Iconoclast

Does the MODX play every part of a patch every time you play the Keylab? Or does the MODX play only sometimes when you play the keylab? Does the keylab trigger the MODX play all sounds of layered patch, or only some sounds of a layered patch? The answers to those questions will help point you to your issue. Also, I know there's a lot of traps you can fall into in Mainstage when using external instrument channel strips. There's a bunch of boxes and radio buttons you can click incorrectly and I can't name them all here without Mainstage in front of me. Remember you can have a setting wrong at the set or concert level and it will be wrong in all patches that are nested in those folders.

OK, then my best guess would be #2. On a lot of keyboards, setting the Master Midi Channel to something doesn't mean that internally the keyboard isn't sending other channel information for local use. Then messages come from that channel from outside the keyboard, it doesn't know the difference and reacts to that message. Is it all MODX programs that are responding to the keylab or just some of them?

Apologies up front, these problems are difficult to comprehend without being hands-on sometimes, but I'll take a couple stabs at it. My other alibis are I'm not familiar with the MODX but I have done multi keyboard Mainstage rigs with Yamaha, Kurz, Nord, Hammond and Studio Logic. Not all at once of course! 1. Why is the modx connected via USB to the laptop? If you're only using it for local stuff, you can unplug the USB and fix the problem there? 2. Maybe if using a split or layer on the MODX you are receiving on ch2 on one of the layers/splits? The Arturia is xmitting ch2 but maybe one of your MODx internal instruments is listening to ch2? For example I'm pretty sure on the Forte using a split that zone 2 would be listening for ch2 by default unless you changed it. Similarly in the Nord one of the panels may be listening for ch2 instructions even though the keyboard is transmitting on ch1 across the network. 3. I can't remember why offhand at midnight here, but I think you're normally better off to put the main mainstage controller on ch1. Something about auditioning new sounds and they end up monophonic unless you're on ch1. (This advice won't help you for your gig tonight but might help you in the future when you can't figure out why you can't get poly sounds out of MS) 4. I doubt this is it, but did you create an external instrument channel strip in Mainstage at the patch or higher level that is transmitting on ch1? That would do it, but it would be difficult to do by accident. Good Luck! Pick your head up. Mainstage is easy. But before it's easy it's impossible. Hope I helped.

I've installed strip lights on the bottom of a top rig to illuminate the bottom rig. Works cool. Cheap. remote control, changeable colors. Only draw back is the extra complication and not damaging the lights during schlep.

I am really loving this guys youtube channel lately. Great communicator, great player. Comes off as a dude I'd just love to have a beer with and talk about keyboards and music. Glad he's stayed busy doing this since the pandemic started.

So you don't look for peaks in the -15db range? I've always been taught that for digital stuff you want to treat the -15to-18 range like it's peaking in the yellow. So that's how I have all my VSTs set up and it's what I use when I'm mixing. I swear I start to get some audible distortions when my digital stuff comes anywhere close to zero.

Not liking the new midi learn implementation. Plus I'm having some issues in Mainstage where I return to a patch to find the VSTs volume firewalled when I really need it at about 50% where I left it. On a separate bitch...Why do they make all the presets so loud? Not just Arturia but everybody. I thought digital stuff should peak at -18 to -15db? The first thing I do when I call up a VST is go minus 10 on the db. Makes it a PITA to audition presets.

Spent about 15 minutes with the new Stage 73 and it's a quantum leap forward over the previous version in terms of feeling like a real instrument. Really nice, I plan on using it live this weekend to see how it sits. Now they need to do the same thing with the Wurli and Piano V's. I find them almost unusable unless you want something that sounds really lo-fi.

I'm guessing the servers are maxed out as I couldn't get the software app to link up. I think it's only been out a couple of hours. The Rhodes needed an update so I'm glad they got that in. Hope it's good. The old Arturia Rhodes sounded OK but felt dead to play. The vocoder and emulator look interesting to me. I honestly don't use the Jup-8 for any of my stuff...can't really say why but it's currently in none of my live patches. I will update as soon as the internet allows.

All I can say is that since Frank took over service at Line6 they've been incredible. I would call Line6 directly. They've gone well above and beyond for me the last couple years. I've been a L6 user since they were a tiny company. They had a middle period where it seemed they were squeezing every dime, but the last couple years they've totally turned around their service department. Covid might be the real issue. Oh...and California fires; they seem to have been in the path of a few.

While it might be heresy, I'd have to say that ARW was one of the best shows I've seen in the last decade. They had the temerity to play The Fish but Lee Pomeroy is no slouch and did a great homage to Chris. I absolutely love Yessongs but Yes kind of lost me in their middle period and then regained me around Drama timeframe. As much of a Steve Howe fan I am, I'm even more of a Trevor Rabin fan.

