I’ve seen this sort of issue with the Pyramid when used with some other equipment.
Its not caused by a problem with the midi data being sent, its more of a midi electrical signal issue, caused by a hardware component tolerance issue, that causes some combinations of midi equipment not to receive messages. Its not usually the sort of thing to expect a firmware fix to be available for. People usually solve this sort of thing by using different combinations of equipment, for example by changing their setup plans entirely, or adding an additional midi device in between the two devices that dont like each other. For example some people solved Pyramid issues by using various midi thru boxes sitting in between the keyboards output and the Pyramids input. I think someone else got a Keystep to work with the pyramid by powering it via a power supply rather than USB.
I think there is a thread about this on the Pyramid forum, which started off with someones problem using the M-Audio Keystation, but quickly ended up including people mentioning other devices they had issues with such as the Moog Grandmother. I think much later in the thread someone even said they fixed the issue by replacing the midi in optocoupler (6n136) inside the Pyramid with the equivalent part from another manufacturer. So if people want to attribute blame for this sort of incompatibility, I would tend to blame the midi input circuitry on the Pyramid not working with some other devices. I dont remember with certainty which combination I had a problem with in the past, though it might have been the Polyend Medusa and the Pyramid.
That’s good to know , I’ve got half a dozen things I can test the pyramid … and midi thru on a few things too …
I’ll have a read , surgery sounds a bit daunting … …
thanks for info
To add to the record and hopefully help others with their troubleshooting; My new S6 -replacing my previous master keyboard- was not transmitting its MIDI Out data into my MPC 2500. MPC was sending just fine into the S6 but nothing registering into the MPC. Went through a lot of steps trying to isolate the issue between the S6 and MPC, in the process I hooked up the S6 MIDI out directly to the MIDI in of my previous master keyboard, which the S6 was able to trigger. Strangely enough, taking the Thru from there to the MPC provided the workaround. Disconnected my Kenton Thru 5 to put that in between the S6 and MPC and still working correctly now, albeit still a workaround of course and I’ve ordered a second MIDI thru 5 to keep passing on the data for now. I’ll also log a ticket with support.
Hi guys new S6 User with newest firmware. I as well am having a different kind of issue using my S6 as a master keyboard. S6 is now in front of me controlling a P10, OB6, Pro2 and Sub37. When I want to control other synths I change the S6 keyboard to each synth’s respective MIDI Channel and record the sequence into Logic Pro X. I also turn Local off so I don’t hear the internal engine of S6 while controlling other synths. My issue is with Local on/off. When Local is off the S6 synth engine is deemed useless. I record my first midi sequence with S6 and record it into logic. It plays back fine but once I turn off local to control other synths the S6 synth no longer plays. The only way for the sequence to play coming from daw is to make sure the S6 keyboard is on the corresponding MIDI channel. It seems like the midi channel on S6 internal engine and its keyboard are locked together. Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of Local on/off?
I found this confusing at first too and seem to recall switching between local on and off while I was still troubleshooting the issue I described above. Thinking back, I can’t say it was related though. Since then I keep local on all the time without the internal engine triggering while I have another track armed on my MPC. Don’t remember anymore what triggered that to now work. I do recall when I put my ticket in that support confirmed you do not need to toggle local off in order to play your other MIDI channels though. Worth contacting their support, I found them very responsive.
The MIDI send/receive channels are tied together. So if you want to change it to another channel to play another synth the Super6 is no longer getting MIDI because it’s receiving MIDI on a different channel than your DAW is sending to. The only way around this is if UDO implement a way of separately changing the MIDI send/receive channels. That would be a nice update and would remove the necessity of a MIDI rechannelizer box for this circumstance. It’s for this reason I don’t use my S6 as a controller keyboard.
I use the S6 as a master keyboard but it’s connected to an mpc live, which is connected to the rest of the stuff I’m controlling, so I don’t need the S6 to do much. It works just fine for this scenario but one thing that is really annoying about the S6 is that you can’t switch octaves when local control is off.
I just ordered an S6 with the idea of using it as a master keyboard. I am planning on using a Conductive Labs MRCC with hopes to resolve all of the issues mentioned here. Its been very well received design.
I have been intending to use my S6 as my master keyboard and find it very frustrating. The fact the manual states the inclusion of local on/off to allow it to be used as a master keyboard is great, but then not allowing different input and output channels just kills it without a box of tricks!
I know I am echoing what other people have said above and am glad to find I’m not the only one now in this unfortunate position. I only have room for one keyboard of this size and love it in so many ways - but I need a master load oats that works.
Thanks also for mentioning the octave up/down problem. I would have run into that sooner rather than later. Seems really unnecessary to ignore these buttons when local is off. How else does one change the octave?
Sincerely hoping for a firmware update to allow selection of different midi in and out channels. Will send an email too.
Agreed. It can’t be that hard to implement different input and output channels. My ESQ-1 does this and I can simultaneously have it sequenced and use the keybed to control other synths.
I’ve been struggling on an email exchange to explain this use case. UDO are under the impression I either want the S6 to be multi-timbral or that it needs to be multi(or at least bi)-timbral to support this request. I /hope/ I have successfully explained this now, but still not convinced…
If anyone can chime in with how they use this capability on other synths with keyboards or how they would find this feature useful, it may help with the understanding.
