Trinity plays MIDI files off Floppy but chooses WRONG Sounds

[dbjacobson]

Hi,
I just got a Trinity to replace my 88 key Triton Pro-X which became too cumbersome to move for shows... I need to play certain midi files/songs so that we have keyboards for certain Boston/Journey/Kansas songs etc.
Plus, I use the old school floppies to do solo shows every now and then...

I got the Trinity to recognize and load up and play MIDI files with sound off the floppy disk, however, it is not finding the correct instruments. For example, instead of choosing a drum patch it chooses a piano patch! I tried switching to different Midi Channels, for example, 00, 01 and 10 and 16, but it didn't cure the problem. Any ideas why it is choosing the wrong sounds?

Doug

[billbaker]

Doug,

One thing is that trinity has no GM section, and your (heck, everyone's) sequences are "stupid" -- meaning they just look for the matching program number, not the matching or appropriate voices. So they're gonna have problems finding the right sounds. The sound choices (program numbers) are embedded in the sequences. You have to save the new choices at the front end for them to "stick".

So the choices are that you either have to build a bank that mimics GM (so your sequencer finds the right voices), or re-orchestrate (pick new trinity sounds/program numbers for) your sequences -- probably a bit of both.

Plus, GM drums are usually a bank to themselves - Kits are not part of the 0-127 GM sounds.

Bottom line, at least as I see it, is that you'll need to edit your sequences at least a little bit in order to use the trinity as a sound source -- you'll need to save your sequences with the new (Trinity kit) program assignment at the least.

Also be aware that most true GM sounds are single osc - using the better sounding double osc sounds can gobble up polyphony pretty quickly on older synths (which trinity is).

----------

You might want to consider picking up a (slightly) older (~2005 vintage) rack unit with good GM sounds like Triton Rack, Motif Rack or Roland 5050, all of which have good to excellent polyphony and sounds and most of which can be had for not too much price-wise -- but if you have deep pockets and an itch for it there's always the Korg M3M tabletop module that can do all your sequencing and tons more.

BB

[synthjoe]

There's a downloadable GM set in the download section of Korg Forums (here), you might want to give that a try...

[mikemolloyuk]

Doug

I did try to reply to you via your PM but I get a connection error.

[michelkeijzers]

Doug

I did try to reply to you via your PM but I get a connection error.

(Probably the PM still has been sent, just as reply messages are being posted despite the error).

[dbjacobson]

Thanks for your reply and guidance.
Excuse my total ignorance, but once I put the
GM_SET.PCG and the GM_SET.SNG files onto a floppy disc, what do I do next?
Thanks in advance,
Doug



There's a downloadable GM set in the download section of Korg Forums (here), you might want to give that a try...

[synthjoe]

WARNING, this will erase your programs and possibly the combis too, so make sure to make a backup before proceeding.

Put the floppy into the Trinity, press the DISK button and choose 'load' from the menu. Make sure you load the SNG file as well (tick the box). You can check the procedure in the parameter guide from p. 147 for more details.

Hope this helped.

[Spacecowboy]

after reading this, i got to thinking. IF the trinity PCG was set up for the same sounds that GM are loking for, only with your choices of piano etc., that would mean you could make multiple PCG's and alternate sounds. i believe in the trinity you can assign the drums also, not sure. but if someone took the time to do that, then you could use all the midi files you can find and all would be good. you could just load different PCG to have a different sound set, OR, you could just load say, a different piano sound from another bank and just save each time you use something and you could build a library fast.


what you think?

[synthjoe]

Yes, pretty much like that. Hence the option on the Trinity to load a corresponding PGC file when you load an SNG (checkbox for 'load xxx.PCG too').

You can name the PCG and SNG files alike and then use this checkbox. Only drawaback is that loading the PCG file will overwrite previous combi and program settings in memory. Of course you'll need to save several times the SNG file if you want to use different PCG settings, or load the various PCG files manually (SNG remains in memory if you do not switch your Trinity off between PCG loads).