Here’s a cool tip from our friends at Korg that will help you get the most out of your CX-3 organ.
Some CX-3 users have been bothered by the retriggering. Remember, retrigger is an expected behavior with waterfall keys and the ‘true to the original’ instant triggering mechanism. It reacts just the way its classic predecessors did, so for the most part it’s not organ enthusiasts that are disliking that. Either way, there’s a really cool workaround that will minimize that retrigger. The reason for the retrigger is easy enough to understand. An organ uses a method that is different from a typical synth to sense key push. The contact is immediately triggered once the key is pressed down. So, the key doesn’t really have to travel far to produce a noise. Since the “point of note on” is so close to untouched position, it doesn’t take much to have the key bounce back below that trigger point during normal playing. On a regular velocity sensitive synth, the trigger occurs when the key hits more towards the bottom. A processor measures the time it takes for the metal strip at the top of the key to leave untouched position and touch the bottom contact. That converts to a velocity value… But the fun fact is that the CX3 actually has BOTH technologies… that’s why you can use it to play other synths via MIDI with velocity. So the idea is to stop the first, immediate trigger from happening and only hear the second velocity based one. We actually learned this from a customer on the internet… I think it was on www.howtogetanythingtoworkbyscrewingwithit.com. Here’s how to do it:
1. Enter the Global Mode by pressing the Global button.
2. Press the 2 key under the screen and page over with the button until you get to Upper TX.
3. Set the Upper Transmit past 16 to OFF… that eliminates the initial trigger.
4. Press the button once again to get the Upper 2nd screen. This is the channel on which that second, velocity sensitive message goes out.
5. Set that to the Global channel (1 by default, of course).
6. Press the 5 button.
7. Press the < cursor a couple of times to get to the Local Control setting.
8. Shut off Local Control.
9. Run MIDI cable from the IN to the OUT.
10. Grind. Now, you’re not getting the first trigger. You’re only getting the second trigger, which is coming around in a MIDI loop. And it will still play a fixed velocity, because that’s what the CX3 uses.
Pros: No retrigger.
Cons: You’re not hearing the initial trigger, only the second, so there is an eeeeever so slight lag.
