Playlist MIDI Control

[druzic]

I have been trying to setup my MIDI controller to sequentially change scenes with one or two buttons (like the next/previous entry buttons) but can't seem to make it work. If I select an entry and map it to a button , it only recognizes the button as a note velocity trigger and only switches from 0 to 1. If I try and map to a slider, it flys all over the place with no real control.

I'm sure there must be a trick to this seemingly basic functionality. Mapping to features and modifiers within modules works fine. What am I missing?

[Magic]

Good question. We don't actually have MIDI control implemented for the Next/Prev buttons yet, but we are working on it now and it should be available in version 1.54. There are keyboard shortcuts for those buttons though: Ctrl+[ and Ctrl+] on Windows, or Cmd+[ and Cmd+] on OS X.

In the meantime, it might be helpful to know that the MIDI Learn function doesn't provide all the possible options. Some MIDI commands can't be detected automatically, so they have to be manually configured using the drop-down boxes (when Show MIDI Config is enabled). In particular, the "Last Note" option maps every playlist entry to its corresponding MIDI note (starting at 0), so if you assign your MIDI controller's buttons to send out MIDI note messages, you can select any individual playlist entry whenever you want.

Hope that helps.

[spacedoctor]

Dumb question. How do you assign your usb controller (M-Audi x-session pro in my case) to send out MIDI note messages? I'm having the same problem getting scenes to transition..

[Magic]

Hmm, I'm not sure about that controller specifically. Did it come with software to configure the button assignments?

[spacedoctor]

Good idea;there is some old discontinued software for MAudio called Enigma - I'll try that

[walmartian]

All of the buttons on your controller send notes already, as seen below.

X.PNG (60.27 KiB) Viewed 27793 times

If you are trying to control scene transitions with a knob or fader then you need to select your controller
in the playlist midi config and use controller (cc) input -not note input.
Once you select "controller" in the drop down box you can use midi learn and just move the controller you want to assign.

[Magic]

Thanks, that's helpful. Also, the MIDI Learn function should be able to detect note messages and cc messages without having to preselect anything -- you shouldn't even have to preselect the device, because it will listen for a message from any device that is currently connected.

[spacedoctor]

The problem seems to be that the CC sliders are selectable but aren't precise but the Notes i.e. the buttons aren't selectable in Midi learn. The Enigma software I managed to track down was for the original X-Session but maybe it can reassign the buttons, here's hoping

[Magic]

maybe it can reassign the buttons, here's hoping

Ok. If you can't get it to work though, the very first thing I'm adding for v1.54 is the Prev/Next MIDI control, so you should have it fairly soon.

[spacedoctor]

Cool - looking forward to that!

[druzic]

Yeeeah Buddy!

[spacedoctor]

Have just updated to 1.54b and have got the scene advance working with my X-sessions midi controller (which is pretty basic). However it advances. or regresses two scenes at a time - not sure whether this is my controller, or a bug?

I have ordered the wireless Numark orbit to test this out but it may take a while to get to New Zealand via Portland.

Also wondering whether it is possible to assign midi buttons to each scene so rather than advancing in a linear fashion you could just select any scene from a set of midi pads!

[spacedoctor]

PS the new beta is great!

[Magic]

Have just updated to 1.54b and have got the scene advance working with my X-sessions midi controller (which is pretty basic). However it advances. or regresses two scenes at a time - not sure whether this is my controller, or a bug?

Hmm, I'm not sure. I haven't come across that issue with any other devices unfortunately. Is it possible your device is sending out two messages? Perhaps it's sending one when you push a button down, and then another one when you release it?

Were you able to figure out if there is a way for you to configure the messages it sends?
-EDIT- I found this link: http://community.m-audio.com/m-audio/to ... gma-editor . I think it has the mapping software you need.

I have ordered the wireless Numark orbit to test this out but it may take a while to get to New Zealand via Portland.

The Orbit definitely works, I just tested it yesterday on both Mac and PC.

Also wondering whether it is possible to assign midi buttons to each scene so rather than advancing in a linear fashion you could just select any scene from a set of midi pads!

Yup, the easiest thing to do is go into your mapping software -- I'll use the Orbit as an example since I just did it:

orbit.jpg (114.11 KiB) Viewed 29601 times

Assign the pads to use Note numbers that will correspond with each playlist scene #. What I did is start at Note 0 and go up incrementally from there, as you can see above. They even have the "Auto Fill" button at the bottom so you can do all the pads at once, increasing by 1 automatically. Cool eh?

Then, all you have to do is select the "Last Note" option from the Playlist MIDI config, as shown below. ("Last Note" just means the last note # that was received, since you could press more than one at once).

LastNote.jpg (34.62 KiB) Viewed 29601 times

Pressing any pad on the Orbit will now cause the corresponding Playlist scene to be selected. Of course make sure you have the same Channel configured everywhere (in this case, 1).

Obviously with the Orbit you can only control 16 different scenes at once, but hopefully that's enough .

Eventually I do plan to allow each Playlist scene to be configured individually for MIDI commands, but that's a bit in the future.

