Message
Integrating the BCR2000 with the Korg DW6000
2012-12-05 by Royce
The BC2k gear can do most things, but there are three areas that it misses out on.
1) You can't use negative numbers.
Well this is partially solved for smaller ranges (eg -7 to 7 is OK), but it is complicated and using 14 bit or greater is not possible (a lot of Emu stuff uses these large ranges).
2) You can't access other control values.
Some older synths have packed data. For instance the oscillator might have the waveform selection in the lower 4 bits (val03) and the octave only needs 2 bits.
So roll the 2 bits 4 places to the left and add the waveform value to make up the single byte to save memory.
The Korg Dw6000 does this.
3) You can't use a sysex value to set the value of a control.
So the BC can't be synced to the synth.
So if you change a patch on the synth, one, you can't see the new value in the LED rings and two, moving a control usually makes the value jump. Not too good for live filter sweeps.
With the Korg negative numbers are not a problem but byte packing and BCR syncing are.
So the PC program is a bridge between the BCR and the DW6k.
It converts CC messages from the BCR and outputs sysex parameters to the Korg.
It requests patch data and sends a full set of CC messages to the BCR to keep it in sync.
It all worked so well that it has given the old Korg a new lease of life. I even added a random patch generator.
If you are interested
www.bwalk.com.au
Let me know what you think.
All the best
Royce