G2 Engine in use

cristian · Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2004 4:22 am Post subject: G2 Engine in use

So , i was thinking of picking up a G2 engine for a sound installation i am working on, and have a few questions...

When the rack is turned on, does it default to a performance or patch, so that it can go on tour and just be installed without the need to load a patch onto it from a computer?

how can you change patch or performance on the unit? does this have to be done externally as well?

Fozzie · Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2004 5:57 am Post subject:

Yes and yes. It defaults to the first performance in memory (I believe it can also be set to default on a certain patch), and this one is of course user-definable.

All patch changes (or performance changes) must be done with an external device (midi controller or laptop with editor).

Afro88 · Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2004 6:06 am Post subject:

You can also program the patch to change to a new one by itself using the midi send modules. I've never tried this myself, but I've heard that it can be done.

mosc · Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2004 9:20 am Post subject:

Since the G2 has 4 slots, you could use one slot as a program and variation controller for the other three. It should be possible to set up very long sequences of changes that way. I think the G2 engine would be a perfect choice for sound installations.

blue hell · Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2004 1:30 pm Post subject:

There are some issues with this, my experiences are :

The G2 engine starts in performance mode with the first performance in bank 1 (starting with OS 1.20 or so).

It does not seem to be possible for a performance to send performance changes to itself (using the Program change send module set to the global MIDI channel). Controller 32 (bank LSB) is not heard either when set to send to 'self').

It does not seem to be possible to let a performance switch itself into patch mode (using controller 19, global channel).

Even when already patch mode it does not seem to be possible to send program changes to another slot, the PC send module can onle be set to 'real' MIDI channels and to 'this', not to any slot.

Now thiis is all with internal MIDI routing, but the G2 does listen to external MIDI signals to accomplish the tasks described above. So I assume that when a MIDI cable is connected directly from MIDI out to MIDI in these tasks will be possible. I did not check this though.

For myself I used two G2 engines, one to do the patch changes and the other to do the sound. This way the patch switching G2 can also fill up the gaps of silence during patch change (I routed audio through the patch switcher to be able to do synchronized fades).

When you want to program patch changes and performance changes there is another issue to keep in mind. Performance changes sent too soon after a patch changes might crash the G2. The exact behaviour depends upon which OS you run (and the next upcomming OS should solve this problem, but 1.24 is not trouble free).

What does work is a patch or performance that sends variation changes to ittself (controller 70), or to other patches running at the same time. It's a bit tricky to get variation changes sent to self getting to work OK, but with some disciipline its manageble.

Jan.

zynthetix · Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2004 7:52 pm Post subject:

There is a noodle I recorded with my G2 at this thread. What you hear is all done by the G2 after the push of one button and I built the performance so that if it is stopped, it will restart the same way without having to re-load the patch. The overall sound/composition is fairly simplistic, but I was using an unexpanded G2...if I had an expansion card, that recording would have ended up with far more automations and alternating parts, differnet sounds, etc.

It sounds to me that a G2 engine would be perfect for an installation, as you can devise any sound you can think of, automate anything you can think of (within 1 performance), and also build the patch so it can reset automations when you stop it (for consistent or pseudo random playbacks each time). However, depending on how intricate you want to make your soundscape, and expansion card might also be a good thing to get in addition.

cristian · Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2005 7:20 am Post subject:

@ blue hell

i'm currently ( as mentioned in another thread ) anguishing here , with constant massive G2 engine hangs, upong sending program change messages on the global channel , to switch performances. Are there any solutions here?

As a work around, I'm thinking of sending a noteon or controller hi message from the external switches ( instead of sending PC message), and using a controller-only slot to recieve this noteon, and send trigger various PCchange Modules, to change patches in the other 3 slots ( instead of switching performances directly from the external switches, dyagetme?) - the PCchange Modules would be taking their trigger from the switchHI incoming message. Would this be more reliable? ( i'm looking for 100% reliablitily here )

cristian · Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2005 10:29 am Post subject:

the workaround doesn't work , because i can't send PCchange module to individual Slots !!!

DARN.

Even on experiments with sending simple single patch changes to a single slot on a seperate MIDI channel causes the engine to hang on certain patches.

A few ( not excessive ) PC commands, sent from an external controller, in succession hang the engine , whether thats PC for whole performance or single slots. Anyone else getting this? Is it the complexity of my patches?

ian-s · Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2005 11:15 am Post subject:

If you could post one of the patches that hang on a PC perhaps we might be able to isolate the problem area. If not, have you tried changing to a very simple (practically empty) prf for a short time between active prf's.
I noticed that on my G2 key, changing directly between complex prfs sometimes involves a quite long period where one is trying to stop, and the other is starting (no actual hangs though). Changing to the fixstuck.prf2 I posted some time ago is always practically instant and provides a nice clean start for the next prf.

cristian · Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2005 10:57 am Post subject:

thanks - but i couldn't find your springboard PCH2 file..

cebec · Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2005 11:19 am Post subject:

hi cristian... it's here... it's a .prf2

http://www.electro-music.com/forum/topic-4485.html