[LAU] Suzuki QC1 Qchord Digital Songcard Guitar

[Niels Mayer]

I got it all working! Here's my first recording (1 minute long done in
qtractor) of the Yamaha db60xg waveterminal daughterboard synth, playing
through- hosted-on,  and recorded-by the dynex dx-sc51. MIDI for the db60xg
is driven by the Suzuki Qchord and "Rhythm Style QCard QRC-1" #16 "Salsa"
cartridge, randomly chorded by me:
http://nielsmayer.com/DjColtraneRexx-qchord-salsa.flac ... basically, the
qchord is a fancy chorded arpeggiator with a quantizing strumplate...

I now can record directly from the db60xg's analog output (it appears as the
"Video In" analog input in alsamixer. To get it working, I had to use
alsamixergui to set the soundcard's capture input to  "Video In" and not the
default microphone). I then tell jackd to output to hw:ICE1724,1 (SPDIF)
which connects my main monitors. Then I can either record off the capture
input, or select monitor to send the db60xg sound, mixed with PCM, over
SPDIF to the mains. Now if I could only figure out how to get Jack to open
the Dynex card's analog (hw:ICE1724,0) and digital (hw:ICE1724,1) parts
simultaneously, i'd also have a separate headphone monitor in addition to
the working spdif out. Unfortunately, the snd-ice1724 module for this card
doesn't recognize it as a 6 channel card, providing only a 2in/2out with
separate SPDIF ( see
http://old.nabble.com/Re:-perhaps-why-some-of-us-have-more-trouble-w--pulseaudio-than-others-(ICE1712-M-audio-delta-problem-w--pulseaudio)-td28498250i40.html
 )


> Not encouraging news.  My plan was to use the QC1 as a source for midi
> input into a sequencer, like Rosegarden 10 'Thorn'.
>
> On page 41 of the Qchord manual it shows Channels 14, 15, and 16 are the
> Strumplate.  I would like to record in Rosegarden on those tracks with the
> QC1 shown as MIDI hardware input device 1 (my MIDI is going through the
> Audigy2 ZS Midi daughterboard with the Soundblaster MIDI/Game Port
> attachment/cables;  yes, I still like the old reliable hardware from nearly
> 20 years ago. GRIN).  I would set 3 different Rosegarden tracks to use (on
> the Recording Filters section of the Track Parameters pane) Channel 14,
> Channel 15, and Channel 16.  I would set the Playback Paraments for those
> tracks to my sound modules (outboard Roland Sound modules.)
>

I don't think it's totally discouraging, and yet, of course, it could be far
far better for MIDI usage. The scenario you outline should work, as it'll
simply ignore the blabbering going on in the other channels, which doesn't
really go away, it just gets its volume/velocity set to zero, even in "Ez
Play" mode.

The biggest problem is that the strumplate is actually quantized based off
the song/rhythm. And when you put it into "Ez-Play" mode to silence the
rhythm/bass/backing stuff it automatically resets to 120bpm. At least in the
"regular" mode with the volumes turned down (or midi ignoring the chatter)
you can set the tempo. The real pain is that the qchord is in charge of the
tempo -- there's no "external midi sync" ; so you'll have to figure out a
way to get your sequencer to go by the Qchord's midi-clock (couldn't figure
out how to do that in qtractor). I believe the qchord sends start/stop over
MIDI, and might even listen to external start/stops from a sequencer... And
of course there's no precise BPM  readout in case you have a known BPM you
want to set it to....


> Are you saying that the Qchord also sends out the 'rhythm accompanient' on
> those channels as well?  The manual is stating that Channel 3 is Chord Plus
> (whatever that is), Channel 5 is Auto Chord 1, Channel 6 is Auto Chord 2,
> Channel 7 is Auto Chord 3, Channel 8 is Auto Chord 4, Channel 9 is Bass, and
> Channel 10 is Drums.


The rhythm accompaniment is the MIDI and other stuff output on channels 3-10
-- it is separate from the strumplate voices.

On page 34 of the manual it talks about Selecting Additional Strumplate
> Voices (appears to be the standard MIDI voice layout, with 00 for acoustic
> piano0, 01 for piano1, etc.)  I would think that one could select 25 for
> Acoustic Steel Guitar, hit the Strumplate, and only the Acoustic Steel
> Guitar voice would send a MIDI stream out through Channels 14, 15, and 16.
> If I had Rosegarden recording the MIDI on those tracks and playing back to
> my sound module, possibly I'd hear the Acoustic Steel Guitar through my
> Roland sound module's output.  If Rosegarden wasn't sending in real-time the
> QC1 MIDI stream to the Roland gear, I assume I could always hear what I was
> playing through the speaker/headphones on the QC1 for monitoring purposes.


When you change strumplate voices via "strumplate voices" selector on
qchord, it changes the voice on channels 14,15,16 simultaneously and all the
voices are GM/XG. When you change then manually, e.g. via qxgedit, then you
have to remember to switch three different channels all to the same voice
(which is pretty tedious given how many voices there are).


> On page 34 of the manual it talks about Selecting Additional Strumplate
> Voices (appears to be the standard MIDI voice layout, with 00 for acoustic
> piano0, 01 for piano1, etc.)  I would think that one could select 25 for
> Acoustic Steel Guitar, hit the Strumplate, and only the Acoustic Steel
> Guitar voice would send a MIDI stream out through Channels 14, 15, and 16.
> If I had Rosegarden recording the MIDI on those tracks and playing back to
> my sound module, possibly I'd hear the Acoustic Steel Guitar through my
> Roland sound module's output.  If Rosegarden wasn't sending in real-time the
> QC1 MIDI stream to the Roland gear, I assume I could always hear what I was
> playing through the speaker/headphones on the QC1 for monitoring purposes.
>
> Have you tried anything like that yet?
>

I didn't know about that feature. It should solve the issue of having to
dial in the same voice three times by keying it in on the qchord.

And if you using QC1 in single voice mode (as described on page 34), can you
> still use the chord buttons to have the QC1 play an F chord (for instance),
> and then strum or pick on the Strumplate and have the Acoustic Steel Guitar
> stay in an F chord?
>

Yes, that's basically how it works. And you can turn on/off different ways
of doing it with "manual chord" or "chord hold' ...


> Given the nature of my large hands with short, stubby fingers, I find it
> very difficult to cleanly play my Renaissance Lute.  I've got a nice lute
> soundfont that I can load up into Rosegarden (or through another soft synth
> linked into Rosegarden if necessary).  So I'm looking at the QC1 and
> Rosegarden as an alternative to my lute.
>

Other than the quantization problem, it'll sort of be, but it won't have the
"feel" of a live string that'll twang exactly when you hit it. Of course, if
you set it to a very high BPM that quantization might almost feel normal...
but you'll need to do some funny stuff on the sequencer to compensate...

Also, the quantization is missing on some rhythms, and there for others.
Since you can't really turn off the rhythm, it's a matter of finding the
qhcord-arpeggio you want to use....


> Do you think this is something that is possible to do with the QC1?
>

Anything's possible -- small matter of programming. I bet
http://das.nasophon.de/mididings/ will be quite useful for some things...
which is one of the reasons why I compiled and installed it on my box
recently. Haven't had a chance to set it up to do some things I need done
with the Qchord.

-- Niels
http://nielsmayer.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.linuxaudio.org/pipermail/linux-audio-user/attachments/20100511/34a53fcc/attachment.htm>