Roland Clan Forums

HI,

I am quite a newbie on fantom xr. I am trying to play midi songs on the fantom and play-along with them by muting one or more channels in performance mode.
The problem is that once i am in performance mode and play the song from song play, i cannot play any other instrument on the fantom (through an external keyboard). It simply plays the song and I cannot play-along with the song. Once I go back to performance mode, i will get the sound I want but not during song play. How can I get this to work during song play?

I don't have much experience with the XR, but I'm wondering if the fact that you're muting things is effecting the current patch that you're attempting to play by muting that as well. I know it's ambiguous but perhaps one of the more learned members of the forum can elaborate.

Thanks,

Vae

Thanks for your reply Vaelaar. I copied an untouched midi song to my fantom xr. I tried to play along with the song during song play, but still no sound comes out of the fantom except that of the song. I changed to every channel from 1 to 16, but still nothing. Can someone tell what am i doing wrong?
thanks

maybe explain your setup- type of keybaord going into the XR- where is the midi file playing from (is it the same keyboard and thus could be an issue with the keyboard itself and not the XR).

I have a yamaha P120 connected to the XR's midi input. Both are set to channel 1. The problem occurs when pressing Menu and cycle down to song play on the Fantom. At that point I will not be able to play anymore on my keyboard. I don't think its an issue of the P120 because it is still sending midi out messages but the Fantom seem to ignore them until I exit out of song play.
So at this point I cannot play along with a midi song on the Fantom which sounds a little weird, would not expect this limitation from the fantom!
Tonight I will connect Fantom to my Kurz K2600xs and try out the same thing to make sure that it is not from the yamaha P120.

To put it simply, can I play along with a midi song (in song play) in the FANTOM XR (Performance mode). If yes, can someone show me how?

thanks
fantomxrfan

This seems to be an XR issue, because I cannected it to my other synth(kurzweil) and same thing happened.

The problem:

P120 OUT Chan 1 ---> XR IN Chan 1

You load a song and play it from the XR.

You want to play along with the song from your P120 on Part 1 with Chan 1 on the XR.

The XR doesn't respond?

Set Sytem Setup | MIDI | Receive | Remote Keyboard Switch to on.

plex

Plex,

Thankyou for your reply. I navigated through all the menus of the XR, SYSTEM SETUP | SYSTEM MIDI but found nothing as REMOTE KEYBOARD CHANNEL. I tried also to do this from the FANTOM X Edtor, and I found something called RCV BS switch on every channel. I selected these but still nothing. I re-searched the pdf manual maybe I'll find somthing close to it but nada.
I also re-checked that Local keyboard switch on my P120 is set to off just to make sure. I am using the P120 just as a controller.
Can you be abit more patient with me and elaborate a little because I think I am missing something and am sorry for asking dumb questions.

You're right there is no Remote Keyboard Switch for the XR. This setting is always on because the XR doesn't have a keyboard.

If you are sure that your P120 is sending MIDI Note data there is no reason to me why the XR doesn't respond while playing a song.

Have you tried a computer based setup with a software sequencer?

There is one exception: You can't play along via midi if you play the demo songs.

plex

Thanks Plex,

I have tried to do this using cubase sx and it works perfectly i.e I can play-along from P120. In this case I am playing the midi file from cubase sx. It is connected in this way:

P120 Midi Out --> XR Midi In
XR USB --> PC USB

Then I copy the midi file on XR(storage mode), switch modes, and play it from XR.
But when I'm playing the song from XR (song play) I can't play along from P120.
I also noticed that the midi LED on XR does not flash anymore when I press the P120 keys until I exit song play and got to performance or patch mode.
So is it possible that I cannot play-along in song play, OR is there another way how to play along with midi songs in the Fantom XR without using an external sequencer?

thanks,
fantomxrfan

>>I also noticed that the midi LED on XR does not flash anymore when I press the P120 keys until I exit song play and got to performance or patch mode.

It's strange. I have no further idea. It really doesn't make sense. I couldn't imagine that Roland permits this for the XR and allowing it for the X.

Try fiddling soft thru, midi receive options if this doesn't help do a factory reset.

plex

thanks PLex,

I tried to change all the parameters to in Midi screen but nothing. Also did a factory reset but nothing. Don't know what to do t this point! Cannot really acept that the FantomXR has this limitation. I will try to contact Roland. Anyway thanks for your help.

I sent an e-mail to RolandUs. Now I hope I receive a reply. I was also hoping being the 5th anniversary of the rolandclan forum, somebody would have already crossed my problem or maybe I am just impatient waiting for people to log-on

Ok, I sent an email to Roland but till now no response. Maybe they are on vacation.

From what I gather, the XR has no built-in sequencer. Therefore I am going to use a latop as an external sequencer connect to the XR, which will be connected to the P120 keyboard.

Now, I am editing the smf midi files and taking note of the initial cc 0 and pc instrunctions. I have read the SMF guide by in this forum but it is mainly designed for FantomX6/7/8. grrrr...
I would like to use the internal FantomXR patches instead of GM patches. I tried to delete the cc 0 and pc instructions, and then load a saved performance from the XR, having each part with the required Fantom instrument, but the smf defaults to piano patches.

Is there a way to play the internal fantom Patches from smf? Do I need to include an initial Sysex message for this? Hoping in a positive answer...

thanks
fantomxrfan