Bank Controller Issues for External Slaves

This is less a tutorial than an explanation. Since most keyboards these days will have more than 128 different programs, and since MIDI only allows 128 values for any message, the bank controller was added to allow you to have multiple banks of programs with each bank having up to 128 programs in it.

There are actually TWO bank controllers: Controller #0 and Controller #32. Some manufacturers use just 0, some use just 32, and some use both. Since each bank controller can have 128 values, that means that the total number of possible banks is 128 x 128 = 16,384 (numbered as 0-16,383). Since each bank can have 128 programs in it, that means the total number of possible programs in an instrument is 2,097,152! (Think of how long it would take just to listen to that many programs.) Anyway, in practice, most instruments tend to have 10 or fewer banks.

The PC2 uses controller #32 (although you can send both without problems). It is possible to have up to 8 banks, numbered 0-7. The bank values were described in the Basic Concepts chapter.

When working with external slaves however, you may find they require very different values for the banks. Many Roland keyboards, for example use values of 80 or 81 for controller #0.

The PC2 actually has a parameter called Bank Mode, within the Program menu. This allows you to chose either 0 or 32 or 0/32 for an individual zone. However, if the value of this parameter is not the same as a similar bank mode parameter that is found in the Global menu, it causes the PC2 to display the bank values in a very confused manner. Therefore, we recommend that you DO NOT use this parameter – leave it set at the default value of 0/32, which is the same as the default Global Bank Mode value.

So if you have a device such as a Roland, which uses just a value of controller #0, you have to know how to calculate the bank number. Controller #0 is the Most Significant Byte (MSB) and Controller #32 is the Least Significant Byte (LSB). If you see the two bank controllers together, they are normally shown as MSB/LSB. This means that you count by incrementing the number in the LSB column before incrementing the MSB. In essence, you are counting in base 128. To make it obvious for the majority of us who prefer to think in base 10, the following numbers show how the banks increment:
Controller 0/32 Bank Number Equivalent
0/0 0
0/1 1
0/2 2
etc.
0/127 127
1/0 128
1/1 129
1/2 130
etc.
1/127 255
2/0 256
2/1 257
etc.

When you are on the Bank parameter in the PC2, it shows you both the 0/32 value and the bank number equivalent. When you are on other parameters, it will only show you the bank number equivalent, followed by a “:”, followed by the program number.

To scroll through all the bank numbers with the alpha wheel can take a long time, so you will probably want to enter the bank number on the numeric keypad.

So to figure out which bank number equivalent you need, follow this formula: MSB x 128 + LSB. Using the Roland example, if they require you send controller #0 with a value of 80 and no value of controller #32, then you would have 80 x 128 + 0 = 10,240. If you type 10240, then press Enter when you are on the Bank parameter, you will see the display show both 80/0 and 10240.

Another example: If the Roland required you to send controller 0 with a value of 81 and controller 32 with a value of 2, then you would have 81 x 128 + 2 = 10,370. Again, entering 10370 for the Bank parameter will show both 81/2 and 10370.

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