Hello you wonderful Ketron users.

Welcome to the fourth issue of the NEW KNAT. I am really excited about the wonderful contributors to the new version. I will be including regular contributions from such people as Barry Crane of BCK in Great Britain, Bob Hughes of the Solton/Ketron Club, Leon or Ted Kraus of CMC Distributors, as well as contributions from various expert Ketron users. Because of the length of this month's material some material is being held until the September issue.

I have a new newsletter delivery service and uploaded all my old email addresses from my earlier service so if you are getting this and don't want it you can go to the link on the bottom of the email and you can delete yourself forever.

The goal will be the same -- to bring you useful tips as well as recent Ketron news.

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In this Issue:
1) In conversation with Ted from CMC by Jay Salam
2) A fifth installment on MIDI by Barry Crane
3) Solton/Ketron Club article from Bob Hughes
4) Some SD3/SD5 tips by "AJ"

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Barry Crane is one of the leading experts in MIDI technology and has very politely agreed to do a series of articles on MIDI. He will de-mystify it for all of us and help us learn to get the most out of our wonderful Ketron products. This highly informative article is also quite entertaining and easy to read.
[Another brilliant installment in what I hope most sincerely will be a published book on MIDI. I will be first in line to purchase it.-- Jay Salam]

MIDI Magic Part 4
Control Change Messages

Cat Jefferson has kindly pointed out I made a mistake in the last issue, I referred to some GM registered controls as RPN’s (Registered Parameter Numbers), I must state they are not RPN’s which are entirely different and I’ll get to them later. My only excuse for doing this is that I was also working on a future issue that was all about RPN and NRPN and must have got a bit carried away! A table listing all registered controls is at the end of this article. Note: Numbers we generally use for controls are listed in the “Dec” (Decimal) column.

Bank changes, I promised to take a look at how these can be used to access the extra sound banks found on the Ketron SD2 and other instruments that provide extra sound banks. In a previous article the good General MIDI was introduced, we discussed how he had standardised all the program changes so that all GM standard instruments could communicate and understand the Generals commands. These commands could only be as good as the lowest standard instrument in the collection, and being as the GM commands were issued sometime ago, things have moved on a pace.

The original GM instruments had one sound bank with 128 sounds or voices, this is still the same today and it’s footprint can’t be expanded without upsetting the standard, but just as we may have a building that fills our plot of land, to make it bigger, the only way is up. That’s what our instrument makers have done; they added extra levels or banks of sound. Tables provided with the instruments tell us what sounds are on which bank, but information on how you actually get to these is a bit thin on the ground, so here’s how.

I guess we are all familiar with Program Change numbers by now, PC 1 sounds a Grand Piano, press 33 and you get Jazz Bass, 72 for Clarinet, etc., well this is all on the GM sound bank, bank A, number 0, ground level. If you want to get to the other levels in a building, you call for an elevator and press the button for the level you want, same thing for MIDI bank levels. This is how:

Bank selection is achieved with a CC (Control Change) of 00 – this is like the act of calling for the elevator. By default this has a value of 0 – ground floor, you’ve gone nowhere, you’re still on bank A, the GM bank.

For the Ketron SD2 bank B, this has a value of 1. So to reach bank B simply enter CC00 with a value of 1 (call the elevator and choose the level you want to reach). Once the bank has been selected, send the Program change to select the sound just as you would with the usual GM bank (you won’t hear any change in sound until you do), but now instead of getting a Grand Piano from program change 1, you get a Jingle Piano, 33 gets a Warm Bass and 72 a Slide Trombone.

Bank C is reached in the same way, CC00 with a value of 10 this time.

This is all very well provided you have a method of sending CC messages and values. Most arranger keyboards, MIDI accordions and guitars are simply not equipped to send these bank select messages, but as with all MIDI products, the system is only as good as the weakest link. So what CAN send the correct message? Anything that can play a MIDI file, i.e. MIDI controller keyboards, computer sequencer programs and most specialised MIDI controller boxes. The old ForeFront Technology FT3 “Patch Commander” would be ideal for this, but it went out of production many years ago – try and find a second hand one.

