I just received a Ketron SD2 but am clueless on how to use it with band in a box or real band. Can anyone point me toward a tuturial or explain how to set it up to play with BIAB or Realband. Also how are the additional voice banks accessed once the external devie is set up. Thanks

I assume that you have set this Module up correctly and the appropriate driver is selectable from the Midi Out Drivers list for RB.

Select the Classic Window and you will see a number of columns. Ensure that the Ketron driver is number one in the Driver Listing and that the Column PT (port) is listed as one. Now if you look at the Technical Tables in the Manual you will find that patches are listed in three Voice Banks and a Preset Bank.

The numbers on the left of each Patch Name identifies the Patch. Next to the Bank Name at the top of the Technical Table is an instruction in brackets (Control Change 00, Value 0,1,10 or 2 for Banks A, B, C and Presets.

In the Classic Menu enter the required Patch number in the Column "Prg" (Program), enter the Values 0, 1, 10, 2 in the column "Bank". The patch can be played via a loaded Midi File or via the RB Keyboard or an external keyboard. These instructions can also be entered via the Main Tracks Window.


To get the Names of the Patches to appear in the Prg Column you will need a Patches List for the Ketron SD 2 which, I believe can be obtained from PG Music.

Got it now - thanks

So in following the logic here that if I'm using a Presonus AudioBox USB as the interface I will need to set up the SD2 module in Audio Box and then in BIAB I sould find and use the audio box midi out. Is that correct?

I don't have an AudioBox, but I can describe what I do with my M-Audio Fast Track Pro.

First of all the Ketron unit is a MIDI out device (there's no MIDI input from it, it just receives MIDI data sent out from your computer). So, you'll need to have some sort of MIDI output device from your computer. My Fast Track pro is connected to my computer via USB and the computer sees it as both an audio in/out and a MIDI in/out device. I plug my Ketron into the MIDI Out connector on the Fast Track Pro using the MIDI in on the Ketron (yes, that can get confusing).

So when I tell my computer to send data out to the Fast Track pro, it will go to the Fast Track Pro and is ten passed along to the Ketron SD-2 via the MIDI Out port. The Ketron receives the MIDI data, but it doesn't send it back to the computer (because the MIDI interface is for the note one/note off/velocity/etc data only, not for the actual sounds). To hear the sounds you need to one of two things. The back of the Ketron has a right/left (red/white) RCA connector that you can use to send audio data to any device that accepts audio. This could be powered speakers, an amplifier, or the Line-In connector on your sound card. There is also a headphone jack on the Ketron, so you can hear sounds that way also. The slider on the front of the unit is the volume control for the Ketron.

I connect the audio out on the Ketron to the Audio In on my Fast Track Pro. That allows me to get the audio sounds back into the computer to record the sounds the Ketron is generating. And the Audio Out of my Fast Track Pro goes to my powered speakers so I can hear the sound.

One thing about the Ketron is that, unlike using a DXi or VSTi synth is that you cannot do direct renders of the audio within the software. To capture the sounds of the Ketron, you have to arm a track in your DAW and then record the song from beginning to end. I do that and then mute the MIDI track, so it's not double tracking.

(Above is the simple connectivity. The reality, though, is that I don't actually feed the Ketron directly into the Fast Track Pro, I actually feed it into an input channel on my little hardware mixer, and then feed the mixer to the Fast Track Pro. This allows me to also connect microphones and the audio out from my Casio keyboards into the mixer to record audio that way also. But the idea is still the same - the audio still needs to get back to the computer to capture the sounds).

Hope that made sense.

John explained it well BUT PLEASE READ ON

For MIDI your are OK using the Audio Box to drive the Ketron SD2

BUT you should NOT try to use the AUDIO Box to bring Ketron SD2, or ANY line level audio, back to PC - its NOT BUILT for line level signals!

http://support.presonus.com/hc/en-us/articles/210044713-Can-I-connect-a-line-level-source-to-my-AudioBox-USB-or-22VSL-


and from Page 3 of manual

"Power User Tip
: Active instruments are those that have an internal preamp or a line-level output.
Active instruments should be plugged into a line input rather than into an instrument input.
Plugging a line-level source into the instrument inputs on the front of the AudioBox USB not only
risks damage to these inputs but also results in a very loud and often distorted audio signal."


sorry for that bad news - hope you have another way to get line level audio into PC

Thank you for your help and support. Success. I was able to get the files to play and here music.

I Use BIAB solely to play along with Notes Norton's fake book CD's. I've just bought a small audio mixer. So I plan to go from Mac computer out USB through UM-ONE, into the SD2, then out into small audio mixer where I also input my Yamaha 115 keyboard and my audio from Mac headset plug on my computer. From the mixer I go out to my headset and to two small PA Speakers (Non-powered). The goal here is to unplug the speakers when I'm woodsheding so I don't drive my wife crazy!

Does this sound like a reasonable set up, or does anyone have a better suggestion. I just got my mixer and have not set it up.

Thanks,
Bud

Is your small audio mixer a powered mixer (has built in amplifier) or not? If not, you will have to include some sort of amplifier to drive your passive (non-powered) speakers. You can use the headphone output jack to drive small speakers, but that is not ideal.