As the rack version of the K1 lacks the vector stick, which you find on the keyboard and the desktop module (in both cases it does neither send nor receive MIDI control), I was looking for a way to get this function from MIDI Designer.
And I got it to work in this layout. The advantage here to the actual vector stick on the K1 is, that this is MIDI sysex, so you can reord it in your sequencer!
I also added 2 knobs to control the amplitude modulation, one for sources 1+2, another for 3+4. For both you can switch it on, off and to reverse mode.
This is a layout for live control of the Kawai K1r.
As the rack version of the K1 lacks the vector stick, which you find on the keyboard and the desktop module (in both cases it does neither send nor receive MIDI control), I was looking for a way to get this function from MIDI Designer.
And I got it to work in this layout. The advantage here to the actual vector stick on the K1 is, that this is MIDI sysex, so you can reord it in your sequencer!
I also added 2 knobs to control the amplitude modulation, one for sources 1+2, another for 3+4. For both you can switch it on, off and to reverse mode.
Some hints:
You can change the sound while playing one note. However sometimes the K1r looses track and will respond to changes only whenever a new note is played. After all this works best with arpeggios.
From time to time the K1r might respond with short high-pitch noise, if you move your finger too quickly. It´s a late 80s processor, it doesn´t like too quick changes (like most older people).
The "Hidden" pages dont contain any controls in performance. In design mode you can see, that they contain the matrixes for each source. I just placed them on separate pages (setting them to "Hide in performance") to make programming of the layout a bit easier.
Tech stuff:
I tried the XY Pad of course, but found it simply cannot do this. Because it can control a parameter only in one dimension, either up/down or left/right. However a vector control needs to control one parameter two-dimensionally. Adding the parameter to both up/down and left/right on the XY pad is possible, but will confuse the synth, because it then always receives 2 values at a time.
The solution was to build a button matrix for each of the up to 4 sources, where every button sends a certain volume change for the source as sysex. Then I built a 5th matrix as a supercontrol for the 4 source matrixes. After some experimants I decided for a 11x11 matrix, because considering the right size of the buttons this fits best on the screen and most of all it keeps the programming effort in a fairly reasonable frame (it still took a couple of hours).
Any comments or suggestions welcome!
Cheers
Ibo Kai
