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Has anyone tried a Linnstrument with Kyma?

+1 vote
2,155 views
Can it plug directly in the USB port on my pacarana? Does it work similiarly to the Madrona soundplane?
asked May 12, 2015 in Controllers, OSC & MIDI by gregorycichoracki (200 points)

3 Answers

+1 vote

please see my comment below ..

Mine will arrive tomorrow or on Friday. Can't wait to try it out!!

From the infos on Rogers side it  should work via USB because it is a class compliant device and only uses standard MIDI messages. I already managed to drive my Novation Launchpad connected through Kyma Connect  via Kymas internal MIDI Output Prototypes in a "colorfull" bi-directional way, so i guess it will be possible to make the Linnstrument work the same way too but directly via USB.


All the best
Chris

answered May 12, 2015 by christian-schloesser (Adept) (2,900 points)
edited Jun 3, 2015 by christian-schloesser
Oops missed the part about the midi interface , thought it had to be usb. I have a cheap class complient  hooked up already. Thanks!
I found the documentation for the LinnStrument User Firmware Mode:

https://github.com/rogerlinndesign/linnstrument-firmware/blob/master/user_firmware_mode.txt

sorry it is to long to post as a comment...

Since is does only uses MIDI commands for communication similar to the old Motormix or the Continuum it should be a good starting point for some experimentation together with Kyma.

Kind regards,
Christian
Hi Christian-- thank you for owning a LinnStrument. I haven't yet spoken to anyone at Symbolic Sound but I'd be interested in maximizing compatibility with the wonderful Kyma system. Here are a few minor corrections to the messages above:
* LinnStrument's Bend Range can be set anywhere from 1 to 96 semitones.
* LinnStrument's Pressure data can be sent using Channel Pressure, Poly Pressure or any CC.
* LinnStrument's Y-axis data can be sent using any CC.
Also, the User Firmware mode is a separate development mode for people who wish to use LinnStrument only as a dumb controller without changing the stock firmware. However, there are few needs for this because the stock firmware sends nearly any MIDI message you need in nearly every way people want, and receives CCs to light the 200 RGB lights on the playing surface independently in any of 6 colors.
One thing that would be a nice addition to the Pacarana would be for its USB port to recognize class-compliant MIDI. This would be good because LinnStrument sends MIDI 3.7 times faster over USB than over DIN MIDI.
If there's someone at Symbolic Sound I should speak to, please let me know.
I saw the Kyma and Linnstrument combo at KISS2015 in Bozeman, and loved it so much I ordered one for myself.  I am just now playing with it.  Carla mentioned that to get it really working well requires a bit of fancy tweaking, but I am using it in a "dumber" way, and it is still fun.  To wit, I have it set to send all data on one channel.  The smart way is to use channel per note, and then each note can respond independently to the controls.  That requires more work with the replicator though, or for SSC to come up with a new mode (like continuum mode ... but a bit different, because the Linnstrument is set up differently).  For the "dumb" mode, just set the Linn to send CC11 for pressure, and cc74 for timbre, then you can right click on a VCS controller, and set it to one of those.  Fun!

I am looking forward to a Kyma update that makes the control per note stuff easier though.

BTW, I am using the Linn with a Midi cable to a MOTU interface (USB Midi is not working for me for some reason) and KymaConnect to run that port into Kyma.

Plug-and-play support for the LinnStrument is now part of Kyma 7!

http://news.symbolicsound.com/2015/10/kyma-7-support-for-linnstrument-and-mpe/

+3 votes
Plug-and-play support for the LinnStrument connected through USB port is now part of Kyma 7!

http://kyma.symbolicsound.com/using-the-linnstrument-with-kyma/
answered Nov 11, 2015 by ssc (Savant) (126,300 points)
+1 vote

The new Kyma version is a big step forward for LinnStrument users!

Kyma works now out of the box with the Linnstrument and works also still perfect as ever with the Continuum (even with my old Firewire one)!

Excellent work!

The best thing is that we can now use the same sounds for both Instruments!

Sure they are totaly different aproaches and can not really be compared, but somtimes different player perspectives give different results even from the same sounds!

No more need for replicated MIDI Voices with the LinnStrument! Jippie!
Absolute amazing!

Thank you so much!

Christian

P.S: And i saw that you also made it possible to disable MPE in the MIDI preferences ! Excellent thinking!  That is great because i already wrote some "custom" interface sounds with the help of the MIDIOutputEventInBytes prototype. Here is a simple sound to get into User-Mode and X-Mas Disco mood -> LinnStrumentUserMode.kym

 

 

answered Nov 16, 2015 by christian-schloesser (Adept) (2,900 points)
edited Nov 16, 2015 by christian-schloesser
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