Different MIDI hardware controlling different sw instruments

Hi people,

 

I have been scratching my head with this for a long time. I have not yet managed to make it work:

 

I want to control different logic SW instruments by using different gear.

I have a midi keyboard with which I want to control a piano and a Kong padKontrol midi pad with which I want to control an ultrabeat instance. So when I press my keyboard only the piano can be reproduced despite the fact that the drum channel might be selected. And the other way around for the pad controller,

 

What I have tried and does not work:

I have created transformers in the environment for the two instruments and have fixed the MIDI channel to 2 and 10 respectively for the two instruments. Then I routed the transformers to the sequencer input.

On the sequencer side I choose the MIDI channel on the two instruments to correspond to 2 and 10 respectively (they were both set to All before).

The result is disappointing, the two pieces of gear still both play whatever channel is selected on the sequencer.

 

Any ideda what I am doing wrong?

I imagine it should be easy to accomplish this so I can jam with a piano on my left hand and a drum kit on my right no matter what channel is selected in the sequencer window.

Any ideas please?

 

thanks

Follow the steps in this guide:

 

viewtopic.php?t=32201#p166480

 

J.

hi Jordi,

 

thanks for the reply.

I had followed David's guidance with no success.

Might it might be that this only applies on Logic Pro X ? I use 9.

Does the proposed solution only works when one is not actually recording?

 

thanks

I had followed David's guidance with no success.

What is the problem?

 

Might it might be that this only applies on Logic Pro X ? I use 9.

It applies to any version of Logic. That article was originally written for Logic 7 or Logic 8 (can't remember to be honest).

 

Does the proposed solution only works when one is not actually recording?

It also works when recording.

Hi David,

 

I followed the steps on the link tha Jordi provided.

 

I have a VIRUS TI darkstar synth and a Korg PadKontrol.

I know that the first transmits MIDI signals on MIDI channel 2. and the second on channel 10. I can see that on the input view in the environment when I hit keys on the devices.

 

on the sequencer, on the inspector of the individual instruments I choose channel 2 and channel 10 as the MIDI input on a piano and on a drum instrument respectively. So I would expect that whenever I press a key on my synth, piano would be heard. Whenever I touch a key on the pad then a drum sound would be heard.

However they both seem to be controlling the instrument that is currently selected as active on the sequencer window.

If I have a third instrument chosen as active in the sequencer for example, both my controllers would control that instrument and not the ones I mentioned before. What could be wrong?

I checked the settings and the "auto demix" option is checked.

 

Any ideas what I could be missing?

 

thanks

Do you have both tracks record-enabled? (step 4 in the guide)

I've experienced a similar issue as well and I too followed every step along the way. For me the issue seems to be when using a Roland TD-4 drum controller (midi channel 1 set up both on the drum brain and in the appropriate track in LPX) to trigger a drum plugin and playing a synth with the midi controller (set to channel 5 on the synth and in the appropriate track in LPX). I also use the MIDI Monitor app to verify that the incoming sounds come in on the right channel. Logic Pro X seems to get the two confused unless I have the drum track selected and only then does it work, but it is a so-so workaround. Any suggestions or ideas on the subject is truly appreciated.

I started a new project and added 3 soft instruments. It worked when I had all the *R*s activated in all channels.

 

I will try to my other projects and confirm.

 

Thanks for the help guys

I started a new project and added 3 soft instruments. It worked when I had all the *R*s activated in all channels.

Glad to hear!

Hi guys,

 

I bring this topic back because I feel that even though the trick works it seems to do only half of the job I wanted it to do.

 

It seems that I am only able to control the different instruments with my gear, only when I don't choose a sequencer instrument that doesn't have its "R" activated.

When I do so, the "R"s on the other channels that are being controlled turn off and I loose control of them.

 

What I want to succeed is having my midi pad always controlling my ultrabeat channel. And my midi keyboard to control the rest of the instruments. Is there a way to accomplish this?

Hi guys,

It seems that I am only able to control the different instruments with my gear, only when I don't choose a sequencer instrument that doesn't have its "R" activated.

When I do so, the "R"s on the other channels that are being controlled turn off and I loose control of them.

Yes, i am experiencing this too.. I am sending different sequences (from my MPC) to different VI's. (using logic as a sound module).

I know what you mean, its quite annoying having to always ARM them when they get disabled. I have been trying my best to just constantly keep an Audio Track selected, but its not easy sometimes you cant always do that.

