Question: Bank Change

[pefra (Peter Franticas)]

Hi,

I’m playing around with the Bank Change command (bc. moving to a MIDI-only setup). Is there a reason that ‘PRG 100 of BANK 2’ is displayed as ‘PRG 100 BNK 257’? in the editor?

Thanks for helping.

And I absolutely love the way I can scroll through PRGs and BANKs with the mouse wheel This is well done.

[x42 (Robin Gareus)]

@pefra

Is there a reason that ‘PRG 100 of BANK 2’ is displayed as ‘PRG 100 BNK 257’? in the editor?

The MIDI bank select split into two parts:

• CC 0 : Bank Select MSB – Most Significant Byte
• CC 32 : Bank Select LSB – Least Significant Byte

Each of those has a 7 bit value. This allows for a total of 2^(7+7) = 16384 banks.

It appears you set the MSB to 2. so the bank is (MSB * 2^7 + LSB) = 256.
Ardour counts MIDI banks starting at 1 (not zero), hence 257 (you can change this in Preferences > Appearance > Editor > “Display first MIDI bank/program as 0”).

@pefra

I absolutely love the way I can scroll through PRGs and BANKs with the mouse wheel

/me too
Although the Patch Selector (context menu of the MIDI track header) is also handy.

[pefra (Peter Franticas)]

Hi Robin,

thanks for helping. One of my Synths wants me to input data like this:

PRESETS BANK (Control Change 00 Value = 2)

They are calling it BANK 2. It’s a bit confusing when it shows up as Bank 257 (or 256 when starting at 0). But I understand your explanation, thank you. Btw in every other DAW I’m using it shows up as BANK 2.

PATCH SELECTOR: Is that where midnam files will show up?

Thanks again

[x42 (Robin Gareus)]

@pefra

They are calling it BANK 2.

Roland?

Some older (ancient) hardware synths predate the MIDI Manufacturing Association (MMA) standard. GM (before GM/GS and MMA’s involvement) indeed only had a 7 bit single bank (CC0).

While you can use a midnam document to change the visual name, Ardour’s numeric display will still follow the MIDI standard.

There is currently no preference to change this.

@pefra

Btw in every other DAW I’m using it shows up as BANK 2.

interesting, which one(s)?

@pefra

PATCH SELECTOR: Is that where midnam files will show up?

midnam information is used throughout Ardour, not just the Patch Selector Dialog. e.g. the patch-change label in the region, the verbose cursor,…

[pefra (Peter Franticas)]

KETRON SD 2, which I use for SMF playback. It’s fairly old, and it wants me to change the banks with controller 00 and there’s nothing else. It comes with 5 Banks (Control Change 00 with the values 0,1,2,4 and 10). There is no LSB involved.

Apart from Ardour I’m using Cubase amongst others (Bandlab or FL Studio f.i.) and they only show you the MSN and not the resulting actual Bank like Ardour, so you only see Bank 2 and not Bank 267 or whatever. Hope I’m right on this, still trying to wrap my head around it.

Thanks, regards.

P.S.: where can I find this midman thing on my computer, please, MAC OS and Linux?

Robin, while I have you on the line: There is no possibilty to input sysex, right? Because there is a whole lot of other functions hidden which can only be used with sysex, changing Envelops and Filter and so on.

And what about NRPN (same as above), is it possible in Ardour?

Thanks again Robin.

[pefra (Peter Franticas)]

Quote from the Presonus Studio One manual:

“Some external devices select banks by combining the MSB (Most Significant Bit) and LSB (Least Significant Bit) into one single “MIDI Bank Select” message. They calculate the necessary MIDI Bank Select value using the equation (MSB x 128) + LSB. Some devices will give you this number in their patch listing.”

Yepp