This has been blowing my mind!!!!!

I have a few different machines, and I was curious if someone could help me connect them all together. I have a Kaoss Pad, KP 3, SP-404, a 5 channel mixer, and a computer.

Up until I got my SP 404 the other day I had the following chain...

KP1 --> Mixer IN CH2
SR16 --> Mixer CH3
Mixer Main OUT --> PC LINE IN
PC LINE OUT --> KP3
KP3 --> Mixer CH1

(I use the PC for recording purposes for now..)

I noticed with this old set up I got a lot of feed back while doing effects with the KP3. I now have the same set up, but instead of an Alesis SR16 I have the SP-404 in its place. I'd like to use the Korg KP3 for effects.

I'm very new to the game and am still learning a lot! Please if any one has any comments please help.

-J Cole

P.S. this is all connected with chap RCAs. Is there a certain quality/ standard I should use?

Oh yea, This would be a great place for other users to Post what Chains they use. I think that would help out a lot of New B's!!!!

Thanks again guys! (and girls!)

-J Cole

There's a few easy mistakes to make with midi hookups.

Careful with midi chains, especially if something has no dedicated midi thru port because it will probably have the thru combined with the midi output port. This causes midi feedback when the controlling sequencer gets it's outputs routed back into its own input via the thru link. It can be switched off in a menu setting or switch.
You can switch thru off in the sequencer, but you'd probably want to play a sound module on its output from a controller on its input, so its not really a good solution.
To avoid feedback in a chain, see if you can arrange the devices so there is a break in the thru path in one device and everything else that needs input from the sequencer is before the break and everything that needs to send into the sequencer is after the break. The most likely device to turn thru off on would be a keyboard synth because you'd want to record its keys and controllers into the sequencer and play its sounds from the sequencer.
There's lots of decisions needed with midi chains and it's best to avoid either with a sequencer with several in and out ports or the use of midi merge and/or thru boxes if you only have one in and out at the sequencer.

With the synth there's another setting to check - Local Control.
With Local on, the keys will play the synth directly AND transmit midi to the sequencer - this will come back from the sequencer and play it again. Turn Local off and it will be fine. You only really ever need Local On when playing the synth "live" without a sequencer. Some drum machines might have a local setting too.

On the audio side, I haven't found one chain that will allow everything I want to do. Sometimes each device feeds its own mixer input and sometimes things are used just for their FX fed just by something else.

A partial solution is to get a patch bay or jackfield. These are groups of jacks arranged as several bays that connected to a few others only in the same bay. Every output and input you have goes to a bay and you make the connections you want with short patchleads between bays. Patch bays aren't all that expensive, but all the cables you need racks up the cost.
Most patch bays have a "Normalised" feature where an in and out are connected in the same bay without needing a patch lead. When you do insert a patch lead, the internal connection is broken and you can patch the output to something else and/or feed the input from something else. This means you probably don't need too many patch leads to make the few changes you might want.

Hope this info helps you make your dream hookup

Jim

Hey man I think he's only talking about audio connections here..

Does your mixer have a send/return setup? might be called ext effect, or aux. or something.. there should be an 'amount' knob, one on every track strip that leads to monitor or send or aux or whatever

This is what you want to put the KP3 on really so you can prevent feedback..

so everything else, plug into a mixer channel like normal

Find the mixer's Send/Aux/whatever output and plug that to the KP3's input (depending on the mixer it might only be a mono output, so if u dont have a mono->stereo cable, put it into the mic input on the kp3.. but turn the mic gain knob riiiight down)

Then just put the KP3's outputs into a normal channel.

Now if you want to send say, SP to KP3.. You turn up the send knob on the SP's channel, and it routes that amount of audio to the KP3.. same with any other track, and you can send multiple tracks to it at once.

To avoid feedback just don't send the KP3's mixer channel back to the KP3.. On the other hand, sometimes it is cool to have a controlled amount of feedback, so play around with little bits of send - EG if you have a delay on the KP3 and instead of using the internal feedback, you send it back to itself via the mixer, you can insert the mixer's EQ into the delay signal.

You can put the computer into the send bit after the KP3 but before returning to the mixer too if you want (or anything else)

Hey thanks guys!

I was talkin just connections, but that MIDI info is also helpful!

Maybe I'm trying to do too many things at once.. I've noticed a lot of other people have had to switch up their connections to get the results they want.

Ultimately I'd like the final signal going into the PC for recording purposes. At the same time I like using audio from the PCs output for the KP3 & SP404. Connecting everything in a loop like that seems to be what is giving the kp3 feedback. As soon as I disconnect the PC output from the kp3 everythin is fine.

More input is always appreciated.

Thanks again

-Jcole503

A mixer with an extra stereo bus can help make a stereo fx (or sampler) send. The extra bus might be called Alt or Sub. You should be able to switch any mixer channel to the Alt bus instead of the normal Main. So the Alt bus sends signal to the FX for just the channels you want to Effect (or sample!) The FX then feeds a stereo channel that is switched to the main. You should also be able to switch the Alt bus output to also feed the main if you want the dry sound as well (it'll still feed the Fx at the same time). There is no danger of feedback with this and it can do stereo!
With the output from a DAW feeding another stereo input, you just switch it to the Alt to go through the fx and record it back into the DAW from the main.
With any audio program on the computer, you need to make sure it isn't using input echo (where anything going in gets played back on the output), you don't need that with a mixer.

BTW, I wrote the midi stuff because someone suggested adding chain tips in the thread.

Jim

macbook into behringer 802 mixer input 1
pt-01 into behringer input 2

behringer main out into sp-404

404 main out split into monitors and back into garageband (piggyback cable).

good news: you can sample from 404 into computer and vice versa w/o unplugging anything

bad news: you can't really do proper overdubs in software multitracker because audio from other tracks will record onto the new track. unless you don't mind rendering all audio to the new track every time you overdub a new part in...

i'd like to use the fx send on the mixer instead but its only mono