My Continuum no longer works with Kyma. Did I mess something up?

Question

It has been a while since I last used my Continuum with Kyma. Back then, I used KymaConnect and it all seemed to work fine. However, it would seem that my current OS is not actually supported by KymaConnect*, so I have been trying to connect my Continuum to the Pacarana via old-fashined MIDI ports and am having no luck at all.

I've got Continuum and MPE Compatible set to "Yes" in Kyma, and have selected the MIDI interface ports assigned to the Pacarana (iCOnnectivity mio10>AudioFire4, with the latter being connected as interface to the Pacarana). I tried using an old eMagic interface and got the same results.

However, I get only intermittent notes when I try to play from the Continuum, plus hung notes.  Mostly, though, it doesn't work at all. I've selected the Kyma 1 preset from Haken Editor software. Sometimes, it switches on its own to another preset. Sometimes it doesn't. It seems to be connecting and disconnecting, and Kyma's Event Log shows that it's getting bombrarded with a constant stream of MIDI messages.

I'm using the latest version of Kyma and Continuum firm/software.

Oh, and Kyma responds fine to KymaControl, the Fake Keyboard and any other MIDI keyboard I've tried.

I hope one of you Kyma gurus can help. I'm currently designing a Kyma Sound that absoluterly requires the Continuum as its controller, and this has brought me to a standstill.

*EDIT: I've just seen that there is a beta of a new version available on this very site. Maybe that will get me up and running again...

ANOTHER EDIT: I've installed the beta version of KymaConnect 2 and I can now get Kyma to respond as expected to the Continuum if I select vPacarana as the I/O ports for Kyma in the Haken Editor. I am intrigued by this new Haken2Kyma port though...

I'm still getting a constant stream of MIDI data, looking like it involves cc111, cc114, cc117, cc118, cc107.

And of course, I still wonder what I am doing wrong when not using KymaConnect...

 

 

Answer 1

The MIDI messages that you are seeing in Kyma's log are probably due to the constant messages that the Continuum and the Haken Editor exchange. It could also be due to the way Kyma and the Continuum communicate to inform that a Continuum is connected and operating in "Kyma Mode", and Kyma informing the Continuum of the current sound's polyphony.

The missed, intermittent, and hung notes are symptoms of what sometimes happens when Kyma switches from MPE mode to Continuum mode, or verse-visa. One thing to keep in mind is that nearly all of the Continuum presets have MPE mode enabled. If one of those presets is selected while connected to Kyma then Kyma will try to go into MPE mode, where it will remain until a different Kyma Sound is loaded or the DSP is initialized from the DSP menu. Sometimes just restarting the Sound works but in my experience that is pretty hit and miss. Furthermore, on some occasions, even loading a new Kyma Sound or initializing the DSP does not force Kyma back into the nuetral "normal MIDI" mode. When that happens it is probably best to quit Kyma, power cycle the Paca(rana) and start again.

What I do to avoid all of this is to have a dedicated Continuum preset that has the Kyma mode set. I assign this to one of the Continuum's first 16 User Presets so that I can readily recall it from the Continuum without requiring the Haken Editor. I select this preset always before starting up Kyma, and then once a Kyma Sound is loaded, I select the Continuum preset again. This last step is mostly redundant but I have encountered situations where it was necessary to get Kyma to properly respond to the Continuum. Without it Kyma was in "normal MIDI" mode.

Comments

Thanks. I’d read other replies you’ve made regarding the switch between MPE and Kyma mode and had, in fact, been starting with a Kyma mode preset. It never helped when trying to use traditional MIDI ports, but now seems to be doing the trick when using KymaConnect 2. I also indeed found that sometimes I need to re-load a Kyma Sound to make the connection. Not always.

Thankfully, KymaConnect 2 gets me back on track.