Simple Keyboard Expander use case

Using Zynthian
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Soooo…
I am the proud owner of a V2 Kit revived with the current Oram stable version. And this past weekend I just got a brand new V5.1 kit working. Over the last few weeks I’ve been here, checking out dozens and dozens of threads, trying to learn and understand how to make all the amazing features work for my immediate needs: a simple keyboard expander to use for live rehearsals with a band.

First, a bit about myself. I have a background in electronic engineering and experience in software development, but mainly in the last century. In computer music, I was a DOS/Windows guy and mastered Cakewalk for DOS and then Windows (Music Quest interface!). And I had a good understanding of the traditional Sonar/DAW sequencer workflow, playing a lot with complex MIDI setups and lots of VST effects and softsynths, complementing my MIDI-enabled music hardware (Emu Proteus 1/XR, Korg piano, Roland RD piano, XP60 and SH201), plus audio captured from legacy of my previous musician activity (Rhodes mk I 73, Clavinet E7, ARP Explorer I, Yamaha grand).

I’m (finally) getting back into music after a 20 year hiatus, and things have converged on my regular involvement with some school-based rock combos, where I definitely need a simple, lightweight, versatile keyboard expander to complement the piano that I have available there.
That’s where Zynthian came in.
What I’m going to carry around is the V5.1 (maybe even the V2, if I realize it’s enough for the sound needed for now – setBfree and Dexed), along with an M-Audio Keystation 49 MK3.

Now, I think I’ve established that I’m a newbie, even though I’m not really a noob. Yet, I often feel completely overwhelmed and still lost in the oceans of powerful features and insightful explanations from the great people here, so I appreciate any guidance you can give me to direct my efforts towards specific threads or sources of information.

I’m specifically trying to understand my best options for establishing the simplest workflow with the Keystation + Kit. I already realized that the best option would be to use the Keystation’s simple directional and transport buttons in the upper left corner (Ch1 MIDI, Mackie control or HUI) as an interface to control the ZS3’s menus.

[https://thumbs.static-thomann.de/thumb/padthumb600x600/pics/bdb/_44/445575/13422466_800.jpg]

Strangely, I can’t change the MIDI channel, so I may need to use Ch1 as the master channel (instead of the normally recommended Ch16) and set the keyboard to play using another channel. In fact, something that I find interesting, http://zynthian.local/ui-midi-options shows me:

MIDI INPUT Ports

  • Keystation 49 MK3 1
  • Keystation 49 MK3 2
  • USB HOST
  • a2j:Midi Through [14] (capture): Midi Through Port-0

That’s one device for that specific set of buttons and another for the keyboard, pitch and mod wheels (and volume, I think). I guess it would be nice to be able to lock Kit UI control to a specific MIDI device. Or having 16 channels per device (like the multiple Midi interfaces eg the Yamaha UX256 that I used back then), instead of just 16 overall. Maybe I’m missing some aspect here.

Would it make sense to consider the use of a controller device driver as there is for the Akai APC and such, or is it too complex for the possible outcome? I don’t think there is one.

Ok, this is already a long post, so I will stop here. Once I get this sorted, I hope I may contribute with some structured notes to help beginners to get going with this kind of use cases.
BTW, in the upcoming months, I plan to explore new grounds, with Pure Data and the integration of Koma Field Kit in my setup, but there is too much to learn before getting there.

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

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Hi @cfausto !!

Why not using the advanced mode to send program change ?

I read in the keystation user"s guide:

Keyboard: Most of the white keys and black keys on the Keystation are labeled with names. When in the Advanced mode, pressing any of the labeled keys will allow for special operations such as adjusting the MIDI channel, transposing, and sending program change messages.

Seems that advanced mode have a dedicated buttons, so It could be managed very fast.

If this is not an option, i would use any small controller with 4x4 pads and several banks.

There are very cheap options there:

Regards

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Thanks for your feedback @jofemodo!
Using this pad makes perfect sense, of course, I even have a Trigger Finger that I can use for this. But I was actually exploring the possibility of avoiding yet another device in the gig, just using the keyboard directional keys to navigate the snapshot menu, as @riban mentioned in Map SCREEN_ZS3 and scroll through sub-snapshots to midi messages?

Yesterday I brought the kit to rehearsal for the very first time.
I realized I also need to optimize the chains and overall volume control…
And I quickly remembered all the frustration of my last attempts at playing VSTs on a laptop 20 years ago… This is probably a limitation of my way of playing live, but whenever I try to mix the execution and control on the same keyboard, as if I needed to send those Program Changes, the result is terrible and stressful, with MIDI notes hanging and compromising the musical performance.

And that brings me to the second part of my Keyboard Expander use case.
Just like I used to do with the classic sequencer/DAW, I need to prepare the setup for each song in advance, with all the adjustments, presets, splits, clones, channels and so on, so that on stage I just select the song as needed, and some kind of script defines the complete environment. I think that’s what the ZS3 is for - and I confess that I still need to explore this subject. My question is: is there any offline tool to assist with this process, to jot down these settings incrementally in a plain text script or on a simple web view screen?
Thanks again, it’s great to have the right friendly people to discuss these topics!

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ZS3 is your friend here.

You can consider snapshot as the overall configuration of the machine for a session. It loads the chains with processors, synth engines, etc. it may take many seconds for this to load so is done before a session or in longer breaks between songs.

ZS3 is like a program select in other synths. It recalls presets, settings, etc. It can be very quick and we aspire to load ZS3 with minimal impact on audio and MIDI output. There may be some disruption, depending on the processors being used and the complexity of the change.

So, consider your session and what instruments, processors, sequences, etc. are required and create a snapshot. Then consider each part of that session, e.g. song, part, etc. and configure instrument presets and parameter customisation and store as ZS3.

Repeat for each part of the session. Then assign MIDI program change to each ZS3 to allow fast recall.

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This post was the way that I realised that snapshots are the equivalent of choosing an instrument and ZS3 is equivalent to programming it.

Thanks. :slight_smile:

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A fair summary. Snapshots get it out of the case, zs3 press it’s buttons.

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