[linux-audio-user] silly midi volume stuff :)

Allan Klinbail allank at labyrinth.net.au
Sat Jun 14 10:25:01 EDT 2003


This probably isn't the answer you are looking for. 

If you have a manual then it is null and void


I remember old Ensoniq samplers having a weird way of handling
controllers.  

I just tried looking up a manual for this one but only found ones for
sale.. (no scans into PDF format) 

There is a remote possibility that there is a way of adjusting the
average velocity output via a button combination maybe even keys pressed
(I have a  Roland EP-50 and for example to change the MIDI channel it is
sending.. the MIDI button needs to be pressed and then a key that
corresponds to the right channel.. it does the same thing for sending
program changes and it's a good 4 years older than your keyboard. 

If you have a manual I'd be scouring it. 

good luck 

cheers

Allan     


On Sat, 2003-06-14 at 21:19, Ryan Underwood wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I have a MIDI card (Yamaha DB50XG) that I use as a performer for my old
> Ensoniq controller.  It works fine.  However, it seems that the Ensoniq
> keyboard sends the velocity information at only half what it should be
> -- if I pound on the keyboard, the volume is increased from normal
> playing, but still rather quiet.  If I play a midi file through tse3play
> or something similar, the volume is full.
> 
> To get around this problem, I have two sysex files; I cat
> volume_high.syx > /dev/midi when I want to use the keyboard, and cat
> volume_low.syx > /dev/midi when I want to play midi files.  The sysex's
> each set the midi master volume to a level which is comfortable to use
> with either.
> 
> However, this feels like a kludge.  In addition, sometimes annoying
> things happen like after I've been playing the keyboard at its
> comfortable volume, I visit a web page with a MIDI on it, and it plays
> at 250% volume and blasts my ear out.  Or I play a game like DOOM which
> has hardware MIDI support and have to lunge for the volume on my mixer
> to keep from disturbing the neighbours. :)
> 
> The keyboard is a Ensoniq SDP-1 from 1986 or so.  I tried the volume
> setting on the keyboard in the hopes that it would modify the volume of
> the notes sent to the midi card, but it seems to have no effect.  (Is it
> broken possibly?)
> 
> I was thinking about hacking the mpu401 driver so that when midi data is
> received externally, it rewrites the velocity somehow before it reaches
> the midi device.  Or if that isnt possible, when a file is played to
> /dev/midi, after the file sets master volume, reset it to a lower value.
> 
> Thoughts?  Suggestions?  This has been annoying me for a while now. :)
> 
> Thanks,




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