck notes. Unacceptable.

I contacted KMI support and they very quickly analyzed the problem as a “hot sensor.” Well, I’d say there are three hot sensors. To their credit, KMI offered a replacement should I not get a quick turn-around response from Patchwerks. Patchwerks came through. Both companies deserve props for customer service.

In the end, I returned the QuNexus for a refund. I agonized over this decision. My policy (philosophy?) in regard to key-related issues is to pass on a replacement unit which possibly comes from the same production run.

Will I give KMI another try in the future? Yes. The K-Board-C is closer to “impulse purchase” and the colors are gorgeous. I will go in wiser knowing that I will need to woodshed in order to play melodies with confidence on a K-Board-C . Also, I will need to tweeze and tweak MPE parameter sensitivity to match controller with synthesizer (and vice versa). When we play an ax like MODX, KRONOS, etc., professional sound designers have done the tweaking for us. When starting with MPE, expect to do some work.

I need to mention another reason to choose KMI. KMI and GeoShred are offering discounts on GeoShred and GeoSWAM for K-Board Pro 4, QuNexus and K-Board-C users. Discount codes are provided by KMI. The offer is good Nov 20, 2022 to Nov 20, 2023. See this video for details.

Live, learn and prosper. Happy New Year!

Synthesizer heaven

Posted on January 3, 2023 by pj

I have seen synthesizer heaven and its name is “Patchwerks”.

Patchwerks was my go-to source for synthesizer gear during the pandemic. I have placed several on-line orders with them and each time their customer service was spot on.

I finally had an opportunity to visit their Seattle showroom at 4129 Stone Way North in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood. If you live in Seattle or visit Seattle, I strongly recommend a trip to the Patchwerks showroom. You won’t be disappointed!

The showroom seems to have one of everything. In addition to synths and beat boxes, you’ll also find patch cables galore, DIY kits, and of course, friendly staff. No one comes screaming “Don’t touch that!” and there aren’t any wannabe guitar gods. (You know which other brick and mortar retailer I have in mind…)

Don’t bring your Ford F-250 or RAM 2500 truck because you may need to park on a side street. Wallingford is old Seattle. Side streets are three cars wide and two of the “lanes” on either side of the street are filled with parked cars. It was a challenge parking my dinky Scion iM. 🙂

I’d like to say that the “opportunity” was to buy something new. Instead, I needed to return a troubled Keith McMillen QuNexus. Good on Patchwerks because they readily offered an exchange or return after seeing a video of the malfunction. These guys are on the level. (Regular returns are subject to a 10% restocking fee.)

I must give a shout-out to Keith McMillen Instruments (KMI), too. After getting the trouble report, they immediately stood behind their product and offered an exchange if Patchwerks was unable to resolve the issue/situation. Both Patchwerks and KMI responded to my initial trouble report within 24 hours. Very quick and to the point. It’s a pleasure to call out a positive customer service story.

I will continue to order from Patchwerks and I will likely give Keith McMillen Instruments another go, too. Even though the QuNexus didn’t work out, those colorful K-Board-C are quite appealing.

When you’re in Seattle, be sure to visit Patchwerks.

God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen (ChordPro)

Posted on December 20, 2022 by pj

“God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen” by Jon Batiste, Judith Hill, and Stay Human really grooves and I wanted to get in on the fun(k). So, I started with Yamaha Chord Tracker and worked out a similar chord progression.

Wanting to hear the progression and jam on it, I wrote the progression and lyrics in Extended ChordPro:

{title: God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen} 
{Artist: Jon Batiste} 
{Key: Cm} 
{Time: 4/4} 
# Style: JazzGuitarClub 
{stylecode: 3878} 
{Tempo: 120} 

{start_accomp} 

# Intro [Cm][*IA] 

# Verse 1 
God [Cm:2][*MA] rest ye [Bb/D:2] merry, [Eb5:2] gentle [Fm:2] men, 
Let [Gm:2] nothing [Ab:2] you dis- [Gm:2] may. [G7:2][*FA]  
Re- [Cm:2][*MA] member, [Bb/D:2] Christ our [Eb5:2] Sa- [Fm:2] vior was 
[Gm:2] Born on [Ab:2] Christmas [Gm:2][*FA] day. [C7:2]  
To [Fm:2][*MA] save us [Bb:2] all from [Eb5:2] Satan's [AbMaj7:2] pow'r when
 
