XK2 controlling Kronos organs-strange pedal problems

[Daddyg3042]

Im having the strangest issue that Im having no luck in resolving. Ive tried all sorts of things with no joy. This is a little lengthyso bear with me. Heres the situation:

 

Im playing in a Pink Floyd tribute band. I set up my Kronos with Combis for each song, having to move sliders to mute certain instruments during certain parts of the song. I found that in most songs I had to zero all sliders to bring up the organ parts, and vice versa. Ive messed with Karma muting, using solo buttons, etc, but moving sliders has worked best for me up to this point. Even soit's kind of a pain to do so in mid song...so I decided to pull out the old XK2 so that I had dedicated keys for just organ, besides, playing organ on weighted keys sucks. After comparing the Kronos organs against the XK2.I decided to try to see if I could use the XK2 as a controller to play only the organ parts in these Combis. To make sure I didnt screw up my original combis, I copied all of them to another bank and made the changes to the new bank. Combis are exactly the same in both banks with the exception that organ patches are set to MIDI channel 2. In the new XK2 bank, all was working fine till I connected the switch pedal to the Kronos to use as a leslie fast/slow switch, which works great with the non XK2 bank. Wouldn't you know it....the switch pedal has no effect on the organ patches in these banks, and worse, causes non organ patches to initiate with leslie fast. I'm a "MIDIot" but I thought this would be pretty straightforward..Argh!

 

Heres the setup:

-Kronos-Global-MIDI channel 1

-XK-2 UM, LM &PK set to MIDI channel 2. Ive turned off ALL Mod, pitch bend on both EXT

channels. Local is OFF. MIDI soft thru is set to on for SetList Maker to send patch changes.

-Within Combis, organ Timbre are set to MIDI channel 2, all other Timbres are assigned to GCH

-Cables are routed; iPad with SetList Maker MIDI out to XK2 MIDI in, XK2 MIDI out to Kronos MIDI in

 

With this setup, the XK2 is triggering organ voices, SetList Makers patch changes are working, but the switch pedal does not the toggle the leslie to fast/slow. Also, all other timbres now start with the leslie on fast. The joystick will defeat the leslie fast with all the timbres EXCEPT for the organ assigned to channel 2it has no effect on those timbres.

 

I thought that the answer might possibly be in the GLOBAL/External 1 menu, but not having any luck messing around with those parameters. Id rather not use the internal sounds on the XK2, even though that would simplify things. It's worth schlepping the XK2 to have a dedicated organ, but maybe not if I have to use its internal sounds. If anyone has any ideas..theyd be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

[J. Dan]

The pedal plugged into the Kronos applies to the Global Channel (in your case, channel 1). If you want to use a pedal to toggle fast/slow on channel 2 coming from the SK1, you need to plug a pedal into the SK1 so that it sends the message to the Kronos on Channel 2. Same goes for Swell pedal.

 

There is a work around if you use a Karma engine to re-channelize the MIDI messages, but better to just plug the pedal into the SK1, right?

[Sven Golly]

better to just plug the pedal into the SK1, right?

 

^ This.

[Daddyg3042]

Thank you, Sirs. Yep, after a bit of fiddling with the parameters of the XK2, it's all good. Even got the Hammond EXP pedal working now. Been missing that guy..what a great pedal! The XK2 is way long in the tooth and the sounds don't stand up to the new clones, but I always loved the feel, so it's great to be able to put it back into action.

 

Most things seem straightforward until I start thinking about them too much....then it all goes to hell : )

[Mighty Ferguson]

Now that youve got it working, Ill recommend adding a Ventilator, which will render your pedal fix for the internal Leslie sim obsolete, but will make that Kronos organ sound MUCH better. No rush though. :-)

[Daddyg3042]

I have one, Vent II. Sounds pretty good, but it adds more stuff to carry, more connections and cabling, and creating a whole new set of combis to send organ patches aux out vs. using the mains from the Kronos. If it sounded WAY better, I'd do it, but the Kronos' leslie seems good, and I've dialed it in to taste.

 

AND...the switch pedal is working just fine now