I can send you the .syx file if you want, but its not that complex:
Each channel strip is\
Knob 1: Rev send / CC83
Knob 2: Dly send / CC82
Knob 3: Filter freq / CC74
Fader: Track level / CC95
Button A: Mute / CC94
Button B: Used to be the Solo, but they took out the function a few updates ago. I felt really hurt by this.
Each function assigned to its correspondent midi channel.
Then, i got another page for controlling reverb and delay config, and i should do another one to control the SRC pages on auto-channel, and another one to control the compresor config, but well, im a bit delayed drawing cats and using fb.
Really easy, the Launch Control MIDI editor is super nice.
Good luck with that!
I’ve been through nearly endless permutations of controllers. Essentially if you want something as close to perfect, you’re going to have to pay a lot for it. IMO Faderfox stuff is the way to go… Even though as I detail below I have a pretty good solution now for my AR & AK, I think I’m gonna swallow it and order one of these: http://www.faderfox.de/mx12.html
But, if you want to go much cheaper, have nearly infinite power then get an iPad and MidiDesigner Pro. (There’s also Lemur & TouchOSC, but I find both of them too pocket protector’ish. I never could figure out how in the heck to build a complex template in Lemur. In MDP, once you learn it, it’s REALLY, REALLY fast to knock out prototype controllers.)
I did a video show’n’tell of a little rig I built for my AR a while ago: https://youtu.be/QxYYrBQKVkg
It goes into wayyy more than just the controller piece, and has a dancing monkey at the end.
The biggest issue with a screen controller is precision, sweaty fingers, etc. So the solution to this is to get a hardware controller for things that require precision and don’t “change” (i.e. a knob that always controls one parameter like volume, not something that changes functions which causes parameter jumping), and then route that controller THRU midi designer pro to handle translation.
Then MDP is great to build buttons, etc. that are more suited to quick pecking…
You can of course also build the button->slider kind of control like when a launch pad is in volume mode (i.e. buttons jump to quantized values of a slider)
I do this my FaderFox controller (one like the image above) that does not allow setting CC/notes. But it’s easy to “translate” these values through MDP’s Footboard layer…
Another option that is SOOOO frustratingly close to the perfect solution is this totally unknown but cheap controller:
It’s soooo AWESOME, except for:
You can’t define CC’s/Note’s so you need to do mapping inbetween
The LED’s in pad mode are wonky… I’ve done some programming on it where I set a latch to keep a button lit when I press it, and while you press it it’s red, then you release and it goes blue! Not out… It stays blue…
Anyway, what’s amazing about it is that in addition to the pads being able to set levels for like 8 different CC’s, 4 of them display visually, for some weird reason the last 4 just display a big “C”, the knobs at the top allow for precise adjustments of values.
If that damn thing was programmable on the unit to define notes per pad and set the CC’s and you could do things like set button type to latching I’d pay hungreds of dollars for it!
I have one of the even more rare DIN midi ones (I’m like 99% the USB ones won’t work as you need drivers for like windows 3…). And while you STILL need to go through translation because you can’t set midi notes/CC’s it soo worth it to have that many sliders…
I have mine going through Reaper to remap CC/Notes to my AR & AK.
12 sliders for AR
4 Sliders for AK
Bottom is track volume for mixing
Top is set to send Aftertouch so I can use the Aftertouch mods in both machines (prob. the most overlooked and underutilized mod options on both boxes from what I’ve seen) This allows for a REALLY nice morph slider for each voice
Then you also get 6 knobs on top for things like FX levels, etc.
I also have the little buttons set up to mute and solo
It’s amazing how SMALL this thing is considering the sheer volume of stuff it’s got on it. but again, it needs to go through translation. Easiest way to do that is through an iOS device running MIDIFlow or a PC running BOME.
Hopefully someone can benefit from some of my pain…
Hey I was just wondering if it’s possible to connect usb controller such as midi twister to iPad and map it to different parts of midi designer and then send midi from midi designer to the rytm
Also I realized that I saw some sort of midi utility box from super booth '18 that can translate CC of usb device into CC midi so I actually could skip iPad(found it https://www.retrokits.com/shop/rk005/ ) but midi designer seems very flexible and fun to use.
I love the way you color coded your rytm and that drumstand rig with iPad is totally badass
In mdp I often use named ticks , that way you can specify the values required.
