Beat707 NXT and Zynthian

HansDampf · August 28, 2021, 1:00pm

Hi all
I believe I read here that some users played with the Beat707-Nxt a very nifty step sequencer.
I am trying to get some sound out of my zynthian but they do not want to play nicely together.
I have the Beat707 initialised to default values sending on Midi#10 and did a simple drum beat with note 036 C3 every 4 beats. I put the zynthian in multi timbral mode and loaded a fluidsynth drum on #10. There is no sound coming from the zynthian and the midi log is very strange:
CH#15 PITCHWHEEL -4509

CH#15 PITCHWHEEL -7709

CH#01 PROGRAM_CHANGE 33

CH#01 PROGRAM_CHANGE 30

CH#01 PROGRAM_CHANGE 54

CH#01 PROGRAM_CHANGE 0

CH#01 PROGRAM_CHANGE 98

CH#01 PROGRAM_CHANGE 28

CH#01 PROGRAM_CHANGE 18

CH#01 PROGRAM_CHANGE 0

CH#01 PROGRAM_CHANGE 3

CH#01 NOTE_OFF 33, Vel: 30

CH#01 NOTE_OFF 98, Vel: 0

CH#01 NOTE_OFF 99, Vel: 28

CH#01 NOTE_OFF 120, Vel: 3

CH#01 PROGRAM_CHANGE 33

CH#15 AFTERTOUCH 56

CH#01 PROGRAM_CHANGE 33

CH#15 AFTERTOUCH 0

CH#15 AFTERTOUCH 28

CH#15 AFTERTOUCH 0

CH#15 AFTERTOUCH 98

CH#13 NOTE_OFF 28, Vel: 64

CH#13 NOTE_ON 98, Vel: 28

CH#13 NOTE_ON 123, Vel: 3

CH#15 AFTERTOUCH 0

CH#15 AFTERTOUCH 98

CH#15 AFTERTOUCH 28

CH#15 NOTE_OFF 0, Vel: 99

CH#13 NOTE_ON 98, Vel: 28

CH#13 NOTE_ON 124, Vel: 3

CH#01 PROGRAM_CHANGE 33

CH#15 AFTERTOUCH 62

CH#15 AFTERTOUCH 0

CH#15 AFTERTOUCH 98

CH#15 AFTERTOUCH 28

CH#15 AFTERTOUCH 99

CH#15 AFTERTOUCH 3

CH#01 PROGRAM_CHANGE 30

CH#13 NOTE_OFF 98, Vel: 28

CH#13 NOTE_OFF 99, Vel: 3

CH#01 NOTE_OFF 98, Vel: 28

CH#01 NOTE_OFF 99, Vel: 3

CH#01 PROGRAM_CHANGE 30

CH#01 PROGRAM_CHANGE 49

CH#01 PROGRAM_CHANGE 98

CH#01 PROGRAM_CHANGE 28

CH#01 PROGRAM_CHANGE 99

CH#01 PROGRAM_CHANGE 3

CH#01 NOTE_OFF 49, Vel: 98

CH#01 NOTE_OFF 28, Vel: 99

CH#01 NOTE_OFF 33, Vel: 30

CH#01 NOTE_OFF 54, Vel: 0

CH#01 NOTE_OFF 98, Vel: 28

CH#01 NOTE_OFF 18, Vel: 0

CH#01 NOTE_OFF 98, Vel: 28

CH#01 NOTE_OFF 111, Vel: 3

CH#01 PROGRAM_CHANGE 33

CH#01 PROGRAM_CHANGE 30

CH#01 PROGRAM_CHANGE 99

CH#01 PROGRAM_CHANGE 0

CH#01 PROGRAM_CHANGE 99

CH#01 PROGRAM_CHANGE 28

CH#01 PROGRAM_CHANGE 120

CH#01 PROGRAM_CHANGE 3

CH#01 PROGRAM_CHANGE 33

CH#15 AFTERTOUCH 0

CH#15 AFTERTOUCH 28

CH#15 AFTERTOUCH 0

CH#15 AFTERTOUCH 98

CH#13 NOTE_OFF 28, Vel: 64

CH#13 NOTE_ON 99, Vel: 28

CH#15 AFTERTOUCH 98

CH#15 AFTERTOUCH 28

CH#13 NOTE_ON 98, Vel: 28

CH#13 NOTE_ON 124, Vel: 3

CH#01 NOTE_OFF 62, Vel: 0

CH#01 NOTE_OFF 99, Vel: 28

CH#01 NOTE_OFF 0, Vel: 0

CH#15 PITCHWHEEL -8066

CH#15 PITCHWHEEL -8065

CH#15 PITCHWHEEL -8066

CH#15 PITCHWHEEL -8065

SYS STOP

Can someone point me in the right direction where to look for the error.

cheers

Jerryn · August 28, 2021, 1:37pm

You are using the right tool. Do you have voices assigned to those channels ? Is the master volume at 0 ? Is the volume for each channel above 0? Is your Zynthian in Multitimbre or stage mode ? You want multimbre mode

HansDampf · August 28, 2021, 1:59pm

The zynthian is in multi-timbre mode and I have a drumkit assigned to channel 10. I was expecting to see note_on 36 on channel 10. But it jumps all over the notes and channels. I guess it is the Beat707, but I do not know how to check this.

jofemodo · August 30, 2021, 11:32am

Hi @HansDampf !

First, note that the MIDI-log tool have a “select-box” on the top-left. You can use this select-box for choosing the MIDI-stream you are logging.
Second, it seems that your Beat707-Nxt is not sending the notes on the channel 10, but on channels 1 and 13.
Third, all these program-change messages could be potentially confusing for the zynthian and they should be avoided.
Last all this “aftertouch” messages on channel 15 is strange. Do you have more MIDI devices connected to the zynthian?

Regards,

HansDampf · August 31, 2021, 8:25am

Hi jofemodo
thanks for getting back to me. When I did the recording it was only the Beat707 connected to the zynthian. I did some more research and it seems to be the Beat707. With a freshly initialised memory (No notes at all) it sends this crap data (channel 1, 13 and 15) as well. But I never see any Note On Commands.
On the control panel everything looks like it is working. I can select the midi channel and the note and everything is stored to the flash memory. I even tried the music tracks but it never sends any Note On command.
Did someone build this successfully?
cheers

riban · August 31, 2021, 10:01am

It sounds like bugs with Beat707 so maybe report issues back at that project. If you have other MIDI kit you can test with to exclude Zynthian from the equation it would help give you confidence it is an issue with Beat707.

What features does Beat707 have that you find useful that are missing from Zynthian’s own step sequencer? You may find that adding feature requests for changes to Zynthian sequencer may be progressed more (or less) swiftly than fixes or changes to external sequencers.

HansDampf · September 1, 2021, 8:37am

Hi Brian
thanks I tried the one you linked as well. It seems to be an older version that still has the song mode. For me it has the same issues, it does not send any Note On Commands and a lot of garbage. This is the repository I used GitHub - Beat707/Beat707-Projects: All projects created by William Kalfelz for Beat707.com
I really like the built in step sequencer of the zynthian, it is way more powerful than this one. I just combined the Beat707 with an Arduino synth in a box for my godchild to play around with, hoping it will work someday.