Diva is a powerful synth designed by U-He, whose filters and envelopes closely model components found in some great monophonic and polyphonic vintage analogue synthesizers.

 

While Diva supports polyphonic pitch bend (Glide) and aftertouch (Press), modulation is assigned either globally – i.e. across all notes – or on a single MIDI channel at a time, which can affect your workflow due to how BLOCKS send MIDI.

 

Depending on your workflow, you can either:

  1. use the Blocks' expressive polyphony to access Glide and Press; or
  2. use the Blocks on a single MIDI channel and assign modulation more easily. You will still be able to apply pitch bend and aftertouch on the Blocks, but the expression will be monophonic (e.g., a change to the Glide or Press value of one note in a chord will affect all the other notes, too).

We'll be addressing both workflows below.


ROLI Dashboard Settings

First, connect your Block(s) and launch ROLI Dashboard. If you're using a Lightpad Block, load the "Note Grid" app. To use the Blocks' expressive polyphony with Diva, ensure that the MIDI Settings in ROLI Dashboard are set as shown below:

We have selected:

  • Use MPE: Off

  • A Channel Range of 1 – 16

  • Pitch Bend Range: 48

To use the Seaboard as a regular MIDI controller, set ROLI Dashboard as shown below:

Here we have selected:

  • Use MPE: Off

  • MIDI Start Channel: 1

  • MIDI End Channel: 1

  • Pitch Bend Range: 48

Setting Glide

Go to the 'TUNING' panel on the lower center and left section of Diva's GUI – you'll find the pitch bend range setting for 'Up' and 'Down', as shown below:

diva-gui-tuning-%e2%9e%9d-pitch-bend-range-updown

Click on each box to set the pitch bend range to 48 semitones.

 

Then, right-click (Win) / Ctrl-click (Mac) on each box to enable the 'Lock' option. Select 'Lock' to keep this pitch bend range for all of Diva's presets.

After locking, Diva's pitch settings should look like this:

tuning-pitch-bend-range-locked

Assigning Modulation

The most convenient way to assign modulation in Diva is by using the MIDI Learn function – see graphic below:

  1. Go to Settings on the upper right corner of Diva's GUI

  2. Select 'MIDI Learn' – Diva's GUI will create a wire frame around each of its synth parameters

  3. Click on the parameter you wish to modulate, e.g. Filter Cutoff – the wire-frame will highlight

  4. Use the controller you wish to be your modulation source, e.g. press the keywaves to assign Slide (MIDI CC74)*

  5. You can check your assigned modulation by selecting MIDI Table from Diva's settings


diva-assigning-modulation

 

*Pressing the Keywaves with 'MIDI Learn' enabled in Diva will only register Slide (MIDI CC74), not aftertouch (Press), even if Slide is switched off.

 

Lock Modulation

If you're happy with your modulation assignment, e.g. Filter Cutoff to Slide as in the example above, you can lock it to retain control while changing presets in Diva – just right-click (Win) / Ctrl-click (Mac) on the parameter knob and 'Lock' will appear as a single option. Select it and enjoy!