An example is to use only synced delay values while sweeping through delays , instead of incrementing +1
Once main list is setup , you can use a dial , fader , plus and minus buttons
You can also sweep to a value ( eg 64) and set it to slowly return to default ( eg 16)
Also I’ve setup a controller to move start , end and loop point with one button , making it easy to sweep sample settings in increments of 1,2,5,10 etc
Saying all that I’d like an actual controller , I’ve tried a few , tempted with Novation or combination of traktor controllers ( which I’ve already got )
All of which need usb box.
Faderfox look good , would’ve preferred a modular setup , main controller strip and modules for 8 fadesr ( 2 x 4 faders ) and a button module. . And cheaper .
So let’s say you set up a knob in MDP to send CC7 on CH1
Using MDP’s “Footboard” (weird name…) you create a control “under” the main view. You map that to your external controller…
So let’s say twister is sending CC37 on Ch16…
Go into MDP, slide up to reveal foot board, add a knob, midi learn it to the incoming twister control.
You then set THIS control to be what MDP calls a “Supercontrol”. You then map this Supercontrol to the above CC7 as a subcontrol.
So now when you move twister control, it will drive the CC7 knob…
but that’s more complex that you need i think because you can just program twister to do any CC on any knob right?
In that case just program twister to send CC7 and as long as it’s going into MDP, MDP will reflect that value.
The thing that REALLY pisses me off is the complete lack of support for RELATIVE CC control on iOS!!! If someone would just support that (I’ve begged Dan at MDP to have an option to allow MDP to respond to incremental CC (i.e. -63/65+ to allow acceleration) then those faderfox controllers that can send various relative/incremental values would be PERFECT!
In Reaper I get around this by having a simple JS script that creates one slider that sends a CC values I specify, then I map my incremental controllers in Reaper to this slider. But that’s still a pain…
I love the way you color coded your rytm and that drumstand rig with iPad is totally badass
Color coding matches my Mixer as well as these little colored hair beads I shoved on the posts of the Minidesk!
The Stand! I’m just using one of those drum module mounts I ghetto-rigged onto the mounting holes on the side of the Rytm…
Yea, i have not coughed up the money for that either. I have the guy’s stand-alone midi apps and they are WAY to complex… The whole streambyter hex math BS… Seriously… Who the hell thinks musicians want to do HEX math on MIDI streams just to change the f^&*ing channel!
I was going to say that they were costly but I’ve just seen that they are made by just one guy so that’s ok. I might go down the Fadefox route
One question though. How do you negotiate pattern change ? I feel like master level for each track is saved per pattern, so I feel like there’s no easy way to control a master mix.
The unit itself and the faders are all plastic, so it doesn’t feel all that good.
But it works like a charm and you can edit Midi CC mappings really easy without the use of a Computer.
Yup - track master levels saved with patterns is a problem.
Easy solution: Get used to nudging all your faders at the change… for me, this works because I generally just stick to one pattern for long periods fo time, and switch rarely.
Complex solution: Use Puredata to listen to faders, send to DT, listen for program change from DT, and resend faders (after slight delay). Works, but you need something to run Puredata (I use a RaspberryPi… but I have it doing so many other things with MIDI at the same time, it is very much worth it!)
hello, i have a midi fighter twister. Is there a way to control the whole track effects like when you press “song” and increase the reverb for the whole track? Are there “master” cc values? Thanks in advance
Upon seeing @BudsatWork’s setup, I bought an Akai Pro MIDImix.
I also needed a MIDI host box, and on the same day as I started the search for a decent option, @Bobeats recommended the HobbyTronics MIDI USB - DIN converter
(which arrived super fast and works perfectly).
The setup is great, HOWEVER, the only button I can so far get to work is ‘send all’, which updates the connected device with the parameters of the controller.
The ‘mute’ and other buttons are, from what I’ve read, hard-coded to send specific MIDI messages and the only way of changing this would be a firmware update.
The faders are smooth and have a nice resistance, time will tell if they hold up.
The pots might not be the best if you have large hands, but they have a tactile, raised centre line which can help orientate you in the dark.
I bought (again) an old BCF2000 Behringer controller (real faders, motorized, real midi out are cool but it is quite ugly and HUGE compared to today stuff … ).
Does anybody know of a preset to use the BCF2000 (or BCR2000, it shoud work as well) as a midi mixing console for the eight audio tracks of the Digitakt ?
Just trying … i know it is not very hard to set-up, but there are still so many users of those machines from like 15 years ago !
except for the fact i got a faulty BCF that was “leaking” electricity (in wires, in other machines … i gave up after getting punched quite hard a few times …!)
