Juno DS "issue"?

[tacamp1966]

I am overall very pleased with my recently purchased DS 88. I am also using an old SC-880 module for multitrack MIDI recording that I have composed many songs on. I am having one issue I have not been able to figure out. I would like to use my DS 88 in patch mode to play the piano sound with the multitrack parts playing on the sound canvas. For some reason, the DS 88 will play the drum parts (MIDI ch 10) on the DS as well as the piano in patch mode. This only happens with the drum channel, not any of the other parts. The DS is set to only transmit and receive on a single channel in patch mode (I have tried both channels 1 and 16) determined by the global setting so I am not sure why the drum channel is playing as well. I know I could use the performance mode and turn off all channels but the DS Piano channel, but I think many sounds are better in patch mode. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!

 

[happyrat1]

Try it after you hit the DAW button and get back to me. Also make sure the MIDI driver is set to Generic in the Global MIDI Configuration Menu The DAW buton will give you a tab with a channel list where you can assign each channel instrument individually

Gary

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[tacamp1966]

Thanks for the suggestions. When I hit the DAW button, it leaves patch mode and goes into basically a performance mode. So yes, I can turn off channel 10 and the drums go away, but I lose my patch settings ( I have to select a performance in the menu). I would prefer to stay in patch mode just to play along with the sound canvas, and switch to performance mode (or hit the DAW button) if I want to use multiple channels on the DS. The strange thing is that only the drum channel plays (none of the other channels) when in patch mode in addition to whatever sound I am playing locally on the keyboard. I also tried both the generic and vender USB drivers with no change.

Thanks again for the reply!
Todd

 

[tacamp1966]

Just to clairfy, when I am in the patch mode and play a multritrack MIDI song from the sequencer (powertracks pro) both the sound on the global midi channel and the drum channel (10) will play. None of the other tracks play. I am hoping that just the sound on the DS's global channel will play. Thanks!

 

[happyrat1]

Performances use multiple voices and channels for layers and splits.

When you are playing a MIDI file each channel can only be assigned a single voice.

In DAW mode there is a tab that shows you each voice being played on each channel.

You can select each voice in each channel individually and change them to whatever you like.

Or you can let the MIDI software choose the voices if they are correctly configured in the file.

That's basically how MIDI works on any workstation.

MIDI standard has drums on Channel 10.

MID files contain voice maps for GM voices only.

Juno selects voices accordingly.

If you want to play along you have to find a channel that's not used in the MID file and assign it to the keyboard and play it that way.

Again, see the DAW mode menus.\

Gary

 

[tacamp1966]

I may be new to the Juno DS, but have played and recorded MIDI music for over 35 years mostly with Roland gear beginning with the Juno 106 in the mid-80s (which I dearly miss). I appreciate your suggestions, I just wish the DS functioned the same as all of my many prior Roland synths that would respond in the patch mode to only the global (system) channel. In patch mode on the DS, sounds from both the global (system) channel and the drum channel play. I guess I will have to use the DAW or performance mode for this purpose. I appears to me the DAW mode "USER" is basically a 16 part performance mode.

My MIDI setup:
DS out to Computer out to Sound Canvas thru to DS. All channels but 1 playing on sound canvas (performance mode). Channel 1 playing on DS (patch mode, should not respond to other channels). Drums (channel 10) play on both Sound Canvas and DS?

Thanks again Gary for your time and detailed response!

 

[tacamp1966]

I finally heard directly from Roland support and wanted to share. My concern is valid, but it is the way the DS is designed. There is a workaround. Many thanks to Gary for his kind words and suggestions.

Roland Product Support (Roland Corporation)

23 Feb 2021, 14:39 GMT-8

Hi Todd,

You are correct - the drum kit on part 10 is active all the time in the Juno-DS. This is so it can be used with the Rhythm Patterns as needed (even in Patch Mode).

There is not a real easy way to turn this off, but you can do the following:

1. Create a custom Drum Kit with the master Drum Kit Level turned all the way to 0, then save this Kit to one of the User Locations (press WRITE and save it).

2. Press the Rhythm Pattern button - this brings up the screen where you can play back rhythm patterns, and you can also specify the Drum Kit here - dial up the custom kit you created. Since this is set to 0 for the master level, you will not hear the drums in the Juno-DS.
Roland Customer Support

 

[happyrat1]

Fantastic to hear that you've found a workaround straight from the mountain itself!!!

While I'll admit that the Juno DS is slightly crippled in MIDI capability, there have been workarounds for most of the issues for the past couple of years.

EG >>> The Pattern Sequencer is not able to send it's patterns directly to a MIDI destination (Even though this seems absurd)

The Workaround >>> Export the pattern to a MID file on the thumb drive and import that into your DAW.

But I've seen this often in the past decade with consumer priced pro gear. They always implement some form of crippling to the MIDI capabilities.

They did similar MIDI weirdness with the JD-Xi. None of the engines' MIDI channels were assignable but instead were fixed at 1, 2, 3 and 10. Try to assign any other channel to a voice and it was like shooting spitballs at the ocean.

I've seen Korg and Casio kiss off the MIDI standards quite a bit as well these days.

Seriously though, the Juno DS is the poor man's workstation and it accomplishes that task, overall quite well.

I haven't tried a Kross 88 in person but I'm sure it has it's shortcuts and limitations as well.

For someone who's not as insanely into keyboards as I am, the Juno DS makes an excellent starting point for building your own studio.

If you discover any other tidbits regarding the Juno DS then by all means post them here.

I've been experimenting with recording with my DS since I've wired up my living room to act as a second studio

Have fun

Gary