Change Tempo on Yamaha S90

Question

I'm relatively new to midi.  I'm trying to create a custom interface for my S90.  I have almost everything set up except I'm having trouble figuring out how to add a control for  tempo control.  in my documentation, I don't have a control number defined for arp tempo, though the on/off is there.  I've heard other alluding to impilimenting something like this, but I haven't found anything yet..  any hints or pro-tips?

Comments

Hi and thanks for your question, Patrick. One of the best ways to check what's up is to see if the Yamaha sends data back when you spin the tempo knob on it. Try downloading MIDI Monitor for iOS and see what happens when you spin the tempo knob. This could work. AFAIK there is no standard controller number for tempo.

On the other hand, perhaps the Yamaha is waiting for external MIDI Clock or MIDI Time Code. If that's the case, MIDI Designer doesn't do that (yet), but eventually will.

Thanks again for your question and for checking out MIDI Designer.

Best!
Dan

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Looking at the S90 manual here http://www2.yamaha.co.jp/manual/pdf/emi/english/synth/s90es_en1.pdf it seems that on page 61 that you assign a knob TO the s90 and not the other way around. Have you/can you try this for tempo?

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Thanks for the response Dan.  I tried using the "learn" button on the control setup but your suggestion for using the monitor makes sense.  maybe it's more complicated than I thought!  looking forward to someday having a tempo tap :). good product btw, already burned countless hours setting up pages ( just to save seconds on performance). will let you know if I find a solution.

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Thanks Patrick. We're all doing that (spending lots of time designing rigs that save us seconds in performance)! Good luck figuring out tempo. Also, would you be interested in sharing your layout when it's done?

Thanks and remember to mail your layout to yourself periodically.

Best!
Dan

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I tried to use midi monitor.  I didn't see commands but I defiantely saw the timing tick change speed (btw if I changed the tempo too quickly the app would crash).  it must have been a late night last night because I don't have an S90 ES,  just an old S90.  I'll for sure share the layout.  also looking forward to being able to see others layouts as well.

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It probably responds to MIDI clock or MIDI time code. Do you have it hooked up to your Mac/PC or to your iPad directly? If you say "Mac/PC" then we've got some options to try out, like having Ableton Live (demo) send Midi Clock.

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No, my bad, I thought it was the S90 ES and I edited your post. I'll change it back, sorry.

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I hav it connected directly using irig.  I do have both Reason and Ableton on my laptop which I can connect to the keyboard using USB.

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Great, you can have Ableton send MIDI Clock out. Just hit play and make sure the MIDI output is enabled for sync. Let me know if this is too vague. Regarding MIDI Monitor crashing, MIDI Designer includes a small MIDI monitor in the next version, 1.3.8

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Looks like the MIDI clock controls the tempo, which makes perfect sense.  I'll be anticipating the new feature :)

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Great, thanks for that. Handling MIDI Clock/MTC is on the roadmap but it's going to take a few months.

You might want to consider routing from iPad via Wifi to S90 using "Live Routings." The latency is negligible (normally) and you could tell, say, Ableton what tempo you want from MIDI Designer. This is a bit kludgey and might be annoying. Depends on how much you want to geek, if that makes sense...

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I may do that anyways.  I typically use Ableton as a click during performances.

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If you have any problems with latency, consider an ad-hoc connection. Also, if you ever have any problem with the iPad not seeing your computer, your computer might see the iPad. This is indicative of a possible bug in MIDI Designer that I'm investigating but cannot track down (yet).

Answer 1

Tempo requires MIDI Clock/MTC.  Updates in future release.

Answer 2

Tempo requires MIDI Clock/MTC.  Updates in future release.

Answer 3

Actually ARP tempo can be controlled using  SYSEX address 30 00 22, though this doesn't affect output clock rate which is recommended for controlling other devices

Answer 4

Actually ARP tempo can be controlled using  SYSEX address 30 00 22, though this doesn't affect output clock rate which is recommended for controlling other devices