Cantabile, Musicsheets Pro and Korg Krome

Ok. I’ve been looking for an easy way to select songs and set up VSTs and my Korg. I’m using a 13 inch Android tablet running Musicsheets Pro for all my lyrics and sheet music. This works really well. It can send a midi program change message on song selection.

My problem was I wanted to set up the right patch on my Korg AND the correct song in Cantabile. However, the Korg doesn’t pass the USB midi thru the standard midi out nor does it send any midi messages when the song is selected by MSPro.

I didn’t want to add any more cables to my set up or buy more equipment if I could possibly help it. So, in case anyone else is looking for a similar solution here’s how I’ve done it without any extras. My solution isn’t perfect, but actually works really well, for me.

The tablet is connected to the Korg via USB, the Korg connects to my laptop via a standard midi cable via a Roland Duo audio interface (only one midi in socket). The Korg does send midi data when a patch is selected manually and so can select the correct song in Cantabile.

When I select a song on the tablet the Korg is set to the correct patch. I then just move quickly to the next patch and immediately back again. Cantabile is set to delayed song load so ignores the quick change. After a second or so it responds to the midi data sent by the patch I want and we’re off and running!

The second or so delay is much less time than it took me to manually set everything so the bands flow from song to song is better than it’s ever been! And no extra hardware, cables or money has been required! Happy days! :grin:

My next task will cost some money, which is to add a second tablet to act as a wireless midi control surface, running Touch OSC, to control overall volume and plugin settings. I currently use a Korg Nano Kontrol 2, but I’ve found it unreliable and, of course, it needs a cable to the laptop.

I don’t know if anyone can suggest a better solution, but so far this is working great at no extra cost! So the wife’s happy too!

Hope this helps someone else, even if it’s just to think differently about your set up.

2 Likes

I’m playing with TouchOSC now, so if you ever want to trade notes or anything, start a thread going! :sunny:

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve used that quick program-change-up – program-change-down trick to get my patch changes into a track on my Wavestation! Nice use of the concept with Cantabile’s delayed song load!

Terry