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Edirol PCRM-30 and Cubase SX

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Topic Edirol PCRM-30 and Cubase SX
Hello to all!

Well, I've bitten the bullet and gone out and bought an Edirol PCRM-30 MIDI controller so I can start adding keyboards and stuff to my recordings.

I notice that it says the twiddle knobs (technical term) as well as the slider thingies (another technical term) are assignable to the various twiddle and slide functions in Cubase SX (like the mixer for each track as well as start, stop, record, volume, etc).

Unfortunately, I can't make sense of the handbook. It speaks on a level I just don't understand.

I've had some luck with moving through the various voices of say, cheese synth (a free plugin I found with a dozen or so voices), but am stumped on how to assign the knobs and sliders.

Has anyone else had this problem and if so, can you give me a jump start on how to do these assignments?

Thanks,

Bow
2
Man i understand where your coming from , i have the same controller and i also cant make sense of the hand book. i thought it was just me so i phoned the tech help line and those bastards refuse t help , all they say is its in the book. if you get anywhere please let me know and i will do the same for you .
Good luck
3
Thanks, man, I'm glad I'm not the only one.

Don't worry - as soon as I get an answer, I'll post back to this thread, so keep checking in.

Peace,

Bow
4
KitC,

Thanks for your reply.

My laptop (HP Compaq running XP) has no problems with the PCR-M30 as such - in fact, it works great! - the problem I'm having is getting the assignments for the multitudinous (word?) knobs and sliders on the M30 to map into Cubase.

The main selling point when I went shopping at Digital Village was the sales guy saying that the knobs and sliders could be assigned in Cubase, Reason, Logic, etc. to take over the functions that you normally would have to manipulate with a mouse click in the program itself.

I was stoked - after a lot of very tedious time being spent trying to adjust levels, volume, etc. with a mouse I thought this was perfect - everything right there at my finger tips on the M30 itself.

Unfortunately, the handbook for the PCR-M30 just makes reference to going into Mode 8 and applying all sorts of memory options which allow you to map/assign the sliders and knobs to this or that bank of tracks, etc. The very sad news is, it doesn't tell you how to do this.

I guess if I just keep trying out various things I'll eventually luck onto it. Sux, really. It's a pain and a waste of what little time I have just sitting there pressing buttons hoping I'll hit on what gets me to Mode 8 (or whatever) so I can start using all those great slides and stuff.

Thanks again for your help - if you come across anything, please let us know.

And yeah, my mail account seems to be dead. I'll have to look into that.

Cheers,

Bow
5
bowjest,

Try this: Edirol Control Maps. I found them off the Edirol site. To change the Modes, I think you have to hold down the Shift button.

Hth!
6
KitC,

Thanks! I've just downloaded that stuff from the link you supplied and I'll give it a try this weekend.

I appreciate you taking the time to look into this.

Have a good one,

Bow
7
Well, folks, we're all these months further on and I still can't figure out how to map the controls on this Edirol PCR-M30 to Cubase SX.

Here is what it says in the manual:

(p.85 of the Owner's Manual: Receive Mode)
"1. Press the [EDIT] button. The display will indicate 'EDT'.

2. Press the [BULK] key. The display will blink 'BLR' (Bulk Receive).

3. Confirm what's indicated and press the [ENTER] button. The display will indicate 'RS', and 'S' will blink.

4. Use the [DEC][INC] buttons or the [0][1] keys to select the mode (n.b. the README file on the CD says that the .mid files to setup the controller maps are to be received in Single Bulk Mode).

5. Confirm what's indicated and press the [ENTER] button. The third digit of the display will blink, and the PCR-M30/50/80 will wait to receive bulk data.

6. Transmit bulk data from your sequencer or other device. Specify 'PCR' as the MIDI output device for your sequencer software. For details on this setting, refer to the manual of your sequencer software. For details on the port that will be used to transfer bulk data, refer to 'Input/output devices' (p.43)."

And this is where I'm left hanging. How the hell do I do that! :¬))

I've got the keyboard connected to my laptop with a USB cable. I've set the output to Edirol PCR (there are several options in the dropdown, but this is the closest one), but how do I actually load and transfer the .mid files to the keyboard?

Has anyone successfully done this and if so, can you clue me in (in detail) on how to achieve this? It sure is tedious having to use the touchpad to set levels and move sliders in Cubase.

Thanks for reading.
8
Just import the .mid file into Cubase, make sure the output midi port is set to Edirol PCR and press the 'Play' button (spacebar or numpad Enter).
9
You're kidding! That's it! :¬D

I really wish Edirol had just said that! I'll give it a try and see if I can finally get it all to work!

Thanks, KitC! You are so da mastah!
10
Hello, I buy an Edirol PCR-M80 (the same as PCR-M30 but with 61 keys) last week, and me too I spent a pair of days trying to configure in Cubase SX... Now I've found the solution!!! :)
Really it's so simple, and it would be nice that it was written in the manual, but it isn't... it's in a help file in the Driver CD-Rom, in the "Memory Files" folder.

THAT'S THE SOLUTION:
******************************************************
MCR-8mode4_A.mid through MCR-8mode4_D.mid (Cubase 5/SX) are memory sets for emulating MODE 4 of a Roland MCR-8. These memory sets are MEMORY:5 through 8 of the factory settings.

Settings for Cubase SX:
1. From the menu, choose Devices | Device Setup.
2. Click the Add/Remove tab.
3. Select "Roland MCR8" and click [Add].
4. Click the Setup tab.
5. From the left menu, choose "Roland MCR8", which you added in step 3.
6. For MIDI Input, select "PCR 2."
7. Click [OK].
******************************************************

That's all... now you only need to load the factory MEMORY:5-8 in your PCR-M30 and see how Cubase SX mixer controls changes when you move your keyboard controls. And by pressing the buttons L1-L2-L3 you can easily Start/Stop your Cubase project.

I hope this post will help