Master Controller

[philosorhymes]

Hi all receptor users, I just wanted to do a quick survery, to see whether I am becoming archaic in my expectations of modern controllers. Does anybody think that zoning is a very important feature in a master keyboard? Zoning in short is the ability to transmit on multiple midi channels simultaneously. I

It seems a lot of these newer controller keyboards are dropping such functionality. What do you think and how do you get round this? What are you using to control your receptor?

(Soundsmith I know I already asked this but I am just curious about others)

Ta,

Phil.

[twwilso]

my setup with my band absolutely depends on zoning. sometimes i wish my keyboard had 16 zones instead of just 4!

[philosorhymes]

Thanks twwilso, what controller do you use?

[bernie9]

I followed Soundsmith's reco,and bought an Axiom 61,mainly for the zones,but also for the 20 user programs. I am glad I did.

Bernie

[thesoundsmith]

Thanks for the feedback, Ernie. I don't like the key response, just a bit too deep, but Axiom will control just about anything, any way you need it to. I don't use zones because a) I don't need to, and b) they are too slow to access in the heat of live performance, at least the way I play. I fond zones most useful on a board that has enough keys to give me a usable range. on the Receptor, you can use multiple instruments on the same channel and use the key range to effectively create zones.

[AJones]

on the Receptor, you can use multiple instruments on the same channel and use the key range to effectively create zones.

Quite right - i also had concerns about zoning before i bought Receptor but there's no need. Using key ranges is a nice solution and they save with each multi you create.

[philosorhymes]

Hi Ajones, What about controlling each sound individually and not just splits; I have a setup where I have strings, epiano and piano all loaded at once for easy switching. All use the full range of the piano; At times I want only piano other times strings and piano or just epiano. (All spread across the keys but on different MIDI channels). Key ranges will not be helpful here, as they all sit across the entire piano. I keep them on different MIDI channels mainly to be able to control their volume and switch them in and out. Have you a scenario like this? How do you get round it without zones?

I guess, since I am playing the same thing I could assign them all to one channel and then use Receptors Mixer Faders to control the volumes, but then I cannot send specific MIDI CC's to each.

Phil.

[thesoundsmith]

Also every note plays multiple instruments, so your response time is slower, greater latency and chance of spiking audio or clicks...

[philosorhymes]

Also every note plays multiple instruments, so your response time is slower, greater latency and chance of spiking audio or clicks...

Hi Soundsmith, wouldn't this be the same if I had multiple instruments on the same MIDI channel? I guess the one advantage would be that I only play them when I need them so they are not just muted but literally bypassed. I don't mind using this method but my most important question is how you manage to control volumes of each instrument when they are all on one channel? Actually not just volume but all other CC's that might be common.

[thesoundsmith]

If you have 4 instruments on ch 1, fully tracked, each note plays 4 instruments. If the instruments are restricted to non-overlapping zones, either from the keyboard or the Receptor, then oyou only get one note sounding....

and yes, the cc's are in common, so you have to map stuff to be equivalent or know what NOT to tweak.