Sequencer Mode: Setting SW1 & SW2 State

kanthos · Post by **kanthos** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 7:36 pm

Summary: Is there a way to save the SW1 and SW2 on/off states in a SNG file, ideally without recording CC 80 or CC 81 values in a sequence?

I use sequencer mode for live playing, and in my setup, I use a MIDI Solutions Event Processor to map CC# 80 and #81, sent by SW1 and SW2, to different functions on my Nord Stage. The Nord Stage has six different sections (2 organ, 2 piano, 2 synth), that I'm using on 6 different MIDI channels.

SW1/CC# 80 toggles all internal sections of the Nord on and off (effectively muting the Nord's tone generator), letting me switch easily between using the Nord to control itself or my TR. SW2/CC #81 switches between one organ section and both piano sections, so I can, for example, play songs with a B3 for the verse and chorus and switch, with one button, to a two-layer Rhodes sound for the bridge.

There's one problem I've encountered with this: the on/off state of SW1 isn't preserved when I load a .SNG file. This isn't a huge problem - I haven't done anything yet that uses SW1 to turn the Nord's sounds off (though I will want this at some point), and if SW2 is in the wrong state initially (i.e. it's off when I want it to be on), the first time I use it in a song (which would switch it from on to off ideally), I just have to hit it twice instead of once, and then all is good. Still, I'd like it to be better.

Is there any way I can save the button state when I save a sequence? What I don't want to do, if I can avoid it, is record CC# 80 and 81 in the sequence (if that will even trigger the buttons anyway; I don't know). I'm not using the sequencer for any actual playback, and while I think I can get the behaviour I want, this'd be a lot of extra work. Playing a sequence would also have the side effect of sending a CC #80 and #81 message to my Nord at the start of each song, which isn't always what I want - I might want an initial state for the Nord that I never get back to after hitting SW2.

So, thoughts? Is there a way to save the button state without having the sequence play?

Synastikki · Post by **Synastikki** » Sat Sep 12, 2009 5:04 am

Have you tried to save the template?

kanthos · Post by **kanthos** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 2:37 am

I've tried saving SNGs, yes. I didn't try making any song into a template because unless I intend to make a template for each song I play, the templates will have to get saved as SNGs anyway (at very least, making one SNG file containing all the songs I'll use in a gig), and since that procedure isn't saving button state, I'm not sure how the fact that the song was created from a template will be any different from creating the song from scratch.

Or am I missing something in your suggestion?

JohanHult · Post by **JohanHult** » Fri Jan 01, 2010 10:54 pm

I believe this is a bug in the software, but I've found a way to save it anyhow.

First set the SW buttons to the state you wanna save them in. Then you have to save it as a template song (utility -> save template song) and then load it again. When you save it on a SD card now, the SW states will be saved aswell.

Don't even ask me how I figured this one out :p

Edit
Now that I read the posts again, maybe this was what Synastikki actually ment hehe...

X-Trade · Post by **X-Trade** » Fri Jan 01, 2010 11:09 pm

I've never saved a template song. My live setups remember my SW1/2 settings loading from SNG files in sequencer mode.

not sure what's wrong though.