Kawai K3m and MIDI control

[Baus]

Hi there,

I have watched several video's on the Kawai K3m and it is not clear to me if the unit will only respond to SysEx or also just to MIDI controllers.

I have a Nord Modular with 18 knobs which I could set up as a controller, just like I did for the Suzuki SX-500, by freely assigning knobs to MIDI controllers relevant to that unit. I am not sure if that will work with the K3m too.

I don't have the unit here yet so I can't try it out. Just doing some advance field work.

Thank you for any input on this.

Robn.

[Stab Frenzy]

What does the midi implementation chart in the manual say?

[pflosi]

It says that you need Sysex.

Have a look at the Kiwitechnics Patch Editor and / or the Stereoping Synth Controller.

[meatballfulton]

According to the manual, K3 responds only to mod wheel(CC1, incoming only because the K3 has no mod wheel), portamento time (CC5), MIDI volume (CC7), sustain (CC64) and portamento on/off (CC65). That's typical for a synth of that vintage.

Interestingly a quick look at the manual made it unclear what CC1 is mapped to. My guess is it's hardwired to LFO depth but that is not stated anywhere.

[pflosi]

Look again. It accepts sysex and you can fully program the synth from that. The Kiwi and Stereoping controllers wouldn't be possible otherwise...

[Sonus]

K3m tone data list, manual p.54, each data byte is divided into a high and low nibble:

VCF Cutoff 300Hz, parameter 10 (0A), value 49 (03 01) => F0 40 00 10 00 01 0A 03 01 F7
VCA Attack 100ms, parameter 20 (14), value 12 (00 0C) => F0 40 00 10 00 01 14 00 0C F7

It all depends on the controller software if it's possible to split the data into nibbles.

[meatballfulton]

Following up pflosi's comments: I was only referring to the K3's very limited CC support. The K3 is fully programmable by sysex as he wrote.

[Baus]

Thanks Everyone.

The controller mentioned are nice and a bit too pricey for my taste.

There are several units of the Novation Zero SL MkII available here. What do you think?
Will those work as well? I would think so if a Behringer BCR2000 already does the job.

[max badwan]

Thanks Everyone.

The controller mentioned are nice and a bit too pricey for my taste.

There are several units of the Novation Zero SL MkII available here. What do you think?
Will those work as well? I would think so if a Behringer BCR2000 already does the job.

I used a BCR with the K3m, worked well.

[meatballfulton]

You can find a BCR2000 template for the K3m here.