I’ve seen some related posts with no real resolutions on these, so wanting to pick your brains.
I have a live set coming up. The aim is to have the Digitakt/Digitone send a program change message to my Korg Minilogue XD. I have Prog Ch Send ON the DT and Prog Ch Rx ON the Minilogue.
In MIDI Channel A, I set it to channel 9 (my Minilogue’s set channel). I set Prog to my preset of choice. And Sbank is used to designate whether the program is within the 0-100, 101-200, 201-300 etc on the Minilogue. When I am changing these values with the rotary encoders there’s no problem at all: the Minilogue receives program changes.
However, the whole point is for the DT to send this when the pattern changes, so that I can play a live set with my hardware programs changing with each pattern. This is not working at all.
The only way I can get it to work, based on research here, is to use not just one but two trigless trigs, with p-locks on the Prog Change parameter. This strikes me as bizarre. I’m on the newest firmware for my Elektron boxes, and surely in the last 8 years, this has been addressed?
Trigless trigs aren’t an option because they prompt the Minilogue to recall the preset every time the pattern loops, thus removing the ability for me to manipulate things live on it like filter cutoff etc (ie it gets reset every loop).
Does anyone have any clues how to address this? I’m guessing it behaves differently with different synths, but since the Minilogues are ubiquitous, I’m hoping someone has figured out what is going on here. Thanks so so much if you weigh in on this to help!
Ahh thanks, I did try that in my flurry of activity but it sounds like this might resolve it. So thank you!!
If there’s any Elektron moderators out there, do you know why we have to use a workaround for such a basic process? Is it more to do with Korg devices not catching the data quickly enough, or there a basic Elektron tenet that we’re missing here?
Me too. can you point to where you found this proposal?
I don’t know yet either, but there is one thing that needs to be cleared up in order to diagnose the problem.
The DT can send Program Change (PC) messages in two ways.
The first method is set up by:
activating PRG CH SEND in the SETTINGS > MIDI CONFIG > SYNC menu,
setting the appropriate MIDI channel number in the SETTINGS > MIDI CONFIG > CHANNELS menu.
In this scenario, when the DT changes to a new pattern it sends a PC message corresponding to the new pattern just before the pattern changes. This should give the receiving device enough time to respond appropriately.
It has the disadvantage of only sending PC messages, not Bank Select messages.
The second method is set up using a MIDI track on the DT, by setting the CHAN and PROG (and BANK and SBNK) parameters appropriately. This will send the PC message as soon as the pattern starts. You can also p-lock the PC message on a specific step in order to send the message at a specific time after the pattern has started.
Which method did you intend to use? Sticking to one method at a time and disactivating the other might help you figure out which one you prefer, and what is going on.
(Also, the DT does not have “trigless trigs”. Do you mean “parameter locks”?)
I always thought “trigless trig” was a nice shorthand for “parameter lock that doesn’t trigger a note”. Is there some reason not to use this language (like, perhaps, a different meaning on another elektron box) ? Would “yellow trig” be better? (Sorry, don’t have a manual to hand).
Peter, thank you so so much for your concise and simple explanation. I think I’ve fixed it. I had set up the Prog Change Send ON, whilst trying to use the MIDI track (Chan, Sbnk, Prog) settings. Maybe they were conflicting? When I switched that setting off, and just used the midi track to send it, all good!
Also, I noticed that the program change doesn’t occur until the first trig hits, so if that’s at step 12 of the new pattern, that is when the Prog change message is sent! I guess that’s what necessitates a p-lock on step 1 (or as I called it, “trigless trig” which is ARmkII speak for something different I think?), ie the yellow trig.
Good news. There’s certainly the possibility of some confusion if PC messages are sent by both methods.
With this method, you get to choose at which specific time the PC message is sent. I don’t have a DT but I imagine that you can set the default PC message for the track (without a p-lock on a step) if you want the PC message to be sent as soon as the pattern starts.