Trinity Plus Microtune-Transpose-Load OS 2.41...Strange!!!
Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 9:33 am
Hi to all.
Apologies for this huge post but i need to describe all issues in detail. Please to anyone who thinks that could help... try to read it carefully.
Recently i checked a global setting of my Trinity Plus. I have also installed PBS + 2chips option (I am mentioning that in order to let you know about the expansions that are installed in my Trinity)
Just to let you know, this Trinity was not a Trinity Plus from the factory.
I had the Keyboard and then purchased Solo-Tri and PBS-Tri separately.
Anyway when i first installed those options i loaded OS 2.41 making also an ENTER+0 Reset for the SRAM chips to be initialized.
Everything went well and Trinity displayed Korg Trinity plus with PBS-Tri in the expansions drop list below.
I have loaded my set and my samples and the Trinity was 100% ok.
The above was just for your information in order to know the history of the instrument.
Now lets go to my issue:
I have noticed something that has to do with the Global setting of "Midi Position" This parameter can be set either to "Post KBD" or to "PreTG".
I use scales in my playing. What i mean is that i am doing microtune programming user scales which i then use into programs.
Now if somebody uses User Scales and needs to make a transpose he has two options. Options are described below in CASE 1 and 2 mentioning how they should normally work.
CASE 1.Transposing having Midi Position to POST KBD: With this option the Key reference of the scale is not transported accordingly meaning that if you transpose (+1 for example) and have POST KBD selected, the Trinity will not be able to play the same microtuning scale correctly from the new tone because the Key Reference is not affected by the Global Transpose. In order to do so having the Midi Position to "POST KBD" I will have to manually go to Program Edit (Page 1, Basic, Scale) and transpose manually the Scale key of the Program as well (If for example it was set to "C" in the program's scale edit page i would need to make it "C#" in order to maintain the same scale after transpose. If i need to transport +3 then i would need to manually set the key from "C" to "D#"
CASE 2.Transposing having Midi Position to PRE TG. This is a more convenient setting for transposing. The Key reference of the microtuning scale is transported automatically following the Global Transpose. This means that if i transpose a Microtuned Program the Key Reference transposed accordingly without the user to navigate to Program's Scale Edit and manually change the Key like above. This setting allows the user to have the same micotuning from all tones by just transposing from Global Menu.
The above is HOW Midi Position is supposed to operate.
--OFFTOPIC: Have in mind that Triton Extreme had a similar issue to the one that i am going to describe below but only in EXB MOSS related Programs and Combis that were related to those programs. Triton Extreme Midi Position settings are referred as POST and PRE MIDI (slightly different terminology). There was a bug WHEN Post Midi was selected because this made the Transpose to be performed not in Semitonal steps but in Tonal ones. Even when the user wanted Transpose +/-1, +/-3, +/-5....he could not do that. I had reported that to Korg and several months later they released Triton Extreme Version 1.06 which fixed the bug.
I remember then, that i had checked my Trinity Plus for the same bug (i didn't have the PBS installed at that time) and it was ok. PCM-ROM based microtuned programs were transposed ok and also Solo-Tri based microtuned programs were transposed ok. When i say ok i mean like in the cases 1 and 2 i described above.
I have to mention that i also have a second Trinity in which i have a Moss-Tri installed and Transposing of Microtuned programs works ok as well (like in cases 1 and 2 according to user's selection) to both PCM Rom based and Moss Tri related Programs.
Yesterday i was checking some sounds to my Trinity with the Solo-Tri Board. I have to mention that when i had installed PBS and the 2 SRAM chips (7 months ago) i did not notice what i am describing in this post. To be honest i didn't check. I had only checked that the SRAM and PBS were recognized by the instrument. Anyway yesterday I checked some sounds and did some Transposes. What i noticed was that the PCM based microtuned sounds were transposed ok maintaining the scale (while Pre TG enabled) but the Solo-Programs did not. More specifically PRE-TG or POST KBD Midi Position settings didn't affect the Solo-Tri Microtuned Programs at all!! The scale was not maintained after Global Transpose because none of the settings cause the Reference Key of the scale to be automatically transposed at the same time with the Global Transposing. It was like that both settings (PRE-TG and POST KBD) operated the same way. The strange thing is that this happened only to Solo-Tri programs and of course to Combis that included a Solo-Tri program.
What i did after in order to check all possibilities was to reload OS 2.41.
When i did that (using New Floppies and Fresh OS Copies...downloaded at the time from official Korg Sites) everything was displayed ok and i got the message that OS loading was completed succesfully.
