PX5S + MIDI Solutions Pedal Controller for half damping

[JFP]

For all of you interested - the Midi solutions Pedal Controller + Roland DP10 solution to enable half damping on the PX5 works. There are still a few 'quirks' however:

Cabling A: 
- MIDI OUT (Thru) of Casio PX5 is connected to the MIDI IN of the Pedal Controller for powering the unit.
- MIDI OUT of the pedal controller is connected to the MIDI IN of the Casio.

Settings A:
- Pedal controller is programmed to NOT echo the MIDI INPUT (to avoid MIDI doubles/ loops).
- Pedal controller is programmed to send out Damper controller data going linear from value 0 ~ 127 on MIDI channel 1 ~ 4. 
- System Local Control = ON
- System settings set both MIDI OUT SELECT and USB OUT SELECT to 'KEY'. 

Now the Casio plays fine , including half damper response. So far mission accomplished. 

Suppose you want to use the Casio as a controller for external gear / software instruments on a computer as well. Problem: either the MIDI data from the Casio hardware is send (notes / controllers) OR the MIDI Input is routed over USB to the computer. But not both simultaneously. Meaning you either play your software without damper pedal, or you can play only the half-damper pedal to your software. A workaround is looping the MIDI output of the Casio back to the MIDI IN and use the PX5 in 'local-off' mode. Apart from extra latency, that 'almost' works ' ;

Cabling B:
- MIDI OUT (Thru) of Casio PX5 is connected to the MIDI IN of the Pedal Controller for powering the unit.
- MIDI OUT of the pedal controller is connected to the MIDI IN of the Casio.
- USB of the Casio is connected to a computer.

Settings B:
- Pedal controller is now programmed to ECHO the MIDI INPUT , so all note and controller info coming from the MIDI OUT of the Casio will be merged with the pedaling data en send to the MIDI IN of the Casio.
- System Local Control = OFF
- System MIDI OUT SELECT is KEY and USB OUT SELECT is set to MIDI. 
- System USB IN ENABLE could be set to off , for safety - to avoid MIDI loops.
- Pedal controller is still programmed to send out Damper controller data going linear from value 0 ~ 127 on MIDI channel 1 ~ 4. You can change the min /max values , curve and offsets for the pedal response if you like to. 

The Casio now sends it's key+control data to the Pedal Controller. This will be merged with the pedal data and send to the MIDI input of the Casio. The incoming MIDI data is mirrored over the USB output to the software instrument. A new problem is there is no way to silence the internal engine for the zone(s) in the stage settings. If you turn the zone off in Mixer edit of the stage settings; there is no MIDI data coming out of the PX5. If you turn only the Generator OFF in the stage MIDI settings, the internal engine will still sound in this particular setup (bug ?). So the way to hear ONLY the software instrument on a certain zone is by dialing back the volume of the internal sound on that zone to zero. It works, but I don't know if the tone is then still using up polyphony and processing, although the volume is zero. 

I hope a future firmware update will provide a better way of setting up the PX5 for people wanting to combine the Casio with a MIDI Solutions Pedal Converter for half-damping and/or expression pedal in a hybrid setup with software sounds. IMHO if the System USB OUT SELECT setting can route both KEY and MIDI to the USB output that would already solve the problem.

Sorry for the long post; perhaps it's of use for someone and/or Casio make take notice and make some tweaks for firmware v1.2 ….

 

[JFP]

Question for Mike:

Now that this solution seems to work more or less; what results can one expect with e.g. the AP sounds ? In other words - does the PX5S actually DO anything thats audible with the half damping information for some of the sounds, or is the implementation of the sounds engine on the PX5 NOT using this data for the processing ?

 

It is then still valuable for controlling softsynths, but not needed for stand-alone use.

 

Off-topic, but when your using the above setup A and open up the Casio PC editor, pressing the damper pedal down results in random notes at full velocity on random MIDI channels. Don't know why (not trying to use the MIDI connection for the editor as would be improper use according to the manual) , but it's funny ;-)

[leefentress]

Third Option, possibly? Why don't you just plug the Midi Solutions controller directly into your computer for power and for sending midi data to the computer?

 

Then you can record that data in your sequencer, have it control software instruments, and also send midi data to your PX-5S to control paramaters there as well -- via the usb connection from your computer to the PX-5S.

 

Wouldn't that work, or am I missing something? Because I may want to do this in the future as well.

 

Cabling C

• Midi Out of PC sound/midi interface connected to Midi In of Midi Solutions controller.
• Midi Out of Midi Solutions controller connected to Midi In of PC interface.
• USB connected between PC and PX-5S

Settings C

• Pedal controller is programmed to NOT echo the MIDI INPUT (to avoid MIDI doubles/ loops).
• Pedal controller is programmed to send out Damper controller data going linear from value 0 ~ 127 on MIDI channel 1 ~ 4.
• System Local Control = ON
• System settings set both MIDI OUT SELECT and USB OUT SELECT to 'KEY'.
• System USB IN ENABLE = ON

[Mike Martin]

Question for Mike:

Now that this solution seems to work more or less; what results can one expect with e.g. the AP sounds ? In other words - does the PX5S actually DO anything thats audible with the half damping information for some of the sounds, or is the implementation of the sounds engine on the PX5 NOT using this data for the processing ?

 

Sure it will.  The PX-5S will respond to this over MIDI.