Korg KRONOS sending sysex program change data annoyance

[epsilonradius]

Hey Guys!
Whenever I press transport buttons play/locate or enter into SEQ mode I find that the Kronos is sending midi PRG CHG data to my external gear and ruining my patch volume settings, It intializes all my patches to volume zero etc.

That is super annoying so I went into track parameters and disabled SysEX and CC messages out to circumvent the problem however when I start a new song the same issue occurs and I have to disable all the midi messages, how do I set the songs to have these messages disabled by default for all songs?


Any help would be so much appreciated!!!!
I love the Kronos a lot but sometimes I run into these problems that grinds my production to a halt.

[Mike Conway]

Yeah, there's something in that sequencer that sends out a message when you restart the song. Personally, I use the EXT2 track setting for my other external gear, especially the Virus TI which always seems to initialize. I insert a Program Change at the start of the track, so my gear play the right programs, as I change from song to song.

[epsilonradius]

Yeah, there's something in that sequencer that sends out a message when you restart the song. Personally, I use the EXT2 track setting for my other external gear, especially the Virus TI which always seems to initialize. I insert a Program Change at the start of the track, so my gear play the right programs, as I change from song to song.

Very Interesting, In my post I was referencing the same gear (Virus TI2).
I will check out EXT2 and sending program changes with it.

[epsilonradius]

OK, so I have switched over to my Prophet REV2 from the TI2 because I was so annoyed, now instead of patch volumes being initialized the locate/play button combination triggers the "play sequencer" mode on the Prophet....this is just sad, I think in our line of work hardware troubleshooting is half of music production.

[Mike Conway]

Very Interesting, In my post I was referencing the same gear (Virus TI2).
I will check out EXT2 and sending program changes with it.

What you do is insert the program change into a track. The TI works great with the Kronos. On the Virus, if you press the PROGRAM and MULTI buttons at the same time, the Virus goes into SEQ mode, which allows you to use 16 sounds at once (different tracks of course).

I actually use the Kronos sequencer to call up my favorite Virus sounds, in sets of 16. I have about 7 songs of 16 programs each. You can set each track to INT or EXT, so that the Kronos plays internal sounds and the Virus plays the external stuff. You can also select BOTH, if you want to layer the two synths.

Check out this video, at the 7:30 mark, to see examples of changing programs on the Virus and the Deepmind 12. Once you get the hang of it, the Kronos/Virus duo are insanely powerful and complimentary.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jNnM4Ifx0qY?start=449" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture"></iframe>

[epsilonradius]

Very Interesting, In my post I was referencing the same gear (Virus TI2).
I will check out EXT2 and sending program changes with it.

What you do is insert the program change into a track. The TI works great with the Kronos. On the Virus, if you press the PROGRAM and MULTI buttons at the same time, the Virus goes into SEQ mode, which allows you to use 16 sounds at once (different tracks of course).

I actually use the Kronos sequencer to call up my favorite Virus sounds, in sets of 16. I have about 7 songs of 16 programs each. You can set each track to INT or EXT, so that the Kronos plays internal sounds and the Virus plays the external stuff. You can also select BOTH, if you want to layer the two synths.

Check out this video, at the 7:30 mark, to see examples of changing programs on the Virus and the Deepmind 12. Once you get the hang of it, the Kronos/Virus duo are insanely powerful and complimentary.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jNnM4Ifx0qY?start=449" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture"></iframe>

So apparently even in sequencer mode the VIRUS TI2 still responds to initialization messages sent by the Kronos. I have to go into each song and disable "Other control change messages".

Basically the Kronos is sending undesired CC's to my gear, I am not sure how to disable this by default. I will be switching to my DAW for now but hopefully I can figure it out soon.

[Mike Conway]

If you go to Global - MIDI - set PARAMETER CHANGE to CC, instead of Sysex. Back in Sequencer mode, you can now control volume and program change.

Anything above Track 1 (2 - 16) will be fine. Track 1 will initialize, but you can get around it by inserting a program change at the beginning of that track. You can do that in MIDI EVENT EDIT, or just record yourself switching to that program.

[epsilonradius]

If you go to Global - MIDI - set PARAMETER CHANGE to CC, instead of Sysex. Back in Sequencer mode, you can now control volume and program change.

Anything above Track 1 (2 - 16) will be fine. Track 1 will initialize, but you can get around it by inserting a program change at the beginning of that track. You can do that in MIDI EVENT EDIT, or just record yourself switching to that program.

Thanks a lot Mike, I had set that parameter to CC but I have not messed around with inserting midi events, I will give this a shot.

