SC+digital piano+korg nanokontrol?

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voodooblues
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SC+digital piano+korg nanokontrol?

Post by voodooblues »

I use Yamaha P85 to control SC. The yamaha is just a basic digital piano with few buttons and a volume slider. Having some extra sliders/knobs/buttons would be handy so I'm wondering could I hook up Korg Nanokontrol to SC's USB port?

http://www.thomann.de/fi/korg_nanokontrol.htm

If I understand right the Nanokontrol can send MIDI data via USB... (?) So could I control SC's midi channels, volume levels, effects etc with Nanocontrol and use Yamahap85 at the same time to actually play the patches?

Can't afford a 88-key hammer action Midi controller yet so I'm looking for budget solutions :)

-Jon

EDIT: After reading several articles and reviews on Nanokontrol I'm starting to think it's only suppoused to be connected to a computer and control a recording software. Guess I'll have to invest in a Control Keyboard? Forgive me for asking silly questions - needless to say I'm newbie with synths/comps/midi etc :)
voodooblues
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Re: SC+digital piano+korg nanokontrol?

Post by voodooblues »

To sum up; I guess i need to know 1) Can SC's USB port recieve MIDI information from a controller and 2) Can the USB port supply bus power for the controller?
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PauloF
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Re: SC+digital piano+korg nanokontrol?

Post by PauloF »

voodooblues wrote:To sum up; I guess i need to know 1) Can SC's USB port recieve MIDI information from a controller and 2) Can the USB port supply bus power for the controller?
1) NO - Because the SCs MIDI/AUDIO Port is a "TO Host" port, only possible to connect to a Computer

2) NO - The USB MIDI Port does not Supply bus power.
voodooblues
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Re: SC+digital piano+korg nanokontrol?

Post by voodooblues »

Thank you Paulo for the response! I'll have to look for other options then.
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PauloF
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Re: SC+digital piano+korg nanokontrol?

Post by PauloF »

That was a maybe too straight answer, sorry about the brevity, but I was answering from my phone...

NanoKontrol was made to be connected to a Computer and to control DAW /Softsynths. So no, you cant't use it directly to Control the SC.

However you can (for example) use the SC's AUi Editor as a MIDI Track, and use the NanoKontrol to control the SC from there.

So the answer is YES you can use the NanoKontrol to Play the SC's Patches/Performances if done via the DAW software.
voodooblues
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Re: SC+digital piano+korg nanokontrol?

Post by voodooblues »

The answer was short but informative :)

"However you can (for example) use the SC's AUi Editor as a MIDI Track, and use the NanoKontrol to control the SC from there."

I don't quite understand how this works (and I don't know what AUi is?), but in other words this would mean that I bring my laptop to gigs and connect Nanokontrol to the laptop?

I'm considering to buy Behringers BCF 2000 instead, or just have to buy some real control keyboard. Will have to do some research on my options :) Again, thanks for the info
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PauloF
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Re: SC+digital piano+korg nanokontrol?

Post by PauloF »

voodooblues wrote:The answer was short but informative :)

"However you can (for example) use the SC's AUi Editor as a MIDI Track, and use the NanoKontrol to control the SC from there."

I don't quite understand how this works (and I don't know what AUi is?), but in other words this would mean that I bring my laptop to gigs and connect Nanokontrol to the laptop?

I'm considering to buy Behringers BCF 2000 instead, or just have to buy some real control keyboard. Will have to do some research on my options :) Again, thanks for the info
Well... BCF2000 is a complete different "beast" and has direct MIDI interfaces, so it can control directly your SC, for parameter change, but...has no Keyboard...
BCF 2000 or Nanocontrol apart, if you're giging, IMHO you need a real MIDI Keyboard controller too, something like THIS
voodooblues
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Re: SC+digital piano+korg nanokontrol?

Post by voodooblues »

Hehe yea, A-500 looks very nice... but to feel comfortable I would need a 88-key Hammer Action (or graded hammer action even) controller. Maybe this one:

http://www.thomann.de/fi/m_audio_oxygen_88.htm

But at the moment I'm searching for a bit lower budget solution :) I understand BCF2000 has a MIDI merge function so I could connect my Digital Piano to BCF and BCF to SonicCell. Not the ideal setup for giggin though!
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PauloF
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Re: SC+digital piano+korg nanokontrol?

Post by PauloF »

On the contrary... Taking into consideration that you need an 88 keybed, It is actually a very good idea, the only problem being that you will need to use tha BCF controls to emulate MOD and PITCH Weels .

