Forgot to mention Im using USB midi and audio with the montage. No one using Mainstage 3?

As no replies Im starting to try a work around, if anyone can think of a way to do it without loosing a local channel that would be great, montage def doesnt seem to interface midi wise as other synths Ive owned. I would have thought you could set program changes to be local or just over midi for each channel that would be logical, Im guessing these are the limitations people are discussing on various forums.

So previously I had my montage midi'd to my Roland FA08, in that case I used channel 16 to send program changes to the roland which seemed to work well. However when I use channel 16 then I loose my seemless sound switching capability for that patch, now I have some songs which i switch between 2 or 3 performances after deciding to stick with one synth live.

Is there any way to send program changes without loosing a local channel or SSS ?? As for this setup to work with channel 16 for the program changes all my performances would loose SSS as would need to respond when I switched songs in my setlist.

Scott

You've probably received no reply because the question is not clear. Are you asking how to use Mainstage 3 or the Montage?
It is not immediately clear.

Sorry, I felt it was pretty clear but maybe not.

I guess the question would be relevant to not only mainstage but using any external synth. I think I have the mainstage side sorted, but want to know if theres a way to send the program change information on for example channel 1 to only the externally connected device and not change the onboard sound I selected and saved in my performance. So I can layer the sound from the computer with the sound on the montage, or if desired turn the onboard sound off and used the channel just for the external instrument.

Regards
Scott

One way to do this is to assign a keyboard key to patch change (next patch, previous patch, or jump to a specific patch) then use this MIDI message from Montage to trigger Mainstage instead of bank/PC changes. This way your Montage performance can stay constant while telling mainstage to change patches.

I don't have any first hand experience with Mainstage - and not entirely sure what your boundaries are for defining something that works for you or not.

You can also translate CC to program changes and use program changes to switch patches -- and use your source CC as say superknob or an assignable knob (something you can automate on Montage). Idea similar to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5cJRu2A0SY -- but with different specifics.

If you're just using Bank/PC switching on Montage to trigger Mainstage - then you shouldn't lose SSS unless Mainstage itself sends back a program change in response which will "double whammy" your Bank/PC switch and cause SSS to pass through 2 performances -- which means you essentially lose it. This can be solved by turning off Montage from responding to external Bank/PC MIDI messages from external sources.

If you had zone master and PART zone turned on (Montage) with say PART 16's zone settings turned ON and MIDI out channel set to 16, MSB/LSB/PC set to something that meant something to Mainstage - then I don't see how this would be any different than addressing the Roland which worked before. Not sure anything about the Mainstage side - so not clear why Mainstage couldn't pick up on this and then SSS would be preserved and nothing special in terms of setup. You just can't make a "dummy" performance only for the purpose of sending Bank/PC to Mainstage because this is when SSS goes south. You would need to send the MIDI info in your active performances you use for Montage tone generation (sounds).

Hi Justin

Thanks for the reply,

I'll try to understand what you are saying, Im not sure it will work though as the setlist order may change during or before a show and i think for that to work they would always have to be in the same order in both the montage and mainstage for that to work correctly, same would go for using the midi learn function and changing patches in mainstage from performances, if I change the instrument on channel 1 then the message would change causing broken links etc if the performance was edited.

I did have it working with my Roland yes, however because when I use any channel from 9 through to 16 then that performance so no longer can use SSS. Whilst using two keyboards I could get away with this as had enough sounds between both synths to not have to switch performances mid song. Now that im solely using the Montage its important to keep SSS intakt (meaning not using more than 8 channels in a performance), as theres more multi performance songs in our setlist.

I can currently set channel 16 to zone control transmitting on channel 1 and have tried multiple setttings as a test just to see if I can send a program change on that channel without effecting the local sound on that channel, so far no luck, The patch will change in mainstage but so will the local montage sound.

I have yet to try setting up mainstage to receive on channel 16, i;m sure it will change patches but then Im not sure if it will let me play the sound as pretty sure channel 16 is only for external equipment to send to not to receive from. Also again I was trying to get away from wasting a local channel between 1 and 8 just for controlling mainstage so was hoping I could disable local program changes but still play a local sound that ive saved to that channel in the performance aswell as and external sound in mainstage.

Hope Im making this clear enough.

SOLVED:

I found the issue. I learnt quite a bit in the process, but it appears that didnt change the midi output back into the montage to off in mainstage therefore when I was sending program changes mainstage would change programs then also send back a program change in doing so, i thought the montage was changing its internal sounds itself, but glad Ive found a logical solution. Look forward to setting up some fat sounding sounds now 🙂

Scott

Right, that was the "double whammy" scenario I was referencing. Glad you got that sorted.

But I do have to correct something in my previous response about the channel 16 business - it is true if you use any PART 9-16 then SSS will be disabled - so my reference to using PART 16 for zone control is not compatible with wanting to continue to use SSS. I was not complete in my thoughts about the rules of SSS in my last reply.

Therefore, even the previous Roland control should have also disabled SSS if using any PART 9-16 as part of how that was setup.