 

Smoke

Hi guys,

It seems that I am only able to control the different instruments with my gear, only when I don't choose a sequencer instrument that doesn't have its "R" activated.

When I do so, the "R"s on the other channels that are being controlled turn off and I loose control of them.

Yes, i am experiencing this too.. I am sending different sequences (from my MPC) to different VI's. (using logic as a sound module).

I know what you mean, its quite annoying having to always ARM them when they get disabled. I have been trying my best to just constantly keep an Audio Track selected, but its not easy sometimes you cant always do that.

 

Smoke

 

Since you're using Logic a a mere sound module (you don't record any MIDI in it) you could make direct connections in the environment and bypass this issue altogether.

 

J.

Yes, i am experiencing this too.. I am sending different sequences (from my MPC) to different VI's. (using logic as a sound module).

I know what you mean, its quite annoying having to always ARM them when they get disabled. I have been trying my best to just constantly keep an Audio Track selected, but its not easy sometimes you cant always do that.

 

Smoke

 

Since you're using Logic a a mere sound module (you don't record any MIDI in it) you could make direct connections in the environment and bypass this issue altogether.

 

J.

Hello Jordi!

Should have been more clear.. Yes i am using it as a sound module, but i am also using it to monitor ADAT signals coming into Audio Channels, PLUS, using it as mixer to mix all these sources..

After the song is written from the MPC, i plan to press record in Logic to capture/write everything into Logic (for final mixing/editing of audio/archiving etc).

So in effect i AM recording midi into it, right? (midi sequences from mpc)

Therefore this issue will still remain UN-BYPASSABLE correct?

 

Thanks

Smoke

It seems that I am only able to control the different instruments with my gear, only when I don't choose a sequencer instrument that doesn't have its "R" activated.

You shouldn't "choose" an instrument (honestly I'm not sure what that means anyway, I suppose you either mean select a track or R-enable it). You should R-enable all the instruments you want to play simultaneously, so in your case, whatever instrument is assigned to the keyboard, plus the Ultrabeat track.

 

When I do so, the "R"s on the other channels that are being controlled turn off and I loose control of them.

If you follow my guide you should simply R-arm all the channels you wish to control and then not touch anything again.

 

What I want to succeed is having my midi pad always controlling my ultrabeat channel. And my midi keyboard to control the rest of the instruments. Is there a way to accomplish this?

Yes, the method discussed here should achieve that, only you'll always have to have whatever instrument you want assigned to the keyboard PLUS the Ultrabeat track record-enabled at the same time. So always make sure you have two tracks R-enabled at the same time.

If the issue is that you don't want to have to keep R-enabling the tracks again when you wish to play a different instrument with the keyboard (keeping the pads assigned to Ultrabeat) then you could consider an Environment solution but it has its downsides.

Hello Jordi!

Should have been more clear.. Yes i am using it as a sound module, but i am also using it to monitor ADAT signals coming into Audio Channels, PLUS, using it as mixer to mix all these sources..

After the song is written from the MPC, i plan to press record in Logic to capture/write everything into Logic (for final mixing/editing of audio/archiving etc).

 

I was talking about MIDI, as that's the subject being discussed here. Doing the connections I mentioned won't prevent you from recording audio at all.

 

So in effect i AM recording midi into it, right? (midi sequences from mpc)

Therefore this issue will still remain UN-BYPASSABLE correct?

 

Nope, what you described above is audio recording, not MIDI.

 

J.

I was talking about MIDI, as that's the subject being discussed here. Doing the connections I mentioned won't prevent you from recording audio at all.

Nope, what you described above is audio recording, not MIDI.

Wow! Your really starting to make me excited now Jordi..

PLEASE educate me further my friend..

Exactly how would i go about making "direct connections in the environment" to bypass this problem altogether

 

Thankyou

Smoke

Hi

It seems that I am only able to control the different instruments with my gear, only when I don't choose a sequencer instrument that doesn't have its "R" activated.

You shouldn't "choose" an instrument (honestly I'm not sure what that means anyway, I suppose you either mean select a track or R-enable it). You should R-enable all the instruments you want to play simultaneously, so in your case, whatever instrument is assigned to the keyboard, plus the Ultrabeat track.

 

When I do so, the "R"s on the other channels that are being controlled turn off and I loose control of them.

If you follow my guide you should simply R-arm all the channels you wish to control and then not touch anything again.

