RK008 Menus: ALT+7 - OUTPUT + ROUTING

[@plastictransistor]

Also, thanks for the port explanation - was having trouble triggering different gear on the same channel and thought the port thing was some sort of deep programming thing rather than just the outputs on the back of the re-008 😂.

[@electro-soma]

I really appreciate your instructional videos. Very useful. I've just bought a second hand RK-008. Hopefully it will be here this week. My other sequencer is a Torso T-1.

[@RetrokitsDev]

Thanks - we were also alerted on a thread from you on gearspace about the BLE things, if you set the RK008 in 'party mode' you can send/receive from multiple BLE devices (acts as 'BLE Central'). In normal 'on'-mode it is a 'BLE pheriperal'. If you connect a CME device to handle bluetooth, sending to multiple devices will be dependent on the possibilities of that CME device. To quickly get started on a recording you can also check page 1 and 2 of the manual (retrokits.com/rk008/RK008_manual.pdf) these are also provided with the RK008 (as well as two TRS-DIN5Male cables and a USB power/data cable) 🙂 We also have a forum at bla.retrokits.com/ it's a bit easier for us to reply there. ☺

[@electro-soma]

@@RetrokitsDev Thanks for the information and getting back to me on here. I'll take another look at my BLE setup and report back. I joined the RK forum a few days ago. Cheers.

[@electro-soma]

​@@RetrokitsDev I've had a play around but had no luck in getting it working. I made sure both the WIDI Uhost (Korg Nanokey2) and WIDI Jack (MIDI in on Roland T-8) are in peripheral mode. RK8 is in party mode. The WIDI Uhost still connects ok and sends MIDI from my Korg NanoKey2 but but only if the WIDI Jack is disconnected from the RK8. I don't know what the problem is really. Perhaps I'll post on the CME group and ask there. Both CME dongles have the latest firmware. Cheers.

[@electro-soma]

Quick update after searching on the CME group. "The messages can go from the peripherals to the central and the other way around. You cannot pass through messages and communicate between peripherals through the central" So perhaps what I'm trying to do just isn't possible, send MIDI from the UHost > RK8 > Midi Jack. Cheers.

[@RetrokitsDev]

For us the BLE was a bit of a later 'nice to have' update on the RK008, we did not really intend it to be a stable method for a whole setup - but; it is handy to work with in terms of connecting small BLE MIDI controllers like the NanoStudio for example. You can connect multiple controllers to the RK008 directly: 1. Enable BLE Party Mode on the RK008 and put it to sleep by pressing STOP for a few seconds. 2. Turn on the BLE devices and put them in pairing mode 3. Wake up the RK008 and see the antenna icon in the lower right corner go on and off. While this is going on the RK008 will scan the surroundings in search for BLE devices in pair mode. Maybe wiggle some knobs or press a key on them and it should start to activate the MIDI activity led (on the Route button) on the RK008. Now the RK008 should host the multiple BLE devices. There's a new firmware out (2024-01-19 / v2.19) which has some fixes on the BLE, perhaps this will work better in your case as well.

[@BerlinHouseMusic]

This is so cool!!!

[@plastictransistor]

I think you mention playing the Volca sample chromatically - is that possible? Just got a sample v2. But each midi channel plays one sample slot at one pitch unless you alter the speed dial on the Volca. Have you put a different pitch into each sample slot?

[@RetrokitsDev]

We use the RK002 for that, it can modify the midi output of a device to play the volca in tune , polyphonic and with velocity and such duy.retrokits.com/16a634ac-e0ef-4e6a-a406-eaddea38ba96

[@maikvanrossum]

Should the RK-006 expose its individual ports, too, when connected via USB to the RK-008? And, should it also work bi-directional, so also its two MIDI in ports?

[@RetrokitsDev]

If you connect the rk008 to the rk006 via usb, the rk006 is one single extra output bus where you can again send 16 midi channels to, the rk006 can distribute it to 10 outputs. The midi inputs of the rk006 will be merged with the inputs of the rk008, the connection is bi-directional

[@maikvanrossum]

Would be nice to see a short tutorial on that one 👍🏻 but I’ll try to figure it out, too. Or is there some documentation on this integration?

[@RetrokitsDev]

If you use the OTG cable on the rk006 and plug the rk008 into the usb-a part of the cable, both will be linked (you can see a little ‘+’ sign on the routing icon in the rk008 display. Then you can select rk006 as track output (alt+7,->,3) and it will route only to the rk006, separate from the 2 on-board rk008 outputs, also check this one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gGbIeZdjoqd5jrM

[@maikvanrossum]

So ‘usbserial’ is a regular data connection, which means that it doesn’t send USB MIDI?

[@RetrokitsDev]

Yes - serial transfer; you can use it for updates and .mid exports to the computer for example (at a much faster datarate). For using it to have direct midi access from a daw check hairlessmidi

[@maikvanrossum]

@@RetrokitsDev thanks for clarifying 👍🏻 then I’ll need to get the 006 at a later point, as I want my setup to be as DAW-less as possible. First I’ll get the 008 to play with my Blokas Midihub, which can run 4 separate MIDI ports via USB to the Audio4C. The 008 can be connected via 1 or 2 MIDI out to DIN ports on the Midihub, and probably 1 out to return to the 008. The second input can be used for my KeyStep Pro, which gets its return from the Midihub. That way I can use it as a master keyboard and have two outputs running to the Midihub for flexible routing.

[@maikvanrossum]

Wow!! Didn’t know this… such an USP 😮 the separate channels and bouncing / merging tracks make it a very interesting master sequencer! Does the USB out only communicate with the RK-006 or also with other USB MIDI devices / instruments?

[@RetrokitsDev]

The usb is usbserial only, the RK006 can host it and you can connect it to a computer via ‘hairless serial2midi bridge’, other option is via a BLE connection