Hammond SK1 MIDI transpose

[breadmanjp]

I have a Korg Grandstage and Hammond SK1. Is it possible to transpose the Grandstage and send that via MIDI to the SK1 so the Hammond is also transposed? Sometime I have a singer who will want to play something in a different key and I would like to transpose both keyboards. Can I do this?

 

[happyrat1]

Run a few experiments and check your manuals.

Most controllers leave transpositions up to the destination module.

C is usually transmitted as C on most boards. It's usually the sound engine that needs to be retuned on both boards.

Gary

 

[anotherscott]

I have a Korg Grandstage and Hammond SK1. Is it possible to transpose the Grandstage and send that via MIDI to the SK1 so the Hammond is also transposed? Sometime I have a singer who will want to play something in a different key and I would like to transpose both keyboards. Can I do this?

If I understand correctly, you're asking whether the Grandstage can send a MIDI Transpose command, which the SK1 would recognize, where the SK1 would subsequently have its own notes transposed when you played its own keys directly. The answer is no, because there is no such thing as a standard MIDI Transpose command. (There may--or may not--be a sysex transpose command that the SK1 would recognize, but regardless, it is not something some other keyboard would send out when you invoked that keyboard's transpose function.)

If you wanted to play the Hammond from the transposed Grandstage, and have the Hammond play the same (transposed) notes as you're generating on the Grandstage, that would probably work. This kind of thing works more often than not, but it depends not on the design/settings of the SK1, but rather on how Korg implemented transpose on the Grandstage. It would not be transposing the SK1 itself (if you played the Hammond's keys, they would still be true pitch), but each MIDI note being sent from the Grandstage would be shifted to the desired transposed note, as you played. But I don't think that's what you're trying to do here.

 

[delaware dave]

I had an XM2 and played in a band that transposed down 1/2 step (for vocal purposes). I controlled the XM2 (Hammond midi module) via my Kurzweil as well as two other keyboards. If the controller (not the XM2) sends transposed midi out messages (my Kurzweil does) then the XM2 will play transposed. So if your Grandstage sends transposed midi out messages the SK1 will receive them and subsequently play transposed. All I have to do is transpose the Kurzweil 1/2 step via the transpose button on the keyboard and not only does the Kurzweil's internal programs play 1/2 step down but the midi modules also play 1/2 step down. So the answer lies in your controller's ability to do this. I have three different keyboard manufacturers that I am currently using (Kurzweil, Generalmusic and M-Audio) and they all do this.

 

[anotherscott]

Dave, what you're talking about there is what I described in my second paragraph in post #3, which I agree works more often than not, as I said. But I don't think he's trying to play the external sound (XM2 in your case, SK1 in his case) from the controller, I think he wants the transpose button on the controller to alter his SK1 so that the SK1 will be similarly transposed when it is then played from its own keys. That won't work (and obviously wasn't a factor with your XM2 which didn't have its own keys in the first place). Maybe it could work if there were a way to program the controller to send sysex to the Hammond when invoking its own transpose function, but the Grandstage itself cannot do that.

This is based on my interpretation of where he said he "would like to transpose both keyboards." But if indeed he actually meant that he wants to play the sounds of both keyboards from the keys of the Grandstage (where the SK1 will stay in tune with whatever transpositions he invokes on the Grandstage), then yes, there is a good chance that will work fine.