For those of you who might be still sitting on the fence about upgrading your Poly-800 to the HAWK-800. Here is the news I sent out to my "customers".
Hi HAWK-800 owners,
I couldn't wait to be able to make this announcement. BETA software is now available for your HAWK-800 that provides velocity sensitive functions.
You can download the BETA software from
http://www.hawk800.com/techsupport.html. Look for the version 2.4 beta software files (there are three of them).
There is also an example patch dump sysex called StringSensitive.syx. That will get you started with a velocity sensitive patch.
I have not yet updated the owners manual. So here is a quick break down on the velocity sensitive parameters.
The velocity parameters are original parameters (P1 bank) 81 to 88.
81 Velocity operator 1 intensity (0=off, 1=minimum - 4=maximum)
82 Velocity operator 1 invert (0=normal, 1=inverted)
83 Velocity operator 1 target (1-12 EG target)
84 Velocity operator 2 intensity (0=off, 1=minimum - 4=maximum)
85 Velocity operator 2 invert (0=normal, 1=inverted)
86 Velocity operator 2 target (1-12 EG target)
87 VCF velocity sensitive intensity (0=Off, 1=minimum - 6=maximum)
88 VCF velocity sensitive response shape 1-4 (linear, invert linear, S, invert S, log, invert log) ∗∗ stick with 1 and 2 for now.
The targets for parameters 83 and 86 are:
1 =EG1 Attack
2 =EG1 Decay
3 =EG1 Sustain
4 =EG1 Release
5 =EG2 Attack
6 =EG2 Decay
7 =EG2 Sustain
8 =EG2 Release
9 =EG3 Attack
10=EG3 Decay
11=EG3 Sustain
12=EG3 Release
Parameters 81-83 are for "velocity operator 1" (OP1). Parameters 84-86 are for "velocity operator 2" (OP2).
If you assign OP1 and OP2 to the same target EG parameter (say both of them are set to 1 for EG1 attack) then OP2 simply overrides OP1.
Parameters 87 and 88 are for velocity control of the VCF cutoff.
This software is BETA which means use it at your own risk since I have not had a chance to thoroughly test it yet. But it does seem to be reasonably stable and I thought quite a few of you might like to have a go at trying out the velocity functions.
NOTE: Velocity sensitive functions ONLY work via MIDI. The Poly-800 MK1 and MK2 keyboards are not velocity sensitive so don't expect the velocity sensitive functions to work when playing your Poly-800 keyboard. You must send notes to your HAWK-800 via MIDI from a velocity capable synth or MIDI controller.
And if you find any bugs or have problems with this software, please let me know so that I can sort out any issues before I release the software as production ready.
Enjoy!
Mike Hawkins