After reloading the OS (1st time downloaded from KORG USA site) I have noticed something really strange...the instrument had maintained my Patches loaded even after update!!!!!???!!! I mean despite the new OS loading my Patches (Programs, Combis) were still there without me reloading them. I have also downloaded the same version from KORG UK. I have made another 2 floppies (new as well and not the same with the previous) and tried to reload the OS. Everything completed ok with not even a single error message but after that my Patches were still there. It was like the new OS loading was not affecting the patches at all. Of course neither USA nor UK OS's updates fixed the Transpose/Microtuning issue
Initially i thought that my Trinity didn't read the OS at all because even after doing the procedure (Enter + Reset while switching on, floppy change in the middle of procedure, and so on...) and even after the automatic restart that Trinity does by itself in the ending of an OS update, my Programs and Combis were still there. What i did afterwards was to manually get rid of my set. So i held Enter+0 while turning the instrument on. This caused my patches to be kicked out. So after that i had my Trinity with A,B,C,D (Remember i have PBS and 2 SRAM Chips) and S banks reading InitProgxxx.
After that and without loading any sets i checked Microtuning and Transpose again. The problem was still there. PCM based programs operated ok in both POST KBD and PRE TG but Solo base programs did not.
I then reloaded my set. I did it in sucess but still Transpose/Microtuning issue for Solo Programs was there.
Then i thought that a Manual Reset with Enter+0 was not the safe way to be sure that the instrument would actually read the new fresh OS on top of the previous because 2.41 Version was loaded already before doing the fresh 2.41 update. So i thought that in order to be sure that the instrument actually updates the 2.41 OS with the fresh copy, i would need first to change to 3.1.1 (Version for Trinity V3) and then return back to the fresh 2.41.
Remember...before doing so i had my set reloaded by me after Enter+0 wiped out my patches. After updating to OS 3.1.1 the instrument was reset reading Trinity OS Version 3.1.1 but without mentioning "Plus". This is totally normal because 3.1.1 Version does not recognize Solo-Tri. Version 3.1.1 had also initialized all Banks as it should do. (Remember that 2.41 didn't do that causing my set to be still in the instrument even after OS update).
After that i reloaded my set again. S patches were ignored of course since 3.1.1 was loaded but A,B,C and D banks were properly loaded with my patches. After that I reloaded OS 2.41 again in order to be sure that the Instrument will read it and change from 3.1.1 back to 2.41. OS 2.41 was succesfully loaded, the instrument displayed OS Version 2.41 and Plus but my set was for once more still there...(except from S patches which were ignored from previous loading under OS 3.1.1) I have repeated the procedure using Both US and UK official fresh copies of 2.41 but both leaded to the same result. Of course Transpose/Microtuning of S programs issue was still there.
I have tried to run the Test Mode and everything was ok. At the start of the Test Mode procedure (ENTER+5) I got the additional info that the instrument has MOSS VERSION 10. (Just to let you know MOSS VERSION is displayed in both cases where Solo Tri or Moss Tri are installed. Solo-Tri may be called Solo but it is actually a (M)ulti (O)sclilator (S)ynthesis (S)ystem and that's why it is called Moss.)
I have 2 friends who have Trinity Plus and Trinity Plus + PBS including 2 S-RAM chips respectively. I have contacted both of them for reference and they told me that this Microtuning/Transpose Issue does not exist to their instruments and everything works ok. They also sent me their sets to try them out using the very exact reference in case that some other Global Parameter in my set caused my Trinity not to correspond correctly. I loaded their sets but again i had the same issue.
Conclusion: Possible Reasons for the above issue
1. Rather unlikely but what i think is that SRAM chips or the PBS itself caused this Microtuning/Transpose after the installation in the instrument. PBS Sample based sounds however are working ok (like PCM Rom).
2. Solo-Tri does not co-operate correctly as far as Midi Position Setting is concerned. I have to mention that I have never dealt with any problems with my Solo-Tri Board. Perhaps the S/N version of the Solo-Tri I have is old and does not allow the Midi Position to be set correctly. Perhaps this issue is not possible to be corrected with Software updates and needs Hardware Update (Chip replacement(s) on the board). Perhaps it is something that has to do with that Moss Version 10 display in the beginning of the TEST MODE.
3. My Trinity Motherboard is an old S/N version which does not allow the Midi Position to be set correctly when using a Solo-Tri board. Perhaps like above this issue is not possible to be corrected with Software updates and needs Hardware Update (Chip replacement(s) on the board).
Does anyone have a clue?
Please help me to determine the reason for which all the above happen.
PS. Perhaps i will try to Transfer the Solo-Tri board to my second Trinity (Currently V3) and check. I will also fit the Moss-Tri to the Current Plus and do the check again. What i need to avoid is (if after the switch both work ok) to uninstall PBS from the current Plus. Apart from the fact that it is not so easy to uninstall those 2 S-RAM chips from the Motherboard I need to maintain both PBS-Tri ando Solo-Tri installed to the same instrument. The reason is that i have sets that combine Programs based to Solo-Tri and PBS-Tri.
