Line 6 Midi Keyboard

[Florian Peitz]

Im trying to use my keyboard as a midi controller without a midi wire. I am currently using an aux cable as my connector which only allows me to live record the instrument without being able to control the instrument on my music software(studio one prime), I can only select the notes with my mouse.

MIDI does a lot more than just recognise what note is being played. The most reliable way to transmit all the data is via MIDI plugs and ables. The signal from aux contains different information, which can probably be translated by software, but at the moment, there's going to be garbled messages which are affected by latency. A MIDI 'board is still the best way to go - and most modern 'boards are MIDI equipped.

I'm using my new Helix as a USB audio interface, and it is working with audio sources great. My PC is Win10 with Reaper as my DAW, Intel i7-9750H 6 -core CPU, and 8GB RAM. The Helix is plugged directly into a USB 3.0 port, not via a hub, using the provided USB cable. The problem is with MIDI note data. I have my (admittedly ancient) Roland MKB-300 controller connected via the Helix's 5-pin USB In port. Reaper is dropping MIDI notes often when I play only moderately fast on the keyboard, especially when playing multiple notes with my right hand.

I have the Helix's MIDI Base Channel set to Omni, and MIDI Thru is on. MIDI over USB is on and MIDI Send is set to MIDI and USB. I have tried setting Reaper's buffer count higher, but this has not helped.

Another thing to look at is the total combined length of your MIDI cables, their age and condition, and maybe use some non-lubricated contact cleaner on the cable end that connects to the ancient Roland. Squirt some cleaner on the connector and work it in and out of the socket a few times. DO NOT squirt the cleaner INTO the Roland socket!

I'm not a reaper user, but every DAW I have used has "midi filter" settings hiding somewhere. Find that and make sure it isn't set to filter out notes by velocity... and make sure there isn't some sort of input quantizing going on.

Since I normally use my Helix Floor or my Scarlett 18i20 for this, and couldn't believe that there's a difference between Floor MIDI OR Scarlett and HXS, I took my HXS into the studio where my eDrums are and tested it.

There is no difference. There is as little MIDI latency going through the HXS as through the Floor, and that's as little as can be. It's EXACTLY the same as if I connect through my Scarlett 18i20. If you're experiencing MIDI latency with the HXS, there's some other problem in your setup.

I have a full-sized MIDI keyboard which I want to record with. I am using my Helix as an audio interface as well as a guitar processor and, combining the Helix FX with the 5 or 6 voices built into the keyboard I can create quite a wide range of sounds. Happy days.

However, the keyboard only has 2 outputs - a MIDI output and the headphone jack. Knowing the Helix has a MIDI input, I bought a MIDI cable and assumed I could run the keyboard into the Helix and select the input on the Helix as the MIDI. However, I cannot find a setting which allows me to do this. Moreover, when I connect them and press keys it changes settings and presets and stuff. I understand that MIDI signals can be used to trigger certain changes in the Helix, although I'm not interested in that at the moment. All I want to do is run the keyboard through the Helix (utilising some of its FX on the way) and into my DAW (Reaper) to record.

I CAN record the keyboard, but it involves running out of the headphone jack of the keyboard (via a 1/8 to 1/4 jack adaptor) and into the guitar input of the Helix. The sound quality isn't the best and there is a little background hiss. I'm sure there must be a way to just take the MIDI signal and that this must result in better sound quality.

You can control your helix with the midi coming from your keyboard (turning effects on/off, changing patches, parameters, etc.) but there is no audio there to be processed that's why midi can't be an input to be processed by the helix.

If you want the audio coming from you keyboard to be processed by the Helix you will indeed need to go the analog wiring route. The most appropriate input on your helix would be the aux in and not guitar in.

Hi all, i just picked up a crappy bottom of the line midi keyboard to suit my broke ass recording needs and obviously the keyboard has no velocity control, when you hit a key, no matter how hard, it comes out the same volume, when recording in pro tools, is there a way to semi mimic the velocity of a piano or midi effect? i know pro tools has a random velocity setting but if anyone has any advice on using a midi keyboard with out velocity successfully i would really appreciate the feedback. i do have a couple more days to return the keyboard and wait for something better to come along but if i can still use it as a tool and change the settings in the DAW i will do.

thanks

Max

I can't say for pro tools, but in cubase you can draw in velocity curves for the phrases in the piano roll editor, So you play in, then draw in the light and shade - and then start to go mad! When I first started using Cubasis in college, everyone had to do this because in those days, velocity sensitive keyboards were rare and expensive. You really, really don't want to do this - it's tiresome, boring and musically difficult to do.

