KB-1 MIDI Keyboard from Kai Aras

ka010

hey guys,

I've been going through the comments and already fixed most of the issues noted here (thanks!) you can expect the obligatory 1.0.1 update to drop sometime next week.

@wim said:
Kind of annoying that you have to scroll one at a time through the scales rather than pick from a list. But I guess it’s OK since one doesn’t often have to do quick scale mode changes.

you can swipe across the LCD control to quickly scroll through the list, like a knob or fader. This actually works everywhere you find this type of control, in other apps as well.

@MonzoPro said:

@JohnnyGoodyear said:

How do you pick what chords go on the things? For example there’s no D7 or E major in that shot.

You pick the root note and scale, then you'll get the one key per scale degree.

In the screenshot, root note is set to C and scale to Major in which the E chord (ii) is a minor chord, that's why you don't see an E major chord.

EDIT: If you look up chord progressions you'll find things like I - IV - V - I which denote the scale degrees.
An upper case letter means it's a major chord, lower case letters denote minor chords. For every scale you'll have a mixture of major, minor and diminished chords where the type of scale defines where the major, minor and diminished chords sit.

For example, in major - the first, fourth and fifth degrees are major chords so in C thats CMaj (I) FMaj(IV) and GMaj(V)

The chord layout is built around this principle so it's easy to play even fairly complex progressions while playing a lead on another keyboard.

Hope that makes sense.

At the moment only triads are supported, that's why there is are no 7th chords either.

wim

Thanks for the quick answers. Great app.
I’d love to see drum pads with configurable notes. This would make it a one-screen powerhouse for lots of different use cases.

ka010

@wim said:
Thanks for the quick answers. Great app.
I’d love to see drum pads with configurable notes. This would make it a one-screen powerhouse for lots of different use cases.

I was just thinking about that... shouldn't be a problem, might even make it into 1.0.1 but we'll see...

wim

Sweet!

(To be useful in all situations, being able to configure both note and midi channel per pad would be ideal. But if that’s too much to take on, then just note would cover 95% of cases).

ohwell

Love this thing! The biggest surprise is how happy it makes me to use the string mode with 5 rows (I’m a guitar player..)

@ka010 Feature requests:

• Chromatic/no scale option for string mode.
• some way to make glide (and slide - set to cc 1) useable with poly synths in single channel mode, so that after you begin a glide (or slide) motion with finger A, any slide or glide motion from other fingers gets ignored until touch from finger A is released altogether. This would allow using finger A’s glide as a ‘normal’ pitch bend wheel, where the pitch stays bent until you release it, and ignoring accidental motion from other fingers. Maybe it’s just me, but I would find that extremely useful and intuitive in use. (ATM it seems to be sending conflicting pitch bend info if you accidentally move a second finger while gliding in single channel mode.)

PhilW

Can you play two chords at once? I mean if you in C major and play a G major chord with a B Dim chord, you have G7. While that would be a possible workaround for 7ths, 9th, etc, I would like a Chord Sekection mode in addition to the Diatonic mode to add Sus4 and out of scale chords as well. For example in C minor, both Bb Major and G Major are common chords, but the B is flattened in one but natural in the other.

[Deleted User]

@PhilW said:
Can you play two chords at once? I mean if you in C major and play a G major chord with a B Dim chord, you have G7. While that would be a possible workaround for 7ths, 9th, etc, I would like a Chord Sekection mode in addition to the Diatonic mode to add Sus4 and out of scale chords as well. For example in C minor, both Bb Major and G Major are common chords, but the B is flattened in one but natural in the other.

Yep you can play two chords at once but since they are triads the mix is not ideal really. I think your suggestion of adding more chords to the selection both diatonically and out of scale is the way forward.

TheVimFuego

Perfect mix of an app with infinite utility and pay day.

eross

@ka010 is there any way to flip the velocity on the keys so that that 127 is at the bottom of the key, and softer at the top or the keyboard. basically opposite of what it is now. ? thNks

ChrisG

Can you resize the keyboard to show more then 24 keys? Can you scroll the keyboard, while holding down notes (like Nave, iSEM etc)?

wim

@eross said:
@ka010 is there any way to flip the velocity on the keys so that that 127 is at the bottom of the key, and softer at the top or the keyboard. basically opposite of what it is now. ? thNks

The developer indicated earlier in the thread that would be coming as an option at some point.

wim

@ChrisG said:
Can you resize the keyboard to show more then 24 keys? Can you scroll the keyboard, while holding down notes (like Nave, iSEM etc)?

No, and no.
But each row can span different octaves, so a huge range of notes is possible.

oddSTAR

@kobamoto said:
hopefully this will be the dev to implement that big ole x'/y pad for note input emulating the ikaossilatorrrrrrr c'mon dev lets do it!!! yayyy

+1 and a cookie

HOLMES_Mark_IV

Great app.

There seem to be some issues with Chord view. Chord view with scale set to Spanish, e.g., shows correct root notes but wrong chords. (I chord is played as minor not major). Chord view set to pentatonic repeats the I chord every seven chords, not five.

fattigman

I tried it with Galileo2 and it only works in standalone mode, not as AU. It works fine with most synths. To make it work with Galileo2 in standalone I must change from MPE to a midi channel but in AU that choice is not available. Maybe it’s a Galileo2 bug rather than KB-1.

wim

Confirmed.

