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Hello, just recently purchased the MODX7+ and am having a hard time with Midi to play another synth only on one part of the keyboard. Midi channel set to 3, and I am using it with the following keyboards, (midi channel), I removed any USB or connection to PC, etc... so it's only the Midi, connected as shown below.
- Oberheim OB-X8 (2)
- Nord Stage 4 (4)
- Korg Kronos (1)
The MODX, Nord, and the Korg have their Midi OUT going to the IN on a DoreMidi Merge3 box which goes OUT to the Midi IN on the OBX8. There is no Midi IN connected to the MODX.
On the MODX. I have the advanced settings for Midi set to Hybrid (I tried Single as well), and it doesn't seem to matter what channel I set, but it's on 2 since I only want to send to the OB.
I have two different programs with multiple parts and only one part set to use Midi w/Zone to On, channel 2. All the other parts have Zone set to off.
On program #1, the OB only plays on E0-E1... and the MODX parts play fine... no problem!
But on Program #2, I cannot get all the parts to only play in their respective keyboard zones. If I toggle the Kbd Ctrl on Part 8 (OBX8) off, then it plays only on E0-E1, but then none of the other parts play now! If I toggle the Kbd Ctrl on one of the other parts, the Organ for example, then it plays fine, but the OB now does not. If I have Kbd Ctrl on for just the Organ and OB and both play correctly, within their respective zones. Then if I try turning on one of the other parts w/Kbd Ctrl... the OB plays on all keys again! No combination seems to work and even turning some parts on w/Kbd Ctrl will turn other parts on and off... bizarre.
I cannot figure out how to keep the other 6 parts playing while keeping the OB only within E0-E1. Nothing seems to work. If the other program did the same I'd assume something is set up wrong, but on that program it works exactly as expected with the OB limited to only E0-E1. All the settings for Midi match as well.
What am I missing here?? I have the Korg doing something similar and it works perfectly. Hope someone much smarter than me with the MODX can sort this out.
Posted : 29/09/2025 3:25 pm
Topic starter
Figured it out. Instead of having zone settings OFF for all the other parts, I needed them to all be ON as well, just not set to use a Midi channel and that did it. 👍
Posted : 29/09/2025 7:28 pm
Thanks for posting the solution - that will help others that run into the same issue.
Posted : 29/09/2025 9:21 pm
Rick reacted
Just so you know when you turn on zones it defeats the MIDI I/O mode (single or hybrid). So using zones the Performance will force Multi Channel MIDI mode.
I linked a Montage tutorial but this applies to MODX as well. There's a MODX article for the same topic. And the article doesn't mention hybrid probably because the mode didn't exist when this was originally written.
Source: https://yamahasynth.com/learn/montage-series-synthesizers/mastering-montage-zone-master-function/
If all the local “Zone Switches” within the Performance are set to OFF (there are 16 Switches, one in each PART), then the global setting for MIDI I/O Mode applies. But as soon as you activate a ZONE in any of the PARTS, this action will override the “Single” MIDI I/O Mode setting to allow the Zone parameters to determine how MIDI is handled in the current PERFORMANCE. When you are going to use Zones, you do so because you want to use more than one, so the “Single” channel mode is naturally overridden.
Current Yamaha Synthesizers: Montage Classic 7, Motif XF6, S90XS, MO6, EX5R
Posted : 30/09/2025 1:53 am
Topic starter
Thanks, Jason. I actually did see that article, (when I was first searching for my issue and someone else had linked it in another thread). I also noticed that the hybrid mode was not shown. Sometimes reading too many threads or watching video ends up just making it worse or I have to stop thinking about how I may do it with another synth, like the Kronos for example, which is very different, lol. I just had to walk away and think about it a bit!
Posted : 01/10/2025 5:01 pm
Yeah, no problem. I mentioned this "rule" because I noticed you tried both Single and Hybrid. But, in reality, since Zone overrides either of these modes you were actually trying multi-channel in all cases. (W/ Zone turned on the mode is forced to Multi-Channel even though your setting may say otherwise).
These things are kind of difficult to follow (in general). When there's behavior that acts as an exception to intuition. Lots of that is sprinkled around Yamaha gear.
This post was modified 2 months ago by Jason
Current Yamaha Synthesizers: Montage Classic 7, Motif XF6, S90XS, MO6, EX5R
Posted : 01/10/2025 10:27 pm