With that hardware you won't need a computer, except if you need a DAW/Sequencer...

P.S: when I said SonicCell AUi Editor, I meant, the SonicCell editor running inside a DAW, like a softsynth.
voodooblues
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Re: SC+digital piano+korg nanokontrol?

Post by voodooblues »

But having a real MIDI keyboard controller would mean less cords lying around and less connections to make :) I don't have much use for mod and pitch wheels so using BCF wouldn't matter there.

So hard to decide what I need (or want). Wish I had money so I could just buy everything, see what works for me and sell the rest :)
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PauloF
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Re: SC+digital piano+korg nanokontrol?

Post by PauloF »

If your problem is a lower budget (and the BCF2000 is expensive...), the question is: do you really need all BCF's bells and whistles ?
If you do, ok, but if you don't, a MIDI keyboard controller will give you lots of MIDI controls (depending on the model chosen), the MIDI merge, and an extra synth action keyboard (and the mod Weels ... LoL) at a lower value.

Think about it
voodooblues
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Re: SC+digital piano+korg nanokontrol?

Post by voodooblues »

BCF is expensive? After Nanokontrol it's the cheapest controller with faders that I have found. True, I would much rather have a whole MIDI controller keyboard, but as I need it to be 88key Hammer Action (Graded preferred) it's not cheap anymore :)

http://www.thomann.de/fi/fatar_vmk188_plus.htm

This one is one of the cheapest I found - around 500e. On another subject, can you tell what does it mean when the description of the Fatar piano say that it has presets? "30 presets (Apple Logic/EVP88, General MIDI, IK SampleTank .... etc."

Or did you mean I should connect my current 88key digital piano to another cheap midi controller keyboard that has the faders and knobs? Would that work?
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PauloF
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Re: SC+digital piano+korg nanokontrol?

Post by PauloF »

voodooblues wrote:BCF is expensive? After Nanokontrol it's the cheapest controller with faders that I have found.
Hum...I need to see those prices, as I'm looking for something like that to use in my home studio.
voodooblues wrote:True, I would much rather have a whole MIDI controller keyboard, but as I need it to be 88key Hammer Action (Graded preferred) it's not cheap anymore :)

http://www.thomann.de/fi/fatar_vmk188_plus.htm

This one is one of the cheapest I found - around 500e. On another subject, can you tell what does it mean when the description of the Fatar piano say that it has presets? "30 presets (Apple Logic/EVP88, General MIDI, IK SampleTank .... etc."
By Presets they mean Control MAPs (I'm using the Roland terminology here...), I mean, those Presets will give you dedicated MIDI Control over several DAW programs.
voodooblues wrote: Or did you mean I should connect my current 88key digital piano to another cheap midi controller keyboard that has the faders and knobs? Would that work?
I was suggesting exactly that, but if BCF 2000 is not expensive and if you don't need the extra keyboard, maybe I'll rephrase it LoL
voodooblues
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Re: SC+digital piano+korg nanokontrol?

Post by voodooblues »

Hum...I need to see those prices, as I'm looking for something like that to use in my home studio.
http://www.thomann.de - BCF2000 is 130e. Sure that's 100e more than Nanokontrol and there are some controllers that cost 50-99e but they don't come anywhere near to BCF when it comes to number of knobs/faders/buttons. Plus, I've heard only praises for BCF, sounds like it's a great piece of equipment.
I think Thomann ships to pretty much everywhere in Europe.
voodooblues wrote: Or did you mean I should connect my current 88key digital piano to another cheap midi controller keyboard that has the faders and knobs? Would that work?
I was suggesting exactly that, but if BCF 2000 is not expensive and if you don't need the extra keyboard, maybe I'll rephrase it LoL

I actually liked the idea of having a 25 key controller with the faders+knobs I need. The probelm seems to be that the cheapest ones often don't seem to have MIDI in's and only work with USB bus power. Separate MIDI merger would solve the lack of MIDI port - but they're darn expensive? 70+e?? I was expecting 10e :P

I'm not quite sure if my digital piano (Yamaha P85) can merge the signals? It has MIDI in/out so maybe I could connect : 25key controller ---> YamahaP85 ---> SC
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PauloF
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Re: SC+digital piano+korg nanokontrol?

Post by PauloF »

Just checking on the BCF2000's price...
New: €195,00 here in Portugal, but if Thomann ship to all Europe, maybe I'll get one from them ( € 65,00 cheaper than here)

Really cheap !!! you were right !!!
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