I think one of my combis is broken, and maybe something else

[mojofilter]

Some time ago, I wrote a song in the combi C 050: Dreamin' and a Jahmmin'. I went to play it again recently, and a number of the sounds in the combi are now silent. The only ones that play are C122 Picked Bass, A020 Stereo Grand, C038 Muted Pick Guitar and E064 Acoustic Pop Kit.

The rest, B092, C038, C046 and A116 have no sound anymore. Their Play buttons are activated. None of the sounds are on solo. Their volumes are turned up in the mixer. Each of those sounds plays in their respective Prog bank, but they do not play in the combi, though I know that they used to. I have not checked to see if any other combis are not working properly yet.

Does anyone have any idea what may be going on?

Oh, one other thing: when I am scrolling through drum patterns with the drum track turned on, at some point, a snare drum roll will play continuously for about 30 seconds until it fades out. I can't stop it, I have to select the next pattern, turn the drum track off and wait it out before I can start it playing again.

Is my keyboard hosed?

[adamskii]

The rest, B092, C038, C046 and A116 have no sound anymore. Their Play buttons are activated. None of the sounds are on solo. Their volumes are turned up in the mixer. Each of those sounds plays in their respective Prog bank, but they do not play in the combi, though I know that they used to. I have not checked to see if any other combis are not working properly yet.

Does anyone have any idea what may be going on?

Can you play each of these patches that have no sound in program mode, with your keyboard, or are they still silent? Also, have you edited any of these silent patches in program mode, and then saved over the original version?

Oh, one other thing: when I am scrolling through drum patterns with the drum track turned on, at some point, a snare drum roll will play continuously for about 30 seconds until it fades out. I can't stop it, I have to select the next pattern, turn the drum track off and wait it out before I can start it playing again.

Is my keyboard hosed?

Your keyboard is fine, the hold setting is probably turned on for the drum kit patch, so the snare drum roll will continue to play until another snare that's assigned to the same group stops it.

If you have any problems with sounds that wont stop playing, switching to another mode will stop the playback of the hanging notes. So if you're in program mode and you get sounds that wont stop, switch to combi mode and then the sounds will stop, and then switch back to program mode again. You wont lose any edits when doing this as long as you don't change the program patch to something else before saving it. Also, in sequencer mode, you also have the option of stopping the hanging note sounds by pressing the Locate key.

[adamskii]

Edit: Sorry about the double post. I must have accidentally clicked on the quote button instead of the edit button. In my defense I had just gotten up and was tired, and was eating my breakfast whilst editing the post.

[mojofilter]

Can you play each of these patches that have no sound in program mode, with your keyboard, or are they still silent?

Each of those sounds plays in their respective Prog bank.

Also, have you edited any of these silent patches in program mode, and then saved over the original version?

No, I don't have the faintest idea how to edit anything on this keyboard, so there is no chance that I could have inadvertently modified anything and saved over it. Those sounds were playing when I wrote the song, and now they aren't playing, and I haven't done anything in the meantime. I understand so little about how this keyboard works, I rarely venture out of Prog mode, and I don't touch anything if I don't know what it is, in case I screw something up.

Thanks for the advice about the drum roll. Is this a glitch in the programming, or something?

[X-Trade]

I understand so little about how this keyboard works, I rarely venture out of Prog mode, and I don't touch anything if I don't know what it is, in case I screw something up.

Well, that's a bad way to go about it. The best way to learn how an instrument like this works (or many other things for that matter) is just to try it and see. Experiment a little.

If there are parameters on the screen they are just designed for tweaking, you're not going to permanently or physically break it.
You can always re-load the factory data from global mode.

...advice about the drum roll. Is this a glitch in the programming, or something?

Its not a glitch, or fault as such, It's just a part of how it works. That drum kit must have a sample of a snare roll, which will play to the end. If a pattern you select plays that sound, it will play to the end, no matter whether you switch patterns or not. I guess its probably not designed to go scrolling through all of the patterns live in a performance.



For your combi, I suggest you check what channels the different parts are assigned to. If you want them to play from the keyboard, they should be set to Gch or the global channel specifically (e.g. 01G). Also check the output routings in the Effects Bus page.

[mojofilter]

For what it's worth, I just reset the system; it ought to be like it was when I turned it on for the first time. However, in that combi, those sounds still do not play.

[X-Trade]

As I said, there can be a number of things affecting that:
-The Timbre could be turned off
-The channel could be set to something other than Gch or 01G
-Or they could be set to 01G and you've changed the global channel to something else (main reason I always say to use Gch rather than 01G)
-The output of that timbre could be routed to 'off' or to an effect which is routed to 'off' or otherwise has a trim output level of zero
-The mixer level could be set to zero
-The MIDI filter could be set to ignore notes
-The KeyZone could be set to somewhere outside the range of the keyboard.

