Physis Piano K4 midi channels

Hello guys, recently I’ve purchased a Physis Piano K4. Beastly master keyboard, I assure you that. I’m trying to use its 8 midi outputs inside GigPerformer, in order to have 16 independents midi channels on output 1 (f.e., 16 Kontakt instruments), 16 midi channels on output 2 (16 Omnisphere instruments), and so on. At the moment, if I have a Piano (Kontakt) and a pad (Omnisphere) both on channel 1, they’ll play simultaneously, even if I mute one of them. That is because they have the same output, MIDI output 1.
So, I’m thinking of some way to use more than 1 output, but my audio interface (Tascam US16x08) has only 1 midi input.

Here’s my question: there is a way to “expand” my midi inputs, in order to have independent midi channels?

Maybe this is useful?

MOTU Midi Express XT USB

Why can’t you set one of the plugins to receive on midi channel 2 of the same port?

Yeah, I’ve tried to search something like that. One question: if I don’t want to spend all that money, something like a midi merge with 4 midi in would work?

@dhj, that is something I’ve always done, but since my patches are becoming more and more complex, I’d like to have always 16 midi channels per plugin

Nope. That will simply cause the other end to see a single MIDI port with 16 channels. There’s no information in the midi stream itself that distinguishes one incoming MIDI port from another. That is why it’s called “merging”

However, I can’t help but wonder if you’re approaching the entire configuration the wrong way. Why would you ever have a need for 256 separate channels when you’re controlling Gig Performer.

Speaking for my self, I play in three bands, two of which are progressive, requiring a ton of different sounds but I never need more than FOUR channels (not four ports with 16 channels each, but just four channels)

You’re right, and I thank you for your responses. Using GigPerformer in the correct way, like you said, there’d be no use for different midi outputs. But if I want to play without GP, without Logic, without Mainstage, and have a total control over everything by solely using my master keyboard, I’m starting to think that I need a midi interface/audio interface combo. Correct me if I’m wrong.

Oh, in that case you have no choice but to buy a MOTU multiport MIDI interface if you want to handle 8 separate ports.

I used those things for many years, frankly I’m glad to not need them any more. They’re a bit of a headache to manage.

You might be able to find a 4x4 MIDI router on Sweetwater but to be honest I don’t track that world anymore. All my controllers use USB so I just use a USB hub and Gig Performer sees the individual ports

Like I said before, I thank you all for you responses. You’ve been precious.
Thank you kindly.

I have to say, that’s a darn nice controller though. I wish it was a little bit lighter.

By the way, if you are trying to control plugins directly (as opposed to other external synths), I see that that keyboard does have four USB ports so you could use an inexpensive USB hub and you would get 128 channels…not too bad

I’m trying to figure out why you need to manage different channels coming in from your master controller at all. Instead of this, it would be very easy to to simply use key ranges on multiple midi inputs on channel 1 only to distribute to your plugins accordingly. Remember that you can remap channel 1 to any other channel on an input in GP. You can also set a specific key range. I have a Roland Fantom X as my upper keyboard that at many times I simply use as a controller with 1 channel across the entire range. I then simply ‘split’ and/or ‘layer’ by using multiple midi inputs in GP with selected key range and/or channel translations between the Fantom X and the various VSTs I have loaded into GP.

I regularly do the same with just channel 1 from my Korg Kronos. The Kronos only ‘recognizes’ a single channel as the ‘live’ keyboard channel in combi mode, so I don’t really have a choice. Anything from the Kronos that I play live on the keyboard will ONLY come into GP on that one channel. I’m attaching a picture that shows you what I mean. This is a picture of how many midi inputs I have routing to both VSTs in GP as well as back to midi outputs on physical keyboards for a rackspace I just completed last night.

In the case of all of these routings, everything is coming in on channel 1.

X

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That’s a hella routing over there… Very impressive. And yeah, that’s something i could accomplish with some brainstorming. But point is: if my keyboard is a midi controller with very limited possibilities of layering/splitting/whatsoever, the internal routing from GP or even Mainstage would be a goto. No doubt at all.

This is not my case. I have - probably - the best master keyboard ever done until now. Using only a midi channel, only one patch, would be very depressing. So I’m trying to do something a little different, maybe more expensive, maybe more nerve-wrecking. But I’m sure that the K4 will be part of my setup for many years to come. I only have to understand all its possibilities and what I need to use to make it perform at its peak.

Again, thanks for all your advices :smile:

As a controller it looks great and in fact I’m looking at it myself, just a bit concerned about its weight from a touring perspective

I have to disagree with you there. It’s just the reality that in today’s world, it is way more easy to configure/change routings using software than it is to set everything up from the controller. In other words, unless you’re only going to use external synths and no computer, there’s really very little (indeed if anything at all) you can do with your controller (no matter how many outputs you’ve got) that you can’t do using a single channel and the appropriate software.

Even if its weight is around 20 kgs, it seems heavier, probably because it’s very well built. For touring it could be a problem, and I’m on tour right now, so… It’s not easy to bring the K4 on some kind of stages, but at the end of the evening, it gives you so much in terms of satisfaction.

And yeah, I agree with your vision: it’s something that nowadays is common, using a simple controller and set everything up from the software. But I’m stubborn, and I want to try that way. If I’m not satisfied, I’ll welcome all of your suggestion, and probably I’ll get rid of my headache :rofl: