A midi routing sanity check - is this a problem?

Elektron Gear Digitakt
#1

I currently have my setup talking over USB MIDI through Ableton Live and it is all working well. I have recently added an Analog Keys to my setup and I am trying to conceptually get my head around what I want it to do within my overall setup, and need some brains more orderly than mine is currently functioning to check I’m not being silly.

I want to be able to play the rest of my gear from the Analog Keys’ keyboard through my Digitakt. What I mean is I want to use the MIDI EXT mode of the Keys while set to auto channel of the Digitakt, and then play the instrument that is on the currently selected track on the Digitakt. I already do this using a Circuit Tracks, so I know I can. It really helps me input melodic material and chords into the DT sequencer.

The thing that puzzles me and makes me doubt myself is that I then want the Digitakt to sequence the Analog Keys. As the Keys is in Midi External mode, I would be sending midi via the keyboard into the DT, and then that midi would be routed directly or via the sequencer of the DT back into the Keys to play the tracks there.

Is there any feedback danger here?

I will also be using it standalone for other applications, but that shouldn’t be a problem because I can just turn off the external midi sending and nothing else will be affected.

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#2

I’m leaving a note to explain what I ended up doing, in case people come searching in the future.

When using an Analog Keys in Midi EXT mode, sending midi through USB to Ableton to be routed to the Digitakt, and then the Digitakt sending midi through USB to Ableton to be routed back to the tracks of the Keys, it works, but it is too slow to feel good. The latency is enough for there to be a noticeable delay from pressing a key to the envelope opening.

I found that by setting everything on the Keys’ global settings page for midi (Keyboard, Joystick, Knobs) to Int instead of Ext and Int, playing without Midi EXT mode activated will then send no midi data out, allowing you to just play the instrument standalone. You can then go in to each track on the Keys and turn off any midi send setting there, should you wish to use the Keys’ sequencer at any time. Then, setting the Midi EXT settings to transmit on the Auto Channel means that it only sends midi data externally from playing the keyboard. With the relevant track selected on the DT, the keyboard now plays whatever the DT has selected as the source or midi channel. Goal achieved.

I then used 5 pin midi cables to go from the midi out of Keys to midi in the the DT, and DT out to Keys in. I disabled monitoring on the DT’s midi channel in Ableton (where the Overbridge pluggin lives), and kept my already set up midi routing in Ableton detecting the midi coming from my DT’s midi tracks and sending them to the relevant channel on my PreenFM2. Transmitting midi over 5 pin DIN from the Keys to the DT, and then over USB from the DT to Ableton and then to the Preen is fast enough to feel perfectly comfortable.

If future searchers have any questions, feel free to ask or send me a PM. Took me a lot of messing about to get it working.

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