Something that may interest only me. (Fishman TriplePlay)

[geebake]

I guess I'm in the tiny majority of people here that can't play keyboards to save my life but am lucky enough to own a Kronos X.

While I can't play keyboards, I can play guitar reasonably well. Before I bought the Kronos, I'd bought a Fishman TriplePlay to have fun with a few soft synths. On a whim I plugged it into the Kronos and low and behold, it worked! Immediately. Instant access to The Kronos goodness from your guitar of choice.

I didn't configure a thing though I had previously played with a few settings to get a PadKontrol working. I suspect that I turned something on in that process that made this work. Whatever it was, it must have been something really easy to find or I wouldn't have found it.

I tried this with a few other keyboards with no luck (Korg Krome and Yamaha MOX6). Could be that they require some kind of configuration that I'm not aware of or maybe they just don't support reading midi from the USB A port. Could be that they can't power the dongle on that port too. Who knows.

It just works great on the Kronos. I have a couple of issues though.

1. Bend range. I've never gotten this working very will with any guitar synth gear and this is no exception. Seems like pitch bend range is set to 1 step on the Kronos. I would have thought this could be altered, but I'l be durned if I can find it. I set the TriplePlay to 2 (1 step) and it 'kind of' works. Not well, but it will do for a little vibrato.

2) Dynamics. This one I think is a problem with my configuration but I could be wrong. It seems that there are no dynamics happening at all. I get either note on or off. Regardless of how hard or soft I pick, I get identical results. I've gone through all the settings in the TriplePlay and nothing seems to make a difference. Is there a setting in the Kronos that controls dynamics for received midi? Any help would be appreciated.

Greg

[StephenKay]

1. Bend range. I've never gotten this working very will with any guitar synth gear and this is no exception. Seems like pitch bend range is set to 1 step on the Kronos. I would have thought this could be altered, but I'l be durned if I can find it. I set the TriplePlay to 2 (1 step) and it 'kind of' works. Not well, but it will do for a little vibrato.

It's generally set to 2 semitones.

You can change this in any program or combi.

In a program, it varies depending on the synthe engine, but for example using an HD-1 program, you go to the OSC/Pitch Tab, then Osc Pitch 1 tab for the first oscillator, and at the top you'll see the Pitch section > JS (+X) and JS (-X) values - that's the bend range. Usually set to +/- 2.

In a combi, each timbre can have its own bend range. You set them on the Timbre Parameter > Pitch page.

[geebake]

Awesome! Thanks Stephen!

Makes me feel better about buying the Karma app for the Kronos not 24 hours ago!

Also, I've determined that the dynamics issue definitely comes from the TriplePlay. I connected another guitar I have with a GK-3 and dynamics seem to be working fine. I'll play with the TriplePlay settings more but I don't think I missed anything.

Greg

[SanderXpander]

We have a member on here who does a lot of guitaring through his Kronos. Jeebustrain I think? There should be some YouTube tutorials of his floating around, and you could always PM him.

[BobTheDog]

I have a couple of TriplePlays, it should be outputing velocity.

There are 3 sliders that effect how velocity is mapped.

Look at page 22 in this manual:
http://www.fishman.com/software/triplep ... _guide.pdf

If you need any more help let me know.

[Bolder]

My experience has been typically the bend range setting for a guitar controller to an external module or synth should be set to +12 and -12.

I have the Tripleplay as well - but have yet to have time to control the Kronos with it. I have used it with Kontakt and the pitch bend setting I mentioned above usually works pretty well.

[geebake]

Thanks for all the replies.

I've been monkeying with bend settings and getting better results. Still not terribly natural sounding but certainly useful.

As for the lack of velocity control problem, well that really has me stumped. It just suddenly started working! That bothers me because I have no idea why it wasn't working and therefore couldn't fix it again in the future.

As I mentioned initially, this thing really works great with the Kronos with virtually zero headaches.

Bolder, do yourself a favor and plug the darned thing in. It's a blast.


Greg

[StephenKay]

Awesome! Thanks Stephen!

