soundspossible

There is a layout for MIDI Designer that works with iPad. See (http://priviapro.wordpress.com/2013/12/04/privia-px-5s-layout-for-midi-designer-iphone-and-ipad/). I haven't used it myself, but it looks interesting. As far as what apps to get, that of course depends on what you want to do. My synth app arsenal includes Animoog, Arturia iSEM, and Sunrizer because they complement my hardware synths. I've also got Fingerlab DM1 as a drum machine, and NanoStudio as kind of a song scratchpad when I'm away from my other gear. My absolute favorite app has little to do with noise-making though. It's called Set List Maker (http://www.arlomedia.com/apps/setlistmaker/main/home.html) which I actually discovered on this forum. It does a lot, so I'd recommend checking out the web site if you're interested.

Thanks Choppin for the suggestions. The only way I know to store/recall sysex changes in the Kronos is with a song in the sequencer, which I've done for this purpose. The caveat is that it must be loaded from disk when the Kronos is booted, but it works perfectly. There may be another way that I haven't come across. I've thought about using the control surface. You can assign different CCs for external MIDI control as you mentioned. Although I haven't run any tests, I've found that at least some CCs aren't sent on the global channel, which is really the one causing the problems. One day I'll record it or read the MIDI spec more thoroughly to understand what is happening. At the moment, I am happy with the SMF workaround, so I've moved on to actually playing and learning some songs!

Following up on the original topic... I tried Choppin's midi file and it did the trick. I modified the midi file to disable mixer parts 5-16, and I can play it either from a thumb drive on the PX-5S or from a Kronos sequence. I'm still looking for a way to do this through the Kronos combi so I don't have to load anything extra, but this is one step closer. Thanks again Choppin. px-5s mixer 5-16 off.MID

It isn't so much that the PX-5S does things that the Kronos can't. I could very well use the Kronos as my only sound source. In fact, in the studio, I tend to use the PX-5S solely as a controller. But when I was designing some sounds for live use, I found that the MONO acoustic piano from the PX-5S sounded better than what I could get from the Kronos when played through my amp (a Motion Sound KT-80) competing in a loud blues/rock band. Now, if I played live in stereo or had a good powered PA speaker instead of the KT-80 or had time to program a good mono piano on the Kronos or played in a different band, maybe I'd configure it differently. So basically what I'm doing is sending program changes to the PX-5S to switch between acoustic piano and pure controller when I need it for playing rhodes/wurli sounds which come from the Kronos. And then I play organ and synth tones from the Kronos 61 keyboard because it feels more natural. The other benefit I get has to do with my amp and volume control. Since I am using the Kronos mainly for e.pianos and organs, I dirty up the sound a bit by running the L-main out (mono) through the amp's tube channel, while the PX-5S goes through the clean channel. Now, I could use the Kronos's individual outs to do the same thing, but anything run through the Kronos's individual outs bypass the main volume knob. This makes it really difficult to keep the organs, e.pianos, and a.pianos balanced. Whereas, I kind of have a feel for how to adjust the PX-5S and Kronos together to keep things under control. I want to emphasize that this is what works for me. The results have been great so far. It is awesome that we have instruments that are so flexible, even if it takes some time to tame them.

Thanks Choppin! I will give this a try later and let you know how it works out.

Thanks Mau. Yes, I know I can do this. The problem is if I set the Kronos global channel to 4 so that it transmits on 4, it also receives on 4. And the PX-5S will send a program change on channel 4 anytime I happen upon a stage setting that uses that channel -- changing the program on the Kronos. To effectively stop that I'd need to edit every stage setting. At that point, it is just too tedious. I can stick with editing the Mixer settings on power up or just stop sending MIDI to the PX-5S altogether. So, I think channel 5-16 is where something needs to happen. There may be some Karma trick I can play on the Kronos, but that's an engine with which I am not yet familiar.

I know there are some PX-5S/Kronos owners out there, so hopefully someone else has figured this out. I've posted to the Korg forum as well. My live setup includes a Kronos 61 and Casio PX-5S. I've got bi-directional MIDI and I'm using both boards as tone generators. I've got all my Kronos combis setup to send program changes to the PX-5S. This works fine, and it is exactly what I desire. I can also control the Kronos from the PX-5S without issue. Again, exactly what I want. Here's where the problem starts. The Kronos always transmits note data from the global MIDI channel. I happen to have this set to 16. The result is that the PX-5S part set to channel 16 gets played by the Kronos. I don't want the Kronos to play the PX-5S. The PX-5S stage settings always have tones responding to 5-16 and the only way to disable them is to use the Mixer function. However, the mixer settings are NOT saved at power-down, so I have to remember to do this every time. I tried changing the Kronos global ch to 4, since I can save how the PX-5S responds to that channel for any one particular stage setting. Unfortunately, the PX-5S also transmits program changes from 1-4, so it throws off the Kronos if I need to change patches on the PX-5S. Turning off program change in the Kronos global settings fixes that, but then the Kronos also doesn't transmit program change, defeating the whole purpose of my setup. So, I realize I could use the Kronos as my sole tone generator and just use the PX-5S as a controller. I could also set the Mixer settings every time or just forget about sending program changes to the PX-5S (no MIDI out from the Kronos to the PX-5s). All of these would "solve" the problem. But I am not ready to give up. My goal is to be able to change stage settings on the PX-5S from the Kronos while preventing the PX-5S from producing any sound when the Kronos is played. Any ideas? Thanks for reading the long post!