Roland Forums

Hello...I'm a bit of a newb...so please don't skewer me if I ask something ignorant!

We have a JV-1080 (just replaced a MKS-70) and JD-990. We control them both via the Roland AX-7 Keytar. We often use the expression bar on the AX-7 to have fun with the sounds.

We often have the JD-990 controlled by the "upper" channel (set to midi channel 1) on the AX-7 and the JV-1080 on the "lower" channel (set to midi channel 2). And often times, we play both the upper and lower channel at the same time to layer the two synths together in interesting and fun ways.

Back when we were on the MKS-70/JD-990 combo, the expression bar worked great. However, after moving from the MKS-70 to the JV-1080, the way that the JV-1080 plays the expression commands sent from the AX-7 isn't what we want at all...It sounds like a vary fast passed "wah" sound that is kind of grating to the ears.

Now, after completing the back story, here comes the question (thanks for hanging in there!)...

Is there a way to either reduce the speed of the modulation (i think that's what is causing it, but my newb-ness might be calling it by the wrong name) on the JV-1080 when we use the expression bar? I'm using a Performance on the JV-1080 to layer a few patches together. So, I'm not sure if I need to go to the individual patches or the performance to control it. It would be nice if I could control it from the performance level. But I can't seem to figure out what I need to modify...

OR

If I can't figure out how to get a sound I'd like, is there a way to tell the JV-1080 to ignore the expression midi command? I'd like to just have it play the original non-expressed sound, and ignore the expression command (so that the normal sound plays on the JV-1080, but the expression bar sound is played from the JD-990).

OR

Is this something that should be controlled from the AX-7? I found an Expression Bar in the control parameters (with options of Modulation, AfterTouch, Both and Off), but setting it to OFF (or anything else for that matter) doesn't seem to affect the sending of the midi command to the JV-1080. I'm also wondering if this is a sensitivity issue, because if I barely hold the expression bar, it "wahs" at a slower rate, but when playing it's VERY hard to have that level of control to just BARELY touch the bar. So, if I can reduce the sensitivity of the expression bar, that might work too.

I've been trying to figure this out for a few weeks, and we have a recording date in two days! Any points in the right direction would make me a happy, happy not-quite-so-newb...

Thanks!!
Kevin

I think I figured part of this out. Again, sorry for the newbness. I'll post a reply in case there is another newb out there that might find it useful.

I was able to turn the expression bar off from the AX-7 for the upper channel that was talking to the JV-1080 on midi channel 2. I set the control parameter bAr (Expression Bar) to OFF. I tried this at least 4 times last night and couldn't get it to work. But I tried again today and it worked.

That being said, I would still like to figure out how to control the sound from the JV-1080 for the AX-7 expression bar a bit better. So, if anyone has any tips or pointers in the right direction that you are welling to pass along, I'd be grateful!

Thanks!
Kevin

Hello & welcome Kevin.

Newbieness is not a problem.
Can I ask in what way the expression bar has been set to send MIDI dsta. Is it as modulation (CC 01), or as aftertouch?

I've the 1080's bigger brother the 2080, and a 990 also, so if you know the patches in question that are being a problem, I might be able to investigate.
I don't have a AX-7, but a D-50. The D-50's aftertouch is pretty poor on mine, but I do have full control over modulation.
I seem to remember the 1080's do wobble (vibrato) when aftertouch is sent.
You might have to edit each patch, and then save them into user memory, quite time consuming.

I'm also wondering if aftertouch, or modulation might be assigned to the MFX control too.

The AX-7 can send Modulation (NOD), AfterTouch (AFT), Both (ALL), or None (OFF). It was set to both. I don't know the exact CC value that they send, but I could probably look it up when I get home.

Last night after I was able to get the bAr (Expression Bar) control parameter to take my changes, it was definitely the modulation that was causing the odd sound. The AfterTouch did have a bit of a wobble to it, but it was much more listen-able because it did wobble quite as fast. However, I think the rate on the wobble for the AfterTouch was different than the rate on the modulation -- which was most likely the combination that was causing odd sound.

In the end, I ended up just turning it to the OFF setting and letting the 990 do all the work on the expression.

Modulation is CC 01
Aftertouch isn't a continuous controller as such, it's it's own thing, just like pitch bend.
Aftertouch also comes in 2 forms:
Poly aftertouch - each key generates different aftertouch information.
Channel aftertouch (the most common) - the key generating the most aftertouch gives the value of aftertouch being generated.

A little more experimentation might worth ago. Try having the expression bar just sending modulation, or just aftertouch instead of both.

yeah, I did have it just send the Modulation and just send the After Touch. Just the After Touch sounded OK, but just the modulation had the super fast "wah" sound.

I'll try to figure out what type of CC message it's sending next week (after our recording this weekend) and let you know what I find out...