help microArranger

[tanis]

Hello everyone! I need help!, I am unable to play my Korg MicroArranger on a MIDI keyboard? I'm only the piano sound? and no arrangements? I'm looking I can not seem to get my
MicroArranger ALL items on the MIDI keyboard HELP PLEASE THANKS
PHILIPPE

[tacman7]

What is it you want to do exactly?

Trigger the arranger from another keyboard?

I trigger it from my DAW software.


I have to change the midi clock from internal to midi.

Then I think I did something in the global setup.

I can control the key with ch 1 ( and not hear the notes play) and play instruments on other channels.

Read through the instructions for global settings pages carefully and find what would help you in what you want to do.

[KorgMyStyle]

Similar problems here. Wanted MA to be Master, and my Yamaha to be slave. No matter what I do, it's piano sound, or gurgles of mis octave sounding notes. Have had to resort to using audio patch leads and play both keyboards instead. I think the midi channels have a bad mix up on their number assignments. I have tried switching clocks etc. I can midi Yamaha and Orla with no probs, but Yamaha to Korg, well it was no go. Any solutions ?

[siebenhirter]

I am unable to play my Korg MicroArranger on a MIDI keyboard ..

Wanted MA to be Master, and my Yamaha to be slave. .. Any solutions ?

Solution - for your needs configure Midisetup as described in user-manual:

If you do not want to use the keys of MA but the keys of an external device, then use one Input-Channel of MA as GLOBAL Channel (must be done in Midi-Setup).
So you can simulate the microARRANGER integrated keyboard. 
The  MIDI  messages  received  over  a  Global  channel  and not over a standard channel are affected by the buttons of the  KEYBOARD  MODE  section,  as  well  from  the  split point.  Therefore,  if  the  SPLIT  button  LED  is  lit  up, the notes that arrive to the microARRANGER over this channel will be divided by the split point into the Upper (above the split point) and Lower (below the split point) parts.
The notes that arrive to a Global channel are used for the chord recognition of the automatic accompaniment etc etc

If MA should be Master and Yamaha should be slave, then connect MA-MidiOut to Yamaha-MidiIN and setup Yamaha-tracks to same channels you want to play from MA. For example, if you wish to play Upper1 and Upper2 with Yamaha-Sounds, set Yamaha-Keyboard to receive on same channels of Upper1 and Upper2 of MA-tracks (by default ch1 and ch2)

MA’s physical keyboard can drive up to four track via Midi-Out (Upper  1–3 and Lower). Midi-Output channels are set in GlobalMode ( see Page 10 MIDI-Out-Channels on page 129).

Also MA-Sequencers track can drive a channel on external instrument, when you set each MA-tracks MidiOutput as described on page 129.

If you want to assign some Style-Tracks of MA to an external instrument, then set tracks to external status (Page 1 5 Track Internal/External on page 47) and select Default Midi-Setup.

Whatever you do with MA and Midi - maybe you want to use external Midi-Controls - first of all its most important, to configure the Midi-Setup of MA with decision what kind of track (RealtimeTrack, Background-Track, Chord, Global, Controls) is to send/receive.

I can midi Yamaha and Orla with no probs, but Yamaha to Korg, well it was no go.

.. as simple connections need no setups, but MA is not one simple device, but a soundmodule, a sequencer, an arranger and also a keyboard - and you can select which (or all) of them you want to connect with Midi-equipment.

[alfredokiwi]

I am unable to play my Korg MicroArranger on a MIDI keyboard ..

Wanted MA to be Master, and my Yamaha to be slave. .. Any solutions ?

Solution - for your needs configure Midisetup as described in user-manual:

If you do not want to use the keys of MA but the keys of an external device, then use one Input-Channel of MA as GLOBAL Channel (must be done in Midi-Setup).
So you can simulate the microARRANGER integrated keyboard. 
The  MIDI  messages  received  over  a  Global  channel  and not over a standard channel are affected by the buttons of the  KEYBOARD  MODE  section,  as  well  from  the  split point.  Therefore,  if  the  SPLIT  button  LED  is  lit  up, the notes that arrive to the microARRANGER over this channel will be divided by the split point into the Upper (above the split point) and Lower (below the split point) parts.
The notes that arrive to a Global channel are used for the chord recognition of the automatic accompaniment etc etc

If MA should be Master and Yamaha should be slave, then connect MA-MidiOut to Yamaha-MidiIN and setup Yamaha-tracks to same channels you want to play from MA. For example, if you wish to play Upper1 and Upper2 with Yamaha-Sounds, set Yamaha-Keyboard to receive on same channels of Upper1 and Upper2 of MA-tracks (by default ch1 and ch2)

MA’s physical keyboard can drive up to four track via Midi-Out (Upper  1–3 and Lower). Midi-Output channels are set in GlobalMode ( see Page 10 MIDI-Out-Channels on page 129).

Also MA-Sequencers track can drive a channel on external instrument, when you set each MA-tracks MidiOutput as described on page 129.

If you want to assign some Style-Tracks of MA to an external instrument, then set tracks to external status (Page 1 5 Track Internal/External on page 47) and select Default Midi-Setup.

Whatever you do with MA and Midi - maybe you want to use external Midi-Controls - first of all its most important, to configure the Midi-Setup of MA with decision what kind of track (RealtimeTrack, Background-Track, Chord, Global, Controls) is to send/receive.

I can midi Yamaha and Orla with no probs, but Yamaha to Korg, well it was no go.

.. as simple connections need no setups, but MA is not one simple device, but a soundmodule, a sequencer, an arranger and also a keyboard - and you can select which (or all) of them you want to connect with Midi-equipment.

I bought a Korg Microarranger supposing that a full control with an external normal size keyboard is possible, but the 2 buttons lower / upper chord scanning feature and the split function that works on the built-in mini keys don't work on external MIDI keyboard. On external MIDI keyboard the Microarranger recognize chords on the entire keybed ignoring the setup split point. Unfortunately using an external MIDI controller is impossible to play the upper and lower styles parts. Supposedly the MIDI IN input is the way to attach a normal size keyboard on microArranger very important to have such feature but unfortunately Korg seems to cut corners.

Is there a way to set the split point for lower & upper range when the external MIDI keyboard is in use?

An important question because the same "split key point" functionality should be available despite if an internal or external keyboard is in use.

[alfredokiwi]

The problem exposed here is a bit more complicated, because we have 2 MIDI ports as UART serial interface, the internal that performs the mini keybed scanning and the external MIDI connectors. We can say that there is no difference on both interfaces, because the built in mini keys on microArranger acts in the same way as a MIDI device.

An arranger is basically a looped pattern sequencer with real time chord recognition for the accompaniment. Chord types changes are basically defined patterns (mayor, minor, augmented, diminished, etc) with key transposition depending on the chord root and its inversions.

It seems that the microArranger use the internal keyscan IC microcontroller for the split function and program patches for each style. Such features unfortunately are not available on most MIDI synths and keyboards. Only advanced MIDI controllers can do the split function setting programs, channels and CC on defined keys ranges.

The weak point on microArranger is the non compliance to support basic MIDI keyboards and synths using only one channel for the entire keys range (normally channel 1). Unfortunately the MIDI implementation is not well documented, what I can understand reading the user manual there are 2 channels for MIDI input in chord recognition assuming that channel 1 is for the lower part and channel 2 for the upper, but I can´t confirm that.