Changing instrument/tone

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If your keyboard has USB or MIDI ports, there is a tremendously high chance (>99%) it will work with Synthesia. See what you'll need on the keyboards page.
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Ren21
Posts: 2

Post by Ren21 »

Hello,

I would like when I play the piano to get the same instrument/tone that one of the midi file track that accompanies me.
I'm using a Roland FP30x connected to android app via USB.

I can get this automatic instrument change with this setup but it will only works for midi channel 4: when a midi file containing a channel 4 program change is played through the Roland, it will change the local instrument beeing played. Just need to disable sending my own notes in the controller options, otherwise I would ear two instruments (piano plus channel 4 instrument).
But if I want to play another channel, I can't figure out how to configure synthesia: the copy setting from midi file instrument list would not be sufficient (I would loose the original channel 4 configuration).
So it looks like I would need a way to change/exchange channel numbers.

I even tried another way by setting local control off (and this time allowing the sending of my notes in the midi controller options). Then from the Roland I tried to change the output channel number so that every note I play on the piano is emitted through this channel. I would have expected the app to loop back the notes using this same channel but I'm not sure what channel is really used then?
This would have allowed, while the midi file is played to have my notes sound the same as the one from the file: if I want to play channel 3, I set output channel 3.
Unfortunately this method doesn't work.

Is there another way to do this?

Tx
Bavi_H
Posts: 116

Post by Bavi_H »

Here are my suggestions:

Change the "local off" setting on your keyboard instead of in Synthesia.

In Synthesia, go to the "Hands, Colors, and Instruments" screen and set the part you want to play to be "Left Hand" or "Right Hand".


Channels and Devices
  • Input Channels and Input Devices: When you are playing in the game modes, Synthesia doesn't care what what input channel or input device is used. Synthesia will use the notes from all channels and from all enabled input devices.

    Output Channels: When you are playing in the game modes, Synthesia will use the output channels shown on the "Hands, Colors, and Instruments" screen. The parts set as "Left Hand" or "Right Hand" are the channels and instrument sounds that Synthesia will output when you play on your input keyboard. (Note: Synthesia may use different channels than the original MIDI file specifies. The "Hands, Colors, and Instruments" screen shows the channels that Synthesia will send.)

    Output Devices: As you already know, Synthesia will send output notes to the output devices based on the Music Output page switches "My Notes", "Background Instruments", "Percussion" and so on.

    So for example, if you are playing one of the "Right Hand" game modes and Synthesia's "Right Hand" part is using Channel 1, then when you play notes on any enabled input device, Synthesia will send output notes to Channel 1 on every output device with the "My Notes" switch on, no matter what channel the input notes are on.

Local Off
  • On the Music Output page, if you enable the "Prevent local notes" setting, Synthesia will send a "local off" message to the device, but some devices don't respond to this message. In that case, you should look for a "local off" setting on your device's control panel.

    Here are the manuals for the Roland FP-30X. In the MIDI Implementation document, the MIDI Implementation Chart at the end says the "Local On/Off" message is not recognized. In the Owner's Manual, page 12 shows how you can turn local off at the piano itself. (To turn Local Off, hold down the Function button and press the lowest F# on the keyboard. To turn Local On, press Function and the lowest F key.)
Ren21
Posts: 2

Post by Ren21 »

Thanks,

It works, I never really used the real play modes.... Was just learning through the look and listen mode...

For local off, indeed it can only be done from keyboard (Function + F#0) with this model.

I had to use built in USB midi driver, when using the Android M midi driver and playing midi file, I could only ear piano for all instruments.

So everything is fine.
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