Here is a capture of what the locate button does in sequencer mode with Param Edit set to = "Control Change":

0000191D 1 -- F3 00 -- -- --- Song Select
0000191E 1 -- F2 00 00 -- --- Song Position Ptr
0000194B 1 -- B0 00 00 1 --- CC: Bank MSB
0000194C 1 -- B0 20 00 1 --- CC: Bank LSB
0000194D 1 -- C0 00 -- 1 --- PC: Acc. Grand Piano
0000194E 1 -- B1 00 00 2 --- CC: Bank MSB
0000194F 1 -- B1 20 00 2 --- CC: Bank LSB
0000194F 1 -- C1 00 -- 2 --- PC: Acc. Grand Piano
00001953 1 -- B2 00 00 3 --- CC: Bank MSB
00001953 1 -- B2 20 02 3 --- CC: Bank LSB
00001953 1 -- C2 40 -- 3 --- PC: Soprano Sax
00001953 1 -- B3 00 00 4 --- CC: Bank MSB
00001954 1 -- B3 20 00 4 --- CC: Bank LSB
00001955 1 -- C3 00 -- 4 --- PC: Acc. Grand Piano
00001955 1 -- B4 00 00 5 --- CC: Bank MSB
00001956 1 -- B4 20 00 5 --- CC: Bank LSB
00001957 1 -- C4 00 -- 5 --- PC: Acc. Grand Piano
00001958 1 -- B5 00 00 6 --- CC: Bank MSB
00001959 1 -- B5 20 00 6 --- CC: Bank LSB
0000195A 1 -- C5 00 -- 6 --- PC: Acc. Grand Piano
0000195B 1 -- B6 00 00 7 --- CC: Bank MSB
0000195C 1 -- B6 20 00 7 --- CC: Bank LSB
0000195C 1 -- C6 00 -- 7 --- PC: Acc. Grand Piano
0000195D 1 -- B7 00 00 8 --- CC: Bank MSB
0000195E 1 -- B7 20 00 8 --- CC: Bank LSB
0000195F 1 -- C7 00 -- 8 --- PC: Acc. Grand Piano
00001960 1 -- B8 00 00 9 --- CC: Bank MSB
00001963 1 -- B8 20 00 9 --- CC: Bank LSB
00001963 1 -- C8 00 -- 9 --- PC: Acc. Grand Piano
00001963 1 -- B9 00 00 10 --- CC: Bank MSB
00001964 1 -- B9 20 00 10 --- CC: Bank LSB
00001964 1 -- C9 00 -- 10 --- PC: Drums
00001965 1 -- BA 00 00 11 --- CC: Bank MSB
00001966 1 -- BA 20 00 11 --- CC: Bank LSB
00001967 1 -- CA 00 -- 11 --- PC: Acc. Grand Piano
00001968 1 -- BB 00 00 12 --- CC: Bank MSB
00001969 1 -- BB 20 00 12 --- CC: Bank LSB
00001969 1 -- CB 00 -- 12 --- PC: Acc. Grand Piano
0000196A 1 -- BC 00 00 13 --- CC: Bank MSB
0000196B 1 -- BC 20 00 13 --- CC: Bank LSB
0000196C 1 -- CC 00 -- 13 --- PC: Acc. Grand Piano
0000196D 1 -- BD 00 00 14 --- CC: Bank MSB
0000196E 1 -- BD 20 00 14 --- CC: Bank LSB
0000196E 1 -- CD 00 -- 14 --- PC: Acc. Grand Piano
0000196F 1 -- BE 00 00 15 --- CC: Bank MSB
00001970 1 -- BE 20 00 15 --- CC: Bank LSB
00001971 1 -- CE 00 -- 15 --- PC: Acc. Grand Piano
00001972 1 -- BF 00 00 16 --- CC: Bank MSB
00001973 1 -- BF 20 00 16 --- CC: Bank LSB
00001974 1 -- CF 00 -- 16 --- PC: Acc. Grand Piano

[epsilonradius]

Ok so after finding that there was no way to eliminate all the midi messages that were coming out of the kronos, I have just installed MIDI OX on my laptop and filtered out all SYSEX, CC, PC etc.

Basically when I pressed any transport button, my Prophet REV2 would automatically start a sequence. Couldnt find the exact message that was causing it, I believe disabling all midi messages out in seq mode on the Kronos might be impossible.(except unplugging the midi cable)

[Mike Conway]

Like I said, I'll get the MIDI messages on Track 1/Channel 1. I input the program change to sort it. Channels 2 - 16 seem fine. Have you tried channels other than 1?

I've recorded years of projects with Kronos controlling external synths. Lately, my setup is the Kronos, Virus, and two Deepmind 12s.

[SeedyLee]

I’ve had this problem before and it’s super annoying, but I think. there is an elegant (but unintuitive) solutions.

By default, the Kronos will send program change messages and some default CCs (including volume) when starting a sequence to any channels whose status is set to EXT or EXT2. This applies even when global mode is set to use SysEx rather than continuous controllers for parameter changes. This often means that any changes made to a patch on an external instrument can be lost, or the wrong CCs changed (for example, volume). Many external synths will also reload the patch when a PC message is received.

For example, using the Kronos to sequence my Moog Subsequent 37 means that the program change message will cause any changes I've made to that patch to be lost. In addition, the Kronos will also send CC 91 and 92 (from memory), which is for the effects send level, but some synths interpret this differently.

There are two main ways to fix this:

1) For each track in the sequencer, set the MIDI filter to not send program change or "additional controllers" on a case-by-case basis. The downside of this is that "additional controllers" is an all or nothing approach, and often it's desirable to still send other controllers for automation purposes. Still, for program changes it's a useful way to suppress them.

2) In global, change the sequencer MIDI mode from "For Master" to "External Sequencer". This will prevent any program change/CC messages for volume etc being sent to external synths. The downside of this is that it's global, and you need to manually create events in the sequencer to initialise any programs or initial volume levels etc. It gives much more control though.