MIDI question... Follow Up

The Lounge
#1

Hello to all,

My setup has been growing recently and I need advice/clarification on the MIDI side of it…

So here we go, this is how things are connected (MIDI):
Keystep out to Digitakt in
Digitakt out to Kenton thru (5) in
Kenton out 1 to Volca Bass in channel 9
Kenton out 2 to Volca Keys in channel 9
Kenton out 3 to Volca FM in channel 9
Kenton out 4 to Deepmind 12 in channel 10
Deepmind 12 thru to MiniNova in channel 11
Kenton out 5 to MicroFreak in channel 12

Volcas are all on the same MIDI channel as I rarely use them altogether.

Also Keystep, Digitakt, MiniNova and Deepmind 12 are connected through USB. That way I can quickly jam with hardware or have my DAW opened and be able to use my setup with a DAW.

Clock and sync work flawlessly.

What I would like to do is have the Keystep in the chain AFTER Digitakt. Digitakt does not transmit MW nor AfterTouch. I am therefore missing out on a lot on the Deepmind.

Does that make sense?

I understand I will be losing usage of the Keystep with Digitakt but that does not really matter as DT has a chromatic keyboard.

I would like to be able to start/stop Keystep ARP or SEQ at will while being able to send MW and AT to Deepmind.

Will the Digitakt restart ARP/SEQ on the Keystep on every cycle or will it (Keystep) not respond to Start/Stop?

Thanks for any tips in advance.

Stay safe,
V

#2

So you want to put Digitakt first in chain, effectively switching place of the Digitakt and Keystep in the chain ?

You can set up Keystep with MCC and how it should respond. Also the clock setting needs to be set with the dip switches on the back of the keystep, so you need to set it to the type of connection you are using.

https://www.arturia.com/faq/keystep/how-to-select-a-master-clock-source-on-my-keystep

#3

@Fotopaul
Thanks for the feedback :slight_smile:
That’s where I am stuck: not sure about settings in MCC, ie should I activate thru function? I believe so as I would like DT to speak to other synths.
Any other settings in MCC?
Also the dip switches: usb clock when in daw use and midi clock when no daw?

#4

Well i assume you use DIN with the Keystep so Digitakt DIN OUT->Keystep DIN IN> Keystep DIN OUT-> Kenton THRU box-> Rest of you’r gear

Thru would be used if you want to pass thru the Digitakt to the rest of you’r synths, in that case a merger and a thru box might be useful.

The dip switches is used only for clock, so you set it to the source of the clock, so if you want it to receive clock over DIN you set it to MIDI if you want it to receive over USB you set it to USB etc.

#5

Actually, activating the thru function from MCC lets the DT feed all other synths :slight_smile: No need of a merger as the thru function of the Keystep passes everything from DT (through Keystep) to the Kenton Thru 5 :slight_smile:

Sorted :slight_smile:

Thanks again for the insights. Much appreciated :slight_smile:

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#6

You are correct, without visuals my head get’s a little dizzy :slight_smile:

I had some very odd issues with thru enabled on the keystep, it went crazy when activating it, but disabling it made it work like It was enabled in MCC. Very odd.

Now i don’t use thru or merge functions as i use a midi router and life is a lot easier. :slight_smile:

1 Like
#7

So far so good…
We’ll see :slight_smile:

#8

Well if it works, you should not be worried. :+1:

1 Like
#9

Sooooo…

Everything set up and connected as follow:
DT out to Keystep in
Keystep out to Kenton thru (5) in
Kenton out 1 to Volca Bass in channel 9
Kenton out 2 to Volca Keys in channel 9
Kenton out 3 to Volca FM in channel 9
Kenton out 4 to Deepmind 12 in channel 10
Deepmind 12 thru to MiniNova in channel 11
Kenton out 5 to MicroFreak in channel 12

Volcas are all on the same MIDI channel as I rarely use them altogether.

Also Keystep, Digitakt, MiniNova and Deepmind 12 are connected through USB. That way I can quickly jam with hardware or have my DAW opened and be able to use my setup with a DAW.

Clock and sync work flawlessly.

My issue: everything works fine except with Deepmind and MiniNova, when I hit play, notes from both make a very quick note and then nothing, as if the DAW (Reaper) and DT were fighting to prevail on each other.

Have tried local on/off but I have some weird behaviours. Sometimes it will solve the issue and sometimes not.

What is also weird is when this happens, both Deepmind and MiniNova behave like their respective preset (sound) was changed as I am asked to confirm/save the changes.

No notes, CCs are input in the DT. Only thing in the DT is MIDI track/program settings (prog and preset are fixed and no trigs).

Will try to remove DT from the chain to see but I am a little lost here…

Any input or advice more than welcome.

#10

i would check if there’s anything else that’s been sent out from any of the machines and over USB; use a MIDI monitor for that, maybe there’s something somewhere

#11

Thanks for your input and time @guga
Have not yet used a MIDI event analyser but spent the day looking at other manuals for DT and the original as well: MIDI is not as straight forward as it looks as some terms in DT MIDI settings are akward.
Though I have managed so far to reach a setup with my DAW that seems to have gotten rid of the issues :slight_smile:
Will look into DAWless setup now… Or tomorrow :slight_smile:
Thanks again

#12

When you hit ‘play’ on what?

How have you set up the four instruments to receive MIDI messages over USB?

This sounds like these two instruments are receiving MIDI Program Change messages from either the DT or Reaper.

This will help you understand what settings are needed.

#13

Sorry for the poor description: when I hit PLAY on DAW.
All instruments set up to receive USB MIDI.
Though Deepmind is on local ON and MiniNova is on local OFF (this I believe due to the fact I am using the VSTi/editor/librarian from Novation).

Correct :slight_smile:
Did not manage to see what exactly was going on as I decided first to have a look at the DT MIDI settings… Have changed a few settings and it seems to be working as I was hoping :slight_smile:

Will look into that tomorrow and will report back with settings for both DAW and DAWless setups.

Thanks for your help :slight_smile:

#14

Digitakt MIDI settings DAW setup:

SYNC
Clock Receive: yes
Click Send: yes
Prog Ch Receive: no
Prog Ch Send: no

PORT CONFIG
Out Port Func: MIDI
Thru Port Func: MIDI
Input from: USB
Output to: MIDI
Output Ch: Auto Ch
Param Output: cc
Encoder Dest: Int
Trig Key Dest: Int
Mute Dest: Int
Receive Notes: yes
Receive cc/nrpn: no