Defeat Midi control by note-on messages?

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

Hi,

I didn’t find the way to switch off midi control over recorders and machines using midi note messages. I would like to use CC’s only. When I play with an external keyboard that happens to be routed to the OT (because I want it to be this way) my pickup and flex machines react to midi notes which is quite confusing. The notes that the OT is programmed to react to are very common notes (C4, Eb4 etc) instead of uncommon notes like C0 or C8 in which case we could get away with it, I never play a C0 in a melody. I must have missed something…

Thanks

#2

Uncheck note in

Screenshot_2019-01-29-12-32-31
Screenshot_2019-01-29-12-32-31.png720×1280 89.4 KB

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#3

No that’s not the point, I want to play OT sounds with an external KB without randomly triggering commands.

EDIT: it’s a problem I run across regularly since ages. Using midi notes as controllers is a concept I never got used to and made me sell quite a few bits of gear in the past because I struggled to integrate them in my workflow.

#4

Be carefull, or use a midi processor to filter notes.

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#5

A C4 is one of the most common notes in the whole scale! Seriously, we can’t switch that off???

#6

IIf you’re taking about playing the sample tracks you only get 2 octaves, so your range is determined by the sample’s original pitch, so if you need C4s use a sample at c4 and go 1 Oct up and down from there, using the two octaves on your keyboard that match the OT’s midi spec

If you’re playing an external
Device via the midi tracks, I’n pretty sure you can send the whole midi note range on currently selected channel without triggering other stuff, as long as you set channels/autochannel accordingly to avoid clashes

Edit: I see now you are taking about just OT sounds. Leaving the bit about midi there as note to self/others to check this next time I connect ext keyboard

I have recently been using midi guitar app via iPad to trigger OT’s sounds - and filtering out the notes outside chromatic range using (I think) audiobus’s own midi processing. It only leaves a couple of strings playable!

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#7

Oh and it’s one of my most wishes for small tweaks - set OT to ignore notes outside of its chromatic range

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#8

It’s more complicated than that: what “triggered” my post was that I was playing my Blofeld on ch 1 using my SP16 pads as keyboard controller, but because the SP16 midi is also patched to the OT I was triggering records and mutes on the OT’s 1st track although the track 7 was the active one. The OT track 1 was a flex and was not supposed to be recorded over but it happened. It’s not even a question of detuning samples to accommodate this quirky implementation, I shouldn’t even be bothered by this. I’m all in for serendipity (otherwise I would have stayed away from Elektron altogether) but I appreciate a controlled workflow (on which I’ve been working for months now…)

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#9

Right!

How about ensuring no channels are shared (clashing) between the OT and blofeld. I’m only tentatively putting that out there because I have a feeling OT will only pass midi out on channels that it has tracks assigned to, unless you use the thru, but I assume you also want the SP16 to control the OT in some ways?

Midi splitter or even a switch could solve this, but probably not what you wanted to hear.

I know I have often intended to setup things a lot like you, and wondered beforehand about the slightly inflexible thru functionality of the OT, but maybe I never quite got there (too busy step sequencing the blofeld and sampling it back in, rather than doing any live playing over it)

Will definitely setup this way next time I have a chance - but pretty sure it’s the channel-tracks assignments and autochannel settings that’ll make or break it.

If you set a midi track to the channel you want to play on the blofeld, and it’s not the auto channel or assigned to any other track (audio or midi), then you send notes from sp16!on that channel while that track is active. That would be my starting point

Or maybe the OT thru socket will pass anything that is received on unassigned channels, with the downside that the blofeld will then get nothing from the OT’s sequencer. Unless you merge

Then there’s clock to think about…

enough thinking aloud - I need to try it & Will let you know unless ‘someone else’ steps in with the gear at hand :wink:

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#10

The Blofeld is a multitimbral synth and I have set up 16 sounds per multi so I just have to change channels to change sounds. I use static midi routing/filtering on the iConnectivity iCM4+ interface, and dynamic routing is handled by a soft called LiveProfessor which has extensive cue management. I set-up cues in LP that I trigger from a grid of virtual buttons of an Android device , like a Launchpad. I do all this to have a collection of sounds instantly available on any of the controllers I like to use, which can be the 16 pad grid of the SP16, the chromatic trigs of the Digitone or Octatrack, of the Roli Seabord. The latter is MPE so I have set up 16 midi modifier cues so that I can merge the 16 MPE channels into 1 without going into the Roli set-up software. Meaning I can switch from MPE to 1-channel midi by pressing a single button. I have both Elektrons on their autochannels (I just LOVE that feature, it’s brilliant !). It might not be very clear written down like this, but it’s to illustrate what sort of complexity is involved. I do all this because I want access to sounds as fast as possible in a live set where everything is improvised. Sometimes I play bass lines on the pads and chords on the Roli using the same Blofeld sound (or whatever) so I’m not limited to the 25 notes of the Seaboard. I don’t care if I need to manage sounds on all these devices so that I don’t get unwanted layers sounding randomly, I can handle that but I can’t handle the fact that notes ALSO act as controllers on the Octatrack! And I can’t filter them out on a individual basis, that would be nonsense, I won’t filter out all C4’s, all Eb4’s on all my controllers. …

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#11

You can filter this simply with a midi processor, as your midi setup is complex, it can be helpfull. Otherwise manage your midi channels differently.

With a midi processor your can also trigger slices, split the range of your crossfader to different scenes depending on its position, make OT poly, control comb filters pitch with your keyboard…

#12

That’s what I do when I need something particular, I fire up Visual C++ and write a couple of lines of code and do a custom VST. But I really thought I had missed a menu item somewhere.

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#13

That’s the spirit :+1:

#14

:thup: I’d like to know how to do this but I use only dedicated hardware midi processors.

#15

Anyway, your initial advice to uncheck “note-in” is probably the safest. But I’ll never get used to this… I mean, we have lots of free CC’s that can handle 128 values each, on 16 channels, that’s a HUGE amount of avaible switches with just ONE CC! So why we should use Notes is a total mystery to me. Elektron acknowledges this too, btw because we can use one single controller, CC#59 and its 128 values, to control tracks and machines.

BTW the manual says:

AUDIO NOTE IN
> controls whether incoming MIDI notes should affect audio tracks or not. Enable or disable by pressing [YES]. When disabled no incoming MIDI notes will affect the audio tracks, meaning tracks or machines can’t be trigged externally.

That should be corrected (or formulated otherwise) because it leads people onto the wrong track, making them believe there’s no alternative to note-based midi control.

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#16

Totally agree for midi optimization.
Write them if you want.

#17

This very issue has been one of my long standing gripes with the OT midi implementation, it can be annoying to inadvertently trigger a track recorder or other function when wanting to play samples chromatically, and it is easily done with master keyboard with limited range if you don’t remember to change to the right octave for example. Also in larger setups it can be a problem too if you have other devices connected to OT midi in and are not careful.

I sent in a feature request a few times to ask that the midi notes reception can be selectively turned off by their function rather than just universally, maybe if enough people sent in the request it would be implemented. So I suggest to email support if you want this.

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#18

I will certainly do this. It just makes sense.

#19

Encountering this today after figuring out my foot controller.

I seem to recall keeping note in unchecked to avoid random functions firing when playing keys. I use analog keys on OTs autochannel so that it can play the active track.

Looks like I need note in checked if I want to use my foot controller to control pickup machines, also on autochannel.

Damn.

#20

thank you for this so much :smiley: was causing me hell. Used cycles to record midi from synths and play back but I want to use less gear : ))