Members JimPlays88 Posted July 26, 2014 Members Share Posted July 26, 2014 I need some help. I'm looking for a 76 key or an 88 key keyboard controller that will allow me to switch tones on my Motif ES rack module using the keyboard itself. In a live setting I don't want to be scrolling through menus on the rack. I want to be able to push a button or two on the keyboard to get the sound I want. I'd love to get my hands on a vintage Yamaha KX88 but those monsters are too heavy to lug around. So, I'm looking at the Alesis Q88, Roland A33 or A37. Does anyone know if any of these controllers will allow me do to what I want? Appreciate any help! Thanks,Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AnotherScott Posted July 26, 2014 Members Share Posted July 26, 2014 The Casio PX-5S will let you do it... nice feeling 88 key weighted action with a 24 lb travel weight. Lots of MIDI programmability, regardless of whether or not you choose to use its built i sounds. As for the other boards you mentioned, I don't know, but at least for the Rolands, you should be able to download the manuals online. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RockPianoman Posted August 13, 2014 Members Share Posted August 13, 2014 Rather than putting the same information on here twice, I'll use this link instead..... Roland A-37 Program Change Numbers http://www.harmonycentral.com/forum/...change-numbers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Etienne Rambert Posted August 15, 2014 Members Share Posted August 15, 2014 That chart is really impressive RockPianoman. If the OP uses an A37, you've done a lot of brain work for him already. That's the way he should go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RockPianoman Posted August 25, 2014 Members Share Posted August 25, 2014 Thank you......the A-37 requires a lot of setup to work right with a Motif rack......without being setup beforehand, every sound selected on the Motif rack from the A-37 is drowning in reverb regardless of how it is setup in the synth......this link gives some setup details: http://www.harmonycentral.com/forum/...change-numbers Using the A-37 with a Roland module or synth is a no brainer and doesn't have these problems no matter how either is set up..... Once the A-37 is setup, it works great with the Motif rack....it's nice that the A-37 has aftertouch because the A-30 and A-33 before it didn't.....many budget MIDI controllers don't have aftertouch....some may have a knob or slider that can be used to control aftertouch, but that's not really aftertouch anymore having to do it that way.....it's just a controller.....what makes aftertouch special is being able to control it directly from the keys..... It would be nice if aftertouch would only affect the key that is triggering it, but it seems like on most boards all keys being played are affected when it is triggered, even when it is only being triggered by one finger.... On my Korg Karma, I can take a lead while my left hand on my lower board holds the rhythm.....when I need vibrato on the Karma, I can just press hard and use aftertouch......very convenient....it's much better than needing to use wheels, sliders, knobs or foot controllers.....I don't like using breath controllers either because they interfere with my singing.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AnotherScott Posted August 25, 2014 Members Share Posted August 25, 2014 It would be nice if aftertouch would only affect the key that is triggering it, but it seems like on most boards all keys being played are affected when it is triggered, even when it is only being triggered by one finger.... Right. The feature you're looking for is called polyphonic aftertouch, and it is indeed very rare. On my Korg Karma, I can take a lead while my left hand on my lower board holds the rhythm.....when I need vibrato on the Karma, I can just press hard and use aftertouch......very convenient.... That effect can be created on many keyboards. Even without polyphonic aftertouch, you can create a split on a board with standard aftertouch, and simply program your LH sound so that aftertouch simply doesn't do anything on that sound. Stock sounds can be programmed such that AT doesn't do anything, so such a feature may appear to exist automatically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RockPianoman Posted August 25, 2014 Members Share Posted August 25, 2014 That's a really good idea Scott.....I'm going to re-program my synths that way......thank you I have read about polyphonic aftertouch before but I've heard that when controlling synths from a board that has it, not all synths respond to it......I didn't really understand what polyphonic aftertouch was....thank you for making it clear for me..... I wish boards that have aftertouch would have the ability to turn it off or on and store this information in a patch because sometimes I don't want it and I enjoy beating the crap out of the keys without worrying about triggering it......also, boards with polyphonic aftertouch should be able to turn polyphonic aftertouch on and off because if you did want to trigger aftertouch for all notes being played, it would be much more difficult and a hassle..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AnotherScott Posted August 26, 2014 Members Share Posted August 26, 2014 I wish boards that have aftertouch would have the ability to turn it off or on and store this information in a patch They do. Generally (always?) t's not that you're turning aftertouch off per se, you just alter the patch so it does not respond to aftertouch. Same idea as before, with the split, where you don't want your left hand sound responding to it. also, boards with polyphonic aftertouch should be able to turn polyphonic aftertouch on and off because if you did want to trigger aftertouch for all notes being played, it would be much more difficult and a hassle..... Again, that's generally the way it works. Regular aftertouch (also called Channel Aftertouch since it is applied to every note played on a given MIDI channel) and Polyphonic Aftertouch (which is applied only to the actual notes whose keys are being pressed harder) are two completely different MIDI commands, so you should be able to program a patch to make use of one, the other, both or neither. Many (most?) boards with polyphonic aftertouch are controllers (i.e. have no sounds of their own), so it's really up to you to decide what (if anything) you want the AT to do, by manipulating the patch on the receiving device. I think the only MIDI keyboards with sound that had poly AT were some old Ensoniq boards. For controllers, there were some models from Roland, the Kurzweil MIDIBoard, and the Infinite Response VAX77. AFAIK, they were all capable of plain Channel Aftertouch as well. A cool new keyboard is the CME Xkey which gives you poly AT for $100! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RockPianoman Posted August 27, 2014 Members Share Posted August 27, 2014 That's cool....it seems like something they should continue making...... Usually though in my setup, I use aftertouch more on my top keyboard which is a Korg Karma and usually I play it mainly with my right hand so not having polyphonic aftertouch is not an issue since I use it mainly for leads (sax, synths, violin, cello, french accordion, electric lead guitar etc.)....on the Korg Karma I transpose a violin down and get the best cello I have in any of my synths (think Eleanor Rigby).....the Korg Karma is such a good right hand synth, lead synth.....nothing I own is better for this..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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