Probably NOT quality, but realistically - well worth getting a proper master keyboard with continuous controller knobs and faders - some of these are quite modest in price. Pitchbend and modulation wheels as a minimum - but the one I use now has piles of programmable features and the best thing I have for MIDI work. Have a look on Thomann.de

I too use a weighted keyboard, 88 notes for the piano stuff, but recently I bought one of Thomann's own controller keyboards - 88 keys - not weighted but similar feel to a Hammond organ, so hand slides and slaps work well - it has aftertouch, and loads of sliders, pads and buttons that can be programmed to do anything - plus tape controls - fast forward, rewind, stop play record etc. Wasn't huge money. If you don't need velocity sensitivity, in the UK you can get something useful for about 60 quid - 49 notes, which is probably enough for basic stuff.

I am currently repairing an old pre-MIDI synthesizer which I'd like to add external MIDI control to. I'm just wondering if it's possible with Arduino (it feels like something it should excel at but I've trawled through the forum and haven't found any threads for MIDI 'in', so forgive me if this has been covered previously).

The synthesizer I'm working on has an 8x7 active-high keyboard matrix. Actually, it's mostly a 8x6 matrix, however the top key (C) has its own data line. Lines KD1 to KD8 are select lines and lines B1 to B7 are data lines.

You may already be familiar with how keyboard matrices work, but just in case:

The key scanner MPU in the synthesizer emits a regular 5V pulse along its Select lines. The select lines pulses are not emitted concurrently but at timing intervals relative to one another (e.g. at 20μS intervals). It also monitors on its Data lines for 5V (0V at default). When a key is depressed, the keyscanner receives 5V into its Data lines and it calculates which Select line the pulse is coming from.

So, say for example there are two Select lines and two Data lines and we have keys A1 and B1 on Select line 1 and keys A2 and B2 on select line 2. Both A keys are on Data line 1, and both B keys are on Data line 2. So when key A1 is depressed, the circuit is completed and the keyscanner receives a 5V pulse into Data line 1. It then checks which select line the pulse came from and assigns the note value to the synthesizer.

What I would like to do is use the Arduino to convert MIDI data into 5V pulses. However, it would need to be able to monitor the Select lines in the synthesizer so that it could output the 5V so that it is in time with the correct Select line's pulse. So the Arduino would have 8 inputs from the Select lines, and 7 outputs to the Data lines. I think.

But no one's gonna stop you from modding it just for fun of course.

I think an Arduino should be able to handle that, if you make your program fast enough. Take a look at direct port manipulation, for example and use (pin change) interrupts on the 8 select lines.

You'll probably have to write your own MIDI in function: if the byte you read from the Serial port has a 1 as MSB, it's a status byte (the start of a MIDI message). This byte contains the message type (note on or off) and the channel (you could probably ignore this). The next byte should have a 0 as MSB, and contains the note number. Use this data to update an 8-byte array with note states (using some bitwise operations and logic). In most cases, you can probably ignore the third byte, it's the velocity. However, some MIDI devices send a note on with velocity = 0 instead of a note off. This can be very frustrating.

In your ISR (interrupt service routine, the piece of code that executes when one of the 8 select lines changes state), use direct port manipulation to determine which one of the 8 lines (0-7) is high or low, and use that number as the index of your note states array. Then output the contents of the byte to the right pins. If you use clever wiring, you can output 6 bits at once, using direct port manipulation. Using bitshifts and bitmasks, you can get the right bits to the proper output register. It would be convenient if the Uno had 8-bit output registers, but only PORTD has 8 bits, but you can't use pin 0 and 1, because you're already using them for Serial (MIDI) communication.

On a serious note ( ) though, a MIDI retrofit would allow me to play sequences into the synthesizer while tweaking it in real time, which is the goal. There was a universal retrofit for matrix keyboard synthesizers available previously but it seems to have gone out of production.

I presume I can ignore any MIDI data that I don't want. Specifically, the MIDI note numbers I'll be interested in will be C2 to C6 or (I think. MIDI note numbers 48 and 96) as the keyboard on the synthesizer is only 49 keys. Anything outside that range would be useless as it would be beyond that which the key scanner could use

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