Roland MX-1 MIDI program template with correcly named CC

B-Wise wrote:What I'm was trying to figure out is since the 707 has analog 6 outputs, TR8S has 8 outs & the Force has 4, is once I connect them via USB to the MX & make that the Force audio-interface can I then bring all 18 outs via USB into the Force as 18 individual inputs so I can used the Force input FXs for each of the 18 outs at the same time?

Ala,s no: over Aira USB, the MX-1 only gets their master out - not their multi-track out.

Jean-Marc Liotier wrote:

B-Wise wrote:What I'm was trying to figure out is since the 707 has analog 6 outputs, TR8S has 8 outs & the Force has 4, is once I connect them via USB to the MX & make that the Force audio-interface can I then bring all 18 outs via USB into the Force as 18 individual inputs so I can used the Force input FXs for each of the 18 outs at the same time?

Ala,s no: over Aira USB, the MX-1 only gets their master out - not their multi-track out.

Thanks!

B-Wise wrote:What I'm was trying to figure out is since the 707 has analog 6 outputs, TR8S has 8 outs & the Force has 4, is once I connect them via USB to the MX & make that the Force audio-interface can I then bring all 18 outs via USB into the Force as 18 individual inputs so I can used the Force input FXs for each of the 18 outs at the same time?

Ah ok. No, the USB-Audio ports on the MX-1 sum everything to a single stereo input per USB port.

EnochLight wrote:

B-Wise wrote:What I'm was trying to figure out is since the 707 has analog 6 outputs, TR8S has 8 outs & the Force has 4, is once I connect them via USB to the MX & make that the Force audio-interface can I then bring all 18 outs via USB into the Force as 18 individual inputs so I can used the Force input FXs for each of the 18 outs at the same time?

Ah ok. No, the USB-Audio ports on the MX-1 sum everything to a single stereo input per USB port.

Someone just told me that, but thanks. That would've been sweet as Hell if it could do it by cutting down on so many cables.

EnochLight wrote:I use my MX-1 as an external USB-Audio interface with my Force

So, do you record your final master out on the Force (maybe as a sample, to overcome the audio track recording's five minutes limit) ? I had stuck to Mixer Mode so that I could use the "PC" USB port to send the master out to a PC for recording... But maybe External Mixing Mode is the better way, if there is a fully digital path from instrument to master out recording... And not having deal with a PC would be a bonus.

Jean-Marc Liotier wrote:

EnochLight wrote:I use my MX-1 as an external USB-Audio interface with my Force

So, do you record your final master out on the Force (maybe as a sample, to overcome the audio track recording's five minutes limit) ?

Not sure what you're talking about - Force hasn't had a 5 minute limit in audio recording since disk streaming was added years ago. I can record for hours on end on my Force. Maybe you're thinking of the MPC? The bigger issue is the lack of audio tracks - I can get access to all 18 channels on my MX-1 on my Force (as 9 stereo pairs), but since Force only supports 8 audio tracks, I have to double up on some inputs. This is purely for a production/composition standpoint. Once I decide I'm done with a project and want to commit it to mastering, I'll stem it out and move to my DAW.

Sorry, of course I was thinking of the MPC - I have a MPC one... I didn't know the Force has no such limitation. Seems arbitrary !

Well, I guess I'll have to experiment ! Also, for now the world of DAWs is unknown to me... Maybe my insistence on shoehorning the MPC in the recording role is misguided - but I'll try anyway: I like the "Song Mode -> export stereo FLAC" workflow.

EnochLight wrote:I use my MX-1 as an external USB-Audio interface with my Force. I have a Roland TB-3 and a System-8 running on the MX-1’s USB-audio ports and they show up in Force as expected.

Following your wise example, I shifted my setup from Mixer Mode to External Mixing Mode and I confirm that assigning MPC audio outputs to the MX-1 channels 1 to 8 (mono or stero) works perfectly... Much simpler than the convoluted contraption I had with the Komplete Audio 6 Mk2 and a bunch of assorted SPDIF and TRS cables.

