Smooth Transitions Between Programs

[fatar760]

Hiya,

I have a query regarding changing programs on a RD2000:

I'm currently using around 40 programs on a show, each with 3 or 4 zones being used within each program. At the end of a program I use a foot-switch to move up to the next program.

My issue is that I often get an obvious change in sound between programs and wondered if there was a solution to smooth this out in some way?

As an example, I could be on a program which has a mix of piano, strings and organ; and then I switch to the next program which has pad, brass and timps. When I make the change there is a boost in volume which stops the transition being smooth.

I've looked at adjusting volumes between the zones, but this has no effect. I've also looked through YouTube videos but can't find anything appropriate.

Has anyone else had the issue and did you manage to rectify it?

Many thanks

 

[delaware dave]

On my Kurzweil I've level set my programs and presets so that there is little volume jump between sounds on a change. Changes in sound occur because the software is loading the next program while you are holding down keys or a sustain pedal, it holds the sound but not the effect, it loads the effect for the next program. so if you had an organ with a leslie and switch to a pad that has reverb as an effect I hear the organ but now it is sounding through a reverb, not a leslie. This also can cause a volume diference to be heard. With a Kurz this can be managed fairly well, with other keyboards (like my Gem Equinox), not as well. These are the little nuances that make the Kurzweil a Kurzweil.

 

[anotherscott]

I don't know the RD2000 in particular, but Dave is right about how these things work in general, it's usually the effects differences between the sounds you were playing and the sounds you're switching to. Some boards have enough effects resources to manage these transitions truly seamlessly, by actually using a whole other set of effects processors for the new sound instead of "repurposing" the effects processors you were using for the previous sound, but this is the exception and not the rule (and at least in the implementations I've used, comes with the trade-off of not permitting a seamless switch to a THIRD sound if you're still holding a note from your first sound). Korg Kronos/Nautilus, Yamaha Montage/MODX, Roland Fantom, and Nord Stage 3/Electro 6 are boards that support this, to some extent or another.

If you could possibly manage using some of your sounds without their effects, that could be one way of ameliorating the issue. But you can't usually afford to lose a Leslie effect on an organ, and switching an effects processor from Leslie to something else (or vice versa) is likely to be one of the biggest culprits in glitchy "seamless" switching.