Kronos1 output suddenly silent in sequencer mode

Nihoteph · Post by **Nihoteph** » Mon Aug 12, 2019 9:08 am

Hi!
I managed to run my Kronos1 from the Reaper DAW.
When doing some music I noticed that if I move around the top
joystick to adjust filters etc the Kronos can suddenly become silent (quite randomly!) and then start to make sound when I touch the joystick again.

When this happens the channel volumes goes down to zero but in the processor usage tab it seem to continue on processing just like before (approx 70% CPU usage, still in the green but with quite abit of voice stealing).

Anyone knows what might be happening? Some kind of overload protection?

voip · Post by **voip** » Mon Aug 12, 2019 9:23 am

It could be noisy Vector Joystick pot(s). Does the situation improve after the Vector Joystick has been "wiggled" across its full range a few times?

.

Nihoteph · Post by **Nihoteph** » Mon Aug 12, 2019 9:44 am

Thanks, it does not make a difference moving it around. I will investigate more in detail with a MIDI data viewer later if this is the issue.

The joysticks seems to work fine in PROG mode. This "feature" can also happen if I move around the pitchbend joystick, but way more rarely.

voip · Post by **voip** » Mon Aug 12, 2019 10:32 am

Is there a MIDI connection back from Reaper to the Kronos?

Nihoteph · Post by **Nihoteph** » Mon Aug 12, 2019 10:52 am

Yes. The Midi Tracks are played by the Reaper DAW through the Krono's USB-Midi. I also record tracks from Kronos keyboard into Reaper.

Reaper is not set to echo incoming data back to the Kronos unless I did a mistake (the Kronos has local control enabled to reduce some latency).

psionic311 · Post by **psionic311** » Mon Aug 12, 2019 1:46 pm

Something to consider:

That top joystick is the Vector Joystick. By default, it is set to fade volumes of timbres in/out.

Next to the PLAY tab in your combi is the EQ/Vector tab. In there you will find the Vector Volume tab, where you can de-select "Enable Volume Control" (upper left of screen).

Nihoteph · Post by **Nihoteph** » Tue Aug 13, 2019 9:33 am

Thanks! Yes, I found the volume fading of the vector joystick not that usable.

I have done some more research:
1. Vector Joystick produces correct values when spying on it with a MIDI watcher.

2. Kronos can become silent also when moving the pitchbend-joystick.

What happens when audio stops is: All sequencer volume bars goes to zero. Kronos becomes silent. But it is is still receiving MIDI input from the DAW since CPU/voice usage just continues on as previously (it follows the music).

I found several ways to break out of this:
Move either joystick, or go into Global/MIDI settings and change local echo on/off (or whatever it is called). Other knobs like PAN etc does not affect anything, nor pressing note keys.

Its almost like some kind of overheat protection? But why then is the CPU usage still up. I use lots of drums and a heavy patch called "dobuled screamer" which eats voices like hell (lots of voice stealing happening).
A short test this morning seem to indicate that if I mute that particular patch the Kronos does not become silent.

As a software engineer I would say this points to it being some kind of bug actually.

psionic311 · Post by **psionic311** » Tue Aug 13, 2019 11:38 am

Nihoteph wrote:What happens when audio stops is: All sequencer volume bars go to zero. Kronos becomes silent. But it is is still receiving MIDI input from the DAW since CPU/voice usage just continues on as previously (it follows the music).

I found several ways to break out of this.

(lots of voice stealing happening).

These are indications of a MIDI loop. In your DAW, turn off MIDI echo. Changing your Kronos to MIDI Local Off also breaks the loop.

yeskeys · Post by **yeskeys** » Tue Aug 13, 2019 9:51 pm

maybe there's some voodoo applied to your ribbon and you're touching it by accident?

Nihoteph · Post by **Nihoteph** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 6:15 am

Thanks psionic311
It WAS a MIDI-loop it seems , because now the issue does no longer appear.
I had forgot to turn off "Record Monitoring" for one of the channels in REAPER (I am rather new to this). In addition I set all channels on the Kronos to be "INT" under "Track Parameter / MIDI" to avoid any additional data bouncing back into REAPER.

Now I also turned off the joystick-to-volume (thanks for the tip!)

I think this MIDI-loop caused some internal MIDI buffer inside the Kronos to fill up and sound stopped. Wish Korg could put an alert somewhere (like the performance monitor) when things like this happens.

Happy Camper! Now back to work on the old-school techno tune.

Nihoteph · Post by **Nihoteph** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 6:34 am

yeskeys: The ribbon controller is innocent in this case.
However, I feel I sacrifice alot of skin to make the thing happy.
I have to hold down annoyingly hard onto the surface to get consistent values. A MIDI dump explains a lot of the glitching I heard when I used it before, the controller believes I release my finger and spits out some random "64" values in the middle of the sweep.

I disabled the jumping-to-middle by SW2 using EQ/Vector/Controller and then Controllers and SW2, selecting "ribbon" in the combobox.
Nevertheless this is a bit annoying.