[Eb5:2] We were [Dm:2] gone a- [Bb/D:2] stray. [Bb:2] 
O [Eb5:2] Ti- [Ab:2] dings of [Dm:2] com- [Gaug:2] fort and  
[Cm:2] Joy, [Fm7:2] Comfort and [Bb7][*FA] joy. 
O [Eb5:2][*MA] Ti- [Ab:2] dings of [Dm:2] com- [Gaug:2][*FA] fort and 

# Funky interlude 

[Cm7:2][*MB] joy. [F:2] ---- [Cm7:2] ---- [F:2] ---- 
[Cm7:2] ---- [F:2] ---- [Cm7:2] ---- [F:2][*FB] ----  

# Ending 
[Cm7-9][*EA] --------

Extended ChordPro adds auto-accompaniment features to the well-known and widely used ChordPro song format. I translated the ChordPro to a Yamaha-compatible auto-accompaniment file and played it on Genos™.

In “God Rest Ye,” you’ll notice the new extensions right away. There are a few more directives like: {stylecode: 3878} and {start_accomp}. Chord symbols are enhanced with a beat count, e.g., “[Cm:2]“, placing chord changes on beats within a measure. Annotations indicate auto-accompaniment section changes. For example, “[*MA]” and “[*FA]” mean “Main section A” and “Fill in A”, respectively.

Getting to hear the progression — not just play it by hand — was a huge help. I found a few places where a minor chord was required instead of a major. Play-back encouraged me to listen critically and to find a few hipper voicings.

If you would like a copy of the Java program (cp2mid) which translates Extended ChordPro to a Yamaha auto-accompaniment Standard MIDI File, here is a pointer to the ZIP file page. If you would like more information, please see the ChordPro auto-accompaniment example and demo and my article with ideas and uses for Extended ChordPro auto-accompaniment.

ChordPro auto-accompaniment

Posted on December 15, 2022 by pj

Before we close out the year, a Christmas gift!

Last January, I developed and wrote about “cp2mid“, a Java program to convert extended ChordPro files to a Yamaha accompaniment MIDI files. cp2mid lets someone compose in extended ChordPro format and play the composition on a Yamaha arranger in an auto-accompaniment style of your own choosing. If you don’t feel like composing, just grab one of the many ChordPro songs on the Web, clean it up, translate it, and play it.

You’ve probably seen ChordPro on the interwebs. It looks like:

# A simple ChordPro example 

{title: God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen} 

God [Cm] rest ye merry, [Cm] gentlemen, 
Let [Ab] nothing you dis[G7]may. 
Re [Cm] member, Christ our [Cm] Savior 
Was [Ab] born on Christmas [G7] day.

Extended ChordPro adds a few new directives (the things between curly braces) and tightens up the notion of musical time in order to mark measures and place chord changes within measures.

cp2mid translates the chords and lyrics into a Standard MIDI File (SMF). The SMF contains all the magic needed to play an auto-accompaniment on a supporting Yamaha arranger keyboard. (PSR E series, unfortunately, is out of luck.)

If you would like more information, here are some links to dive into:

The first three posts are essential reading for cp2mid users. The last two posts are intended for coders and other technically inclined folks.

Oh, yeah, you’ll need the ZIP file with example songs and cp2mid Java code.

In the house: V3 Sound YAMMEX XXL

Posted on November 2, 2022 by pj

Thought I would post a quick note about the new unit under test — the V3 Sound YAMMEX XXL tone module. The YAMMEX is a member of the V3 Sound XXL family of tone modules. They all share the same triangular shape and are light as a feather:

V3 Sound YAMMEX XXL expansion tone module

The lump-in-the-middle power supply is roughly the same weight!