 

What I want to succeed is having my midi pad always controlling my ultrabeat channel. And my midi keyboard to control the rest of the instruments. Is there a way to accomplish this?

Yes, the method discussed here should achieve that, only you'll always have to have whatever instrument you want assigned to the keyboard PLUS the Ultrabeat track record-enabled at the same time. So always make sure you have two tracks R-enabled at the same time.

If the issue is that you don't want to have to keep R-enabling the tracks again when you wish to play a different instrument with the keyboard (keeping the pads assigned to Ultrabeat) then you could consider an Environment solution but it has its downsides.

 

Hi David, thanks again for the input. Please forgive my english, I am not a native speaker, so I might be getting a bit confusing at times.

 

I mean exactly what you are describing on your first point.

And my problem relies exactly on your second point. That I shouldn't touch anything once I have my tracks armed. As as soon as I meet one track that is not armed would "unarm" all the armed tracks and I would have to go all over it again.

I tried arming all the tracks in a project and that seemed to be doing it. The problem with the latter however is that there might be audio tracks these projects. Arming those would introduce noise from the inputs. And if I have many audio tracks all this noise accumulates.

 

Jordi suggests dealing with it in the environment.

But I am not sure how I can succeed that there.

 

Thanks and sorry for the confusion.

Jordi suggests dealing with it in the environment.

But I am not sure how I can succeed that there.

 

Doing direct connections in the environment is only a viable solution if you don't plan to record any MIDI on your instrument tracks....which is Smoke's case.

 

J

Exactly how would i go about making "direct connections in the environment" to bypass this problem altogether

 

Like this:

 

 

I'm Option-clicking the little output triangle on the monitor object labeled "To inst. 4" to bring up that pop-up menu you see in the image. This allows you to make connections from one layer to another. You don't necessarily need to put monitor objects after the Channel Splitter, That's just to make things clearer.

 

J.

Exactly how would i go about making "direct connections in the environment" to bypass this problem altogether

 

Like this:

 

[attachment=0]Screen Shot 2014-04-24 at 11.32.16.png[/attachment]

 

I'm Option-clicking the little output triangle on the monitor object labeled "To inst. 4" to bring up that pop-up menu you see in the image. This allows you to make connections from one layer to another. You don't necessarily need to put monitor objects after thTonel Splitter, That's just to make things clearer.

 

J.

Thanks a lot Jordi I am at work now, I will check it out tomorow .

Thankyou

Hi Jordi, it works! thanks so much!

One question only, why do you say:

"Doing direct connections in the environment is only a viable solution if you don't plan to record any MIDI on your instrument tracks...."

 

what would the problem be with this setup if we try to record MIDI on the instrument tracks?

what would the problem be with this setup if we try to record MIDI on the instrument tracks?

 

The problem would be you wouldn't be able to record the incoming MIDI because the data needs to go through the sequencer input object to be recorded on tracks.

 

J.

ok, Jordi. Makes sense.

Thanks again.

Hello again Jordi!

I am so sorry for reporting back so late, a few things came up which put things on hold..

 

I tried doing what you said in the Environment, and you are right. It works beautifully that way. Thanks so much for this tip.

I am experiencing a problem however:

 

I have just bought myself a Korg Mini Controller USB Keyboard (Microkey 37) to use close to my screen.

The problem is this --> If for example i have a few VI's on different tracks, if i play the keyboard it will only trigger the VI which is on the FIRST track (assigned to Midi channel 1) not the VI track which i have selected.

 

Can you think of any workaround in the Environment for this problem?

Is this happening because each VI has a different midi channel? Im not really 100% sure myself.

 

Smoke

I have just bought myself a Korg Mini Controller USB Keyboard (Microkey 37) to use close to my screen.

The problem is this --> If for example i have a few VI's on different tracks, if i play the keyboard it will only trigger the VI which is on the FIRST track (assigned to Midi channel 1) not the VI track which i have selected.

 

Can you think of any workaround in the Environment for this problem?

Is this happening because each VI has a different midi channel? Im not really 100% sure myself.

 

Please create a new thread for your new issue. Thanks.

 

Forum Rules - please READ THIS before posting (#4)

 

J.

Please create a new thread for your new issue. Thanks.

 

Forum Rules - please READ THIS before posting (#4)

 

J.

Done. Sorry about that.

Heres the new thread:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=106903

 

Thanks

Smoke