[Deleted User]

@ka010 said:
hey guys,

I've been going through the comments and already fixed most of the issues noted here (thanks!) you can expect the obligatory 1.0.1 update to drop sometime next week.

@wim said:
Kind of annoying that you have to scroll one at a time through the scales rather than pick from a list. But I guess it’s OK since one doesn’t often have to do quick scale mode changes.

you can swipe across the LCD control to quickly scroll through the list, like a knob or fader. This actually works everywhere you find this type of control, in other apps as well.

@MonzoPro said:

@JohnnyGoodyear said:

How do you pick what chords go on the things? For example there’s no D7 or E major in that shot.

You pick the root note and scale, then you'll get the one key per scale degree.

In the screenshot, root note is set to C and scale to Major in which the E chord (ii) is a minor chord, that's why you don't see an E major chord.

EDIT: If you look up chord progressions you'll find things like I - IV - V - I which denote the scale degrees.
An upper case letter means it's a major chord, lower case letters denote minor chords. For every scale you'll have a mixture of major, minor and diminished chords where the type of scale defines where the major, minor and diminished chords sit.

For example, in major - the first, fourth and fifth degrees are major chords so in C thats CMaj (I) FMaj(IV) and GMaj(V)

The chord layout is built around this principle so it's easy to play even fairly complex progressions while playing a lead on another keyboard.

Hope that makes sense.

At the moment only triads are supported, that's why there is are no 7th chords either.

Great stuff, thanks for the reply.

richardyot

@ExAsperis99 said:
You have put me in mind of a band whose posters I used to see on the Lower East Side: When People Were Shorter and Lived Near the Water.

A Shimmy Disc classic. The band's name was better than their songs, but that's par for the course.

TheOriginalPaulB

@ka010 As a future option, is there any chance of using the accelerometer to derive the velocity values? This is something that works really well in iFretless, bs-16i and Garageband and is my preferred method of velocity control. Just make it as sensitive as possible and have a slider in settings to reduce the sensitivity to taste.

ChrisG

@wim said:

@ChrisG said:
Can you resize the keyboard to show more then 24 keys? Can you scroll the keyboard, while holding down notes (like Nave, iSEM etc)?

No, and no.
But each row can span different octaves, so a huge range of notes is possible.

Thanks. Yeah I know you can stack the keys, but I’m just horrible playing anything that way. Still looks like a good tool to have around for sure

eross

can you assign the midi cc number that the modwheel sends. if not, what is the default cc#?

blakkaz

I am seeing a few issues with keys not triggering in Cubasis.
Workaround is to open and close the view a few times...

A few issues to iron out, but this is already such a useful plugin.

ka010

@ohwell said:
Love this thing! The biggest surprise is how happy it makes me to use the string mode with 5 rows (I’m a guitar player..)

@ka010 Feature requests:

• Chromatic/no scale option for string mode.
• some way to make glide (and slide - set to cc 1) useable with poly synths in single channel mode, so that after you begin a glide (or slide) motion with finger A, any slide or glide motion from other fingers gets ignored until touch from finger A is released altogether. This would allow using finger A’s glide as a ‘normal’ pitch bend wheel, where the pitch stays bent until you release it, and ignoring accidental motion from other fingers. Maybe it’s just me, but I would find that extremely useful and intuitive in use. (ATM it seems to be sending conflicting pitch bend info if you accidentally move a second finger while gliding in single channel mode.)

noted.

@eross said:
@ka010 is there any way to flip the velocity on the keys so that that 127 is at the bottom of the key, and softer at the top or the keyboard. basically opposite of what it is now. ? thNks

Not yet but the latest beta has an invert option, will be included in 1.0.1

@oddSTAR said:

@kobamoto said:
hopefully this will be the dev to implement that big ole x'/y pad for note input emulating the ikaossilatorrrrrrr c'mon dev lets do it!!! yayyy

+1 and a cookie

noted

@HOLMES_Mark_IV said:
Great app.

There seem to be some issues with Chord view. Chord view with scale set to Spanish, e.g., shows correct root notes but wrong chords. (I chord is played as minor not major). Chord view set to pentatonic repeats the I chord every seven chords, not five.

There's an issue with the current version where chord layout only works properly up to the blues scales everything after that results in a wrong layout.

ka010

@eross said:
can you assign the midi cc number that the modwheel sends. if not, what is the default cc#?

Modwheel sends the default #CC which is 1. At the moment this cannot be changed.

@blakkaz said:
I am seeing a few issues with keys not triggering in Cubasis.
Workaround is to open and close the view a few times...

A few issues to iron out, but this is already such a useful plugin.

Hmm that's odd, I'll have a look.

Samu

A strum/delay-per-note option for the chords would be sweet

gkillmaster

@Samu said:
A strum/delay-per-note option for the chords would be sweet

+1

rezidue

One thing I love in Xequence is being able to set key width.

kobamoto

@Samu said:
A strum/delay-per-note option for the chords would be sweet

+crucial

CracklePot

@ka010
Is this on sale right now, or is this the normal price?

JonLewis

@ka010 is there a rough ETD on the iPhone version? I'm dying over here.