You might have seen and heard Piano Man Chuck demonstrate the V3 Sound Grand Piano XXL module. [Piano Man Chuck is a V3 Sound dealer, BTW.] Well, the YAMMEX has the same sound set as the Grand Piano XXL. The main differences are:

The MIDI bank and program change layouts are different: Grand Piano XXL for general use as an expander, YAMMEX XXL as a Genos/PSR expander.
Grand Piano XXL is supported by the V3 Sound Control app; the YAMMEX XXL is not.
Grand Piano XXL is supported by two different MIDI Designer templates; the YAMMEX is not.
YAMMEX XXL voices are selected using custom Genos/PSR user voices.

YAMMEX XXL arrives from the factory with a USB flash drive containing the custom user voices (VCE files) needed to select voices through Genos/PSR. It’s all described in the YAMMEX XXL manual. [Henceforth, “Yammex” means “YAMMEX XXL”.]

I found a Yammex on ebay at a price that was impossible to refuse. It would be a shame to confine Yammex to Genos duty alone, so I studied the heck out of its MIDI implementation. I also examined the VCE files available from the V3 Sound Web site. Hmmm, looks like it’s a simple matter of uttering the appropriate Bank Select MSB, Bank Select LSB and Program Change messages. We can do that!

An inquiry to V3 Sound about compatibility was answered quickly, but implied that Yammex was only for Genos/MIDI. If you know MIDI and your controller’s capabilities, and if you don’t mind a little work, Yammex definitely can do more than Genos/PSR.

I was sorely tempted by the V3 Sound XXL series because it is based on the Dream S.A.S. SAM5716B synthesis chip. After hearing the SAM2635 and its GM/GS sound set, I wanted to hear what a high-end Dream chip could do with 3GBytes of professionally produced instrument samples. Cut to the chase, V3 Sound do not disappoint especially at the price I paid.

The box arrives. I open the shipping carton and what the? The Yammex box is in fine shape, but is covered in round “Demo” labels. I instantly smell “Sweetwater”. And there’s candy, and a Sweetwater “Thank You” card. The ebay seller is Jeff’s Music Gear. After a Google, I discover that Jeff’s Music Gear is Sweetwater’s ebay consignment shop! Nice to know that I was in good hands all along.

OK, then, plug everything up using Yamaha MODX as a controller. (See my article about Yamaha MODX Zone Master.) Ooops, no flashing MIDI light and no sound. I’m already composing a message to Jeff’s when I remember this note in the Yammex manual:

No sound? The YAMMEX XXL sound expander only creates a tone when you call up a sound from the V3 folder in your keyboard’s display. Just connecting it to your keyboard is not enough.

They aren’t kidding! I select a voice through the MODX Zone Master screen and suddenly the MIDI light starts flashing and Yammex starts talking. Delete the message to Jeff’s.

One other note from the manual is helpful during bring up:

Testing MIDI connections and settings. After connecting your MIDI cable and making sure your MIDI settings are correct, select a V3 User Voice. The MIDI LED on the YAMMEX XXL should now blink with every keystroke.

I find this behavior to be a dubious design decision. The purpose of a MIDI light is to indicate MIDI reception under any condition. While troubleshooting, I connected the Yammex THRU port to MIDI-OX on a PC and verified MIDI operation. Most of V3 customers will not be that savvy…

I’ve just begun auditioning sounds and already I’m pleased. I like and prefer the Bösendorfer Imperial 290 (Vienna) over the Steinway Model D (Hamburg). I fell in love with Bösendorfer when I first touched one in 1980. The electric pianos are good although too clean and polite. The organ samples are damned good. There are two flavors: No Leslie and Leslie sampled in. Sans-Leslie voices are meant to be dirtied up by an external pedal. I’ll try the Electro-Harmonix Lester K for spin and throw some overdrive on the EPs, too.

I like the Oberheim pads — another love. The classical strings are solid. That’s as far as I’ve gotten into the sound set. I’m looking forward to hearing the rest.

As to the supplied USB flash drive, the previous customer zorched the factory VCE files. I found an X6A file instead which I recognize as a Yamaha MOXF dump file. I guess the previous customer tried Yammex with MOXF and was disappointed. Fortunately, V3 Sound provide the Genos/PSR VCE files on their Web site. The supplied drive is only 64MB. [Not really a complaint.]

