Console changes with Launchpads

Latest changes. After being dismantled for several days the console is now back together and playable. Wiring is almost entirely different, and many hardware items have been moved. Pole for lower launchpad on left and monitor on right are now mounted through the table. Gap between upper and lower left launchpads is now closed up. Audio and MIDI hardware now mostly relocated to inside behind the keyboards, except for the amplifiers which are now under the left launchpads, closer at hand. Still only the Solo pistons are working. Much work lies ahead to wire up the rest.









Andrew

This is a work of art, indeed! It's giving me inspiration and ideas for my console.

A couple questions for you, Andrew:

1. You mentioned that you are using MIDI cables rather than USB for the Behringer keyboards. What kind of issues did you experience using USB?

2. What are you using for expression pedals (the ones to the right of the FCB1010)?

Thanks for sharing your progress!

Steve

Hi Steve,

Many thanks for your compliments. To your questions ..

1 - I started to use MIDI rather than USB with my first installation back in 2006. I'm now onto my fifth Hauptwerk computer. I installed an Edirol MIDI interface which has 3 MIDI ports, to take the pressure off the first computer's limited USB port situation. I just kept using MIDI with subsequent computers and additional keyboard and controller inputs, despite gaining more USB ports along the way. Later I added a second Edirol unit which operates as a "slave" unit connected through the original which is the "master" so the MIDI setup still uses only one USB port to give a total of 6 MIDI ports. Recently I tried connecting the UMX-610s with USB thinking I could simplify the wiring and remove the power supplies to the keyboards. No matter what I did, the keyboards reassigned themselves to different departments each time I powered up the computer. In the end I stopped the headaches by reinstating the MIDI interfaces and independent keyboard power supplies. There have been no problems since.

http://www.roland.com/products/en/UM-3G/

2 - The pedals are Yamaha FC-7 units, removed from their base plates.

http://usa.yamaha.com/products/musical- ... mode=model

They are MIDIfied using effective but somewhat expensive and tricky devices from MIDI Solutions, which was all I could source at the time. MIDI OX is needed to program them, once you've waded through and made sense of the poorly written user guide.

http://www.midisolutions.com/prodped.htm

http://www.midiox.com

The swell pedal daisy chain is powered by the output from the seventh and last MIDI port in my setup which is on my audio interface, and the signals return to the computer via MIDI IN on the same port. I have the M-Audio Firewire 410 which I understand is now discontinued. The ProFire 610 appears to be the current model and it looks virtually identical to the old 410.

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/ProFire610.html

Andrew

I've recently added a sixth Launchpad, replacing the Korg NanoKey at the lower left. It's the new Launchpad S. Overlays for the Paramount 450 are under preparation, utilising all six launchpads. Most of my classical sample sets will fit just on the two at the top left (Rotterdam shown in the picture) so the Paramount overlays, when done, will simply stay in place on the others.

Andrew

Now where did I put that stop?

Rgds,
Ed

Seriously, it's not that hard!

For the Paramount 450 the launchpads will be allocated as follows:

Left side

Lower: Left - Pedal; Right; Accomp
Upper: Both - Great


Right side

Left: Orchestral
Right: Solo

There are a few minor variations. Some stops may stray to a neighbouring launchpad due to lack of space - e.g.: Accomp second touches will be at the top of the Pedal launchpad.

Round buttons on the right side are not used for the sample set. They are all allocated to Hauptwerk functions.

Some round buttons on the left - especially in the lower row - will be used for the sample set - especially for non-tonal percussions and effects. Some round buttons in top row are reserved for generic stop locations in all sample sets for couplers and will stay that way for the P450. The paper labelling next to the round buttons can be seen. Other round buttons in the top row - especially towards the left side - will serve for the tremulants. The four-manual keyboard stack includes some dedicated pistons for the tremulants. Also the group of five pistons to the left of middle - normally assigned to couplers and reversibles in the classical sample sets - will for the theatre organ sets be used to provide five additional departmental pistons, thus bringing the departmental piston tally for each keyboard to 15 - as provided for in the sample set itself.

As I indicated previously, I anticipate only having to remove the two overlays in the upper left row when swapping to a classical sample set. A likely exception to this will be the PAB Gravissimo. The photo shows Rotterdam on the top row, fully accommodated on two launchpads with a few buttons to spare.

Andrew

An updated photo. The Behringer FCB 1010 pedal unit has now been removed for use in another installation. I found that I wasn't using it anyway. The pedalboard (AGO, ex Johannus) is in view.

I'm looking forward to being able to find time soon to get back into the wiring of pistons. So far only the pistons to the Solo manual are working. The fifth rail is in place but not connected, and the LCD screens aren't working yet either. The rails to the Choir, Great and Swell manuals have been removed and are sitting on the workbench waiting to be wired up. The electronics to drive all those pistons are complete and ready to go.



Andrew

Hello Andrew,
Your setup looks great. I was trying to download your PDF overlay template but Dropbox came up with an error.
I have added a hauptwerk organ to my Roland Atelier AT90SL organ but the Roland's stop buttons don't output midi data. I plan to use a launch pad to access the Hauptwerk voices and hoping to print on film overlay similar to yours.

Cheers
Ray in Perth

Hi Ray,

Sorry about that - I removed the file because I updated it and forgot to put the new one in the Dropbox public folder.

Here's the link to the new one. This is available to all forum users with my compliments.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/747 ... 060214.pdf

A few weeks ago while on holidays I made overlays for a few more sample sets, including some big ones. I had been putting off the massive task of doing the Paramount 450 but finally bit the bullet. It was a nightmare, but worth the effort! This sample set alone led me expand the console to include 6 launchpads.

Here's a current photo showing all launchpads in use with the Paramount 450, along with my new 21.5 inch monitor with touch screen overlay.



The overlays are printed on laser copier transparencies. I print them with the image flipped, so that the ink is on the underside to avoid being scratched off in use.

http://www.officeworks.com.au/retail/pr ... ors/AC0025

Good luck with your project!

Andrew

Andrew, I admire your setup, makes my 3 Launchpads look like a very small ensemble!
I'm curious, how does one flip images for printing? I use MS Office 2010.
Thanks for any advice.
Keith

Thank you Keith.

Flipping a document horizontally is done through the print setup dialog box. I use a Mac for producing the launchpad overlays, so it is from the Mac print menu that one finds the option (under "Layout") for flipping horizontally. I can't say what the equivalent is for a PC as I've not tried flipping a document when printing from one, but I would hazard a guess that it might also be found in the print options.

Andrew

Hello Keith

In Word under Windows, up to and including Word 2007, you can only flip (mirror) a normal Word document if your printer supports it. If so it will be on the Print Dialogue, under Options or Properties.

However, if you build your text into Word Art, then you can mirror the text. Interestingly, and annoyingly there are three options for directional text in a Text Box, but for some reason, Microsoft left out the fourth (mirror) so can invert the text but not flip it.

I suppose someone on the Word development team asked "Why on earth would anyone wish to print mirrored text? and no-one could think of an answer!

All the best,

Ken

Thank you Andrew & Ken,
I've been searching unsuccessfully through Word 2010 but, as you have noted, I couldn't find "flip".
I'll explore Word Art.
Thanks,
Keith

In Word 2010:

Insert-->Text-->Textbox
Pick a box to insert it into the document
Size it with by dragging the sides.
Fill it with text
Now the magic bit ...
Select the box (not the text)
Right click and choose Format Shape
Select 3-D Rotation
Set the x-value to 180
Close the box

Regards,

Many thanks I downloaded the templates.
Ray