Hints & Tips: Drawbar Organ with multiple keyboards

[phattbuzz]

Setting up Drawbar Organs in program mode to be used in combi mode with multiple keyboards using only the Kronos Engine:

Unfortunately, you can only use the upper/lower manuals function on one keyboard in program mode. You cannot set up a second keyboard to be the lower/upper manual in program mode and use the Kronos keyboard as the other manual.

The first thing I do is to set up my other keyboards so they send on different MIDI channels on boot up. The Kronos stays on MIDI channel 1, The next keyboard is set to MIDI channel 2, and so on, depending on how many keyboards you want to control the Kronos.

On the Kronos, you will need to make a CX3 program. It is important that you turn the rotary speaker off. In Exi 1/ Rotary Speaker make sure that Rotary On is unticked.

The other main concern is that on the Exi 1 Basic / Controllers page that under Expression, AMS is set to off. This is very important for the other keyboards you have midied to the Kronos that are going to be playing the organ sounds.

Now you need to set up a couple of effects in IFX. I do this in program mode so I can quickly copy it over to combi mode.
The first effect you need is an amp so that you can control the volume of the whole organ including any keyboards. Make sure you have an expression pedal attached to the assignable pedal on the back of the Kronos. In Global mode make sure this is set to CC#04. I have a Korg expression pedal that has a dial on the side to select the minimum amount of expression. I have this set to give the most expression, since I can select the minimum in the amp Ifx.

For IFX1, select an amplifier mode that you like, but makes sure you can control overall volume via the footpedal (CC#04). I have the volume set to about 32 then under source I have it set to the footpedal and the amount at +100.

For IFX2, select a Rotating Speaker engine. Try all three, but I find the CX3 version to have a lot more options. You can, of course, add some Reverb (or any other effect) for IFX3. Chain the effects together and route the organ to IFX1.

Save the program when you get it to how you like it.

Now create a new combi and add the program to it, make sure you copy the effects too. Copy the organ program to each Midi Channel you need for each keyboard and don't forget to copy the effects over. Now you can use tone adjust to change the drawbar settings, etc. for each keyboard. Make sure, before you save, that Tone Adjust is set for the top keyboard so you can adjust the drawbars easily.

[michelkeijzers]

Thank you very much, I already knew about using a combi and two organ timbres but it's nice to have a full stepwise instruction.