Program changes on keyboard with midi floor controller

[lespaul1964]

I am a guitar player and I have never seen this used by any of the keyboard players I have played with. But I am just curious if there are any keyboard players that do their program or patch changes with a midi pedalboard controller. Doesn

[Vito Corleone]

Never thought of doing that, but I suppose you could. Since my hands are already on the keyboard, reaching up to press a button isn't a big deal.

[GCDEF]

I'm mainly a guitar player, but I have played keys too. I used to use a FCB-1010 to change patches when I played keys.

[ggm1960]

My keyboard has a big dial on it that was easy to use. A small spin triggered Digital Performer to load a new chuck that sent patch changes to both my keyboards, my guitar effects pedal and the two vocal processors via a Midi Timepiece.

 

The one limitation you'll find with those foot controllers is that they'll only send messages out on one channel at a time so if you have multiple pieces of gear it's not gonna work out.

[plepue]

I use a small netbook and software to do my program changes. The problem for me is what ggm mentions. I have too many channels to change. A couple keyboards, my guitar processor, vocal processors, my lead guitarists rack and any electronic drums or samples are all controlled by a single footswitch. I program the setlist in and then each time I hit the pedal it advances to the next song and everybody's equipment is changed.

 

If I need to go off script I can scroll through the songlist on the computer and double click a song too.

 

Makes for nice quick transitions. Even the guitar player is ready.

[tim_7string]

I bought a Rolls MIDIBuddy MIDI foot controller back in '98 to use with my BOSS SE-50 effects unit. The band I was in had a guitarist that used the '80s rack system (power conditioner, dual diversity wireless, tuner, preamp, processor and power amp). I had something similar with my power conditioner, wireless, tuner and processor (but used a Randall amplifier head instead of two separate components).

 

The MIDIBuddy did the job well enough, but I decided to go back to using stomp boxes instead after I left that band, so I stopped using it.

 

My cousin asked if he could use it to change patches when we played Cars songs like "My Best Friend's Girl" so he could quickly change from the organ sound to the synth strings sound near the end of the song while playing. It worked pretty well.

[wheresgrant3]

To be honest it's more hassle than what it's worth. Trying to look down at your feet, having to set patches up in a certain order, again the channel issue described above. I did try to use an FCB1010 to trigger notes during songs like Mr.Brightside (playing keyboard chords and pedal tones at once. It was still easier for me to hammer on the chords and play the damn keyboard than it was to strike a footswitch with no velocity or aftertouch.

 

Too be honest changing patches is no sweat. It's one of the reasons I use atleast two boards (I can always cue the next patch on the other board) but even if I drop out for a few seconds it's never noticed. For awhile with my XP30 I had all the patch locations memorized... so instead of arranging patches in song order I'd just hit the category or bank buttons and dial there in a flash.

[ggm1960]

Right now I'm trying to assess the best way to set up my keyboards with the patches I need for each song. Even though it's only a fill-in gig, it's important to me to get the sounds I need instantly without fumbling around like an idiot.

 

I'm still trying to figure out the MIDI functionality of my new Privia board. Although I'm certain it will do what I want it won't be as "performance friendly" as using my Roland XP-30, in fact, I'm really thinking that the best way to go is old school; set up my old Midi Timepiece II unit using the MOTU Clockworks software on the serial port equiped Mac G3 Lombard laptop running OS9.2.

[jamieb]

I'm wondering about that, too. (Main controller is an old PC88MX. I know; I need to upgrade. My wife just doesn't seem to agree...)

 

jamieb

+++++

[Vito Corleone]

 

Right now I'm trying to assess the best way to set up my keyboards with the patches I need for each song. Even though it's only a fill-in gig, it's important to me to get the sounds I need instantly without fumbling around like an idiot. I'm still trying to figure out the MIDI functionality of my new Privia board. Although I'm certain it will do what I want it won't be as "performance friendly" as using my Roland XP-30, in fact, I'm really thinking that the best way to go is old school; set up my old Midi Timepiece II unit using the MOTU Clockworks software on the serial port equiped Mac G3 Lombard laptop running OS9.2.

 

 

How many patches will you be using?

