Do any u-he synths work with the ROLI Seaboard Rise keyboards?

[ddeez]

? I want to potentially buy one. And would like to know. I.e. could i use the all the cool unique features that this keyboard has, with Diva for instance?


http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SeaboardR-49

[Urs]

We have not yet fully implemented MPE (or whatever it's going to be called) but afaik ROLI supports the multichannel MIDI implementation we have in Diva, Hive, ACE and Bazille (Zebra not before V3 I'm afraid)

[ddeez]

Thanks for the response as always Urs. Do you plan to implement MPE? If so when? How do i work with the U-HE synths when it comes to multichannel midi?

[Ciberithm]

I Just got a Roli Rise 49 and have been using it with Hive and Bazille. First you will need a DAW with MPE support. Both Bitwig and Cubase support this - there may be others. With Ableton Live, you can create 10 tracks and route them to a synth, but recording and editing MIDI clips this way is a major pain. My observations so far:

1) If using Bitwig, right click on the instrument device and select "Force MPE". If you don't, pitch bend won't work.

2) Cubase is better for mapping Roli's MIDI messages than Bitwig. Bitwig only let's you move a knob to detect the MIDI message. You have to touch a key to send the slide message and Bitwig maps the automation to the note-on message.
3) Pitch bend in the patch has to match the pitch bend range in the Roli dashboard. Thankfully, u-he uses text files for presets. I was able to do a find and replace on all my presets to replace PB=2 and PBD=2 with PB=24 and PBD=24 with a utility from codeplex called - wait for it - find and replace.

The Roli is awesome, at least for me. I bought a Rise 49 and after just two days with it bought a Rise 25 to use with my laptop.

[pdxindy]

the u-he synths don't work right in Bitwig... it wants a pitch range of +/- 48 and the u-he synths only go up to +/-24... pitch is only half what it should be, so you have to slide up 2 octaves on the keyboard to get a 1 octave slide...

also timbre is CC74 and does not work per channel in the u-he synths

so out of the X, Y and Z you have 1 of the 3 working right

it is so close, but far from satisfying.

[Ciberithm]

the u-he synths don't work right in Bitwig... it wants a pitch range of +/- 48 and the u-he synths only go up to +/-24... pitch is only half what it should be, so you have to slide up 2 octaves on the keyboard to get a 1 octave slide...

also timbre is CC74 and does not work per channel in the u-he synths

so out of the X, Y and Z you have 1 of the 3 working right

it is so close, but far from satisfying.

The pitch-bend does work correctly. Simply change the pitch-bend range in the Roli dashboard to 24 and you're good to go. I'm using the RISE, so can't tell you if that works with the Grand or not.

I am still working with the CC74 issue. I may try modifying the Roli controller script in Bitwig to change it to mod-wheel. While not perfect, the u-he synths do give you more sounds to use with the Roli, and they are the easiest I have found to setup so far. Synthmaster also works, but changing pitch-bend on every patch is a manual process as their patches are stored in binary format. Reaktor 6 also works somewhat, although many of the ensembles don't make it easy to adjust pitch-bend.

If I figure out the CC74 problem, I'll post in the forum.

[pdxindy]

the u-he synths don't work right in Bitwig... it wants a pitch range of +/- 48 and the u-he synths only go up to +/-24... pitch is only half what it should be, so you have to slide up 2 octaves on the keyboard to get a 1 octave slide...

also timbre is CC74 and does not work per channel in the u-he synths

so out of the X, Y and Z you have 1 of the 3 working right

it is so close, but far from satisfying.

The pitch-bend does work correctly. Simply change the pitch-bend range in the Roli dashboard to 24 and you're good to go. I'm using the RISE, so can't tell you if that works with the Grand or not.

I am still working with the CC74 issue. I may try modifying the Roli controller script in Bitwig to change it to mod-wheel. While not perfect, the u-he synths do give you more sounds to use with the Roli, and they are the easiest I have found to setup so far. Synthmaster also works, but changing pitch-bend on every patch is a manual process as their patches are stored in binary format. Reaktor 6 also works somewhat, although many of the ensembles don't make it easy to adjust pitch-bend.

