WK-7600 split function through midi

[H-D]

I have the same problem which is already described by another user in the article below.  I want to split the keyboard to play either A) manual drawbar with Rotary on for the right split and organ with no rotary on the left split and B: manual drawbar with rotary on the right split and piano on the left split (common requirements for reggae style play).  I also raise the octaves of the left split in both setups.  As described the Rotary is only available on the left split.  To get around this limitation, it has been recommended to try connecting the Casio to a midi brain to acheive the desired result.  There are multiple Casio videos on you tube describing how to do this.  Before investing in any cables or apps, I would like to first check if this solution will actually work.  Do the split and octave functions work in conjunction with a midi brain?  Would I be able to still split the keyboard to the desired sounds and octave shifts described in the two use cases?  Also, can the Casio WK-7600 be used to connect to a midi brain in an Iphone rather than an Ipad?

 

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H-D

 

Yes !  You can do what you want with either an iPad or an iPhone and the WK-7600, but there are a few caveats that you need to know about before you start investing.  Essentially, you will be using the iOS app as a sound module, with its own rotary function, for the upper (right) tone and one of the WK-7600's own internal tones for the lower (left) tone.  The WK-7600 transmits MIDI note-on/off signals for the Upper-1 (Right) tone on MIDI Channel 1, those for the Upper-2 (Layered) tone on MIDI Channel 2, and those for the Lower (Left) tone on MIDI Channel -3.  This brings up to the first item you need to check for when selecting the iOS app.  Some (most ? / many ?) apps allow you to set the MIDI channel that the app will respond to.  This is ideal.  Some are fixed and only respond to Channel 1.  While this may be severly limiting to most users, it would work for you, as that is the channel you want it to respond to - the one associated with the upper (right) portion of the keyboard split, but some are fixed in Omni mode, which means the app responds to any note-on/off signals on any of the 16 channels.  These apps will not work for you, as they would respond, not only to the Channel 1 (Upper-1 (Right)) signals, but to the Channel 3 (Lower (Left)) signals as well, so you end up with your single organ tone on the right and that same organ tone layered with your Lower tone on the left.  The strangest one is the Garage Band app that comes with the iOS devices.  It allows you to differentiate between MIDI channels, but only during the recording process.  In normal play mode, it defaults to Omni mode.  So, the organs in Garage Band will not work for you.  There is an app that will allow you to filter off unwanted channels, but it will only output to external or network connected devices.  It will not output to internal sound module apps.  Once you have an app and all the necessary cables and adapters, you need a way to silence the keyboard's internal tone on the upper (right) so it does not layer with your external (right) tone.  You can not use the keyboard's MIDI "Local Off" function for this, as it applies to the full range of the keyboard.  You can not "split" the Local Off function.  If you use it, it will silence your Lower (Left) tones as well as the upper (right) internal tones.  What I did on my CTK-7000 and WK-7500 is take the default Stereo Grand Piano, went into Tone Edit, reduced its volume to zero, named it "Zero Volume", and saved it as User Tone 001.  Then I just select that as my Upper (Right) tone.  I could  have done it as a registration, but why waste an entire set-up registration just to silence the internal response to the upper zone of the keyboard.  Besides, if I do want a complete registration, I can just include that User Tone as a part of the registration.

 

I am using an app called "Organ+", but even though it allows assigning the incoming MIDI channels to each of the upper and lower manuals of a full, dual manual. organ, I will not recommend it to you as its rotary function is horribly rudimentary.  It sounds OK, but it is strictly ON/OFF.  Even thought it does have a "depth" control, it has no fast/slow speed switching, and there is no acceleration/deceleration when you turn it on and off.  Definitely not much realism.  Too bad, as it is a fairly decent app otherwise, and its chorused tremolo voices are really nice.  An app called "Galileo Organ" appears to be the current ultimate in drawbar organ emulators, but it appears to be for the iPad only.  That leaves the one titled "C3B3".  It claims to be for both the iPhone and the iPad.  My concern about doing this with the iPhone is that, if you intend to manipulate the drawbars in realtime, as you play, you may find the smaller screen of the iPhone just too cramped for accurate control.  If you do decide to go down this path, you will need to research whatever app you are interested in on your own.  I can not test them for you as both of those I mentioned require iOS-7 or higher.  I am currently stuck with the older iOS 6.3 in order to keep my Akai SynthStation working.  Akai bailed out of the iOS arena several years ago and will no longer offer updates, and I rely on it way too much to sacrifice it for my drawbar organ wants/needs, no matter how much I would dearly love to have "Galileo" !  I don't know if my old iPad-3 clunker would even run the latest 9.X iOS.

 

As far as cables and adapters, if you have an iPhone 4, you will need the same Camera Connector Kit that is used on the older iPads, and a standard USB cable.  Try to get a cable that is as light weight as possible to reduce the torque stress that it applies to the connectors.  If you have an iPhone 5, you will need the above, plus a USB-to-Lightning adapter to adapt the 30 pin connector of the Camera Connector to the smaller "Lightning" connectors of the newer iPads and iPhones.  You will also need an audio cable with a 3.5 mm TRS (stereo) connector on one end and the appropriate connector/adapter on the other end to connect the iPhone's "Phones-out" connection to whatever audio system you are going to.  You can use a cable with 3.5 mm connectors on both ends to connect the iPhone's output to the WK-7600's Audio-In and allow the keyboard to mix it with the its own output to its internal speakers or to its Line Out jacks.  None of this allows for powering the iPhone as you play, so you need to start with a fully charged battery.  If you do use one of the devices that allow you to charge the battery as you play, you will most likely not be able to connect the iPhone's audio out to the keyboard's audio in, or you risk running into the dreaded USB ground loop hum.  This one is an unknown before you actually try it.  Some set ups work OK.  Most don't.

