Korg Forums

[chaosmoon]

I've re-approached this a few times.

So far, following Fat Elvis' PadKontrol tutorial and applying it to the MicroKontrol PDF, i've managed to get past the "Native Mode in", "Packet Communication 1" and "Packet Communication 2" section. I can get the pads to light up, color the lcd screens and enter text into the main display.

But now?

Chapter 2-2 isn't making sense to me. Do i have to tell it there's a package coming then send it commands? The "3-2 Native Korg mode messages" are not working at this point.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[chaosmoon]

Ok, so i realised The MicroKontrol has 4 packets for initial configuration.

I can now turn all the leds on or off and write text to all the LCD screens, but the singular midi commands(PDF 3-2) are still not working.

What confuses me is that the packet commands 1-4 will work even without sending a "Native mode IN" command.

When i send my initial "Native mode IN" command: F0 42 40 6E 00 00 00 01 F7 it dims all the pads and main LCD but the 8 slider LCDs remain the same. Is this normal?

[chaosmoon]

bingo.

i redid my 1st packet. Must've made a mistake initially.

I'm going to get myself sorted and write a similar tutorial to Fat Elvis' for the MicroKontrol.

[pocketbear]

hi,

did you ever get round to doing a tutorial for the microkontrol? would really love to see it if you did...

[chaosmoon]

No i didn't. I figured it out and now just reuse the string. Once the MicroKontrol is in Native Mode you can alter most of the initial setting on a single package basis. If you use Max/MSP your in luck because i've put a primer here:

MicroKontrol Primer for Max/MSP

It has the native in and out commands and demonstrates how to light up the pads. From there you can use the MicroKONTROL_MIDI.pdf from chapter 3-2 on page 10 to get dirty with it.

If you don't use Max get back to me and i'll re-figure out how i did it. Pretty easy in the end. Basically the same as the Fat Elvis tutorial except the MicroKONTROL needs more "Packet Communication" setup steps before it submits.

[pocketbear]

i don't have max i'm afraid...

also, if you'll forgive my ignorance, what's the best way to get sysex messages to the microkontrol? I've downloaded sysex librarian (on OSX), but that only seems to deal with sysex files, and won't let me write my own.

[chaosmoon]

Hex fiend should do the trick:

http://ridiculousfish.com/hexfiend/

And here's a decimal-hex-binary calculator:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/28871

Making strings in hexfiend and sending them with librarian isn't going to be much fun though, each blink of a light is a string or two.

Heres a simple 8step sequencer i put together:

http://chaosmoon.info/resources/MK_8step_01-OSX.zip

Its a standalone application made in MAX/MSP. You will need to install the free runtime to get it to work:

http://www.cycling74.com/download/maxmspruntime463.dmg

Here's a demo on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLU4PRC2BzI

good luck!

[pocketbear]

you, sir, are a genius. thank you.

[malcolmflipper]

Hi, this sounds interesting but I can't glean much information from the MAX patch, especially for putting text in the windows. If a full native mode is available this would really interest me! Is it possible to make a list of all the commands?

[chaosmoon]

sure:

http://www.korg.com/downloads/pdf/microKONTROL_MIDI.pdf

you'll be on page 10

[malcolmflipper]

OH ok, got you!
From what you were saying, it looked like you were hacking the padKontrol instructions. I never heard of the microKontrol native mode before! Thanks.

[chaosmoon]

My patch will save you going through all the initial packet communications to get the MK into native mode. You can get straight into the fun part!