Keys not triggering on very low velocity

[Envergure]

When I press keys at a particular velocity they don't trigger. When I first got it, this happened occasionally while I was playing, but since then I've learned to avoid it.

The velocity in question is well below the level where the Axis sends zero velocity, and it isn't likely to be a problem. The Axis does send something when I hit it that slow, but it isn't a note-on message and the Axis doesn't send a note-off when I release the key. Maybe a malformed message?

It happens on every key, and I've reproduced it in FL Studio, Reason, Analog Factory standalone and LMMS - so it isn't my software.

[synchrotone]

The same thing happened to me. At first I thought it was a defective unit, but the 2 I bought after the first one had the same issue. I'm pretty sure it's a firmware bug - I've told Jacqueline about this in detail, so hopefully they'll get it fixed soon.

[Envergure]

Aha! It seems the low-velocity touch causes the Axis to send a "Note Off" instead of "Note On". Is it possible to remedy this?

[Envergure]

the keyboard is sending a note-off even with velocity 64 sometimes, that is:
1000cccc 0kkkkkkk 01000000
instead of this note-on message:
1001cccc 0kkkkkkk 00000001
where kkkkkkk are the seven bits identifying the key number, and cccc are the four bits identifying the channel. The key is always correctly identified. I don't know about the channel.

Other times it sends nothing at all.

Please try to fix the firmware! I hope it can be fixed by downloadable patch or sysex or something, since it would be inconvinient to have to send my beloved keyboard 4000km away for a repair :_(

[MusicScienceGuy]

Thanks for tracking down the problem.
What is the problem this glitch causes? We could possibly write a simple screen for this and transmute it to the correct value, say by a little module in the Axis Tweaker routine.
Also, we need to know a bit more detail: exactly under what circumstances does this funny Note-off get issued, and what software are you using does it bug?

Ken.

[Envergure]

Thanks for tracking down the problem.
What is the problem this glitch causes? We could possibly write a simple screen for this and transmute it to the correct value, say by a little module in the Axis Tweaker routine.
Also, we need to know a bit more detail: exactly under what circumstances does this funny Note-off get issued,

The problem it causes is simply that I hit a key and no sound comes out. I don't know the exact circumstances because I don't know how the keys work, besides superficially. I'm currently using FL Studio, which goes to the trouble of filtering out redundant note-off messages, so no malformed data gets to the keys.

and what software are you using does it bug?

I'm not sure what you mean by that.

What is this Axis Tweaker you speak of?

[MusicScienceGuy]

.
The problem it causes is simply that I hit a key and no sound comes out. I don't know the exact circumstances because I don't know how the keys work, besides superficially. I'm currently using FL Studio, which goes to the trouble of filtering out redundant note-off messages, so no malformed data gets to the keys.

I had in mind much more getting an idea of at what point in the velocity level does the malformed note come out?
The Axis Tweaker shows the last velocity-on number.

and what software are you using does it bug?

What is this Axis Tweaker you speak of?

It's a little max/Msp routine that I wrote to allow remapping of keys and velocity. I'm gradually making it more powerful. It is available herein one or two-axis versions .

in combination with midi yoke or loopBE, to feed the altered midi back to midi-in it, can be quite handy. The tweaked, looped-back-to-input midi can be used for much, e.g. feeding to a "learning the keyboard course".

Ken.

[melatonic]

I have experienced this, but I haven't debugged it by watching the actual midi stream.

Generally the velocity sensitivity curve on the 49 is hard to handle. But I've gotten used to it.

[xjscott]

The velocity curves on the Axis are very different from those of a conventional keyboard. (I'll assume the 64 and 49 have identical mechanisms for the purposes of this discussion, and supposedly it is true.) This seems to partially be an artifact of the much shorter key traversal distance. I find that I do not have the control over velocity that I would really like. In particular, it takes a moderate velocity to get above a velocity of 1, and then the range of velocity over which it goes to 127 velocity is quite narrow. As a result I have to place with a fairly fast key depression style to be expressive, otherwise I get lots of velocity 1s.

I bring this up because about half of my synthesizers play almost inaudibly at velocity 1. It is possible that what you are seeing is that it is triggering for you, but at velocity 1, and thus you don't hear it. To see if this is the case, disable velocity sensitivity in your synth and see if the problem goes away.

[MusicScienceGuy]

Hi,
I found the same: because of the short key-travel distance (about 2.5 mm) it's tricky to accelerate the key to the right velocity: it must be done within the first 1 mm of travel. Then there's a fairly narrow range of physical velocities that map to midi velocities 1 to 127 - a stunning range in volume. Contrast to the piano that has a 5mm throw / travel distance before the key releases, and the lowest possible velocity is not that low, perhaps midi velocity 33 or so, ranging up to say velocity 90 - 110 or so -there's only so hard that a finger can hit a piano key.
I suspect that guitarists are more used to working over short distances like this: they have no choice and get used to it.
That's probably why tweaking (with the tweaker routines located here) the velocity curve to remap the velocity 1 to 33 and the top end down seemed to help fumble-fingered me. As one's fingers get more proficient, one could probably ease off on the tweaking and get more expression.

The key travel issue is probably addressable too - I looked and measured carefully, and it should be possible to lift the rubber gasket switches off the PCB by 0.5-1.0 mm with a plastic sheet with holes in it (easy to create if you have a friend with a laser cutter). With another mm of acceleration distance, one would be able to be a fair bit more nuanced in play - approaching or exceeding a piano's key. So the basic Axis design has a fair bit of room for further refinement (some of which could be done by hobbyists), which is great.

This is all moot until I and others have actually learned how to play the thing to the point where we start bumping up against the limits of the current device, which will be a trio of years yet. Tweak the velocity if you want, and practice away.

Ken.