S88 MK3 - change global midi channel transmit?

dogbone · 2025-04-13T21:53:28+00:00

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Hi. New S88 MK3 user here.

On the S88, is there a way to change the global MIDI channel transmit quickly, so that all notes, pedals, knobs, buttons output on a certain channel? Let's say I'm in a synth like Omnisphere that has 8 MIDI channels, and I want to play channel 3, how do I quickly switch the output of the S88 to Channel 3 globally? I see that I can change the note output to channel 3 in the MIDI settings, but then I would have to change the pedals and the knobs separately…..this would be a pain. Do I need to setup 8 MIDI templates on the S88 that are each set to a different MIDI channel? That seems silly.

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dogbone

Alright, well short of any other better answer——I've gone and built 16 templates. Each one outputs a unique MIDI channel 1-16. All 16 templates are identical, based off the Default Template included with the controller. The only difference between each template is the channel that the notes, pedals, wheels, knobs, buttons and touch pad transmit on.

The different template channels can simply be called up by pressing the "Previous" and "Next" arrow buttons, which is not too inconvenient. You just need to make sure you see the name of the Template, like "Channel 1" on the screen before hitting Previous or Next. If you're in Kontakt and seeing a VI on the screen, you need to press the "SETTINGS MIDI" button to see the template name, and then you can start pressing "Previous or Next" to change channels. And then once you change channels, you can press "PLUG-IN" to go back to seeing the VI.

I've attached the zip file with all 16 templates for anyone that's interested.

I think this solution is sort of silly and will be a bit of a pain once you start customizing templates, but short of any other better answer, at least this gets us going transmitting on the 16 channels in a basic way.

And this leads me to a feature request: It would be nice if there was a global way to change channels on the fly without having to switch templates. Switching templates simply for a different MIDI channel makes a lot more work once you start customizing templates.

Hope they're useful to someone else.

NI_Kontrol_S-MK3_16_Default_Templates__One-for-each-MIDI-channel.zip

Maciej Repetowski

You can set the channel for the template, you cannot set global channel for the controller, unfortunately.

dogbone

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/224019#Comment_224019

Global MIDI for most of us would be a single parameter on a controller keyboard that changes the MIDI channel for all the parameters being transmitted. So, you choose channel 12, and everything the keyboard transmits is transmitted on channel 12—-all the keys, wheels, knobs, etc. The NI keyboard doesn't work that way.

So, regarding your second question: "How do you change the channel for a single template." The simple answer is you cannot. That was the whole reason I started the thread, to ask that same question. The answer is——whatever template you're on at the moment, if it transmits on Channel 1, and you want it to transmit on Channel 2, there's no specific single place you can go in the settings where you can just choose Channel 2 and all the keys, knobs, buttons, pedals, wheels, touch strip all change to channel 2. For the keyboard to transmit everything on a different channel, you have to into the settings and change ALL of them manually—-every button, wheel, knob, touch strip, pedal, and of course the keys. That's why I took the default template and made 16 of them—one for every MIDI channel. It's actually quite easy to arrow up and down with the Previous/Next buttons. Buuuut, if you want to change the template to have different controllers or knobs/buttons to have custom names names, and then you want that template to transmit on a different MIDI channel——-well, then you have to duplicate that new template and then manually change all the MIDI transmit channels. Not super convenient. I wish NI could develop a setting where you can override the current MIDI channel settings of the current template and transmit the entire template on whatever MIDI channel you want. It could be a setting that's turned on and off.

I found an error in my original 16 templates that I uploaded here. Control 65 wasn't updated to change channels with each template—-not that I ever use #65, but I've corrected the error. That control was on a page 3 in the template…..didn't see it originally.

I'm offering the new 16 templates to replace my original upload.

-gabe

NI_Kontrol_S-MK3_16_Default_Templates__One-for-each-MIDI-channel-V2.zip

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babble.catalog

I'm not completely sure, so I hope somebody else more knowledgable also gives you an answer, but I'll try with what I know.
As far as I know . . . no. There's no way to do that. And it is a shame and in my opinion a huge oversight.

However, the best way to get around this would be to do this in your DAW. You would have your DAW listen only to Channel 1 (or whatever your global midi channel is), and then by switching MIDI tracks in your DAW you could change the signal from Channel 1 into a different MIDI Channels. You could make this faster by assigning one of those buttons on the S88 to change tracks.
Or you could even figure out a way to have the buttons the S88 actually perform some sort of function that changes the MIDI channel within the DAW, depending on how much flexibility you have with your DAW. Keyboard Maestro could help you here. You can assign MIDI CC values to key commands and other macros in Keyboard Maestro.

One more option is to save duplicate MIDI templates right next to eachother in the S88, all assigned to different MIDI channels. You can then use the up/down arrows to quickly switch through your MIDI templates. Now that I think about it, this may be your best option.

Good luck!

dogbone

I've attached the zip file with all 16 templates for anyone that's interested.

Hope they're useful to someone else.

NI_Kontrol_S-MK3_16_Default_Templates__One-for-each-MIDI-channel.zip

Jeremy_NI

Hey @dogbone It seems you have figured it out. There is no global channel setting but you can have several templates with different settings, including the MIDI channel.

4ize

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/221744#Comment_221744

Apologies if you answered the following question already but I got a bit confused reading this. Are you saying that basically there is no way to set a channel for a template and that the board sets a channel for you based on the order of the templates?

For instance, if I have 6 keyboards I’m trying to control, is there no way to create template and set each one to a different channel manually? Such as, template 1 to keyboard A, template 2 to keyboard B and so on..?

thanks!

Maciej Repetowski

You can set the channel for the template, you cannot set global channel for the controller, unfortunately.

4ize

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/223853#Comment_223853

Thanks for responding. 2 things:

what’s global midi? Why would you need it? I think I could be referencing the same thing.. maybe.

secondly, how do you change the channel for a single template? I can’t find it. Did they move it with the most recent update? I feel like I found it prior to.

dogbone

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/224019#Comment_224019

I'm offering the new 16 templates to replace my original upload.

-gabe

NI_Kontrol_S-MK3_16_Default_Templates__One-for-each-MIDI-channel-V2.zip

edavila1

@dogbone , Thank you so much for creating and posting these MIDI channel templates! They work as promised…however I’ve run into a related issue and hope you (or others) should help.

I want to connect two controllers (S49 & S88), both MK3. I want each to run Komplete Kontrol independently on both. I want Komplete Kontrol to be fixed to their respective controllers. Thus, the need for independent channels.

When in MIDI mode, these controllers work based on your templates. But when I switch to Komplete Kontrol via “Browser” or “Plug-In” buttons, the controller automatically switches back to default Channel 1.

Obviously, this causes havoc when both controllers are in Komplete Kontrol using the same channel.

Am I doing something wrong? Or are my setup wishes unachievable? (FYI – the channel does no switch when I push the “Play Assist” button, which works fine)

Thanks!

JesterMgee

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/230814#Comment_230814

Yeah, that is not possible. You cannot use multiple KK keyboards at a time, only 1 will work with KK so your other one will only ever detect as a basic MIDI keyboard. This has always been the case and is unlikely to ever change so it's pretty much pointless to use multiple KK keyboards.

edavila1

Bummer. Thank you Jester.

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