Harmonic bar to controol external VST drawbars

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taglia74
Posts: 10
Joined: 19:23, 14 February 2016

Harmonic bar to controol external VST drawbars

Post by taglia74 »

Hi, is it possible to use the 9 RD2000 faders to controol the VST drawbars? I can't find a way.....if I activate the harmonic bar rd2000 function it send to external section only volume midi message......
I need 9 different midi message to assign tham to any od 9 VST drawbars.
I wrong or is it not possible? And if it is not possible where can I suggest an improovement to roland?
Thanks
DesertBoat
Posts: 362
Joined: 01:49, 5 October 2017

Re: Harmonic bar to controol external VST drawbars

Post by DesertBoat »

Controlling an external TW organ module

Caveat — the only external module I am using is Haptwerk, so I am not able to verify either of the two approaches.

Using Sliders (1-8)

Challenge with the sliders is that they can be assigned a single control function, shared by all, and they are assigned to their specific zone. They do not have the flexibility of the knobs. Depending on flexibility of the external module to assign channels and controllers, this may work:

-- Assign the sliders to a desired controller - "Zone Edit / Assign / Slider" (maybe CC30, which is undefined)
-- Assign each zone 1-8 to a separate external MIDI channel, say 1-8 -- "Zone Edit / External / Out/PC". We will be transmitting most information on Channel 1, just the additional CC30s on channels 2-8.
-- Limit RD-2000 keyboard zones 2-8 to just the bottom two keys of the keyboard (A0-Bb0). (Zone Edit / External / Kbd — this should ensure our only note commands are going out on zone 1, not duplicating everything on eight channels and overloading).
-- Set the external module to channel one, and map its 16’ TW slider input to CC30.
-- Map 5 1/3 slider to MIDI channel 2, CC30
-- Map 8’ slider to MIDI channel 3, CC30
-- Repeat through channel 8.
-- All eight zones must be enabled for external (green lights on)
-- The “Assign” button to the right of the sliders must be illuminated.

[If the external controller doesn’t have this flexibility, this approach will not work.]

The ninth slider cannot be mapped — it is hard fixed to USB audio (except for the internal TW organ).

Downside — this is using all eight zones of the keyboard for a single external sound, and depends on flexibility of the external module to collect the data from eight channels.

Using knobs (1-8)

If the external module does not have flexibility to read the multiple channels and map to the TWs, an alternate approach is to use the knobs. Twisting the knob is not as satisfying as pulling a drawbar, but this is more likely to work.

The default external zone is zone 5.

-- For most predictable performance, set Control Destination (in system menu) to Select, and write the update to system settings. (This is setting the knobs to follow the zone select buttons - in this case, we want them to broadcast only on the selected external channel.)
-- In "Program Edit / Assign" menu, set each knob (1-8) to a different controller. Knob 1 - CC30, knob 2 - CC31, etc.
-- Set zone 5 to broadcast on the desired external channel -- "Zone Edit / External / Out/PC"
-- Set up the external module on the same channel, with 16’ TW slider input to CC30, 5 1/3 slider to CC31, the 8’ slider to CC32, etc.
-- For the controllers to work, the Assign button between the knobs and sliders must be illuminated, and the select button above zone five must be illuminated.
-- This still leaves us one drawbar short — you can pick up the ninth drawbar on one of the mod wheels.

Downside — twisting knobs instead of pulling drawbars, one control short (or ninth control - mod wheel, is different form factor). But we are on a single MIDI channel and single zone, leaving seven for other functions.
taglia74
Posts: 10
Joined: 19:23, 14 February 2016

Re: Harmonic bar to controol external VST drawbars

Post by taglia74 »

Thanks desertboat. So as I suppose it is not possible to use 9 slider to control 9 VST drawbar.
That's very noisy. Where may ask a upgrade to Roland? Is there a site that is done for this kind of suggestion?
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