Looking from the outside; I use Arturia's DX-7 vst frequently so I'm familiar. DX7V is $149 although you can frequently find it cheaper or it comes as part of the $249 V collection, and personally I find it to be one of the most useful instruments in V collection. DX7V has 6 operators vs 4 for Opzilla. The rest of the Opzilla feature list is basically overtaken by DX7V except for the "Sample Attack", which I can guess the meaning of but don't really know. There's an argument to be made for less operators! I cut my teeth on a DX-9, which was the 7's little brother, and I think the smaller feature set actually made it more usable for a hack like myself. Consequently I think I've always been "relatively" comfortable with FM programming. It does seem that in a lot of programs you can mute an operator and not hear the difference! Of course the price is nice but there's a lot of competition in the cheap/free FM synth market https://blog.landr.com/the-7-best-free-synth-vst-plugins/

Since I bought a Hydrasynth I have an entire new appreciation for AT for 2 reasons. 1. Hydrasynth AT is easy to activate. On all my previous keyboards it was more of an off/on switch. I've owned kurz/Nord/Yamaha/DSI and all of them required IMO too much pressure to activate AT. AT was more of an effect than a part of your playing. The Hydrasynth AT is easily activated with gentle/subtle pressure, making it much more usable and expressive. 2. Poly AT is like a zillion times more expressive than channel AT. When paired with reason 1. above it becomes even more so. Sorry if I'm repeating but I wasn't going to read all 4 pages.

She's a great musician, not tough on the eyes, she can sing...but can she please get someone else to write her lyrics? Jesus lord god her lyrics are awful. I still watch her stuff because, even despite that, I find her really talented.

I've been playing pianos on Kurz/Nord/VSTs that support half pedal, and I can feel it immediately when I play a VST or an instrument that doesn't support it. I'm not at all sure than anyone but me notices it, but I certainly do.

Do they not do graphics cards anymore? I ask because as a long time mainstage user I found that a previous generation of 13 inch MBPs with "integrated graphics" basically couldn't run mainstage with keyscape or some other demanding VSTs. I ended up having to buy the basically the same computer as a 16 inch with a graphics card and that computer runs multiple versions of keyscape simultaneously with no issues. So I'm very wary of that. (you can search for my screenname, I had many threads about my issues maybe 2 years ago. Many smart people chimed in but in the end, I think it was actually the graphics card that made all the difference...and you couldn't even get a graphics card in the 13 inch then)

At 17 lbs it's way lighter than either SL88. The SL88 grand is, I think, heavier than my Forte7, even though it's much lower profile and not as deep. The SL88 studio is still 30 lbs.

Only had it at home for half a day. Still at ver1.5. Haven't played in a band situation yet. Poly Aftertouch: I find this immensely usable. They have a keyboard with deep AT travel, unlike say my OB-6 where AT is nearly an on/off switch. I'm very pleasantly surprised how easy, natural and expressive this is, especially for legato/slow parts. This should be THE NEXT BIG THING in new synths. Really not a gimmick. You'll be deep into Blade Runner territory in no time. Ribbon controller. Ok, it's cool and maybe easier to reach than some other controllers that you could use. Some people had commented on it's "digitalness". The presets are all full of stuff that, in trying to show of it's wavetable capabilities, probably reinforces that perception. However, there's some analog settings in the voice pages and then the drive setting in filter 1 that can really get rid of most of that. Not all, but definitely most. It's not lacking in low end like some of the examples and presets might lead you to believe. I love the fact that it's not knob-per-function but it has a pretty quick way of navigating. And unlike a lot of programmable synths, it's actually easy to see what the current setting are as the 8 primary encoders continuous and lit. So far I'm ecstatic. Looks like an extremely powerful and useful instrument.

If you're worried about the volume, it all depends on the drummer. If you're worried about the covid, it's too small of a space.

WT actual F. Some people just breathe music.

I've met Steve many times and he's always sober as a judge, always so gracious and giving of his time. At that particular show (SMB/Dreggs show...can't remember the year, maybe 03?) we were backstage and met everyone in the band and they were all so nice, Rod was especially talkative. I seriously don't hold anything against an artist when meeting his fans, it's tough to be "on" 100% of the time.

Bummed that the one time I met T he was hammered and kind of a dismissive jerk. I seriously don"t hold it against him as many could say the same about me only I never had his chops. Steve Morse himself will tell you that he was a bit of a band nazi in his younger days. The last couple Dreggs tours he did with T he made a point of letting them all do some of their own tunes. I can"t remember which T Lavitz song they did but I remember they did a Mahavishnu when Jerry Goodman played last with them.

I'm seriously considering buying this synth for some very simple reasons: Ribbon Controller (aftermarket ribbon controllers cost almost as much as this synth) Polyphonic Aftertouch (How is this not mandatory in 2020?) More LFO's and Envelopes than I can currently use (Even the VST's that I use don't have this many) The price point It might sound a little digital, but it currently has almost no competition on the above points.

Never thought I'd want to sell my OB-6 but I think I could get enough for it to cover the Polybrute. But then there's the Hydrasynth....arghh what a time to be alive!?