Orchid is a powerful MIDI controller because it outputs its performance, bass, chord and drum data on four separate, simultaneous MIDI channels. This allows for incredible flexibility in your DAW, allowing you to edit tracks independently or assign them to different virtual instruments.
- Default MIDI Channels:
- Channel 1: Performance (The final notes you hear, including arps and strums)
- Channel 2: Bass (The dedicated bass synth notes)
- Channel 3: Chord (The underlying block chord, regardless of performance mode)
- Channel 4: Drums (The pre-programmed Beats and the drums played on the chord buttons in Drum Mode)
- DAW Setup:
- Create four separate MIDI tracks in your DAW.
- Set the MIDI input of the first track to receive from Orchid, Channel 1.
- Set the MIDI input of the second track to Orchid, Channel 2.
- Set the MIDI input of the third track to Orchid, Channel 3.
- Set the MIDI input of the fourth track to Orchid, Channel 4.
- Arm all four tracks to record.
- No sound on your Chord channel? Orchid has a treble, bass and drum engine. When recording all four tracks, Orchid and Pistil only output audible treble notes on channel 1, bass notes on channel 2 and drums on channel 4. If you'd like the block chords of your third track to also sound in your DAW, you can do this by changing the MIDI output of your Chord track to be the same as your Performance track.
Note: If not using any performance settings on Orchid, chords will appear and sound in your Performance channel by default.