But now I have no more sound coming from the TB-3 and TR-8 on the Aira USB ports... Am I missing something ? I thought their channels may have been preempted by the MPC and I need to loop back through audio tracks [Edit: deleted nonsense] [Edit: yes, I needed to add loopback audio tracks to monitor the interface and send back - works now]

Jean-Marc Liotier wrote:So, do you record your final master out on the Force (maybe as a sample, to overcome the audio track recording's five minutes limit) [Edit: the Force has no such limit - only the MPC] ? I had stuck to Mixer Mode so that I could use the "PC" USB port to send the master out to a PC for recording... But maybe External Mixing Mode is the better way, if there is a fully digital path from instrument to master out recording... And not having deal with a PC would be a bonus.

Tested: no problem recording channels 17/18 (the MX-1's master out) to the MPC's looper. Good.

Jean-Marc Liotier wrote:

EnochLight wrote:I use my MX-1 as an external USB-Audio interface with my Force. I have a Roland TB-3 and a System-8 running on the MX-1’s USB-audio ports and they show up in Force as expected.

Following your wise example, I shifted my setup from Mixer Mode to External Mixing Mode and I confirm that assigning MPC audio outputs to the MX-1 channels 1 to 8 (mono or stero) works perfectly... Much simpler than the convoluted contraption I had with the Komplete Audio 6 Mk2 and a bunch of assorted SPDIF and TRS cables.

But now I have no more sound coming from the TB-3 and TR-8 on the Aira USB ports... Am I missing something ? I thought their channels may have been preempted by the MPC and I need to loop back through audio tracks [Edit: deleted nonsense] [Edit: yes, I needed to add loopback audio tracks to monitor the interface and send back - works now]

To be clear, my MX-1 is on a Force (which has 1:1 track relation). I’ve never tried it on my MPC Live II. But on Force it only has 8 stereo audio tracks as well (though it has the aforementioned disk streaming). But since MX-1 has 18 inputs, you have to double up some of them on your 8 stereo inputs. Did you assign the Aria USB-Audio inputs to tracks on your MPC? You have to use the 32 i/o option on your MPC under the audio interface settings as well.

EnochLight wrote:Did you assign the Aria USB-Audio inputs to tracks on your MPC? You have to use the 32 i/o option on your MPC under the audio interface settings as well.

Yes and yes: setting 32 i/o was the preliminary requirement, then one audio track for each Aira USB port - set to monitor the pair of ports and loop back to them.

Jean-Marc Liotier wrote:

EnochLight wrote:Did you assign the Aria USB-Audio inputs to tracks on your MPC? You have to use the 32 i/o option on your MPC under the audio interface settings as well.

Yes and yes: setting 32 i/o was the preliminary requirement, then one audio track for each Aira USB port - set to monitor the pair of ports and loop back to them.

Cool - yeah I just saw that you updated your OP:

Jean-Marc Liotier wrote:[Edit: yes, I needed to add loopback audio tracks to monitor the interface and send back - works now]

Have fun! I love the setup on my Force. If my MPC was a permanent studio fixture, I'd probably use it with that but I tend to take my MPC Live II out of the studio a lot. Word of warning: nowhere in Roland's documentation does it state that the MX-1 is actually USB Class Compliant, so the fact that it is working with both Force and MPC is more of a fluke than anything. Hoping the next "big" version of the MPC OS doesn't break that.

And we are now back on topic: behold a Roland MX-1 Mix Performer Akai MPC MIDI program template, with named CC and organized Program Edit pages for sensical qlink usage, for those who are into this type of thing.

I didn't bother programming the mute fonction, because levels cover that and there was no room left in the qlink columns fully occupied by level, the multi-function tone/filter parameter, BFX toggle, MFX toggle - a qlink column per channel is neat.

My main use for now: live noodling on the MX-1 then, after transition from the murky jamming phase to the decanted song mode phase, automate the activation/deactivation of Master FX and Beat FX - and levels for the non-MPC instruments.

With the TR-8 programmed too, I now have nice Aira integration with the MPC. The TB-3 isn't MIDI friendly much, apart from sync.

Hit me with remarks about the MX-1 program !

By the way, Roland's MX-1 MIDI Implementation document has an error: BFX and MFX CC are swapped. No big deal - caught it in testing. I notified Roland and I wonder if they'll update the document.



And it is only now that I find that this thread has been correcly named from its inception...

Great job Jean!
Will the TR8 template work for the TR8S?
Either way I'll share this with others. Thanks.

B-Wise wrote:Great job Jean!

Thank you !

B-Wise wrote:Will the TR8 template work for the TR8S ?

Answer in the TR-8 thread !