Thanks for the reply Dave! It's not really about what specific synth I'm trying to control, but trying to send the right messages so that my controller is compatible with the most synths. So trying to do "the right thing" MIDI wise.
According to the manual for my Nord Lead 3 manual: "Amplifier Level responds to both Controller 71 and Controller 7. Only Controller 71 is transmitted from the Nord Lead 3". Strange, since CC71 is supposed to be Resonance... I guess I'm just frustrated with thinking that every device capable of having its volume controlled by MIDI would have them all on the same CC, but in reality that is not the case.
Your answer above is confusing given the original post. You wrote this in the original post: " .. I was expecting
CC 7 (VOLUME - Controls the Volume of a channel) to work, but was pretty disappointed that all synthesizers that I tried at a friends' studio
did not respond at all to this at all.." You also wrote this: ".. what CC their synth is expecting as a default control of the volume .."
Your questions about 'response' is a MIDI
receive question. My answer to you was it depends on how old the synthesizers were because back in the day not everyone followed today's MIDI protocol because officially there was no standard (there supposedly is now). In your recent response you speak to inconsistencies and speak about the Lead 3, you say " .. Only Controller 71 is
transmitted from the Nord Lead 3". Strange, since CC71 is supposed to be Resonance .." What is 'transmitted' is different than what is 'received'. That's why there is a MIDI implementation chart, so that you can understand what CC to send if you are transmitting and what CC is needed to be received. If the Lead
sends volume control on CC71 and the receiving unit
receives volume control on CC7 then the two can't talk to each other unless there is a device in between that converts CC71 midi messages to CC7 so that the volume control is sent successfully by one unit and received successfully by the receiving unit. This unit does such a translation:
Also in my reply I sighted two examples of equipment that I own that don't follow the MIDI protocol, my Voce V5+ and my Voce MIDI Drawbar Unit. One
receives expression on CC7 and the other
transmits expression on CC8. Same company, the units being only a few years apart, but don't follow the MIDI protocol and are inconsistent within their own design. So if I plugged and expression pedal into the MIDI Drawbar unit that MIDI transmission would not be successfully received by the Voce V5+ unless I used the above midi solutions box to convert CC8 to CC7. Also recognize that some companies (like hammond) only receive commands on a certain channel. I had a Hammond XM2 module, although I had the unit set to receive on channel 3, all MIDI commands other than the keybed had to be sent on channel 1. So MIDI drawbar manipulation for the upper channel had to be sent on channel 1 even though the XM2 was set to channel 3. This is documented in the midi implementation chart (although it wasn't clear to me with their cryptic writing).
You haven't mentioned yet what synthesizers you are trying to send MIDI data nor what synthesizers you are trying to receive MIDI data nor the age of those synthesizers so all this discussion is therefore hypothetical until the specific equipment models are known and their midi implementation can be studied and compared.