If you insert those programs into a new combi, do they sound?

[mojofilter]

I am at work now, so I can only report the following:

I have never modified anything on any part of the M50.
I reset it less than an hour ago.
The sounds in that combi all show that they are on Gch.
I don't know what a global channel is.
I don't know how to turn Timbre off and on, or route it to anything.
The mixer level of each sound in the combi is set at its factory default.
I don't know what a MIDI filter is, or how to access it.
I don't know what a KeyZone is, or how to access it.

I have played piano since 1963. As for synthesizers, I played a MiniMoog once in 1974, and an Ensoniq once in the early '90s. I know absolutely nothing about digital synthesis. I have neither background in it, nor experience with it. Consequently, the M50 manual is incredibly obtuse and difficult to parse, using language I've never encountered. I am neither stupid nor a technophobe. This is the most complicated and difficult piece of equipment I have ever seen or used in my life, and the fact that I am able to make it do anything at all is a source of constant amazement. That I am unable to fathom *how* or *why* it is doing it is a source of constant aggravation.

[X-Trade]

I seriously suggest you check out Sound-On-Sound's Synth Secrets series of articles.

It covers a lot an d in great depth, some things you won't be able to do on the M50, but it's all very educational:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/allsynthsecrets.htm
(start is at the bottom of the page)


Some stuff you won't find mentioned in there:
A KeyZone sets the range of keys that a timbre responds to. For example you could have two patches on the same MIDI channel, one a bass set to respond to the first octave, the other an organ spread across the remaining octaves. You can even zone things so that they are outside the range of the physical keyboard at all - MIDI supports up to 127 notes - a few octaves more than a piano, and those on your M50 are just the middle handful of that range.

The M50 and most workstations are based on the principles of MIDI, which has a number of 'channels'. Each channel could have one or more timbres set to it. As you say, your timbres are all set to Gch, which means they are set to the M50's Global MIDI Channel - the one that it's keyboard is set to respond to.

You could for example have the M50's global channel set at 1, and then have a number of timbres set to channel 5. They wouldn't respond to the M50's keyboard, however they would respond to an external keyboard or sequencer transmitting on channel 5 plugged into the M50's MIDI In port.

[adamskii]

I seriously suggest you check out Sound-On-Sound's Synth Secrets series of articles.

It covers a lot an d in great depth, some things you won't be able to do on the M50, but it's all very educational:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/allsynthsecrets.htm
(start is at the bottom of the page)

Thanks for posting this. I used to buy/read the SOS (and Future Music) magazines around 10 years ago, but then I stopped buying them because of money issues, etc.

[mojofilter]

Thank you for suggesting that I read up on how to create sounds from the ground up. That would be of some use to me if I understood how to use this keyboard in the first place, and wanted to make my own sounds. I'm stuck on the first part, and can't go on from there without help. Is there any resource available that will teach me how to use the sounds and features that come with this keyboard to play music on it?

I have memorized sections of the manual from having read them so often. If I knew what it was trying to tell me, we might be getting somewhere. It's akin to a book on neurosurgery, written by neurosurgeons for neurosurgeons. Or the manual for Photoshop, which assumes you already know what a layer is and can parse all their jargon. If not, it doesn't have any useful information for you, for instance, on what a layer is, how to work with layers, or what any of the jargon means.

I've had the M50 for six months. I had an idea that I might be part way through an album now; I haven't recorded a single song with it because I don't understand how to use the sequencer.

And those sounds in that combi are still not playing.

[X-Trade]

There has to be a reason for those sounds playing that's probably been overlooked or you're looking in the wrong place.

For a sound to be heard it must have a level above zero, it must be unmuted, to respond to the keyboard it must be set to the global channel (either set to the global channel indirectly - which I always avoid) such as 01G, 02G, or set to the global channel specifically - Gch).

It must also be routed either directly to the main out, or routed through an effect which is routed to the main out.




on using the M50's sequencer, check out these videos from KORG on the M3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0Sn9AUDuc8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3xhB067NBs
and one made on the M50:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCK5RgoO7TE

All of the above will apply directly to the M50 as the sequencer is very similar to the M3.

I also found this video immensely inspirational as it simplifies one feature that many people avoid which is actually quite simple; the RPPR function. It represents a great way to approach a song in pattern-based recording:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH6TqFbskDc


I reccommend you check out the easy start guide. If you don't have it, you can find it here:
http://www.korg.com/uploads/Support/M50 ... 167404.pdf
There is a very short tutorial on using the sequencer on page 5/6.


And I agree that the Owners Manual may not be set out quite intuitively, talking about what data is stored in a song; patterns, and then the switches/buttons (strange mix?) before going on to the actual recording bit.
So check out the bit titled MIDI Recording (page 55 I think), which walks you through making a new song (the sequencer can hold a number of songs), and then recording a track or two in it.