Alesis Vortex Keytar & AL4

[insub]

I have a MiniLab mk1, but I'm trying to get my new Alesis Vortex Wireless 2 Keytar to work with AL4. I'm having a couple of issues that seem to be AL4 related, which concerns me because I may return the Vortex for a KeyLab depending on how things go.

1. I cannot figure how to get sounds to persist through patch changes. Even in Concert Mode, there is a distinct audio-less pause between patch changes while the computer loads the new patch. This pause would not be ideal while performing live. Is there a way to get the previous patch to persist?

2. Using pitch bend seems to cancel out previously sustained notes. It's as if the polyphony is getting reduced due to the pitch bend and previously played note decays are getting cancelled. Can anyone confirm, or am I just imagining things?

I have yet a lot to learn about mapping the Vortex. Some things work immediately. Like Preset up/down on the Vortex will advance/return to previous patch selection of AL4 when in Concert mode, but does not facilitate patch browsing otherwise. Where can I find the MIDI CC tables or other resource?

3. Does AL4 respond to MIDI Panic? Many reviews of the Vortex claim it is susceptible to hanging notes when played wirelessly when there is a lot of RF interference (I have not yet experienced this myself).

[LBH]

I have a MiniLab mk1, but I'm trying to get my new Alesis Vortex Wireless 2 Keytar to work with AL4. I'm having a couple of issues that seem to be AL4 related, which concerns me because I may return the Vortex for a KeyLab depending on how things go.

1. I cannot figure how to get sounds to persist through patch changes. Even in Concert Mode, there is a distinct audio-less pause between patch changes while the computer loads the new patch. This pause would not be ideal while performing live. Is there a way to get the previous patch to persist?

2. Using pitch bend seems to cancel out previously sustained notes. It's as if the polyphony is getting reduced due to the pitch bend and previously played note decays are getting cancelled. Can anyone confirm, or am I just imagining things?

I have yet a lot to learn about mapping the Vortex. Some things work immediately. Like Preset up/down on the Vortex will advance/return to previous patch selection of AL4 when in Concert mode, but does not facilitate patch browsing otherwise. Where can I find the MIDI CC tables or other resource?

3. Does AL4 respond to MIDI Panic? Many reviews of the Vortex claim it is susceptible to hanging notes when played wirelessly when there is a lot of RF interference (I have not yet experienced this myself).

Hi and welcome to Arturia Forums.

1. There will be some time between selecting presets due to the loading. The amount of time it takes also depend on how fast your CPU and your storage disk is. Which specific CPU and disk do you use?
(I assume that if you have enough RAM and depending on if the data is being unloaded or not, then a preset can remain loaded in the RAM and thus be loaded even faster, but that you can't control. I'm not sure about this.)

That said, then i agree, it would be good, if it was working faster. I don't know if this is an error. I remember it like it has been working faster in the past.
2. I think the "sound" issues you mention require more informations to answer. Do you exsperience this on all presets? How excactly do you play the sounds?
Can you please give some named factory preset examples and describe precisely what you think is wrong for the specific sounds?
As it is now, then i can't confirm there should be any issues.

You can map none Arturia keyboards using MIDI learn and the MIDI settings Menu. Please read in Analog Lab 4s manual about this.
(Only Arturia keyboards have Analog Lab mode.)

3. Analog Lab has a Panic button in the bottom panel. It does respond to that. I assume it react to Ctrl All Notes Off (CC #123) as it is mention in the manual as a reserved MIDI CC number for Analog Lab.

[insub]

Thanks for helping!

I'm using an HP EliteBook 8470P with I7-3470QM quad core @2.70 GHz with 8 GB of RAM.

Right now I perform with an Access Virus TI 1 Keyboard and a Casio Privia PX-350 for piano sounds & feel. I had been trying to get down to a single keyboard, but my Virus doesn't have any sampler/ROMpler type sounds in it. I'm looking into using the Keytar + AL4 to replace my current rig. But, so far my testing hasn't been as smooth as I'd hoped for.

On my Virus, I can change patches and it will finish the decays of the last patch and hold the sound of the last patch as long as the keys are still depressed and finish their release when let go. Though, I don't have many songs where I need to do this a lot, and most times it is only between two patches. So, I'm thinking that the Split should work pretty well in AL4 for most songs.

I'll check out he pitch bend issue again and see if it's certain patches or what. Maybe later today, if I get time.

[LBH]

Your welcome.

Your PC have SSD disk i believe and a decent CPU. So there is'nt a huge bottleneck in that - as i see it.
But if the following is your issue, then it's not about that at all anyway.

On my Virus, I can change patches and it will finish the decays of the last patch and hold the sound of the last patch as long as the keys are still depressed and finish their release when let go.

Yes this you can't do with software like Analog Lab. When you select a new preset, then the old is unloaded and will stop playing.
You need a setup where you use at least 2 Analog Labs to simulate this. Then you can play the second sound on another instance of Analog Lab.