 

As for your questions regarding octave offsets, when the WK-7600 is running in "Splt" mode, you can control the Octave Offsets of the Upper-1 (Main), Upper-2 (Layered), and Lower (Split) tones from the front panel of the keyboard with the "Octave" control, but if you intend to shift octave offsets in realtime, as you play, the number of button presses required may throw your timing off.  In that case, you might want to save your octave offset "schemes" into consecutive registrations within a given bank, so that you can switch between them with a single button press, as you play.

 

OK, I think I have covered everything you asked about, but if not, or if you have additional questions, give a shout.  I hope this helps.

 

Good luck !

 

Regards,

 

Ted

 

[H-D]

Sorry for the delayed response, this is really great advice.  I'm starting to like the appeal of using an
Ipad/I phone less and less for the setup.  I've also got a second midi controller keyboard and I would like to
incorporate this into the setup to so that I could have 3 sounds ready to go when playing gigs (i know i'm probably
looking for the impossible here)
1. small midi controller keyboard playing either piano sound or organ with no leslie
2. left hand split of the casio with piano or organ with no leslie
3. right hand split organ sounds with leslie
I'm thinking that it's probably not possible to connect two midi controller keyboards to the Ipad, not sure
a dual lighting cable exists but even if a cable existed to plug two USB B devices into the Ipad, the app
may be able to talk to both devices, depending on the channel capabilities you mentioned earlier. 
I'm not sure how reliable the whole setup would be.  I'm thinking maybe if I can find a physical midi module which
will take the two controllers might be the way to go.  I guess in that case I would have to search for one
which allows you to also manipulate the midi channels in the way I would need it, but looking for
a physical midi module online is proving difficult, not sure there are many manufacturing them?
Another alternative might be to sell the WK-7600 and buy a keyboard that allows the split function to
work the way I want it, do Casio do a more advanced model with this function available? 

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H-D

 

I am going to start by addressing your very last comment/question in your most recent reply.  Perhaps it is time to analyze your reason(s) for purchasing the WK-7600 to begin with.  If you purchased it because you were looking for a full-fledged Arranger Workstation, with advanced one-man-band capabilities, at a reasonable price, then you are kind of stuck with your current split/rotary predicament, when it comes to Casio, at least.  The WK-7XXX has been Casio's top-of-the-line Arranger Workstation for some years now..  The are arranger-type PX stage piano models that cost more, but most of that extra cost is in the 88 key weighted hammer action keybed and the marque piano samples, but other auto-accompaniment (one-man-band) features, such as number of tones and rhythms and methods of editing and controlling them are much reduced, or missing entirely, as compared to the CTK-WK TOTL models.  At this point, I would recommend posting your specific set up questions over on the MZ-X500 sub-forum to see if it will suit your needs.  I can not say that it is even a "step up" from the WK-7XXX.  It is a design unto itself, and continues the MZ-2000 line of some years ago.  Where the CTK/WK models can be (and are) used professionally, they are actually targeted at the home/hobbyist market, while the MZ's are aimed more at the professional market, so comparing the two model lines is somewhat difficult.

 

Now !  If you, like so many others, purchased the WK-7600 because you were looking for a reasonably priced electronic keyboard, or even electronic "piano", and could not be  less interested in the auto-accompaniment (one-man-band) features, then I would say you definitely need to look into models made more for those specific purposes.  In that case, I would recommend posting your set up questions in the PX-5S sub-forum to see if it will suit your needs.  It is a full, professional, stage piano with absolutely no investment in Arranger Workstation (one-man-band) features.

 

Like any other problem, yours can be solved if you throw enough money and hardware at it, but the more complex the arrangement, the greater the physical and mental anguish in setting up, controlling, tearing down, and hauling, and certainly the greater the chance of failure at a most critical moment, so I agree with your idea to try to get it down to a single device, if at all possible.

 

One very strong piece of advice - do not base your decision entirely on sales brochures and YouTube hype.  Talk to current owners, as much as possible, about pros and cons and capabilities and shortcomings.  Mistakes at this point can be very expensive and equally disappointing.

 

Best of luck !

 

Regards,

 

Ted

 

[H-D]

very sound advice..... I didn't buy the casio as a one man band device, at the time I was playing in a different band and needed some organ sounds plus piano sounds for soul music but rarely together, so the Casio served me very well for those purposes and it was great to have the Rotary sound and the manual drawbars for that style of play for the price of the WK-7600.  But as things have evolved I guess I'm playing different types of music now and wanting to be able to have my 3 core sounds (piano, organ and organ with leslie) setup and ready to go all throughout a gig, to avoid jumping through menus as much as possible and also because there are plenty of reggae tunes where I will need all three in the one song.  I've never used the one man band features of the WK-7600 and probably won't have a need to, so I think I will start looking into a different model and see what they are capable of, I'll start as you suggest with some of the other forums.  Definitely want to reduce equipment for lugging it around, especially when you have to play with bands with 7/8 members and squeeze everyone onto a tiny stage  Thanks for all the help, much appreciated.