Need some midi tech advice

[malandante]

Hi folks!

Let me explain my case:

I'm gonna play Dream Theater's Metropolis Pt. I next week with my band. I use the following gear:

- Roland XV-5050 rack synth module
- Roland A-37 MIDI keyboard controller
- Roland FC-300 midi foot pedal controller

Yeah, it's all Roland gear, I didn't do it purposely :p

The thing is that I have programmed the performances needed in the module, and I use the pedal to quickly change them. But when I press the pedals to change from one patch to next, there is a little time lapse when I have no sound. II need the system to respond faster because otherwise there will be notes that won't be heard.

Sounds are going through MIDI channel #1, and the synth control channel is set up in channel #16.

Does anyone know what can I do to improve that response time?


Thanks so much in advance

Javi

[rlainhart]

I don't use any of that hardware specifically, so I have no direct experience, but I do know that many MIDI synths, including some of Roland's, will have a little lag time between receiving the patch change and playing the sound. This is because they kill the old sound while loading in the new one and initializing the new patches' parameters. So in fact it may not be possible to improve the response time with your system as it is.

In Jordan's case, he often had problems performing with certain synths, both rack modules and full keyboard synths, because of this issue. The feature that you need if you're going to have continuous sound while switching patches is called "Patch Hold" (it has different names with different manufacturers). Patch Hold is specifically designed to get around this problem of the current dying while loading up a new sound, but it requires a lot of dedicated synth resources - basically, while you're switching between patches, you need to have 2 synths active at the same time so one is playing while the other is loading. It tends to be a feature with only higher-end keyboards and modules.

In your case, assuming the XV-5050 doesn't have Patch Hold (and it sounds like it doesn't), you won't be able to increase the response time to fix this issue, because it isn't really a problem in the speed of the module's response. It just has to do with the fact that when the new patch is initialized, the settings for the old patch are discarded, and there's a little bit of silence during that time.

In that case, your only solution is to use a different module that has Patch Hold, or add a second XV-5050 and alternate patches between them.

[malandante]

Thanks very much for your help, rlainhart!

I have found out that feature in my module: it's called "Hold Remain" :) Now the silence time is shorter, though not as short as I would like. I think that's all I can expect from this module. Anyway it's much better now!

Thank you very much for your quick and wise help


Javi

[Omega Monkey]

A common workaround to that is to set up 2 or more "consecutive" sounds in the same "performance" or whatever it is Roland calls their multitimbral setups. That way all the sounds are loaded at once, and you just have to switch layers or areas of the keyboard to the next sound. Then you configure things so that you switch "setups" when you have more time to do so (you shouldn't typically need much more than a 1/4 note).

[malandante]

Yeah, Omega Monkey, I had already layered and splitted as much as it fits in my 76 keys A-37. There is one part of the song where I would save a patch change if I had 88 keys. And even with 88 keys and optimized splits I'd have to change patches many times through the song. It's Dream Theater!

Thanks for your hint anyway :D

[borka]

Hi,
I don't know why anybody says : "The answer is KURZWEIL " ?!?! Call it K2000,K2500,K2600 or PC serie ...There's no space-bug-delay-shit-of-stop-note-silence ...The only manufacturer can offer this feature is K......L
have a nice night

[orphe]

I'm thinking of something. If your splits are set up on the xv5050. When changing performance (combi setups ) does the sound cuts if its the same thing thats programmed after.

Try then with only one sound that changes and see if the other does not cut. If it does so maybe only changing the split range would not cut the sound and then you would be able to preload sound so it would go like this (those are tricks i learned programming software and programming light shows)

Scenario:
1. Layer 1 & 2 (splits and you need them)
2.You dont need layer 2 anymore
3. You need a new sound to replace everything

In the module and in midi it would go
1.You have layer 1 a 2 loaded
2.You switch performance and keep layer 1 expanding its split range and preload a new program in layer 2
3.You put split range of layer 2 to full so it now take the place of everything (you can then preload a new sound in layer one).

I don't know if you understand what i said. It's like having a layer as a buffer and changing the split way when you need sounds.

If the split changing cut sounds you could try with lowering the layer volumes down.

But thats is a theory i dont know if you can do that with your hardware. It maybe reloads everything everytime you change a patch

[malandante]

Thanks for the advice, Borka. I thought of buying a PC3 but that will have to be after some gigs :p

[malandante]

That's an interesting point of view, orphe. Nevertheless the silence occurs also when i select the same performance that is active at that moment. So I am playing with a split setup and I press the pedal for the same patch that is already loaded and the silence takes place. I've even thought it could be a matter of time lag between the midi devices, but I found out that using the press volume to demo sounds feature of Roland synths while changing the multitimbral setups manually, the silence still happens.

Thanks very much for your advice!