 

I use about 30 different patches a night on my Motif. It's set up in a "bank" format of 16 patches per bank. While we don't play the same songs in the same order every night, we DO generally play the same songs early in the night and the same songs late in the night, so it's easy to have the early-set stuff in one bank and the later set stuff in a 2nd bank. So then it's really only pressing one button to get to the next patch, and at most 2.

 

Using a foot pedal would be much more trouble than it was worth. One of the nice things about keyboard patches is that if you A) can't remember that the patch for "Rebel Yell" is "B2" and B) forget to write "B2" next to "Rebel Yell" on your song list, you STILL can always have C) have patch B2 NAMED "Rebel Yell".

[Vito Corleone]

 

I bought a Rolls MIDIBuddy MIDI foot controller back in '98 to use with my BOSS SE-50 effects unit.

 

 

Surprisingly, there aren't a lot of midi foot controllers on the market. I use a MidiBuddy to control my rackmount Line6 for my guitar.

[triton76]

I agree it's easy enough to do on the synth itself. I group them all together and name them in all caps to make it easy. I create splits and layers to minimize switching too.

[wheresgrant3]

We play a ton of medley's and one thing I've done for years (that has worked for me) is group together patches and combinations (performances) together in groups of 10's for each medley we play. This is strictly for my Triton Extreme which has both an empty 128 location user bank for performance layers (combinations) and a 128 location user bank for patches. So if we have a dance medley where I'll uses 5-6 combinations I'll start with the first one in a 10 bank group... lets say 20-29. I'll save them in medley order, starting with #20-26 leaving room at the end for two or three blank user banks so I can rewrite combinations if I have to add sounds or rearrange patch order. So in a gig all I have to do is advance one or two patch locations to get the sounds I need. Sometimes that may mean re-writing that same patch or combi several times if I use it more than once in a medley. Here's sort of an example:

 

We have a long dance medley that starts with Tricky.... starting with patch location #40 I arrange each patch in medley order:

 

Tricky (no keys, just record scratch samples and sound effects)

Push It-Salt N Pepper- #20 Big Stab

It's Getting Hott In Here-Nelly- #21-Wurly Patch

Sexy Back-J. Timberlake- #22 Massive Synth

Right Round-FloRida- #23 Big Stab

I Know You Want Me-Pit Bull#24 Samples/Sax/Brass

Hotel Room Service-PitBill #24 Samples/Sax/Brass

Hotel Room Service-PitBull- #25 Massive Synth

Jungle Boogie-Kool & The Gang- #26 Clav/Brass Split

Love Roller Coaster-RHCP #26 Clav/Brass Split

 

Banks 27-29 are intentional left blank so I can leap frog patch locations if we add or reorder the songs in the medley

 

Banks 30-37 Cover a medley we play of early 80's rock songs like "Hungry Like The Wolf", Working For The Weekend", "Don't Forget About Me",

 

Banks 40-45 Cover a hair metal medley we do with Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, Faith No More, Metallica

 

Banks 50-58 & and 60-66 cover a New Wave Medley.

 

And so on. Everytime we start a new medley I move to the first patch in that group and advance one by one from there. I use about 25-30 differen't patches (for 70-80 songs per night), I try to reuse the same when I can an it makes sense. An average night I'm doing between 50-60 patch changes.

 

May be a little backward but I have a pretty photogenic memory. Once I write a location I have no problems remembering it.

[ggm1960]

 

How many patches will you be using?

 

 

I haven't established that yet, this weekend I hope to have lots of uninterrupted time to get some {censored} together. For sure there will be piano, honky tonk piano, tremolo whurly, organ and strings. Also I'll need to determine when it's better to use split layering and how I want to divide sounds between the two boards I'll use etc..

 

The Privia board has 64 locations I can use for the custom patches I make and then I'll probably setup patches on my old MTP II using the base setups, modifiers and midi cannons. That way I can name each patch and it'll send the necessary patch change messages to both keyboards by turning the dial on the front. I could also enable it to be triggered by the XP-30's jog wheel dial. I set the stuff up and connected things tonight. It's a good way to go since the MTP II racks right into my amp stand and it and the Mac G3 laptop I use to set it up aren't part of my home studio setup and have just been sitting around doing nothing for quite a while anyway.

 

If the unique number of setups I needed was 32, or less, I could just use the Performance Mode of the XP-30.