Xone: K2 Thread

[deejaysoul]

Got mine last week, I finally created a mapping I was happy with. I'll be testing on my weekly online radio show tomorrow...

[padi_04]

Ah ok, shame really ... Do you need the the second unit to be plugged in direct to USB to show the second units sound card on the Mac/PC or will it run just on the xlink between units ?

Yep, X-Link only carries data.

[djproben]

Yep, X-Link only carries data.

Surely that's all digital sound is? I was actually surprised to see the sound card didn't aggregate but I just assumed I needed to read the manual.

@zestoi - yeah I've had a hard time getting any tsis to work the way I have it set up with the DB4, but I also haven't had time to mess with it. But I installed mixarchitekt's tsi for the K2 and none of the controls do anything.

[zestoi]

Surely that's all digital sound is? I was actually surprised to see the sound card didn't aggregate but I just assumed I needed to read the manual.

data as not-audio afaik

@zestoi - yeah I've had a hard time getting any tsis to work the way I have it set up with the DB4, but I also haven't had time to mess with it. But I installed mixarchitekt's tsi for the K2 and none of the controls do anything.

ah... ok. so maybe it is just using an alternate midi channel or something then. would make sense as i don't think a k2 normally uses more than one. maybe run midiox or something and see what data u are seeing.

[djproben]

data as not-audio afaik

ah... ok. so maybe it is just using an alternate midi channel or something then. would make sense as i don't think a k2 normally uses more than one. maybe run midiox or something and see what data u are seeing.

Well, first step is to get some time to actually play around with it, have had precious little of that lately and squandered way too much of it here lol. I'm probably going to try using it first as a standalone internal mixing controller as that's the main reason I bought it so I could have a more portable setup. I'll try mixarchitekt's tsi for that and I'm sure it will work fine when it's the only device plugged into usb.

Kinda disappointing if it can't do audio aggregation though not a deal-breaker by any means. It just seems that it ought to and that was my understanding before I bought it, that whatever info could be transfered over USB could also go through X-LINK and be available to any connected units. Of course audio itself wouldn't transfer but given that both units (whether 2 K2s or a K2 and DB4) have D/A converters built into them, surely it would be trivial for either unit to handle the conversion to audio? It's still just ones and zeroes as far as the controllers are concerned.

I feel like X-LINK has a lot of promise but it's still quite a ways from being realized; most of the things I imagined the K2 would make possible simply aren't, at least at this point. Hopefully A+H are working on some firmware magic for this and for their mixers that make this unit more useful.

[zestoi]

Kinda disappointing if it can't do audio aggregation though not a deal-breaker by any means.

Well, first step is to get some time to actually play around with it, have had precious little of that lately and squandered way too much of it here lol. I'm probably going to try using it first as a standalone internal mixing controller as that's the main reason I bought it so I could have a more portable setup. I'll try mixarchitekt's tsi for that and I'm sure it will work fine when it's the only device plugged into usb.

this is what i'd like to use a k2 for - tho i'm currently experimenting with external routing into ableton and doing my eq+levels there with extra effects and clips etc. shame really u can't route each slot out to it's own output but eq'ing each sample/remix deck should be good enough. i'd still want to map most of the k2 to controlling traktor directly tho - as far as browsing and transport goes. don't suppose anywhere has these in stock yet in the uk due to good being stolen etc?

Kinda disappointing if it can't do audio aggregation though not a deal-breaker by any means.

maybe it can or if not maybe it could in the future...

[mix architekt]

xlink will only tx/rx midi information, not audio. don't let the rj45 fool you into thinking that it has gigabit ethernet bandwidth capabilities, because it does not.

when linking multiple K2's together via xlink, the data from all the controllers will be seen by any of the computers connected to them via usb. this could be through a db-series mixer using xlink, the usb ports on the K2's them selves, etc. for instance - 2 K2's linked by xlink with the cpu connected to one of the K2's will see midi from both K2's, on the individual midi channels each K2 is set to, but only recognizes one K2 as the midi in port. my 2x K2 tsi is an example of this. it will work through the DB4 in the same way - 3 channels of midi information will be seen by a single input device (db4 via usb) in your computer.

it also means that you can have multiple computers on a K2 xlink network. for instance - 2 K2's + 1 DB4 can have a total of 3 computers connected, all rx the midi from the k2's, and can tx to them as well.

midi clock does not hold up very well for sync in that scenario - too many conversions from point to point. the variance can be around 100bpm - speaking from experience of running 5 computers on 4 K2's and 1 DB4. this is a problem you'll find with midi clock in general. external sync solutions are recommended for this - inner clock systems from oz is worth a look.

K2's operate on a single midi channel, not multiples. latching layers shifts the midi note/cc's, and does not change the midi channel itself. but all of that is covered in the manual, which is on line at the xone site.

also there is a firmware update which helps with initialization issues, so please update your units if you have not already. :-)

[Robert Knight]

For those that are interested...I have a basic mapping in place for the K2. Everything is divided along vertical strips...one for each Deck C,A,B,D order.

Top encoders are for gain..push for channel monitor. Rotary pots and their buttons for EQs and EQ Kills, Line faders are self explanatory.

I have only the bottom set of buttons set to use layers
Layer 1: turn on FX units 1-4 for each deck
Layer 2: Play, Cue, Sync, load selected track to deck
Layer 3: Hotcues 1-4 for each deck

bottom encoders: left encoder scrolls through track list, push button loads and plays track in preview player, right encoder seeks through track playing in the preview player

Button on bottom right is SHIFT


Here is the mapping for anyone that is interested. It may not be perfect as I have not had too much time to play with it yet.
Attachment 8798

]I got my k2 yesterday and trying out your basic mapping, and it works fine. But I can't shift between layers, it's stuck on the effect layer. Using shift & ? Or layer & ? Nothing seems to work

Thanks!

[DirtyNerd]

]I got my k2 yesterday and trying out your basic mapping, and it works fine. But I can't shift between layers, it's stuck on the effect layer. Using shift & ? Or layer & ? Nothing seems to work

Thanks!

Thanks, hope you find it useful. as far as switching layers, you need to enable the latching layers on the controller itself. Check the manual as I don't recall the exact sequence...but roughly... you need to enter setup mode by pressing the setup encoder/button as you plug in the usb cable....check with the manual after that. my mapping only uses layers for the bottom switch matrix FYI.

[GregAHXone]

Surely that's all digital sound is? I was actually surprised to see the sound card didn't aggregate but I just assumed I needed to read the manual.

@zestoi - yeah I've had a hard time getting any tsis to work the way I have it set up with the DB4, but I also haven't had time to mess with it. But I installed mixarchitekt's tsi for the K2 and none of the controls do anything.

You can aggregate

mac_aggregate_device.jpg