If I figure out the CC74 problem, I'll post in the forum.

cool... thanks for the info!

I didn't know you could adjust pitch-bend to 24 in the Roli dashboard.

[Howard]

3) Pitch bend in the patch has to match the pitch bend range in the Roli dashboard. Thankfully, u-he uses text files for presets. I was able to do a find and replace on all my presets to replace PB=2 and PBD=2 with PB=24 and PBD=24 with a utility from codeplex called - wait for it - find and replace.

A temporary solution is to set both pitchbend ranges to 24, then 'lock' them (right-click and select 'Lock'). That way you can try out presets without messing with the data.

[Ciberithm]

A temporary solution is to set both pitchbend ranges to 24, then 'lock' them (right-click and select 'Lock'). That way you can try out presets without messing with the data.

Thanks for the tip. My method only worked for patches with a default pitch-bend of 2. I like your method much better. I made backups before changing all the presets, so I may change them back to the default.

I have figured out how to use the timbre mapping for the Roli in Bitwig. I added a Note MOD control as the first device on the track, then added Hive in the FX section of the Note MOD. I can now send any of the Roli's messages to parameters in Hive.

[Echoes in the Attic]

You may be able to play correctly on the seaboard by setting it to +/-24 pitch range for a synth that only supports that range, however you won't be able to record the proper note bend data in Bitwig, since the note pitch modulation still requires +/-48 to work correctly. So you'd have to record to audio right away I guess.

I do wish u-he would add cc74 modulation source that is channel per note in the MPE style. And I wish Bitwig would allow pitch ranges other then +/-48. I still think it woul dbe worthwhile for u-he to implement +/-48 but so many synths only do 24 that I feel like Bitwig would help things a lot of they allowed a custom range.

[Ciberithm]

I am able to record pitch-bend in Bitwig and get it to play back properly. The pitch-bend is recorded as micro-pitch and has a limit of plus/minus one octave. As long as the Roli and the synth match up, Bitwig records it OK.

[Vintage73]

I just saw this controller, and it's suddenly become the most important thing in my life.

Anyway, before I commit to one, what does it mean that it won't work with Zebra before 3? Will it not work as a midi controller at all, or will certain features not work? Zebra2 is by far my favorite synth that I own, and if I can't use it with this controller, then this controller has no place in my arsenal.

[pdxindy]

I just saw this controller, and it's suddenly become the most important thing in my life.

Anyway, before I commit to one, what does it mean that it won't work with Zebra before 3? Will it not work as a midi controller at all, or will certain features not work? Zebra2 is by far my favorite synth that I own, and if I can't use it with this controller, then this controller has no place in my arsenal.

It works fine with Zebra... just not polyphonically... pitch-bend will affect all active notes. Should work great for monophonic presets

[Vintage73]

I just saw this controller, and it's suddenly become the most important thing in my life.

Anyway, before I commit to one, what does it mean that it won't work with Zebra before 3? Will it not work as a midi controller at all, or will certain features not work? Zebra2 is by far my favorite synth that I own, and if I can't use it with this controller, then this controller has no place in my arsenal.

It works fine with Zebra... just not polyphonically... pitch-bend will affect all active notes. Should work great for monophonic presets

Thank you.

I guess I'll need to think about this a little while longer. Also just read the thread about this controller and there seem to be some issues, still. Seems cool, but I'm not sure it's ready for prime-time yet.

Sorry, that's not what this thread is about. I'll bow out now.

[nilhartman]

Rise 25 owner here, and I love it. I can't wait for full MPE support in U-He synths, I'm having tons of fun with Roli's Equator (which sounds good... but not as good as Diva & Bazille (don't own Zebra yet)) and Aalto (which is already optimized for Madrona Labs' own Soundplane). Such an inspiring keyboard, really.