No Program Change with Instrument Definitions File

[greddin]

Hi,

I downloaded an instrument definitions file (.ins) for my Roland A-90EX. I went into Setup / Program Names and Opened the ins file assigning it to my Roland A-90EX port.

Now in Metro I can see the program names and select them, but the sound itself doesn't change. For example, if I select Organ, I still here the 1st piano patch.

I know I must have missed something but I can't remember what it is. Does this have anything to do with the midi MULTI vs OMNI settings?

Thanks,
-Greg

[Jerm]

Either MIDI is not being sent to your device, which you can check by sending notes (e.g. click on vertical keyboard in the graphic editor) or your device is in the wrong mode.

In omni mode it should respond to all MIDI channels. However in Multi-mode it should respond to only the MIDI channel you send on. So be sure you are in sync with your device on what channel you are trying to change the sound on.

Also and importantly, for some synths you must select the bank change before selecting a program change. This just means you should select something from the bank popup first and then select the organ sound from the program names popup.

[greddin]

Ok...

When I click on the vertical keyboard in the editor I don't hear any sound. From what I can tell, the Roland A-90EX defaults to OMNI mode. Does this give us any clues?

Thanks again,
-Greg

[Jerm]

Be sure that the track is assigned the correct output. If the output says 'roland xxxx' option-click on the output to verify it is actually going to the roland.

In Apple's MIDI Setup program try test studio.

[greddin]

Option clicking in the Track output shows that the output port is the Roland A-90 port. It looks ok.

I'm not clear on the Apple MIDI Setup test. What exactly should I try there?

-Greg

[Jerm]

Apple has a program called 'apple midi setup'. I think you can launch it from Metro's MIDI setup dialog. In that program there is a 'test studio' mode. In that mode you can click on devices and you should hear them if your studio is connected correctly.

[greddin]

Oh, I see the Test now. I think we're on to something. I can here sounds from both the Korg Wavestation A/D and Roland JD-990 in the Apple MIDI Setup, but I'm not hearing the test sound of the Roland A-90EX. So I'm guessing it something to do with it's configuration. I'll see what I can fine.

Thanks,
-Greg

[greddin]

Well, I'm pretty sure I fixed this but I'm not sure why it's working really.

There's a section in my Roland A-90 manual titled "Controlling the A-90 with an External Keyboard". Apparently midi channel messages are received via Omni On and are assigned to Zones inside the Roland A-90. The A-90 has the following zones: EXT-A, EXT-B, EXT-C, EXT-D, INT-A, INT-B, INT-C, and INT-D.

In viewing these assignments, I could see that none of them were assigned. So I set then all to "On" and this time when I selected a Bank and Program in Metro it changed the sound as it should! Also the Apple MIDI Setup application would work as well when I sent a test sound.

...but every time I played a note it sounded weird. Like a funky duplex thing going on. Some notes were short sounding almost as if being cut off. Other notes were long and got stuck. My A-90 froze up and I had to power down. I knew I was on to something.

After powering back up, I went into what I think is Local mode on/off settings. Again there's a local mode setting for each zone of the A-90. I decided to leave all the external zones to off and turn just the internal zones on. This seems to have fixed the weird sounding notes and note stickiness.

Unfortunately the A-90 defaults back to default settings each time I power down so for now I've got to do this each time I power up. I believe I can save them as a Performance though. I just have to look into that.

I hope there's another A-90 / Metro user that could explain what all this means.

Thanks,
-Greg