Frank, you can get an external midi controller box that has nothing but knobs and sliders on it and assign one of the sliders to CC#1 and then control it from that. They can be bought for somewhere between about $130 and ? depending on what you get. Just Google for midi controllers and look around. I know Zzounds has an EMC-33 for around the $130 figure. Behringer also has an inexpensive one but I don't remember the model.

In the studio, there is a work-around; in whatever sequencer you use, after you start recording, move the joystick up and record a CC#1 event. In Sonar this will put a marker in the controller lane and Sonar will keep that value all the way through the song, but you have to do it for each track you record at the beginning of the track. Then later you can come back and draw in the controller curves to make the volume/timbre sound the way you want.

Tom

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Bigger is not always better

Tom, thanks very much for your advice. I will defintely look into this. I haven't had a lot of time to analyze my issue but if I can't find an answer within my software stuff your approach will most certainly work. In forte Ensemble the host program I use has a feature that sends out midi messages to setup your software. This may also work.

Again I really appreciate your advice.

Frank,

In OMB you can type these controllers in the presets. The presets is where you define the complete setup for a song. That is style, tempo, multivoice, volumes, wave audio intro, lyrics etc. Here you can also include some MIDI data to send initially. It is labeled sysex but controllers can also be included.
http://www.1manband.nl/tutorials2/presets.htm http://www.1manband.nl/tutorials2/sysex.htm

Jos

Jos, you just might be a life saver. I just may have to switch over to OMB like everyone else. Could you show me how to send a modulation wheel message (CC#1) set to full on (127). I would like to send this message on only those channels on which I wish to use Garritan's Jazz & Big Band Instruments. This would likely be on Channels 2, 3, and 4. If it is a small file or separate file that OMB uses could you Email it to me at:

flr@mts.net

Between Jos Maas & M. Bedesem, I just can't lose.

The only time we all lose is if Rikki buys a Tyros....Oh so sad!!!

Once I get the flr2006 software arranger system fully operational I will let you know what I think. I would say I am 95% there.

Thank you everyone for helping an old man and wish you all a very happy festive season.

Thank you
Frank L. Rosenthal


[This message has been edited by Frank L. Rosenthal (edited 12-03-2005).]

Frank,

Modulation wheel on channel 2 maximum:

B1 01 7F

B2 01 7F for channel 3 and so on.

Jos

Jos, thanks for all your help. It is greatly appreciated.

Frank L. Rosenthal

Hi Frank,
still waiting to see how you go with Bandstand, and if you can get it to work with the styles. XG to GM no doubt can be fixed, but you mentioned some sort of a delay when program changes occurred within a style ie sound had to be loaded?? Not sure if I understood all this correctly but hopefully whatever you & Trident were discussing will fix it.
Another option may be to modify the style so that program changes don't occur between the various style parts? I always try & do that if possible.

As for the Tyros, doesn't look like I'll be getting one, can't get one here till next year, it seems I can't even get a psr3k till next year.

At the moment my options are open, but OMB will still be an intergral part of my Clavinova/omb arranger setup.

best wishes
Rikki
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Frank L. Rosenthal:
[B]
The only time we all lose is if Rikki buys a Tyros....Oh so sad!!!

Rikki, you are absolutely correct. If you load all the instruments up front in the style then the time required to change instruments is not an issue. You could probably load up all your acoustic instruments into memory as another alternative. Finally you could install a flash hard drive and have instant access to the instruments....I think. The only thing is whether the flash hard drive uses USB, FireWire or something like that. If it does it may still not be instant access. I haven't spend any time on this as yet. I am still trying to resolve the drum problem....especially as it relates to using the appropriate drum instruments within each kit. In addition, I note that OMB responds differently to these separate instruments as compared to Live - Styler. It could be that OMB is transmitting kick and snare drums at a lower velocity.

Now just in case you may think the old man has fallen asleep at the switch, it turns out there are a number of styles which have drums located on channel 2,8, 9 & 10. I was wondering whether I was losing my mind....the drums in my favorite styles sounded so anemic. The outcome could well be that I may have to go back to combining all the drum tracks to channel 10 utilizing StyleMaker and Sonar. This way I can see immediately which tracks contain drums plus I can adjust the velocity levels for each track to accommodate the differences between my Soundfont wavetable and Bandstand. I am not certain you can do this in OMB, i.e., combine Channels 8 & 9 into 10 plus adjust the velocity levels.

Rikki if you have the answer I would be eternally grateful given I may not have enough time here on earth to make use of all of this stuff!!!


[This message has been edited by Frank L. Rosenthal (edited 12-03-2005).]

Hi Frank,
bear with me as I haven't bothered to use anything but soundfonts to date, so I don't have a clue how Bandstand works.

Scenario 1. If I knew I was going to use the following instruments & tracks throughout the style
bass 32 track 11 midi 11
piano 0 track 12 midi 12
guitar25 track 13 midi 13
strings48 track 14 midi 14
I could somehow load those specific instruments in and have no delays. Probably not practical because I'd have to know precisely what instruments I'd be using in each of the styles.

Scenario 2. OK I have 128 instruments in Bandstand, but I doubt I'd even use half of that as far as styles go. So, would it be possible to load 20 to 30 of the most commonly used instruments into some sort of computer memory?? and still not have a delay if there happens to be program changes in the style parts ie
guitar 25 changes to guitar 26 when going from variation 1 to variation 2. Am I going to have a delay??

The flash drive would be interesting to see if it works.

As for drums. I doubt OMB would be transmitting Bass & Snare on a lower velocity,but I couldn't say for certain.

Frank are you certain that a number of styles which have drums located on channel 2,8, 9 & 10. The drums may well be located on TRACKS 2,8,9 & 10, but I think you may find that the midi channel is actually channel 10.
Stylemaker page
Colum " dest channel" next to track name is the midi channel no..

If your drums are sounding anemic, it's probably the velocities. I had velocity problems with the soundfonts. I found some of them were playing too loudly, especially brushes.
Remember the styles were created for a psr not Bandstand, so it's quite likely the levels ( velocities) of the individual drums won't be correct. The bass drum in Bandstand could well be recorded at a lower level than the bass drum in a psr.

You can fix this within OMB. The conversion function can change the velocities of individual drums within a style. ie if your bass drum is playing too softly you can boost the velocity of the bass drum and save it in a conversion table that can be used in other styles as well.

The function is on the Stylemaker page of OMB

Track
Convert
( locate the drum that needs to be louder or softer) I usually change the notation icon from notes to decimal as I find it easier. All you need is a drum map with the decimal numbers ie bass drum 35, bass drum 36 et etc and work off that map.
Then just put a +10 velocity against the 35 or 36 bass drum, click " in all parts" tick the track that the bass drum is in ( most likely track 10) press apply, and the bass drums throughout your style should be playing louder. You can also save it as a conversion table. Always keep a copy of your original style.
If you find you want to give this method a go, I can try & help.

You may find that a few of your drums may need velocity changes. Some made softer , some made louder, You can actually put all the changes together in a conversion table and save it. Plus you can also use the conversion table for changing xg drum mapping to gm.

It sounds complicated , but it's not really. Literally your whole style can be edited in OMB.

Do you have a large quanity that need to be converted??

best wishes
Rikki


[QUOTE]Originally posted by Frank L. Rosenthal:
[B]

[This message has been edited by rikkisbears (edited 12-04-2005).]

Hi Rikki and Frank,
I see you refer to a flash drive. I believe a USB flash drive like the ones you have in your key ring carrying data, won't be able to do the job.