brakjoller
New member
Hi,
I recently bought a JD-Xi and am very happy about that. However, I will most probably buy a separate MIDI controller (keyboard) to get bigger keys and one or two more octaves for those moments when I want to "play the piano" rather than to "play around" with sounds and the sequencer. That's the easy part and there's a lot to chose from out there.
However, the Xi, being quite compact, does not provide a lot of physical controls and you have to resort to "menu diving" to have detailed control over things like the ADSR parameters for the filer and amplifier (you can do nice things with the cutoff and LFO etc but there are so much more in the menus). So, I'm thinking that perhaps using a NRPM-capable MIDI controller, like the Roland A-800PRO, I might be able to use its knobs and faders to send these messages (and get a nice keyboard to boot).
Here are the manuals for both keyboards:
Roland A-800PRO:
http://cdn.roland.com/assets/media/pdf/JD-Xi_MIDI_Imple_e01_W.pdf
Roland JD-Xi:
http://lib.roland.co.jp/support/en/manuals/res/25895495/A-300PRO_500PRO_800PRO_R_e05.pdf
Now, from what I can gather, the JD-Xi has a huge list of stuff that can be controlled using NRPM messages. Of course there isn't a hardware MIDI controller in this world with enough knobs and faders to control all of that, but I am thinking that I can at least control the ones I uses the most.
My question now is: will it be practical? Given the capabilities of both of these devices, will I be able to, say, control the separate ADSR parameters for the amplifier and filer in the Xi, from the A-800PRO? If I read the manuals correctly, it should be possible, but all this is new to me and I'm not sure I have all the pieces of the puzzle. Also, forgot to mention that I have not yet bought a separate MIDI controller - I want to understand if this will work before I do. If I cannot do the NRPM stuff properly I can buy a simpler/cheaper MIDI controller to get more and bigger keys.
I'm pretty sure I can control all of this on the Xi from a computer, but when I play I want to be free from a computer. It's okay if I need to use a computer to set up the A-800PRO properly, as a one time operation, but not more than that. I work enough with computers as it is...
Looking forward to hear your comments and perhaps also experiences with other devices.
Thanks!
/Mathias
I recently bought a JD-Xi and am very happy about that. However, I will most probably buy a separate MIDI controller (keyboard) to get bigger keys and one or two more octaves for those moments when I want to "play the piano" rather than to "play around" with sounds and the sequencer. That's the easy part and there's a lot to chose from out there.
However, the Xi, being quite compact, does not provide a lot of physical controls and you have to resort to "menu diving" to have detailed control over things like the ADSR parameters for the filer and amplifier (you can do nice things with the cutoff and LFO etc but there are so much more in the menus). So, I'm thinking that perhaps using a NRPM-capable MIDI controller, like the Roland A-800PRO, I might be able to use its knobs and faders to send these messages (and get a nice keyboard to boot).
Here are the manuals for both keyboards:
Roland A-800PRO:
http://cdn.roland.com/assets/media/pdf/JD-Xi_MIDI_Imple_e01_W.pdf
Roland JD-Xi:
http://lib.roland.co.jp/support/en/manuals/res/25895495/A-300PRO_500PRO_800PRO_R_e05.pdf
Now, from what I can gather, the JD-Xi has a huge list of stuff that can be controlled using NRPM messages. Of course there isn't a hardware MIDI controller in this world with enough knobs and faders to control all of that, but I am thinking that I can at least control the ones I uses the most.
My question now is: will it be practical? Given the capabilities of both of these devices, will I be able to, say, control the separate ADSR parameters for the amplifier and filer in the Xi, from the A-800PRO? If I read the manuals correctly, it should be possible, but all this is new to me and I'm not sure I have all the pieces of the puzzle. Also, forgot to mention that I have not yet bought a separate MIDI controller - I want to understand if this will work before I do. If I cannot do the NRPM stuff properly I can buy a simpler/cheaper MIDI controller to get more and bigger keys.
I'm pretty sure I can control all of this on the Xi from a computer, but when I play I want to be free from a computer. It's okay if I need to use a computer to set up the A-800PRO properly, as a one time operation, but not more than that. I work enough with computers as it is...
Looking forward to hear your comments and perhaps also experiences with other devices.
Thanks!
/Mathias