Experiments to come? Once I get my faves down to 8, 16 voices or so, I’ll configure the Arturia Keylab Essential. The extra knobs and sliders will come in handy. Also, I will whip up a simplified MIDI Designer template for the Yammex. The existing templates are comprehensive — yet overwhelming. I’m thinking about a UI similar to Korg Module. Those Korg folks are definitely on to something. Simplicity is king. MIDI Designer (with StreamByter) on iPad should give me splits and layers — maybe even a wireless Bluetooth interface to Yammex? Finally, Dream multi-FX.

Review: Korg Module General 128

Posted on October 27, 2022 by pj

Korg have released a new expansion pack for Korg Module — General 128.

General 128 is one of those expansions where you say “Why didn’t they release this on Day One?” Essentially, General 128 is a 108MB General MIDI sound set minus drums.

Most of us will not sequence MIDI tunes using Korg Module. However, General 128 covers all of the bases, making Korg Module generally useful in a flash. As GM sound sets go, all of the voices are reasonably pleasant and usable enough.

The only real knock on voice quality is their rather plain sonics. The effect programming is very ordinary. Once suitably dressed, individual voices are brought to life. For example, throw a little tremolo on that electric piano. Having a small memory footprint, one shouldn’t expect many (any?) velocity-switched multi-samples. To my ears, most of the voices are very “uni-dimensional” single level multi-samples which just get softer or louder with touch.

This isn’t all bad! I stumbled onto Korg’s introductory sale while casting around for new voices to layer within Module. [The introductory sale price, $9.99 USD, is good through Monday, 31 October 2022.] It’s much easier to layer up simple timbres than harmonically rich, dynamic sounds. For example, you wouldn’t use the oboe for an exposed solo, but it does add a reediness to a French horn producing a more WW section-like tone.

Allowing for the sound set limitations (i.e., one velocity layer), my favorite voices are the Acoustic Grand (warm), Electric Piano 1 (What’d I Say), Synth Strings 1 (warm, not too synthetic), French Horn (fanfare-ish), Bassoon (warm double reed), Flute (simple without devolving to Mellotron).

At the introductory price, the General 128 expansion is a no-brainer. In addition to Korg Module, the pack can be used in Korg Gadget Glasgow and as an AUv3 plug-in. General 128 might get me using Korg Gadget — maybe sequence a demo.

Big picture, I’m feeling quite comfortable with my iPad rig these days and I think it’s rehearsal ready. I would use either the Korg Microkey Air or Arturia Keylab Essential 49 depending upon my degree of laziness on any given day.

I tried going wireless with the Arturia Keylab Essential getting good results with the Yamaha MD-BT01 5-pin Bluetooth dongle. Only the MIDI OUT side is connected since the Arturia doesn’t have a 5-pin MIDI IN port. Connects up to Korg Module without problems. I don’t recommend the Yamaha UD-BT01 USB Bluetooth adapter for the Arturia; I get stuck notes.

I’m also getting more confident with the Roland (Boss) Ev-1-WL Bluetooth expression pedal, now that I understand its darned flashing lights and colors.

Yamaha MODX: Zone Master

Posted on October 18, 2022 by pj

If you mix and match your gear over MIDI, you will eventually need to send a program change message. Yesterday, I wanted to audition the sounds in my hacked Akai MPK Mini Play and needed to send a full Bank Select MSB (CC#0), Bank Select LSB (CC#32) and Program Change message sequence to the Akai MPK Mini Play.

Usually I scramble around looking for cables and hook up a MIDI controller like the Arturia Keystep or Keylab Essential. Inevitably, I scratch my head trying to remember how to send a full sequence of bank and program change messages from the controller. Maybe a trip through a PC-based control editor is required. It’s amazing that in this day and age, it is still difficult or impossible to send a full three message sequence in one go! [Grr.]

This time I said “Why not MODX?” and the best solution of all was in front of me.

The trick is to use the MODX Zone Master feature. I don’t intend to deep-dive Zone Master here and recommend the Mastering MONTAGE: Zone Master FAQ on the Yamaha Synth site. The MODX and Montage are enough alike such that the Montage tutorial applies to MODX, too.

The basic concept is simple. When Zone Master is enabled, a part in an MODX Performance can send MIDI messages over the 5-pin MIDI OUT. One needs to configure a few things before setting up a part and zone in a Performance.