Apologies for this huge post but i need to describe all issues in detail. Please to anyone who thinks that could help... try to read it carefully.
Recently i checked a global setting of my Trinity Plus. I have also installed PBS + 2chips option (I am mentioning that in order to let you know about the expansions that are installed in my Trinity)
Just to let you know, this Trinity was not a Trinity Plus from the factory.
I had the Keyboard and then purchased Solo-Tri and PBS-Tri separately.
Anyway when i first installed those options i loaded OS 2.41 making also an ENTER+0 Reset for the SRAM chips to be initialized.
Everything went well and Trinity displayed Korg Trinity plus with PBS-Tri in the expansions drop list below.
I have loaded my set and my samples and the Trinity was 100% ok.
The above was just for your information in order to know the history of the instrument.
Now lets go to my issue:
I have noticed something that has to do with the Global setting of "Midi Position" This parameter can be set either to "Post KBD" or to "PreTG".
I use scales in my playing. What i mean is that i am doing microtune programming user scales which i then use into programs.
Now if somebody uses User Scales and needs to make a transpose he has two options. Options are described below in CASE 1 and 2 mentioning how they should normally work.
CASE 1.Transposing having Midi Position to POST KBD: With this option the Key reference of the scale is not transported accordingly meaning that if you transpose (+1 for example) and have POST KBD selected, the Trinity will not be able to play the same microtuning scale correctly from the new tone because the Key Reference is not affected by the Global Transpose. In order to do so having the Midi Position to "POST KBD" I will have to manually go to Program Edit (Page 1, Basic, Scale) and transpose manually the Scale key of the Program as well (If for example it was set to "C" in the program's scale edit page i would need to make it "C#" in order to maintain the same scale after transpose. If i need to transport +3 then i would need to manually set the key from "C" to "D#"
CASE 2.Transposing having Midi Position to PRE TG. This is a more convenient setting for transposing. The Key reference of the microtuning scale is transported automatically following the Global Transpose. This means that if i transpose a Microtuned Program the Key Reference transposed accordingly without the user to navigate to Program's Scale Edit and manually change the Key like above. This setting allows the user to have the same micotuning from all tones by just transposing from Global Menu.
The above is HOW Midi Position is supposed to operate.
--OFFTOPIC: Have in mind that Triton Extreme had a similar issue to the one that i am going to describe below but only in EXB MOSS related Programs and Combis that were related to those programs. Triton Extreme Midi Position settings are referred as POST and PRE MIDI (slightly different terminology). There was a bug WHEN Post Midi was selected because this made the Transpose to be performed not in Semitonal steps but in Tonal ones. Even when the user wanted Transpose +/-1, +/-3, +/-5....he could not do that. I had reported that to Korg and several months later they released Triton Extreme Version 1.06 which fixed the bug.
I remember then, that i had checked my Trinity Plus for the same bug (i didn't have the PBS installed at that time) and it was ok. PCM-ROM based microtuned programs were transposed ok and also Solo-Tri based microtuned programs were transposed ok. When i say ok i mean like in the cases 1 and 2 i described above.
I have to mention that i also have a second Trinity in which i have a Moss-Tri installed and Transposing of Microtuned programs works ok as well (like in cases 1 and 2 according to user's selection) to both PCM Rom based and Moss Tri related Programs.
Yesterday i was checking some sounds to my Trinity with the Solo-Tri Board. I have to mention that when i had installed PBS and the 2 SRAM chips (7 months ago) i did not notice what i am describing in this post. To be honest i didn't check. I had only checked that the SRAM and PBS were recognized by the instrument. Anyway yesterday I checked some sounds and did some Transposes. What i noticed was that the PCM based microtuned sounds were transposed ok maintaining the scale (while Pre TG enabled) but the Solo-Programs did not. More specifically PRE-TG or POST KBD Midi Position settings didn't affect the Solo-Tri Microtuned Programs at all!! The scale was not maintained after Global Transpose because none of the settings cause the Reference Key of the scale to be automatically transposed at the same time with the Global Transposing. It was like that both settings (PRE-TG and POST KBD) operated the same way. The strange thing is that this happened only to Solo-Tri programs and of course to Combis that included a Solo-Tri program.
What i did after in order to check all possibilities was to reload OS 2.41.
When i did that (using New Floppies and Fresh OS Copies...downloaded at the time from official Korg Sites) everything was displayed ok and i got the message that OS loading was completed succesfully.
