MIDI addressing capabilities of the JD-XA

[metalfingers]

Hi everyone -

I'm a prospective buyer of the JD-XA. I'm looking for something to replace my Nord Lead 3. While it's a wonderfully flexible synth, the sounds are a bit too harsh and clinical, and I need something with effects and an accurate internal clock because the NL3 is about 1/3 of a BPM too fast. The sound demos for the JD-XA are incredible, and it sounds like a great candidate.

What I need to know is whether it's possible to freely assign MIDI channels within a program so that only certain parts might be triggered from the external keyboard - and also if there's a "global" channel that will apply controls like sustain, expression, mod wheel etc. to all parts.

Outline of my current stage rig:

- Master keyboard - Nord Stage 3 HA88. Channel 1 = Panel A, Channel 2 = Panel B, Channel 3 = Dual KB, Channel 16 = Global. Connected pedals: expression, organ swell, Leslie toggle, program change.
- Controller - M-Audio Axiom Pro 61. Zones 1-3 mapped to channels 1-3, zone 4 is global, always on and not mapped to any keys. Connected pedals: sustain
- Synth - Nord Lead 3. Nominal MIDI setup is channels 5/6/7/8 assigned to parts A/B/C/D and global channel is 14, but this varies between programs.

The sustain pedal is physically connected to the Axiom Pro 61 and goes out through all selected zones. The Nord Lead 3 has its global channel set to 14, and pedal/mod wheel events are forwarded over that channel when Extern is turned on.

The Lead 3 functions as several synths at once. It has (using Roland terminology) 4 parts per program, and each part can individually assigned a MIDI channel. So I might have parts A, C and D set to channel 14 while part B is local only.

Many weeks, I am the sole keys player at my church and have to play songs with as many as 7-8 different individual layers/sounds. I hate backing tracks and refuse to use them. I use a complex assortment of splits, layering and controllers to play different parts of the song and transition as smoothly as possible between parts. Having a single sustain pedal and single expression pedal is a must.

Here's an example of a song that has a lot going on: Here Now (Madness) - Hillsong United
Just the intro uses all 4 parts of the Nord Lead 3. I trigger the first two notes which are set up with a KB Hold on parts A and C, switch the local keyboard to parts B and D and play the intro. Part D is also mapped to a MIDI channel and gets controlled from the Nord Stage. The pulsing inverted D chord from the Nord Lead 3 is brought in and out using the mod wheel on the Nord Stage.

We have countless other songs that are similarly tricky to perform, and I need a synth that matches the NL3 in MIDI flexibility but blows it out of the water in sound quality.

Is this something I could do with the JD-XA?

[metalfingers]

Looks like Roland actually has a KB article that answers my own question:

JD-XA: MIDI Channels

This is great news for my stage rig... I'll be looking into picking up a JD-XA unit to evaluate, hopefully this works out :)

[Duplobaustein]

Midi is pretty cool on the XA. It's also a very nice controller.