yamaha kx88 controlling a rold d70 HELP!!!!

[mindwave]

help with kx88 and d70 midi!!!!
i just bought my wife a kx88 to control her rack units

she has been using a d70 as the controller in the past, she wanted the weighted action of the kx so....

the d70 has been controlling a yamaha , d5 and u220 in that order in the chain.

my thought was put the kx in FRONT of the d70 and all should be well.

nope

nothing happens.

i can replace the d70 w/ the kx88 in the chain and everything works fine, but the d70 will NOT respond to the kx.

i have both manuals and the kx appears to be setup properly, but the d70 manual says NOTHING about the midi IN.

please anyone w/ help it would be GREATLY appreciated.

j

[SonicAlbert]

This may or may not be the direct solution, but here's a suggestion:

You are chaining too many pieces of midi gear together. Three is considered the maximum, and even that is not recommended. What you need is a midi patchbay. Not a computer interface/midi patchbay, but a simple midi patchbay. This allows you to connect the KX-88 to an input of the midi patchbay, and each of your other synths to outputs on the patchbay, and have the midi signal routed to each at the same time, no chaining.

Midi patchbays that do this: 360 Systems Midi Patcher, Roland A880 (I think that's the model number), Yamaha MJC8, Digital Music Corp MX-8, JL Cooper MSB Plus version 2, KMX (two models from KMX), and others. I personally have owned and used the 360 Systems, MX-8, and a JL Cooper midi patchbay. For what you need I'd recommend the 360 Systems Midi Patcher, Yamaha MJC8, or Roland patchbays. This is what you need, and they are dirt cheap on eBay these days.

[mindwave]

AWSOME

i believe you are correct, that IS what i would need.

however the question of hy the d70 INPUT seems to be the roadblock still exsists.

the d70 isnt responding to any midi input at all.

Originally Posted by SonicAlbert

This may or may not be the direct solution, but here's a suggestion:

You are chaining too many pieces of midi gear together. Three is considered the maximum, and even that is not recommended. What you need is a midi patchbay. Not a computer interface/midi patchbay, but a simple midi patchbay. This allows you to connect the KX-88 to an input of the midi patchbay, and each of your other synths to outputs on the patchbay, and have the midi signal routed to each at the same time, no chaining.

Midi patchbays that do this: 360 Systems Midi Patcher, Roland A880 (I think that's the model number), Yamaha MJC8, Digital Music Corp MX-8, JL Cooper MSB Plus version 2, KMX (two models from KMX), and others. I personally have owned and used the 360 Systems, MX-8, and a JL Cooper midi patchbay. For what you need I'd recommend the 360 Systems Midi Patcher, Yamaha MJC8, or Roland patchbays. This is what you need, and they are dirt cheap on eBay these days.

[SonicAlbert]

I'm not terribly familiar with the D70, but you should go into whatever utility or global settings type pages it has and make sure that the midi input is enabled, and that it is responding on the correct midi channel. It is very possible that it has a midi channel or midi channels that are turned off. not sure if that is even possible on a D70, but it certainly is on other synths.

You may want to save any custom patches you've made in the D70 and then do a hard reset. then try it out and see if it responds. Just make sure to backup first.

[tedluk]

While a MIDI patchbay might be of use, I don't think it has anything to do with the problem you're experiencing.

I'm a long time owner of the KX88, it's an absolutely wonderful controller (as long as you don't have to move it!), possibly the best ever made.

Unfortunately, I don't have any experience with the D70 and Roland's manuals are probably the worst in the industry. Doing some searching online for the manual only turned up the usual, typical problems people have with Roland gear- Confusing user interface, lousy, incomprehensible documentation and buggy software. If you can't tell, I'm no fan of Roland.

My first thought would be that perhaps the D70 isn't set to receive on the channel that the KX88 is sending on. Have you tried using different channels?

Failing that, why not just use the D70 stand alone? I know that's not really a solution, but it might be the only practical way to integrate it.

Ted

[lumbago]

Another thing to watch for - the early Yamahas only put out note volume info to value=100, whereas the Rolands accept data up to 127.

So if you have a patch with its loudest volume /envelope response set above 100, the Yamaha may not trigger it.

[tedluk]

I don't think the KX88 has any such limitation.

It only transmits on 2 channels and it can't do layers (well, across the entire keyboard it can) and since it only can do 2 channels only has one split (programmable), but otherwise, though tedious to program, it can do almost anything.

Ted

[SonicAlbert]

The KX88 sends midi volume from 0-127. It was the original DX7 that only sent up to 100.

[Riverdog]

The Roland JV90 that I own is very much like the D70 - On the 90, you can turn off receiving on specific midi channels...

But, also... The JV90 will not receive on MIDI channels that are not specified by the specific "Tracks".... ie: The 90 only has 8 "tracks" or 8 multi timberal capable slots... The MIDI channel corresponds with the number of the track... Is it possible the KX88 is transmitting on channel 9 - 16 and the D70 just isn't getting the information???

Do you have any other controllers that you could try???

Just a thought...

AND - Yes the KX88 is a wonderful Controller - It DOES go to 127 - But - Many of their controllers of the same era DID only send velocity up to 100... ie: my KX5 and many of the DX series boards like the DX11 - DX21, and DX7...

If you want to find a controller that's comparable to the KX I've heard the M-Audio Pro88 is a fantastic new controller that has great feel/massive control/ and a reasonable price... (I may be getting one myself soon...)

Good Luck...

[tedluk]

Originally Posted by Riverdog

AND - Yes the KX88 is a wonderful Controller - It DOES go to 127 - But - Many of their controllers of the same era DID only send velocity up to 100... ie: my KX5 and many of the DX series boards like the DX11 - DX21, and DX7...

If you want to find a controller that's comparable to the KX I've heard the M-Audio Pro88 is a fantastic new controller that has great feel/massive control/ and a reasonable price... (I may be getting one myself soon...)

Good Luck...

The new M-Audio has an OK feel. It's certainly not "great". I think it's kind of "bouncy" for want of a better word. At least that's how it felt to me, but everyone is different. It's certainly not like a "real" piano! Also, and this is quite surprising for any modern controller, it doesn't send aftertouch.

Ted