Recording to an ext sequencer

dcer10 · Post by **dcer10** » Sat Jan 12, 2013 11:55 am

I'm trying to record karma, notes from my USB connected padkontrol, key presses etc to my roland mc-808 via midi (as I'm not a big fan of the kronos int sequencer, and the mc-808 has 1.3million note capacity vs kronos 400k).

I'm managing to get the midi recordings on the mc-808 but I need to turn local on to do so, which seems to create a midi loop as I'm getting phasing. I can turn local off after the recording to get rid of the phasing. Is there a cleaner way to do this without the midi loop or changing the local setting all the time?

The mc-808 doesn't have many options to do with midi thru (it only has in/out but it seems to be passing the midi in to the midi out- using real midi cables, not USB).

Bald Eagle · Post by **Bald Eagle** » Sat Jan 12, 2013 1:00 pm

The simple answer is that there is no clean way to do it.

As you already know local control has to be on when you want to record karma. No matter if you use hardware or software for recording you will have an issue with the midi feedback.

I'm not familiar with the mc-808 so I can't give you specific information but with Sonar I can turn off input echo while recording or I can route the midi somewhere else. You should look for a similar function. But in the end you will have to change some settings no matter what.

Kontrol49 · Post by **Kontrol49** » Sat Jan 12, 2013 2:19 pm

If you just want to record Midi data into the MC808 from Kronos,To save you all the headaches of midi echo and such and frustration of getting it to all work together,why don't you use the Kronos sequencer to record the karma data internally and then simply save the result as a SMF and transfer it to the MC808.

Bald Eagle · Post by **Bald Eagle** » Sat Jan 12, 2013 2:42 pm

Kontrol49 wrote:If you just want to record Midi data into the MC808 from Kronos,To save you all the headaches of midi echo and such and frustration of getting it to all work together,why don't you use the Kronos sequencer to record the karma data internally and then simply save the result as a SMF and transfer it to the MC808.

I sometimes use this method of recording karma into the internal sequencer first and then transferring to the DAW. Also, unless you're going to be modifying the karma performance you don't even have to record it. As long as you record the karma input channel it will retrigger karma when played back. It all depends on what you are trying to accomplish.

MoonMusic · Post by **MoonMusic** » Sat Jan 12, 2013 3:30 pm

Maybe you could try resampling it and save into a program and then when you load the program in song mode, you can record the midi data on your roland with one simple pad to play back the sample....Sounds complicated I know but if you learn how to do this quickly, it wouldn't be too bad....Plus you could stack many samples within that one program to trigger back many layers within your song....moon

dcer10 · Post by **dcer10** » Sat Jan 12, 2013 11:24 pm

Kontrol49 wrote:If you just want to record Midi data into the MC808 from Kronos,To save you all the headaches of midi echo and such and frustration of getting it to all work together,why don't you use the Kronos sequencer to record the karma data internally and then simply save the result as a SMF and transfer it to the MC808.

Thanks for the suggestion. Not a bad idea but I find the kronos sequencer highly frustrating and counter creative. It will probably record a bunch of extra stuff like program data which I was trying to avoid too which will then require editing, which I'm also trying to avoid.

Ill give it a go again and see if its a workflow I might enjoy.

dcer10 · Post by **dcer10** » Sat Jan 12, 2013 11:27 pm

MoonMusic wrote:Maybe you could try resampling it and save into a program and then when you load the program in song mode, you can record the midi data on your roland with one simple pad to play back the sample....Sounds complicated I know but if you learn how to do this quickly, it wouldn't be too bad....Plus you could stack many samples within that one program to trigger back many layers within your song....moon

Also a good suggestion but I need to save all the sample ram possible for some songs I'm going to mix in with my midi set.

It's a shame, I updated to the 3gb of ram but only 1gb is available for my own samples. I also upgraded to a 128gb coz agility 4 ssd so I need to learn more about streaming from disk.

Kontrol49 · Post by **Kontrol49** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 11:29 am

dcer10 wrote:Thanks for the suggestion. Not a bad idea but I find the kronos sequencer highly frustrating and counter creative. It will probably record a bunch of extra stuff like program data which I was trying to avoid too which will then require editing, which I'm also trying to avoid.

Ill give it a go again and see if its a workflow I might enjoy.

You are able to filter out what midi data is recorded on the Kronos in the Midi filter page in the Sequencer.

dcer10 · Post by **dcer10** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 11:29 am

Kontrol49 wrote:If you just want to record Midi data into the MC808 from Kronos,To save you all the headaches of midi echo and such and frustration of getting it to all work together,why don't you use the Kronos sequencer to record the karma data internally and then simply save the result as a SMF and transfer it to the MC808.

I went back and gave it a go, it actually is the best option in my opinion. Thanks for the suggestion! This method is especially useful as the MC-808 can host its internal memory as a USB disk to the Kronos I could save the SMF type 1 (type 0 is not liked by the MC-808) directly into the MC-808 internal memory. Quick and clean.

On reflection I had another look at the Kronos sequencer and its not as bad as I remember it as. I think I had just moved from my M3 to the Kronos when I made my mind up that I didn't like it but if I look at it not compared to the M3 but compared to other workstations I have used its not actually that bad, the M3 sequencer is just very good

JPWC · Post by **JPWC** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 2:00 pm

I may have missed something but.

Use only one MIDI cable during this process, MIDI out on Kronos, to MIDI in on MC808.

dcer10 · Post by **dcer10** » Wed Jan 16, 2013 11:37 am

Fair point but

1) my studio is very neatly patched and I hate pulling cables out - let alone I'm lazy.

2) the mc808 is the midi master which works out well for me in this situation and I'd prefer to not keep changing settings when doing different tasks.

I was just looking for an elegant use of settings to avoid making changes all the time, but I guess there isn't one given the mc808 has limited choices for handling the midi forwarding that is creating the feedback loop.