Remapping MIDI CC4, Poly Pressure, Alesis Nitro kit, Superior Drummer 3

[fehling89]

Hi all, I’m on OS X 10.11 El Capitan, Logic Pro 10.2

 

1) I’m using my Alesis Nitro electronic drumkit in conjunction with Superior Drummer 3. Superior Drummer 3 and Logic Pro X use CC4 = Foot Control. The Alesis Nitro kit unfortunately has no way to configure its internal CC Foot Control.

 

2) But I found out that the Alesis Nitro kit pedal sends a signal to ‘Poly Pressure’ in Logic.

 

3) So in Logic’s Environment window (and many thanks to this thread so far! viewtopic.php?t=64352), I set up a Transformer that successfully routes Poly Pressure —> CC4. So now when I record my kit, the data is effectively getting sent to CC4 Foot Control.

 

4) The problem is that the data is only getting sent as one value total, 127.

 

5) In order to leverage Superior Drummer 3’s amazing hi-hat openness configuration designed around CC4, I need the incoming data to be a continuous range that is captured from 0 - 127 in real-time. Like a mod wheel.

 

Does anyone know how I can get this to work? If it’s even possible?

 

The latest things I’ve tried is creating a second Transformer (see screenshot), to try routing CC4 —> “Use Map” with a smooth 0-127. I also tried routing CC4 —> “Range” 0-127. Neither have worked.

 

Thanks for any ideas or help. Lemme know if anyone needs any additional info. - Tim

[JakobP]

Instead of modifying the environment, you could try using the Modifier midi fx on the sd3 channel strip wih this setting:

[fehling89]

The Modifier didn't work, but thanks for this idea! I tried it a few ways, the way you described (without the Environment modifications). And also I tried it in conjunction with my Environment settings. I found that "Aftertouch" is for channel pressure though. Maybe if there is something in the Modifier input dropdown that is for 'Poly Pressure' ? But I haven't been able to find it yet. I tried the 'Learn' input option, but that didn't work either.

[fuzzfilth]

The first question is "Does the Alesis transmit only 0 and 127 or also all values in between ?"

[fehling89]

Great question, and when I contacted Alesis tech support on the phone, I stumped them with that question too, trying to determine what default value their Foot Control is. They weren't sure, so I asked if they could check with their engineers who designed the Nitro.

 

I ended up figuring out the Poly Pressure thing myself, which is what the Nitro is sending to my computer for the foot pedal. And I found this article from Logic itself (https://support.apple.com/kb/PH13116?viewlocale=en_EG&locale=en_EG), which says it displays the amount of pressure on the key (0 to 127) so that's kind of hopeful I guess.

[fuzzfilth]

Well, the definition of Poly Pressure is well known for 35+ years. However, the question is what the Alesis is actually sending. If it only sends 0 and 127, then there's not much point in modifying that as you can't create data out of thin air. Go into the MIDI Environment, on the Click&Ports Layer. There's an InputView Monitor which answers the question.

[fehling89]

Good call, thanks. I've attached a pic. The foot pedal is generating mostly 0's and 127's but occasionally other numbers, such as 77, 87, 101.

[fuzzfilth]

Aha. I have to admit this is pretty much the weirdest implementation of hihat-zones that I've seen so far. Let me translate:

 

When you push down the hihat pedal, you get four Poly Pressure (PP) events in a row, each with a value of 127 (which does not tell anything other than "I do exist") and with a Note Number that corresponds to the position.

A#1 = Open Hihat

B-1 = Half-Open Hihat

F#1 = Closed Hihat

A-1 = Foot Splash

 

When you push further down, you get an actual MIDI Note G#1 = Foot Chick.

 

To convert that four position values to something remotely meaningful to SD3, do the following:

- Create one Transformer and patch it between PhysicalIn and SequencerIn

 

- Then we need to set the Transformer's Mode. It should affect certain events and let everything else pass unchanged

 

- Then we set the Conditions on which events are selected for processing: we want to affect Poly Pressure events on MIDI Channel 10

 

- Then we convert just these events to CC4 and route what was PPs Data Byte1 (Note Numbers) to CC4 Data Byte 2 (value). Note the blue lines.

 

- Now we get

 

CC4 val46

CC4 val23

CC4 val42

CC4 val21

 

when pushing down the pedal, before the actual chick note sounds. To sort this, we Use a Map at the end of the conversion which maps 46, 23, 42 and 21 to something more sensible, like 100, 75, 50 and 25. Like this:

 

- Now we get

 

CC4 100

CC4 75

CC4 50

CC4 25

 

as we push down the pedal. Look into SD3 what the actual values are to get the different open/closed zones, and adjust our arbitrary 25, 50, 75 and 100 numbers in the Map to that.

[fehling89]

This is great, thank you so much for the detailed info and screenshots. I gave it a whirl and changes have occurred. But now instead of value 127, it gets captured in Foot Control as only value 21. Screenshot attached. I tried also the 'Use Map' idea too but it also came through as value 21. I'll keep at it

[fuzzfilth]

Show one Monitor in front and one after the Transfomer to see exactly what gets in and what comes out.