Sequencer editing over MIDI

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dag
Posts: 26
Joined: Thu Jul 21, 2016 8:59 am

Sequencer editing over MIDI

Postby dag » Tue Aug 16, 2016 4:58 pm

So one reason I bought an Arturia BeatStep is it has a step sequencer built in and I was curious what that would mean for something like G-Stomper. I think in my mind I was picturing using its step sequencer to edit sequences in G-Stomper, but, that's not how it works. It can be used to live play in G-Stomper, and you can live record a sequence to G-Stomper, which works but means you need to deal with latency issues, have to start over if you make a change to the sequence in the hardware sequencer, have to wait for it to play through the whole sequence etc etc. Not optimal.

So I was thinking, it could still be made to function like I had been picturing it in my mind, by using the BeatStep not in sequencer mode but in controller mode. But this will require some new mappable functions in G-Stomper. This would probably make most sense in the sampler because I'm not sure how it would be set up in the polyphonic synth.

In my particular case, the controller has 16 backlit pads and I would like to map each pad to one step in the sequencer, such that a pad is lit if that step is enabled. To do that I would need each step to be CC mappable on the sampler channel, with for example zero signifying "off" and 127 "on" (but any two values work for me). It also has 16 knobs that in sequencer mode are used to set the pitch (note) of each step. To imitate that in G-Stomper, I would need the note for each step to be CC mappable on the sampler channel.

That would work for me but I think it would generalize to most controllers with pads and knobs. It doesn't deal with bars but I'm thinking I'll set the edit-pos on-screen and that the CC mappings only affect the edit-pos bar. Good enough for me.

Another idea might be to use note on/off messages to enable steps. There are 128 possible steps in a G-Stomper pattern, and 128 possible notes in MIDI. There are problems with this idea though such as that a normal keyboard will send note off the moment you release a key, and that note messages are already used for live playing melodic samples.

All that text but all I'm really asking for is 16 CC mappings to enable/disable the 16 steps of the current edit-pos, and optionally 16 CC mappings to set the note chromatically for those same steps. Preferably with changes on screen also being sent to the controller, but this already seems to be what G-Stomper does if for example I map a pad as a toggle for LOOP. If I enable LOOP on screen, the pad automatically lights up to signify it's enabled.

Sorry for rambling. I need to sleep.
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planet-h
Posts: 1545
Joined: Wed Jun 19, 2013 4:46 pm

Re: Sequencer editing over MIDI

Postby planet-h » Wed Aug 17, 2016 7:19 am

I had that in mind too, during the initial MIDI integration. It was planned as something like a "control channel".
But at the end the idea was dropped due to various technical issues and also because there was almost no interest by users for it (in reality, max 0.01% of all GSS users would use it).

As you know from my other answers, I wouldn't go for a 1/10 solution just to integrate the 16 steps.
If I'd go for such a solution, then for a complete one. The problem is, that almost every screen has far more than 127 controls. So the only way to hook them up would be NRPN, since that would rise the number of controllers to 127*127. Many modern MIDI controllers do not even support NRPN, and even if they would, NRPN produces 3 times as much MIDI traffic than regular CC.
dag
Posts: 26
Joined: Thu Jul 21, 2016 8:59 am

Re: Sequencer editing over MIDI

Postby dag » Thu Aug 18, 2016 7:22 am

OK :) I'll see if I can come up with a more general solution to propose, though I understand that lack of user interest will mean it won't be a priority to implement.
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planet-h
Posts: 1545
Joined: Wed Jun 19, 2013 4:46 pm

Re: Sequencer editing over MIDI

Postby planet-h » Thu Aug 18, 2016 3:20 pm

dag wrote:OK :) I'll see if I can come up with a more general solution to propose, though I understand that lack of user interest will mean it won't be a priority to implement.


It is on the tasklist, actually since a while. So it surely won't be forgotten;)

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