Help please: Beatstep with Roland SP404sx

[paddydrumbo]

 Hi and thanks for looking. 

  Bought a new Beatstep to enjoy triggering the pads my Roland SP404sx - hearing the velocity makes a huge difference. I'm a MIDI novice, and no other kit apart from a PC and an old arranger keyboard.  Have tried connecting the Beatstep to the arranger keyboard and sounds great.

   But the Beatstep seems to be limited to triggering just five pads of my 404's first page of 12 samples.Here is what I get:

       ~Beatstep Pad 4   triggers the 404's Pad 1
       ~Beatstep Pad 5   triggers the 404's Pad 2
       ~Beatstep Pad 6   triggers the 404's Pad 3
       ~Beatstep Pad 7   triggers the 404's Pad 4
       ~Beatstep Pad 8   triggers the 404's Pad 5 

    All the above is on MIDI channel 1.  Tried the 404's other channels and no sound at all.  I have the 404's MIDI syn' setting to 'OFF' (tried the other two settings of the 404 and no change.  I think the 404 is limited to note on and off and velocity.

      Don't expect to trigger any of the other sample pad banks apart from Bank A, which is one would use to put all my drum hits. 

      This is a new machine and I don't to register it as I am in the time limit to returning it for a refund.  Be nice though if it could trigger all the twelve pads of my 404 and that would sure be a keeper.

   sorry about the length and thanks for your help

[Koshdukai]

Install MIDI Control Center and easily setup one of the 16 "Memory" (i.e. configuration sets) of your BeatStep to send the correct Note out to your SP404sx

I have the 1st 8 configurations (called "Memories") set to control different devices like Spark 2 (2 configs), Reason's Kong (also 2 configs, 2x4+2x4 and 2x8 pad arrangements), ReDrum, Dr.OctoRex, etc
Then Memories 9 through 16 I use in a "Keyb-like" configurations of the pads, each memory set to a respective Octave of notes.

The best about BeatStep is that after doing this work and sending those configs from the MIDI Control Center to the BeatStep, you can quickly recall them on-the-fly (useful to change Octaves on my Pad-to-Note 1 Octave mappings)

Check the "Extra Resources" section at
http://www.arturia.com/support/downloads&manuals#beatstep

[paddydrumbo]

Wow! That's great information, thank-you.  Dumb question coming up:   When I have configured my Beatstep like you said, would I need to involve linking up to a computer every time? Or would the Beatstep be able to remember these settings to be used as a standalone trigger for the 404? 

thanks again

[Koshdukai]

BeatStep will keep those settings to itself after configured through MCC, just like all the other Arturia controllers

Simply use the "Store" button, to send the config to a specific "Memory" (i.e. config slot)

All you need to do is find out what are the correct notes the SP404sx is expecting per its own pads.

Maybe you can even access the other banks. Check the SP404sx MIDI Implementation charts and see if there's a Specific CC or Bank+Patch/Program Change that triggers that or if other banks are accessible on other MIDI channels, then you'll be able to have various BeatStep configs for each channel or a 2nd config with BeatStep's pads sending a specific patch change and then you recall back to your usual config for the pads with notes out.

BeatStep's configurations are quite versatile enough to explore these options

[paddydrumbo]

  Thanks again, this is looking hopeful.  That software looks a bit daunting for a MIDI novice,  but have now used it to upgrade my Beatstep's firmware for start. :-)   I'll take it one step at a time and get help along the way.

(EDIT): Note for myself & anyone else who's interested: 

          Roland SP404sx manual page 48 - MIDI Implementation Chart:

              Recognized:    * Basic channel  1 - 16
                                    * Mode (Default) Mode 3
                                    * Note Number    46 - 106
                                    * Velocity             
                                    * System Common - Song Position
                                    * System Clock
                                    * Real Time Commands
                                    * Aux Messages: All Sound Off & Active Sensing

UPDATE:    Ha! - managed to mess up on first attempt.  But threw a few new random MIDI notes into the Beatstep and got the Beatstep Pad 14 (F7) to trigger Bank E, Pad 7 of my SP404sx.  Hey, I'll settle for that humble beginning :-)  Now to work backwards with the MIDI notes and start again.

FINAL UPDATE:   Got it at last.  Beatstep pads 1 to 12 (B1 to A#2) leaving Beatstep pads 13 to 16 blank. with the remaining 4 pads playing pads 1 to 4 of Bank B of the sp-404. 

   
               That'll do me nicely for now, thanks, everything works great from a cold start away from the computer. 
 Still plenty to learn about this amazing controller, maybe doing other templates for 404's other banks or for my arranger keyboard, but well pleased at triggering 404's pads with velocity.

  Cheers
   

[Koshdukai]

Glad to know you were able to find a good setup that worked for ya