Help with Novation Ultranova MIDI info

[ianmgull]

I'm trying to figure out how to get my Novation Ultranova to play nice with my sp404 sx. I'm looking at the Midi Implementation chart here.

I'm realizing I don't know as much about midi as I thought I did. I was hoping someone could help me decipher it.

CC is control channel. I think each parameter that can send/receive midi data is assigned a unique number. What I don't understand is what nrpn and msb mean. I also don't know why I don't see anything related to master clock.

All I really want is for the ultranova to send a tempo message to the sp404sx but NOT play any of the samples (which is happening when I hit certain keys on the UN).

Any advice or suggested reading material would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Stab Frenzy]

Actually CC stands for Control Change. CCs are 7 bit values though so for greater accuracy a lot of synths use NRPNs instead. NRPN stands for Non-Registered Parameter Number, which just means that they aren't standardised between synths or manufacturers so can be used for anything on any one synth, as opposed to CC 1 always being mod wheel amount, 64 being sustain pedal etc. MSB means Most Significant Byte, which is the first byte of a two byte message, followed by the LSB or Least Significant Byte.

None of those things have anything to do with the solution to your problem though. The samples are playing because the pads on a 404 are just the same as an octave of keys and the pad bank changes the octave, so if you send it midi on the same channel as it's set to respond to it will play any sample assigned to that key. The answer is as simple as having the Ultranova send one channel (eg 1) and have the 404 respond to a different one (eg 10). Midi clock is not specific to any particular channel so will still get through. Changing the midi channel on the 404 is covered on page 47 of the manual.

[ianmgull]

Hey SF, thanks for the quick and thorough response as always.

What you're saying makes perfect sense. So MIDI clock is not dependent on MIDI channel.

The settings on the 404 are easy enough to deal with. There's really only 2 MIDI settings (channel, and mode which changes between auto and tempo). I know what these do and how to change them. The issue is that I haven't verified with any certainty that the Ultranova is actually sending MIDI clock data.

This is strange because nowhere on the Ultranova is there any sort of "Master BPM" that I'm aware of anyway. The arpeggiator has one but I'm not aware of one anywhere else. So I'm wondering if the Ultranova only sends this bpm when I'm using the arpeggiator?

Thanks again,

Ian

[Sir Nose]

The ARP bpm sets the master internal bpm according to the manual. It does not appear as if the internal clock is sent. Since you are not looking to trigger samples in the 404 with the novation, send the 404 clock into the ultra.

[ianmgull]

That's what I was worried about. The 404 doesn't have a MIDI out; only in. I have a third option I think. My bandmate has an M Audio Venom which I believe does send midi clock data. So....

I could send the venom to the ultranova for clock sync (I know that the UN is capable of receiving MIDI clock). I then go from the MIDI thru of the UN to the IN of the 404. In this setup I think all three will be sync'd to the Venom's clock. And again, I guess all three should be on different MIDI channels to avoid playing each other's sounds.

[Sir Nose]

Yep. Should work.