Greetings and goals | Audeonic Soapbox

activeeq
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Greetings and goals May 6, 2015 0:03:13 GMT

Post by activeeq on May 6, 2015 0:03:13 GMT

Wanted to say hello to everyone and extend my thanks to Audeonic for the work and this forum.

As as I am quite late to the party, I'm stilling looking, evaluating and refining my goal as a guitarist to have midi foot control over dsp and loopy hd. Specifically, a rocktron midimate v2 ~> alesis iodock v1~> jamup pro xt ~> loopy hd, with the ability to engage scenes and individual pedal / continuos controller( expression pedal ) in jam up pro AND transport / arm / and advance location in loopy hd from the rocktron.

First issue has been trying to figure how the rocktron was intended to be used. It apparently can send multiple messages simultaneously over multiple channels, but don't quote me, still getting acquainted with it. So, with any luck midibridge will assist in solving my routing problems and I can put off building an arduino controller for a little while. Which is a good thing as I would rather make music than learn code on most days.

nic
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Greetings and goals May 6, 2015 8:52:40 GMT

Post by nic on May 6, 2015 8:52:40 GMT

Hi activeeq,

I just downloaded the Rocktron v2 manual and it seems that it sends either MIDI program change messages or MIDI CC messages depending upon the device's mode or button being pressed. Presume the expression pedal sends MIDI CC as well. This is all good. Some pedals send sysex messages only so are next to useless.

My advice is to examine the MIDI messages that the rocktron spits out using a MIDI Monitor. There are free ones available (midi wrench, midi monitor) but my (non free) app MidiVision which has the advantage of showing the messages in the format used by the Stream Byter. You will need the Stream Byter to map what the rocktron sends to transport messages and the like.

Once you document your input events from the rocktron, then you need to determine what to map those events to and then you can write rules to do that and insert your manipulations in the event stream between the rocktron and the destination apps. Be careful with JamUp - it has odd behaviour where it insists on reacting to all MIDI ports in the system (I *think* on channel 1 only), so you may need to change the MIDI channel of the rocktron to a different channel and remap the channel back to 1 in MidiBridge.

All of it doable but will take some effort upfront to set things up. Some other resources that will be of help:

Somascape MIDI Spec Reference

Understanding MidiBridge

Stream Byter Guide

Finally, help is always available here, so any questions/problems, just post away.

Regards, Nic.

activeeq
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Greetings and goals May 6, 2015 15:07:48 GMT via mobile

Post by activeeq on May 6, 2015 15:07:48 GMT

A thousand thanks! Your prompt response and suggestions will be of great value. I am also happy that my somewhat partially informed enthusiasm was well founded. I may even use this as an opportunity to make my first video demonstration.

I am guessing positive grid (jam up) has put more emphasis on scenes than a more analog approach. I can't see having to create separate scenes to toggle ine pedal in an otherwise identical chain.

I have to admit to still being perplexed as to why more dj's and keyboardist aren't hungry for more CC as virtual guitarist. Perhaps I'm not looking in the right places? Fortunately you and the rest of the forum members are here.