For my experiment, I hit the UTILITY button and tapped the MIDI I/O tab under Settings. There, I made two changes:

I changed MIDI IN/OUT to MIDI in order to send MIDI messages through the 5-pin MIDI OUT. If this parameter is USB, you won’t send or see messages on the 5-pin port.
I turned Local Control OFF. If MODX isn’t connected to a powered speaker (or whatever), this step is optional.

Don’t forget to change these settings back to what they were when you’re done. MODX remembers them across power down and you may be surprised to find a silent MODX when you turn it on again.

MODX advanced settings (including Zone Master)

Next, tap the Advanced tab. Turn Zone Master ON. Zone Master is not enabled by default. If you don’t enable Zone Master, you will not see zone-related tabs and parameters when editing the Performance part.

Hit the EXIT button and click CATEGORY. We’re going to create a new, empty Performance. Tap the Init category button. Then tap Init Normal (AWM2). This creates a new empty (AWM2) Performance.

Cursor over to the part and hit the EDIT button. You should see two additional Zone Master tabs that normally aren’t displayed in Part Common Edit (i.e., when Zone Master is disabled). Tap the Zone Settings tab. Make the following changes:

Turn Zone ON.
Set the Transmit Channel to Channel 1 or your heart’s desire.
Turn MIDI Send ON.

Make sure Bank Select and Program Change are enabled (ON). Now you’re ready to send bank and program change messages to the target device. You did connect your target device to the 5-pin MIDI OUT port, right?

For those of you who are building a Performance to be saved and used in the future, check out the Internal Switch (Int SW) parameter. Turn it OFF if you don’t want MODX to send messages to the internal tone generator, that is, make this a locally silent part.

Cursor over to (or tap) the MIDI Bank MSB, MIDI Bank LSB and MIDI Program Number parameters to change values. MODX sends a full three message sequence when the Program Number is changed. So, if you change Bank MSB or LSB, you must send a Program Number to send the full sequence and make the actual patch change in the target device.

MODX bank select and program change example

In the screenshot above, Bank MSB 24, Bank LSB 0, and Program Change 5 selects the 60’s vintage electric piano (Wurli) in the Akai MPK Mini Play tone generator. Oh, you didn’t know the MPK Mini Play had a Wurli variation? Read on, below.

Conveniently, you can send MIDI volume (CC#7) and MIDI pan (CC#10) messages from this same screen. You can mess with local Octave Shift and Transpose. Pitch bend and mod wheel messages go out, too, and you can play away and freely audition sounds in the target device/module.

Overall, I find the MODX Zone Master method an easy way to experiment with a target device or tone module. If you’re a MODX owner, give it a try!

Hacked Akai MPK Mini Play?

In case you missed it, I added 5-pin MIDI to the Akai MPK Mini Play (Mk1) and gained full access to the Dream S.A.S. SAM2635 synthesizer chip within. The mod is fairly simple and relatively risk free as far as mods go. [Please remember that any mod has risk and voids your warranty.]

The MPK Mini Mod is functioning quite well and is stable. Just remember that only one source can send MIDI messages to the SAM2635 at a time, i.e., either the MPK Mini Play host microcomputer or the 5-pin DIN MIDI IN, not both. Messages are not merged and will collide electrically, leaving the SAM2635 confused.

The Dream SAM2635 is a full Roland GS implementation, not just General MIDI. The SAM2635 offers variation sounds including different organs and electric pianos. I really need to write a short run-down and review…

MODX screen capture

Just in case you’ve forgotten the steps to capture a MODX screen, here they are:

Insert A USB flash drive into the USB To DEVICE port on the back panel.
Press and hold the A/D INPUT ON/OFF button.
Press and release the AUDITION button.
Release the A/D INPUT ON/OFF button.

Simple, eh? And so easy to forget. 🙂 The screen shots are written to the USB flash drive in PNG files.

BTW, according to my web stats, my MODX split/layer tutorial remains popular. Take a look if you’re still puzzled about splits and layers. I also have a simple MODX Super Knob example.

Sand, software and sound

Electronics and computing for the fun of it

Category Archives: Music