How to prevent 560 from taking over my other sound module.

[Kingro]

I'm sure this is a ridiculously easy answer. I know because I've done it before on other setups.

Here goes.... (and if you're going to get smart with me I'll talk about you for the rest of my life. LOL!)

I 'm using a PX-560 as my piano and also a controller for my Ferrofish B4000+ module. This is for live stuff.

Question: how do I set my 560 so that it only allows my sound module to transmit sounds ONLY?  

 

All I want the 560 to do, in this situation, is allow me to play the sounds of the Ferrofish. I don't want it to change banks, parameters, values. I don't want the sustain pedal to control the Ferrofish. All I want is that when I hit a key on the 560 I will hear the appropriate note from the Ferrofish. 

 

Someone who has a loving heart, and a teacher's mindset, please help.

[sslyutov]

Connect px midi out to ferrofish midi in.

get audio from any ferrofish outputs

 

[Chandler Holloway]

22 hours ago, Kingro said:

I don't want the sustain pedal to control the Ferrofish.

 

You don't want the sustain pedal to sustain notes on the Ferrofish? That seems odd. What do you want it to control, then? If you don't want to use a sustain pedal when you're using the PX-560 as a MIDI controller, just don't connect it. Or don't use it. Sustain (aka Hold1, aka damper) is a MIDI message in the same way that the MIDI notes being sent over are. If you don't want to send sustain messages, don't use the sustain pedal.

 

As for the other issues:

 

1. Power on the PX-560 first. You can have the MIDI cable connected to the Ferrofish, but don't turn the module on yet. You don't want any audio from the PX-560, so turn the volume all the way down and disconnect all audio cables from the back panel.
2. Configure any settings related to MIDI control on the PX-560. Make sure the keyboard's MIDI channel corresponds to the channel you want to control on the Ferrofish. Adding additional layers on the PX-560 (Upper1, Upper2, Lower1, Lower2) will cause the PX-560 to output the same notes for that "control zone" (i.e. upper for U1/U2, and lower for L1/L2) across multiple MIDI channels, so if you want to play layered tones on the Ferrofish, you need to enable the corresponding layers on the PX-560. The default MIDI channel assignment is U1 outputting on channel 1 (it can be changed to any of the sixteen channels), U2 on channel 2, L1 on channel 3, L2 on channel 4. You can't change the channel assignments for U2, L1 and L2 directly, so they'll always been on channels 2/3/4. 
3. After all of that, power on the Ferrofish. Don't change ANY TONES on the PX-560 once you're done setting things up. As long as you don't change the assigned tones, the PX-560 won't send out any bank select or program change messages. Enabling or disabling layers for layered MIDI note output (see step 2) is fine; you're not changing tone assignments so no PC/bank select commands will be sent when you turn a layer on or off.
4. At this point, you can leave the PX-560's panel controls alone and only worry about the Ferrofish. The only thing you might need to touch on the PX-560 is enabling or disabling layers, which can easily be done from the main dashboard screen. You can also transpose the keyboard on the PX-560 if you need to play in a wonky key signature more comfortably, as well as change the velocity sensitivity if you want a lighter velocity curve for controlling synth or organ sounds on the Ferrofish.

Hope this helps!

[Joe Muscara]

13 hours ago, Chandler Holloway said:

 

You don't want the sustain pedal to sustain notes on the Ferrofish? That seems odd. What do you want it to control, then? If you don't want to use a sustain pedal when you're using the PX-560 as a MIDI controller, just don't connect it. Or don't use it. Sustain (aka Hold1, aka damper) is a MIDI message in the same way that the MIDI notes being sent over are. If you don't want to send sustain messages, don't use the sustain pedal.

The Ferrofish is an organ module. At most, he'd want the sustain pedal to switch Leslie speed, but definitely not to sustain.

[Jokeyman123]

Local control on/off effects only the sound engine, but all other midi functions will be transmitted, including the sustain pedal. Is that correct? Looks that way from the midi implementation chart. Would need a midi filter control box connected between the ferrofish and the PX to filter out other messages I guess. Like the Anatek or Midi Solutions, although I don't know if these even can filter out only a sustain pedal message, and right now, seem very overpriced for older modules. Seems to be the new trend during the the pandemic. Kingpro-how do you like the Hammond emulations on this? Have you tried others to compare? How about compared to the real thing? I use a cheap Line 6 Roto pedal for a little extra leslie effect, but not great. But then  a nice 122 or 145 is tough to compete with connected to a real tonewheel. 

[Kingro]

I'm sorry I haven't got back to this post to offer my thanks to everyone who responded.

 

Joe Muscara is correct. This is for a live setting (if we ever get to do live settings again)  so sometimes I will be using the ferrofish and the 560 simultaneously.

I use a sustain pedal plugged into the 560 for it's sustain as well as an expression pedal to control the blend of the patch.

I also use an expression pedal plugged into the ferrofish to control it's volume.

 

I will definitely explore all of the great suggestions.

 

As far as how I like the ferrofish, I haven't had a chance to play with it much as of yet.  I got it one day and did a live gig the next. It was a little wonky because I don't know much about midi and it was receiving those messages that I didn't want it to receive. Having said that, I was running it through a Vent II and when it was working for me it sounded pretty darned good. I'm going to spend some time with it using all of the on board effects and see if I like it well enough to stop using the vent. I have a Nord Electro 3 which I like a lot, but sometimes I don't want to set up two boards. I had a Hammond XB-2 which was fine, but not as good as the Nord. 

 

Of course I have a friend that uses the Hammond XK5 with the A3 complete setup including the pedal board and a Leslie and it sounds like a million bucks.