"All I Want"

Well, I unpacked my BK7m today with Fran and we put it through a few paces. It have some wonderful stuff in it, but I really have just a few simple things I need it to do .... hence the JM reference:

All I want is to be able to set up a few (2 would be fine) performances:

1. manual bass - needs to play the Nord in the Right hand, the Roland bass in the left, have access to the drum styles (no accompaniment) and mostly, REMEMBER all the little quirky global setting I set.

2. auto accompaniment - I want the Roland to do the LH work, have access to the RH sounds too (they can be turned on/off easily) still using the Nord with an expression pedal.

Now, you'd think this was all pretty easy to set up, but so far, it's bee confusing. I THINK it can do all I want, but each time I write a performance, something is missing .... I've had almost all of what I want at one time or another, but through experimentation, I still haven't gotten the 2 "bread & butter" performances I need.

I haven't tried it in split mode from the Nord yet - so far I let the Roland set up the splits .... I'll stay at it, but I expect to like it.

It's not the friendliest, fastest learning curve in town, but it certainly has possibilities!

Hey congratulations on your new purchase Dave. What a great rig you have! I'm not sure I understand everything you want to do from your list above, but if I am getting it right, everything is possible. Sounds on the Roland can be zoned, not just split, so potentially you could have 4 zones each on the same or completely different midi channels.

That sure is a sweet looking rig. I'm jealous.

David, please be sure and post your findings on this thread...I have a friend who is interested in the BK-7M and wants to do basically some of the same things you want to do with it.

I agree with Nigel...that is a smart looking setup.

Ian

Thanx guys,
I have a little more time to spend on the BK tonight, so I'll try and post my tips and frustrations (if any) after I dig in.
I'm going to do a reset, and start from scrath .... I really do think it will do everything I want ... just have to be sure the Nord wants to play nice too.

UD,

I'm a little confused. Aren't the VK8 and the Nord redundant in terms of Hammond Sounds? One would tend to think you like the
VK8 sounds better than the NORD????

Al

Dave good luck with you new rig....but your not taking all that gear to an Italian restaurant gig are you? Do you still have the Korg Pa800 also?..

Woah baby .... none of this new stuff is leaving the house. The PA800 is my road rig for now at least. It's almost summer, and I have NO time to learn a new setup - too many songs to play, clients to meet, girls to watch .... it's a busy season at the Jersey shore!

As for the Nord vs. Roland organ debate - I prefer the Nord. The pianos, clavs, wurlies, and rhodes are top notch, and I like the organ better too. I'd happily sell the VK8, but I won't sell it cheap - it's still a fantastic instrument and I might learn to play double manuals someday, right?
For my money, the Nord is easily twice as good as the VK8 in the organ category...the Leslie especially. It's kind of nice having the two though ...
The Roland has cool looking Ivory keys and drawbars, but the Nord is RED! (blushes) and remembers drawbar positions in presets .... tough choice.


So - after an hour and a half with the BK7m I found a workaround to every objection but one so far. I was able to make it play nice with the Nord and I set up my 2 "go to" performances so I can play either manual or auto bass and switch between the two seemlessly. The SMF player works great - a bit faster than the audio player for right now, but I'm still new at it - maybe there's more to tweak.

The only thing I need to do yet is delete a few performances that got saved in error somehow. That might be a pc issue - not sure yet. I might be able to plug the usb stick into a computer and simply erase the wasted files.... not sure.

So, I can sleep knowing that my beloved Electro now has split bass and layered sounds, along with a brilliant drummer! The patterns are great from what I heard so far ... strong but simple. I got my wish - it's John, Paul, George and Ringo in the band, and not VanHalen, Flea, Blackmore and Pert! I love it for what it's been up to now. More as I fiddle with it.

OK - HURRAY!!!! I found the way to rename and delete the performances I didn't want. That makes this a keeper! It's got a few possible functions for my work:
1. Great studio scratch pad for laying down a fast arrangement for a singer or client to hear.
2. Super small command center for my midi guitar, in case I'm not using the keyboard.
3. Nice add-on file player/drummer for jobs that have a house piano. (I get them once in a while)
4. "MIGHT" be an all in one tool if a stand-a-lone harmony unit is connected to the audio ins .... haven't tried this yet, but I'm thinkin' of it!

*** One point I must make ***
In order for the BK7m to give me a manual split bass and drum machine, I had to mute all the style parts and keep the arranger turned "ON" for some reason. I think the arranger triggers the split point and assigns the zones. EZ workaround.

Here's the setup:

Nord midi OUT to BK midi IN
BK midi OUT to Nord midi IN
Nord Local turned "off"
BK midi thru turned "on"
**ALL program change info in the BK had to be turned off so the Nord didn't send weird sounds to the selected real-time parts. Most controllers wont have this issue, because you can program it to send what you want. I want the Roland to do all the work so the Nord is still ready to function as a standalone midi instrument in other scenarios.


Still ONE little thing to figure out:
When switching from one performance to another in real time, I can't seem to filter out the command to change the rhythm style. Sometimes I like to play manual bass for a while, and then solo with the auto stuff .... it SHOULD do this. I just haven't found the command yet. I found the section that filters it almost everything else, but this is a puzzler.
Hmmmmmm

Fran - you're gonna like this:

When you're playing song files you scroll to find the song, then push to select it. It won't start till you hit the play button, but after it does start ... you can scroll to the next selection and it will load after the current song is done playing. No second button push ... it will be waiting for you to hit play. OR - you can select auto play (like an ipod) and then the next selected song will play automatically!

YAY! Doesn't Yamaha song playback work like that too?