Note Hang Bug

Forum for Roland's System-8 synthesizer
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TapedTogether
Posts: 11
Joined: 18:59, 27 May 2017

Note Hang Bug

Post by TapedTogether »

Hi Roland Clan,

I've been setting up my System-8 (ver 1.12) to be controlled by an Octatrack. I've run into a strange bug which I can only replicate in the Jupiter-8 & Juno-106 Plug-Outs (This doesn't happen when using the System-8 Engine).

When a Plug-Out patch is set to Mono and a note is sent from the Octatrack's sequencer, the note hangs indefinitely until I change patches on the System-8. I've tried changing the note length value being sent from the Octatrack but the hanging note still persists. The issue occurs with any preset that is set to mono as well as when initializing a patch and enabling Mono.

I have a Roland A-01K and tried to replicate the bug by sending a single note from it's sequencer, and it triggered the System-8 without a problem, which leads me to believe there's some bizarre interaction with the Octatrack. I just can't imagine why it would only happen on the Plug-Outs and not the System-8 engine.

Any thoughts?
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rsaintjohn
Posts: 265
Joined: 02:56, 23 May 2015
Location: Cleveland, OH USA

Re: Note Hang Bug

Post by rsaintjohn »

No real insight here, but I've never run into this with the Novation Circuit when using it as a sequencer for the S8 (or its plug-outs), and I do that a lot. In this just a straight MIDI DIN connection between the two, or something else and USB in-between? Does it happen regardless of the MIDI channel you're using? And have you tried switching some of the other MIDI settings on the S8 (like the TX/RX program change setting, etc.) to see if they might filter out some other data coming from the Octatrack?

It is strange that it would be so specific to those plug-outs, and only in mono.
TapedTogether
Posts: 11
Joined: 18:59, 27 May 2017

Re: Note Hang Bug

Post by TapedTogether »

The setup was initially running through an iConnectMIDI4+ but for the sake of testing, I've done a straight connection from the Octa->Sys-8. As per your suggestion I changed MIDI channels, same behavior. Even without any bi-directional talk between the two systems (only Octa MIDI OUT -> Sys-8 MIDI IN) I'm still having issues. I've experimented with the Sys-8's MIDI TX/RX settings, with everything set to off except for note data. I'm thinking the next step will be to run the communication through MIDI Monitor and see if the Octa is formatting the notes in an unusual way. Thanks!
TapedTogether
Posts: 11
Joined: 18:59, 27 May 2017

Re: Note Hang Bug

Post by TapedTogether »

I ran the data through MIDI monitor and attached a photo of the output. The difference in MIDI Note formatting is a 91 for both the ON and OFF messages on the Octatrack sequencer, in other words the Octatrack sends a Note On message with a value of 0 to designate Note Off (As far as I understand), whereas the non-sequencer (Keyboard) generated MIDI uses a 91 for Note ON and an 81 for Note OFF. Could this be the culprit?

ALSO when Remote Keyboard is On and I enable the System-8's Arp, the Octatrack's sequencer data will either trigger the arp once and then the note hangs indefinitely, or it doesn't trigger a note at all. This happens regardless if I'm using a Plug-Out.

Here's a bit more info I found in regards to MIDI Running Status:
note on with velocity of 0 == note off. So, 90 3c 40 (middle C w. velocity of 64) can be turned off by either sending 80 3c 40 or by sending 90 3c 00.

(actually, using 80 as note off allows you to send release velocity for the gear that can use that, so that could be once reason for using it - in the example, you can send any number instead of just 40 for the velocity if you use 90 = on, 80 = off).

Defined in the original MIDI spec as allowed since then you can use running status to shorten up the messages even more (drop all the subsequent 90's)

So, Elektron is doing it OK and the receiving gear either doesn't understand velocity=0 as note off or it's not configured to respond that way.
Attachments
MIDI Note Data
MIDI Note Data
Screen Shot 2017-06-29 at 7.07.56 PM.png (112.96 KiB) Viewed 1822 times
TapedTogether
Posts: 11
Joined: 18:59, 27 May 2017

Re: Note Hang Bug

Post by TapedTogether »

Hi Clan,

I wanted to provide an update. I've been in touch with Roland support who are sending the bug to the dev team in Japan. This is not an Octatrack specific bug rather the System 8 is not reading Note On Velocity 0 messages properly, which should be interpreted as Note Off. This behavior should occur with any gear that uses that note formatting (MIDI Running Status).

A fix in the mean time is to use a MIDI Event Processor with these settings:

Map all Note-On events of velocity 0 on MIDI channel 1 to Note-Off events of velocity 64 on MIDI channel 1, with the incoming Note number mapped to the outgoing Note number. Continue to process settings

Hope this helps!
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