Alesis Q49 Midi Keyboard - strange behaviour

[fidox]

Hi !

I own Alesis Q49 Midi Keyboard, couple of years, not heavy used, still in great condition.
I'm working in Cubase sequencer, just like i do always.
Keyboard is connected thru USB port, also just like always.
Recently keyboard begins to act strange.

When i'm working with track and i have for example melody playing, keyboard changes pitch for -1 note,
when i do reset on keyboard, pitch is corrected and then few notes playing ok, then again , pitch changes.
Other example.
Melody is playing , note by note, all of a sudden those notes begins to play like in chord mode, totally different.
I'm thinking keyboard goes mad and something is going on inside keyboard.
I have tried factory reset, but it's the same.
I have tried on my second computer, where i also have Luna II cards installed with Cubase and it's the same behaviour.
I have tried with M-audio Midi keyboard, it's more like toy, tinny one, but also connected thru USB port and it's working just fine.

One option is to try thru MIDI port on Alesis, but don't have cables at the moment for Luna II boards, but i think the problem is inside the keyboard.
Should i try to open the keyboard and maybe if there is battery inside and try to reset it or ?
Someone have any tip or maybe familiar with that keyboard ?

Thanks,
Matej

[dante]

Have you tried the Scope MIDI Monitor to see if the note data is sending the right pitch ? If its not, then you need to try same with standard MIDI cable which means getting the LUNA adaptor, which is a PS2 cable (per Valis/GaryB posts) to see if its sending the wrong note data. If its not, then its a problem with the USB midi output. If it is, then its something deeper issue inside the keyboard decoding.

[fidox]

Have you tried the Scope MIDI Monitor to see if the note data is sending the right pitch ? If its not, then you need to try same with standard MIDI cable which means getting the LUNA adaptor, which is a PS2 cable (per Valis/GaryB posts) to see if its sending the wrong note data. If its not, then its a problem with the USB midi output. If it is, then its something deeper issue inside the keyboard decoding.

Thanks Dante for your reply !

Didn't try yet with Scope Midi Monitor, but i will check that too.
Yes, i have ordered adapters and cables, so i will check Midi Out from keyboard to Luna II input next week.
I suspect Alesis keyboard, but ofcourse i can be 100% sure when also Midi option works the same.

[jpo_midigods]

My guess: not a cable problem, maybe dust on "SELECT" button.

Try keys BUT do not use the three keys labeled as "TRANSPOSE".

You won't have the pitch change problem but maybe missing notes.

Reason is that if SELECT button gets pressed then you are sending other MIDI commands instead of key notes, so strange behaviour happens.

To reset transpose on this model press SELECT then press the middle TRANSPOSE key.

Try to clean buttons and also Pitch wheel.
(Doing it periodically on all yor midi gear is good practice since midi controlleres doesnt break except rubber key contacts each one or two decades)

Have always midi monitors like MIDIOX at hand to test midi devices - you can do this before loading Scope or any other software.

Feel free to ask, cheers
jpo

[fidox]

My guess: not a cable problem, maybe dust on "SELECT" button.

Try keys BUT do not use the three keys labeled as "TRANSPOSE".

You won't have the pitch change problem but maybe missing notes.

Reason is that if SELECT button gets pressed then you are sending other MIDI commands instead of key notes, so strange behaviour happens.

To reset transpose on this model press SELECT then press the middle TRANSPOSE key.

Try to clean buttons and also Pitch wheel.
(Doing it periodically on all yor midi gear is good practice since midi controlleres doesnt break except rubber key contacts each one or two decades)

Have always midi monitors like MIDIOX at hand to test midi devices - you can do this before loading Scope or any other software.

Feel free to ask, cheers
jpo

Just reset transpose doesn't work.
I must always reset keyboard, SELECT - RESET - ENTER to hear proper pitch of notes again, but after awhile happens again,
it's very random.
Keyboard was more or less dust free all the time, while not used it was covered and using it just in my room.
But will check for dust inside the keyboard.

Thanks,
Matej

[jpo_midigods]

RESET does not include transposition by design. It has dedicated buttons for octave and semitone. Not broken by now!

Anyway, this controller sends only key note numbers, not pitch variations.

Exception made, of course, of the pitch wheel, that sends tuning info by default.

[fidox]

Ok,

I have tried to connect today Alesis midi keyboard thru Luna II midi input and not thru usb and it was the same behavior.

Then I finally opened keyboard, resetting few connectors on board and it was the same.

Was playing again few notes then i touched Pitch wheel and tones changed again also Modulation wheel changes few parameters in vst synth and changes sound structure.

What i have done now ?
I have unplugged both Pitch and Modulation wheel from keyboard's board, i don't use them anyway, didn't use them before neither,
so far, looks good, will still playing around and will see if that was the main problem.

[Ripper]

That looks to be the pitch wheel's potenciometer. I had a similar issue with my Kurzweil Pc3k and it was that.

[fidox]

That looks to be the pitch wheel's potenciometer. I had a similar issue with my Kurzweil Pc3k and it was that.

Yea, also the modulation wheel, cause when i have played for example one sequence in sequencer, over the time sound structure changed, like pushing modulation wheel up.
If it's just that, no big deal, cause i didn't used those 2 wheels.

[valis]

My JD-800 was sending spurious pitch data at one point. Took it apart, cleaned and fixed it and problem went away.

[jpo_midigods]

Yes now im sure its the wheel. Pitch bend wheels tends to get jealous if you dont use them. They always sends 14 bit data wich means 16.384 possible values so they are very sensitive to dust and unuse. Maybe yours its sending 0-1-2-1-0-1-2 all the time, as this is really small error. Try to move it several times to the both ends so it cleans the internal sensor track.

Common controls like modulation wheel, knobs, faders and keys sends just 128 possible values so they are more uncommon to jump from one value to another but it happens also.

you can always monitor and filter easily any problematic midi control to avoid flooding midi buffers. Remember midi is a slower world than dsp world... and good dsps gets hungry with jealous, unused pitch bend wheels sending flooded midi data

cheers

[fidox]

Thanks for the replies !

For now, i'll leave both wheels to OFF, will look next time, must produce music and not correcting pitch (reset keyboard) all the time