Makes me feel better about buying the Karma app for the Kronos not 24 hours ago!

No problem.

A coupla other things. I mentioned Osc 1 in the HD-1 example, but obviously if it's a two osc program, you would want to modify the second oscillator the same way.

However, with a program inside a combi, you can either use the bend range of the Program (by setting it to PRG) or override it with a different number of semitones, so probably, even if you want to experiment with single programs, it may be easier to put the one program in a combi and you can easily modify the bend range right there.

Also, I'm not a guitarist and I've never had a guitar synth, but I do know something about the way they work. Not sure about the Triple Play, but usually they have at least a mode where each string can send on a different MIDI Channel. This way, you can set (for example) the first 6 timbres in a combi to the same program, but different channels, and then you can pitch bend each string individually. With all strings on the same channel, any bending will bend the whole chord, typically like it does on a keyboard. With the individual channels, you can do the very guitarish techniques of bending only a single note within a chord, which is typically very difficult to achieve on a keyboard.

[ed_f]

Awesome! Thanks Stephen!

Makes me feel better about buying the Karma app for the Kronos not 24 hours ago!

No problem.

A coupla other things. I mentioned Osc 1 in the HD-1 example, but obviously if it's a two osc program, you would want to modify the second oscillator the same way.

However, with a program inside a combi, you can either use the bend range of the Program (by setting it to PRG) or override it with a different number of semitones, so probably, even if you want to experiment with single programs, it may be easier to put the one program in a combi and you can easily modify the bend range right there.

Also, I'm not a guitarist and I've never had a guitar synth, but I do know something about the way they work. Not sure about the Triple Play, but usually they have at least a mode where each string can send on a different MIDI Channel. This way, you can set (for example) the first 6 timbres in a combi to the same program, but different channels, and then you can pitch bend each string individually. With all strings on the same channel, any bending will bend the whole chord, typically like it does on a keyboard. With the individual channels, you can do the very guitarish techniques of bending only a single note within a chord, which is typically very difficult to achieve on a keyboard.

This is a good point. I have a couple of different guitar midi rigs - sending each string on a channel opens up a lot of possibilities. You can even get different sounds for example upright bass on the lower strings and sax on the upper - stuff like that.

[Yuma]

We have a member on here who does a lot of guitaring through his Kronos. Jeebustrain I think?
There should be some YouTube tutorials of his floating around, and you could always PM him.

That was Jamsire with the following recordings:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/qakHJ8rNhNA" frameborder="0"></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/XjwKyVFP3Ek" frameborder="0"></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/y2kOrftCMr0" frameborder="0"></iframe>

[geebake]

Thanks Yuma. I found those three vids last night and watched them. Good stuff. I can't decide if I had more fun watching them or if he had more fun making them! "All Day!"

I'm really intrigued by his idea of using the high strings from a 12 string set. I can completely see the advantage. I wonder how it would 'feel' though. I am going to try it at some point.

Greg

[Yuma]

It must be really fun to play guitar while taking benefit from all the sounds that are in the Kronos.
And KARMA can even add an extra dimension to that!

[geebake]

It's a blast Yuma. I can't stop. My fingers are going to start bleeding.

And given that I can't play keyboards, it's critical to me.

Greg

[jamsire]

Hey guys - I just found this thread!

Glad you are doing midi guitar through the KRONOS. There is nothing better!!

Keep posting your progress. Very happy for your discovery. Yuma - thanks for the reference!!

[geebake]

Really great stuff Jamsire. I'm really anxious to try your 12 string thing.

I have discovered something interesting. I bought a Godin xtSA today. My intention was to use it through a VG99 that I already have. Wow is this ever a colossal fail. Useless combination. I found a few posts here and there that say you can't use any piezo saddle kind of thing with it. Too mmicrophic apparently. I'm not happy.

I got a used GR30 on ebay. I hope that works better.

Anyone have any experience with a piezo bridge kind of thing with a GR55? I'm tempted. But I don't want another fail. I have no interest in the synthetic sounds. Just guitar to midi.

Thanks,

Greg