After reloading the OS (1st time downloaded from KORG USA site) I have noticed something really strange...the instrument had maintained my Patches loaded even after update!!!!!???!!! I mean despite the new OS loading my Patches (Programs, Combis) were still there without me reloading them. I have also downloaded the same version from KORG UK. I have made another 2 floppies (new as well and not the same with the previous) and tried to reload the OS. Everything completed ok with not even a single error message but after that my Patches were still there. It was like the new OS loading was not affecting the patches at all. Of course neither USA nor UK OS's updates fixed the Transpose/Microtuning issue
Initially i thought that my Trinity didn't read the OS at all because even after doing the procedure (Enter + Reset while switching on, floppy change in the middle of procedure, and so on...) and even after the automatic restart that Trinity does by itself in the ending of an OS update, my Programs and Combis were still there. What i did afterwards was to manually get rid of my set. So i held Enter+0 while turning the instrument on. This caused my patches to be kicked out. So after that i had my Trinity with A,B,C,D (Remember i have PBS and 2 SRAM Chips) and S banks reading InitProgxxx.
After that and without loading any sets i checked Microtuning and Transpose again. The problem was still there. PCM based programs operated ok in both POST KBD and PRE TG but Solo base programs did not.
I then reloaded my set. I did it in sucess but still Transpose/Microtuning issue for Solo Programs was there.
Then i thought that a Manual Reset with Enter+0 was not the safe way to be sure that the instrument would actually read the new fresh OS on top of the previous because 2.41 Version was loaded already before doing the fresh 2.41 update. So i thought that in order to be sure that the instrument actually updates the 2.41 OS with the fresh copy, i would need first to change to 3.1.1 (Version for Trinity V3) and then return back to the fresh 2.41.
Remember...before doing so i had my set reloaded by me after Enter+0 wiped out my patches. After updating to OS 3.1.1 the instrument was reset reading Trinity OS Version 3.1.1 but without mentioning "Plus". This is totally normal because 3.1.1 Version does not recognize Solo-Tri. Version 3.1.1 had also initialized all Banks as it should do. (Remember that 2.41 didn't do that causing my set to be still in the instrument even after OS update).
After that i reloaded my set again. S patches were ignored of course since 3.1.1 was loaded but A,B,C and D banks were properly loaded with my patches. After that I reloaded OS 2.41 again in order to be sure that the Instrument will read it and change from 3.1.1 back to 2.41. OS 2.41 was succesfully loaded, the instrument displayed OS Version 2.41 and Plus but my set was for once more still there...(except from S patches which were ignored from previous loading under OS 3.1.1) I have repeated the procedure using Both US and UK official fresh copies of 2.41 but both leaded to the same result. Of course Transpose/Microtuning of S programs issue was still there.
I have tried to run the Test Mode and everything was ok. At the start of the Test Mode procedure (ENTER+5) I got the additional info that the instrument has MOSS VERSION 10. (Just to let you know MOSS VERSION is displayed in both cases where Solo Tri or Moss Tri are installed. Solo-Tri may be called Solo but it is actually a (M)ulti (O)sclilator (S)ynthesis (S)ystem and that's why it is called Moss.)
I have 2 friends who have Trinity Plus and Trinity Plus + PBS including 2 S-RAM chips respectively. I have contacted both of them for reference and they told me that this Microtuning/Transpose Issue does not exist to their instruments and everything works ok. They also sent me their sets to try them out using the very exact reference in case that some other Global Parameter in my set caused my Trinity not to correspond correctly. I loaded their sets but again i had the same issue.
Conclusion: Possible Reasons for the above issue
1. Rather unlikely but what i think is that SRAM chips or the PBS itself caused this Microtuning/Transpose after the installation in the instrument. PBS Sample based sounds however are working ok (like PCM Rom).
2. Solo-Tri does not co-operate correctly as far as Midi Position Setting is concerned. I have to mention that I have never dealt with any problems with my Solo-Tri Board. Perhaps the S/N version of the Solo-Tri I have is old and does not allow the Midi Position to be set correctly. Perhaps this issue is not possible to be corrected with Software updates and needs Hardware Update (Chip replacement(s) on the board). Perhaps it is something that has to do with that Moss Version 10 display in the beginning of the TEST MODE.
3. My Trinity Motherboard is an old S/N version which does not allow the Midi Position to be set correctly when using a Solo-Tri board. Perhaps like above this issue is not possible to be corrected with Software updates and needs Hardware Update (Chip replacement(s) on the board).
Does anyone have a clue?
Please help me to determine the reason for which all the above happen.
PS. Perhaps i will try to Transfer the Solo-Tri board to my second Trinity (Currently V3) and check. I will also fit the Moss-Tri to the Current Plus and do the check again. What i need to avoid is (if after the switch both work ok) to uninstall PBS from the current Plus. Apart from the fact that it is not so easy to uninstall those 2 S-RAM chips from the Motherboard I need to maintain both PBS-Tri ando Solo-Tri installed to the same instrument. The reason is that i have sets that combine Programs based to Solo-Tri and PBS-Tri.