[spacedoctor]

Thanks Eric - that's probably what is happening, a second note on release. But that looksgood with last note on the Orbit; rellay looking forward to that!

[walmartian]

Actually you have four programmable pad banks, so you could control 64 scenes using all four banks.
To use the auto fill on the other banks you have to tell it the first note e.g bank 2 first note: 16, bank 3 first note 32 , bank four first note 48.
I need to test a second Orbit starting with the 64 and above range to see if I can use more than one at a time.

Your midi problem may be after touch or note off , it is on some controllers and can send additional data on release of button.
If you download MIDI-OX you can see exactly what is being output on your device, you can then configure it to filter out unwanted midi messages
such as after touch and/or note off messages. I suspect note off since they are mainly transport controls.

[spacedoctor]

Thanks walmartian that 64 banks idea is perfect. I am mac OS so can't use MIDI-OX but not too worried about the X-Session as I'll have the Orbit soon!

[Anderspreus]

Actually you have four programmable pad banks, so you could control 64 scenes using all four banks.
To use the auto fill on the other banks you have to tell it the first note e.g bank 2 first note: 16, bank 3 first note 32 , bank four first note 48.
I need to test a second Orbit starting with the 64 and above range to see if I can use more than one at a time.

Your midi problem may be after touch or note off , it is on some controllers and can send additional data on release of button.
If you download MIDI-OX you can see exactly what is being output on your device, you can then configure it to filter out unwanted midi messages
such as after touch and/or note off messages. I suspect note off since they are mainly transport controls.

Hey Walmartian!!
This issue is making alot of problems for me. Could you please explain how you filter out the "note off" message when the button is released?
I have a midicontroller called Allen & Heath Xone K2 - and I use midiOX to send midi information to the controller so that the illumination is working. It would be cool if u could make the buttons "toggle" via midiox - great for Magic, but DAWs as well.

/Anders

[walmartian]

Hey Anders!
As seen in the picture below, click the filter button in midi-ox (blue arrow), then check 'note off', the 'midi channel', and make double sure you check 'filter out data as well as display' or it won't filter data.
You can save your config in midi-ox as well.
Allen & Heath products are solid, that K2 looks pretty cool, I have a ddm4000 and use two channels for audio mixing and two channels for midi control.
Just like you stated, midi-ox is great for changing a hard coded midi controller momentary switch into a toggle.
Good luck.

OX1.GIF (66.34 KiB) Viewed 29564 times

[Anderspreus]

Hi again!
Thank you for your reply! I followed your tutorial, and it worked. Only, it did not quite solve my problem unfortunatly >.<
I managed to filter out the Note Off, but it wasn't my issue at all.
I got a novation launch control too, and it has a configuration software with it, and it gives me the opportunity to switch the pads between "momentary" and "toggle" - now, the toggle function is really what i want for the K2. I want the pads to send note on when pushed, and note off when pushed again. If i filter out the note off, it just keeps sending note on when i push the buttons. Hope u understand my problem.
It seems this guy managed to write a script for the K2, to latch the LED's. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHc-2KvB8yw
I tried contacting them, but with no help. Perhaps you know how to?:)

/Anders

[walmartian]

Anders,
Unfortunately I am not a good programmer, therefore writing scripts makes smoke come out of my ears.
If you use Bomes midi translator you can convert midi to keystroke ( for software that supports midi keyboard, unfortunately magic does not have this functionality at the time).
For Ableton live there is a great Isotonik python script to customize the Xone
http://isotonikstudios.com/isotonik2-2/

The video you linked is actually an official video from Allen & Heath, they tell you in the video they are using a midi-ox script,
but they don't have any way to d/l or even guide you to re-create this "script" Kind of irresponsible on their part.
Have you tried contacting their tech support?
The ddm4000 will probably be the last controller I buy that doesn't include mapping software, for this reason^.

I would recommend a novation launchpad +motscousus launchpad95 script http://motscousus.com/stuff/2011-07_Nov ... ve_Scripts/ since you are already using a launch control.
It basically turns any launchpad into a really powerful step sequencer, and works much better than the Novation software.
You can use the midi out within ableton to route it to any other program such as Magic, giving you a cool audio/video/effect sequencer.
Don't let the name "Launchpad 95" fool you, he is updating it constantly.

Launchpad mini- $99 + Ableton Live Lite- free with Launchpad + Launchpad 95 -free + Magic -39.99 = Sweet DJ/VJ control for under $150

Sorry I couldn't help you much with the Xone,
Good luck.

[spacedoctor]

Thanks walmartian for the Orbit instructions, got the scenes setup and it's great. So easy to use - makes me want to spend all my time making animations and syncing them to music!

[Anderspreus]

Thanks walmartian!
A fine solution, i will look into it!
BTW how can i get the latest magic beta software??:O

[walmartian]

Spacedoctor-Awesome! Great to hear!

Anders- Sign up on the mailing list, and you will receive a link to the latest betas as released.
http://magicmusicvisuals.com/mailinglist