MIDI mute - options

[parityflux]

Sorry for replying to a closed forum section. I'd like to continue the discussion in this new thread:

the devices in Usine are also patches, so you can create a mute switch directly in the device..?



BTW, this forum is closed so please use the suggestions forum

Also, if you want the mute button to be available to all workspaces, add it to the made control panel (one place on your interface for all) or set up a data bus and have mute buttons on every rack that send to that data bus. I think the first option is much saner.

Or you can build a sub patch for adding the mute option on each rack. Then you can affect which racks actively receive input from the keyboard without affecting the keyboard's effect on other racks. You can also add the 'mute', 'solo', etc buttons from your keyboard as inputs and outputs on this sub-patch. Then just use this sub-patch wherever you would normally use a midi in.

Hope it helps.

I tried using your patch nay-seven and it works great, but wouldn't that affect all racks that utilize that MIDI device? I should have tried it last night, but I got too tired. Also I noted that you used a data flux module (Stop) in combination with a MIDI object and I though that was some kind of bad no-no....like crossing the streams of a Proton Pack or something ...so it hadn't occurred to me to use it in that way.

Anyway, this is the essence of what I would like to accomplish. I realize this is a simplistic use of Usine, but unless I can get the basics down, improvement will be an uphill battle and it just won't be fun anymore:

I have one MIDI keyboard controller that I want to use. It's sending on Channel 1. I have let's say 3-6 racks each containing a VSTi. I want to be able to selectively enable/disable MIDI mute at the beginning of these racks (or inside the VSTi patch). This would allow me to selectively control the flow of data to each of the racks. So, I could play notes on the keyboard and have any combination of these racks receive the data. This will allow me to build interesting layers live. I would use this technique in conjunction with MIDI hold buttons (like in my MIDI Hold - noob patch post ) so I can suspend pads and release them at will.

I had tried something similar to ceaseless's 2nd paragraph, but I had some trouble killing notes that were held after I selected mute I.e. not even toggling my hold pedal would kill them). I'd post a diagram but I'm away at the moment.

I've entertained the idea of using different channels, but I'm not sure I need to complicate it that way. Any other thoughts before I dig in again tonight would be really appreciated.

[ceasless]

Considering that you want to be able to address multiple racks in a flexible way, i'm not sure midi channels would easily give you what you want even if there were an easy option at a rack level (which is not until we have the 'number of current rack' patch). You still want to control individual rack access to a midi stream.

For the hung notes, could sending an 'all notes off'' midi message along the midi wire solve the problem? making so that when you switch on the mute it automatically triggers the note off message (or manual note of with a quick sub patch which sends a note off to all 127 notes). hopefully that will do it.

you can also hook an envelope up to the trigger and have that modulate the return to 0 velocity of the active notes, though that would require a more complex sub-patch. probably much easier to just get the timing on your 'mute' triggering to match how you want the instrument to sound, i expect.

or you can hang the last note, so that when you press mute it records all the currently active notes and then shuts off the wire for everything but the active notes and those only until they get a note off.

hope one or more of those works out.

[parityflux]

ceasless, you have a good understanding of my issue. I'm going to work with those options and will report back.

[ceasless]

did it work out for you parityflux?

i hadn't thought of it until reading it in another thread, but you can also use the midi transform module and turn the gain down when the stop button is pressed. this would be an easy way to use an envelope -- just plug it into the gain input.

[parityflux]

I'm still working on it; got side tracked with some external setup details for a streaming event I'm gearing up for.

I did opt to go with creating a mute object within the patches that contain the VSTi's. That affords me some flexibility in adapting the mute to the VST. One of my VSTi's doesn't respond to CC 123, but responds to CC 120. Another VSTi responds to CC 123, but turns off all of the notes and terminates the sound. Per spec CC 123 is supposed to put all of the currently playing notes and transition them right to their release envelopes (which is really cool if the synth/VSTi actually responded that way!). Another VSTi I have works just like it should. This furthers the case for treating the mute function on an individualized basis (and definitely not within the MIDI input device).

So, I still get stuck notes at times, depending on how I play. Usually if I'm already holding down the sustain pedal when I hit the mute, things work out pretty well (usually not stuck). In practice, without thinking about it, that's generally how I do it, so everything comes out good. If there is a stuck note(s), I can usually cover it by doing some thicker chords and steal polyphony. I'm reasonably happy with it, but I'll continue messing around. I was just in the begining stages of making a soft muting function (switch -> some math thing -> med. fade to zero). The "some math thing" part is what I'm heading into... [ohhhhh, an envelope, yes, YES!]

Thanks again for your help.
-j

[parityflux]

An iteration of my mute-hold thingy:



I don't really have a mute button, rather it's called MIDI and lights up when active (on). The MIDI filter is only there to weed out the timing clock data in order to see what's going on in that highlighted flux pipe. I'll pull it out in production. #3036 is where I hold down the keyboard key, #3038 is where I click the MIDI switch (turning it off). #3039 (that long e-39 number) is where I turn the MIDI button back on. The create MIDI module puts out a CC 64 when I turn MIDI back on in this test case (verified on that out pipe). This configuration does not work. Stuck note. It doesn't work either if I just send that Create MIDI module right to Iris.

Just a note: the output of the Stop module is hard to parse when it is a float, that's why I think it would be nice if there was a way to put that pipe in MIDI mode. But I suppose that's just a UI thing.

-j