Midi Channel Octave Offset Field

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John Stratford
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Midi Channel Octave Offset Field

Postby John Stratford » Thu Mar 02, 2017 12:43 pm

I am using G-Stomper connected with 2 analogue synths. One is an Arturia Microbrute (receiving Midi on Channel 1) & the other a Dreadbox Hades (receiving on Channel 7).

The Brute quite happily responds to all notes sent and therefore makes a sound from C0 to E8. However the Hades only makes a sound from C2 to C7. Any notes lower than C2 or higher than C7 are just ignored.

According to the Hades documentation it only allows midi pitch tracking from C0 to C5 (I believe all the other Dreadbox synths do this as well). So when I'm sending a C2 it is being read as C0 and C7 is read as C5.

What I would like is a new field, an octave offset. This could be set when applying a midi channel to a track. By default this value would be 0. But, for example with the Hades, when I select Channel 7 for a track I would amend the offset value to be -2. Then when I use the Va-Beast module it would allow me to actual send a range of C0 to C5.
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planet-h
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Re: Midi Channel Octave Offset Field

Postby planet-h » Thu Mar 02, 2017 6:14 pm

Welcome to the forum, John.
Great to hear that you're using with hardware synths;)

John Stratford wrote:I am using G-Stomper connected with 2 analogue synths. One is an Arturia Microbrute (receiving Midi on Channel 1) & the other a Dreadbox Hades (receiving on Channel 7).

The Brute quite happily responds to all notes sent and therefore makes a sound from C0 to E8. However the Hades only makes a sound from C2 to C7. Any notes lower than C2 or higher than C7 are just ignored.

According to the Hades documentation it only allows midi pitch tracking from C0 to C5 (I believe all the other Dreadbox synths do this as well). So when I'm sending a C2 it is being read as C0 and C7 is read as C5.

What I would like is a new field, an octave offset. This could be set when applying a midi channel to a track. By default this value would be 0. But, for example with the Hades, when I select Channel 7 for a track I would amend the offset value to be -2. Then when I use the Va-Beast module it would allow me to actual send a range of C0 to C5.


What you're looking for is an octave shifter, which is already part of the VA-Beast Synth in G-Stomper Studio.
http://www.planet-h.com/gstomper/docs/G-Stomper_UserManual_VaBeastSynthesizer.htm#_Toc474916092
I just did a quick test, as I wasn't sure if the octave shift does actually affect the outgoing MIDI notes. And the answer is: YES it does.

And as you have it per track (VT...) or you can also say per synth instance, you automatically have it per channel as well, as you can map a channel for each track.
All you have to do is to map your Microbrute to channel 1 on VT01, then map your Dreadbox to channel 7 on VT02 (and be sure to clear that selected track mapping to all channels).
Once you did that, show up the VA-Beast main view and change the octave shift in the direction you want it.
If your setup is complete and working, save the pattern as your personal preset containing your octave shift setup (and whatever else you want to configure).

Hope that covers your needs.
John Stratford
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Mar 02, 2017 12:38 pm

Re: Midi Channel Octave Offset Field

Postby John Stratford » Mon Mar 13, 2017 3:42 pm

Hi

Sorry I tried exactly what you said and I can see no difference. I had my HADES preset saved and loaded it into VT02. Yes it still had the -2 octave setting. It still only allows me to send C2 to C7 rather than C0 to C5. I had Channel 7 also mapped to VT03 with no offset. To test I still sent C2's, C4's, & C7 notes in turn to both VT02 & VT03. I noticed no difference. I tried this a few times and could not see what I've missed. Any ideas?

Thanks
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planet-h
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Re: Midi Channel Octave Offset Field

Postby planet-h » Mon Mar 13, 2017 4:24 pm

Hi John
John Stratford wrote:Sorry I tried exactly what you said and I can see no difference. I had my HADES preset saved and loaded it into VT02. Yes it still had the -2 octave setting. It still only allows me to send C2 to C7 rather than C0 to C5. I had Channel 7 also mapped to VT03 with no offset. To test I still sent C2's, C4's, & C7 notes in turn to both VT02 & VT03. I noticed no difference. I tried this a few times and could not see what I've missed. Any ideas?


You're right, my fault. I'm very sorry for the misinformation.
I had a Nord synth attached for the tests, and the octave shift of the G-Stomper VA-Beast was mapped to CC#17, which is the octave shift CC of the Nord synth.
In other words, in the moment I've shifted the octave of the VA-Beast, the Nord had shifted it as well. That's why I thought it also shifts the outgoing notes, which is obviously not the case.

Referring to your initial post, you said that your Hades only make a sound from C2 to C7.
If I now would shift the outgoing midi notes by 2 octave upwards, then you'd only hear a sound from C0 to C5 (on the on screen kb), if you'd shift the outgoing notes 2 octaves down, you'd only hear a sound from C4 to C9 (actually E8, as there is no C9 on the on screen kb).

What I don't understand is why it is so important to shift the notes?
Don't get me wrong, I don't say it's not important, I just don't understand why.

G-Stomper generally sends MIDI notes from 12 (C0) up to 111 (E8).
That means there exists one octave below (C-1 .. C0) that range and a bit more than one octave above (F#8 - G9) that range, which cannot be played.
But as you say, the hades plays octave C0 to C5, which it is actually MIDI note 12 to 72, but it plays only a sound from C2 to C7, which is MIDI note 36 to 96, i'd rather say the documentation of the Hades might be misleading in some way.

So simply said, when you press C2 (MIDI note 36) on the on screen keyboard, what MIDI note number do you want to be sent to the Hades?
John Stratford
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Joined: Thu Mar 02, 2017 12:38 pm

Re: Midi Channel Octave Offset Field

Postby John Stratford » Tue Mar 14, 2017 5:54 pm

Hi

when you press C2 (MIDI note 36) on the on screen keyboard, what MIDI note number do you want to be sent to the Hades?

12 so it is really C0.

Also I did a little experiment. Rather than sending the midi directly to the Hades I sent midi to the Microbrute which was attached to the Hades using voltage control via CV Gate & Pitch. Now I seem to have a greater range of notes that the Hades responds to. So this gets round the issue but obviously it takes my brute being played as a separate instrument.
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planet-h
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Re: Midi Channel Octave Offset Field

Postby planet-h » Tue Mar 14, 2017 6:39 pm

John Stratford wrote:Hi

when you press C2 (MIDI note 36) on the on screen keyboard, what MIDI note number do you want to be sent to the Hades?

12 so it is really C0.

Also I did a little experiment. Rather than sending the midi directly to the Hades I sent midi to the Microbrute which was attached to the Hades using voltage control via CV Gate & Pitch. Now I seem to have a greater range of notes that the Hades responds to. So this gets round the issue but obviously it takes my brute being played as a separate instrument.


OK, understand.
So if you want note number 12 to be sent, why don't you just press C0 on the on screen keyboard? (as this will actually fire a MIDI NoteOn/Off event with note number 12).
If you don't hear a sound by pressing C0 (12) on the on screen keyboard, then transposing the outgoing C2 (36) to C0 (12) won't make a difference (you still won't hear a sound).
Isn't it possible that the hades simply does only accept MIDI notes from 36 to 96?

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