So how do you do all this in the “Real World”? OK if you have a MIDI Controller keyboard, even one of those inexpensive jobs that you hook up to a computer, it’s probably got a button marked “Bank”, if it has, now decide which sound bank and sound you want to select. Page 38 in the SD2 manual shows a list of Bank B so choose from this list. For example say you want “Golden Trumpet” its number is 57. So press the “Bank” button and enter the bank number 001, then press the enter key. Most controller keyboards now default back to Program change numbers so enter the number 057 and enter (check the keyboards owners manual for more precise instructions as they vary from make and model). That’s it. For Bank C sounds instead of pressing 001 after the bank button, press 010 then enter, then choose the sound from the list on page 39 and enter.

If you have MIDI file playing capability in your set-up, consider making a short MIDI file that doesn’t have any musical notes, all it needs is 1 bar that contains the set-up information. This is easy to do if your sequencer program has an event editor. The first event should be the GM re-set SysEx , this is F0 7E 7F 09 01 F7, or if you want to use the SD2 specific reset it’s F0 26 7B 0E 00 01 F7 – either should do the same job. Next enter the Control Change 00 with a value of the bank B = 1, or C = 10. Then add a Program Change number. Using our Golden Trumpet example the event list will look like this:

MIDI Channel            Event               Value
1                                  SysEx              F0 7E 7F 09 01 F7 
1                                  CC 00              1                                 
1                                  PC                   57       

It’s best to separate the events with a few ticks between them.

If you have an existing MIDI file song that you want to change the bank and program number, first find the Program Change event for the MIDI channel you want to change, add the bank select BEFORE the PC, then change the PC to whatever sound you want in that bank.

Oh! A word of warning here, the numbers describe here assumes the control numbers start at 0, where some controllers start at 1, if this is he case move my numbers up by 1 so that bank B is CC00 value 2 and bank C is CC00 value 11.

I know many members really hate the idea of MIDI files, but you can use MIDI files without any notes to change the way your Ketron is set up. They are also a really good way to experiment with the codes I’ve described here, in previous and future KNAT articles. For this reason I’m going to describe how to use the “Event Editor” of a sequencer program to send the codes to a Ketron in detail. To do this you’ll need a computer sequencer program that has an Event Editor, such as Cakewalk. If you don’t have a sequencer program, yet fancy trying these experiments you can download a free demo version from this link, http://www.midi-connections.ch/Demos/LightSetupDemoGB.exe

This is the program I’ll be using in the KNAT descriptions.

You’ll also need a method of connecting your Ketron to computer via MIDI. Ketron supply a suitable USB to MIDI interface, or I can supply an XP/VISTA interface from the UK for 25 GBPounds (about 50 USDollars) including postage. (Similar model available in the US from Ketron U.S. for about $40.00)

So next time we’ll take a close look at how to send messages from the MIDI File set-up measure, find out how it works and maybe why some MIDI songs don’t work.

Table 3: Status Bytes 176-191; Control and Mode Changes (per channel)

(adapted from "MIDI by the Numbers" by D. Valenti-Electronic Musician 2/88)
Updated 1995 By the MIDI Manufacturers Association
WARNING: The details of this implementation could dramatically affect compatibility with other products. It is recommended that you consult the official MMA detailed specification for any additional information.

**Note: This equals the number of channels, or zero if the number of channels equals the number of voices in the receiver.
The MIDI Manufacturers Association approves of electronic distribution of this document via this and other sites, as long as it is not modified in any way.
Original HTML coding by Scott Lehman

Barry Crane is the owner of BCK Products in Britain and distributor of Ketron products and some MIDI files and style disks visit him at: http://www.bck.co.uk/

Bob Hughes has run the Ketron/Solton club for nearly 10 years and is one of the best club moderators around. The club has thrived due almost entirely to the philosophy of musicians helping musicians. It is a great club to belong to. He uses the Midjay in his personal appearances.

Some clever uses of the SD3/5
by Prince Ajua Alemanji (A.J.)

SD5/3 HINTS and TIPS.

REGISTRATIONS:
Although a more direct label for this feature would be SONG BOOK or SONG SETTINGS, KETRON chooses REGISTRATIONS as these do a lot more. Registrations store not only the ‘panel’ settings of the entire Arranger (voice selected, style selected, style tempo, transposition settings …etc), but also internal settings as Arranger modes, Play modes, Midi settings …etc. The good thing about this is these settings can be turned on/off for every REGISTER … in other words, the setting can be maintained or changed.

