MPE and MIDI

Firmware 0.3.0 adds expanded MPE and MIDI behavior. When OPTIONS DIP switch 1 is set to MPE, the MIDI input DIP switches change behavior as described below.

Firmware updates

Always use katla-update.genki.is to update Katla. The updater always has the newest available firmware.

OPTIONS DIP switches

OPTIONS DIP switch 1

Setting	Mode	Description
0	Standard MIDI	Katla processes input on a single MIDI channel, as before.
1	MPE	Each voice has its own dedicated MIDI channel, plus a global master channel.

OPTIONS DIP switch 2

Setting	Mode	Description
0	MIDI MPE Output	Katla sends each voice on its own dedicated MIDI channel, plus a global master channel.
1	MIDI Thru	Katla passes incoming MIDI messages directly to MIDI output without modification.

MIDI input DIP switches in MPE mode

MIDI input DIP switch 1 — MPE zone

Setting	Zone	Channel routing
0	Low Zone	Global → Ch. 1, Voice 1 → Ch. 2, Voice 2 → Ch. 3, Voice 3 → Ch. 4, Voice 4 → Ch. 5, Voice 5 → Ch. 6
1	High Zone	Global → Ch. 16, Voice 1 → Ch. 15, Voice 2 → Ch. 14, Voice 3 → Ch. 13, Voice 4 → Ch. 12, Voice 5 → Ch. 11

MIDI input DIP switch 2 — bend range

Setting	Bend range	Description
0	48 semitones	MPE standard bend range.
1	94 semitones	Larger bend range used by some controllers, such as the Haken Continuum.

MIDI input DIP switch 3 — VCA control

Setting	VCA control	Description
0	Velocity to VCA	Velocity controls the VCA. Pressure to VCA is disabled.
1	Pressure to VCA	Pressure controls the VCA. Velocity to VCA is disabled.

MIDI input DIP switch 4 — MPE handling

Setting	Mode	Description
0	Standard MPE	Katla handles all MIDI channels except the master channel and still uses internal modes such as Round Robin and Unison.
1	Multi Mono	Each voice is on its own separate channel: 2–6 in Low Zone, 15–11 in High Zone.

Note: Routing CC messages through an MPE controller to Katla only makes sense in Multi Mono mode. More flexible MPE message routing via Katla Central is planned for the next firmware release.

MIDI output DIP switches in MPE mode

MIDI output DIP switch 1 — MPE zone

Setting	Zone	Channel routing
0	Low Zone	Global → Ch. 1, Voice 1 → Ch. 2, Voice 2 → Ch. 3, Voice 3 → Ch. 4, Voice 4 → Ch. 5, Voice 5 → Ch. 6
1	High Zone	Global → Ch. 16, Voice 1 → Ch. 15, Voice 2 → Ch. 14, Voice 3 → Ch. 13, Voice 4 → Ch. 12, Voice 5 → Ch. 11

MIDI output DIP switch 2 — bend range

Setting	Bend range
0	48 semitones
1	96 semitones

MIDI output DIP switch 3 — Genki Link MIDI output

Setting	Description
0	GENKI LINK MIDI OUT disabled. No MIDI output messages are transmitted through Genki Link, to prevent MIDI loops.
1	GENKI LINK MIDI OUT enabled. MIDI output messages are transmitted through Genki Link.

MIDI output DIP switch 4 — keyboard MIDI output

Setting	Description
0	Keyboard MIDI OUT disabled. No MIDI output messages are transmitted through the Keyboard output, to prevent MIDI loops.
1	Keyboard MIDI OUT enabled. MIDI output messages are transmitted through the Genki Link output.

Other MIDI changes

• Modulation Wheel on the global channel is now forwarded to MIDI output.
• Katla now supports program changes.

Program changes

Bank	Program change behavior
Bank 1	Full presets
Bank 2	Top row presets
Bank 3	Middle row presets
Bank 4	Bottom row presets
Bank 5	Program 1 = PNL ON, programs 2–128 = PNL OFF

MPE+ details

Katla is implementing MPE+ for Haken controller users. MPE+ is backwards compatible with MPE. The MPE+ extension defines three new NRPN messages and one new CC. For the complete specification, see the Haken MPE+ documentation.