SINGLE and BLOCK Registrations are similar for the most part and differ as such …
SINGLE – Are stored on disk (Hard or Floppy) and so the number that can be stored is limited by the size of the media (in the thousands for the Hard Disk). These can be named using a max. of 8 characters and as such are useful if say naming after a song. Since these are stored on an external media, they usually require a couple of milliseconds to load.

BLOCK – Are stored within the internal memory of the machine. They are limited to about 178 registers per block. You can then copy these to disk and start all over. They are arranged NUMERICALLY and as such, it will benefit the user in taking note of where each song setting is stored. These can be recalled instantly.
However, in the SD5, the Block Registrations have been modified slightly in the sense that they can now be displayed in front of the screen and named as well (8 characters), so with the new Block registration, you also have the benefits of the Single registrations as well.

CREATING A SONG SETING/REGISRATION.
· Set up the keyboard as you would for a particular song (voice used [and in this category, you may also visit a group e.g. Sax and select the Tenor sax, visit PIANO and select Grand piano …) so that when ever you press the GROUP button, the last voice used in that groups is automatically selected – saving you an extra button push [or a couple depending on the page], … etc.
· When all is set, press the SAVE button and REGISTER (F1). The location where you want to store the current settings should be displayed, (you can change with the style numeric pad). Use the keyboard to enter a name and EXECUTE (F10).
· Repeat for as many song settings as you have.

RECALLING A SONG SETTING/REGISTRATION.
Located on the left side of the keyboard are 16 mini tabs that can be assigned to call up REGISTRATIONS. By pressing the SELECT MODE and choosing REGISRATIONS (F6), these buttons are used to recall any of the 16 registrations within the current bank (0-9). Press the REGISTRATION button. The first 16 registers are displayed on the screen. Ketron ships these units with presets which of course can be over-written.
· Use the Styles Numeric pad (0-9) to access the bank. The first 16 are in bank (0), the next 17-32 are in bank 1 … and so on. So long as the REGISTRATION button remains on the style buttons are now used to access the REGISTRATION banks. The individual registers are selected using the multi-tabs (1-16)

STYLE CREATION:
Many think (and in many cases they are correct in having such thoughts) that STYLE CREATION is limited to a chosen few. Creating styles on KETRON products is relatively easy … “let the arranger work for you” is the whole philosophy here.

TIPS:-
· TONALITY:- When you are in PATTERN EDIT mode, the tonality (default) value is M, Min, 7th – this means that whatever you are about to create/program will be reproduced whenever ALL chords are played (Major, Minor, 7th… etc). For more complex chord situations or breathing variety into your style try this…
· Press TONALITY until Min is displayed (in other words, what you are about to record will only be played back/heard when a Minor chord is played).
· Onto the style you have created, go to DRUMS and add a subtle accent e.g. high hat or conga. You may repeat this for the bass line to (walking bass in C).
· Try the style. You will see that only when you play a minor chord will your ‘accent’ be heard. This tremendously reduces ‘boredom’ in a style especially if using 8 measures or less.
· USING AN ODD NUMBER OF BARS/MEASURES:- Before you start programming a style, you have to set the number of bars (default is 4).
· Try setting to and ODD number of bars (say 5, 7). During programming , once more with drums and bass, insert slight variations to the current ARRANGEMENT (A, B, C or D) being programmed on the 5th or 7th measure.
· Most songs repeat after 4, 8 …etc measures. You will notice that due to these accents, your style ‘appears’ to sound different within each loop. This is because it is. The accents you have placed within the style no longer occur at the same place at the same time every time around per loop, but is now different.
· “BORROWING FROM KETRON”:- Now the truth is this – programming on the keyboard cannot yield the same results as using a Midi Sequencer like CUBASE for an example (notice, I didn’t say better). When trying to generate guitar strums and noises, why not utilize what’s already there with the COPY feature? Most KETRON styles are recorded in 4 or 8 measure loops. Plan ahead, set yours to this and COPY the chord parts (Chord 1-5) that suits your needs. With the new UNPLUGGED styles, this should make your life very easy (easier at least).

We welcome your feedback. Send all notes to knat@ketronus.com. We would like your comments, suggestions and ideas for future articles.
Sincerely,
Jay Salam and friends.