Looks like we've got control surface support!

[adouglas]

Used the latest update to record last night, and lo and behold it now appears to support my Tascam FW-1082 (in Mackie emulation mode, of course).

Woo hoo!

Didn't have a chance to give it a thorough workout and some things are a bit odd (for example, if you hit record on the computer and then stop, the "record" and "play" buttons stay lit on the Tascam. There also appears to be some sort of delay when using the physical transport controls.

Don't know why, but I'm going to fool around with assigning keys when I get a chance.

Thank you, Justin and team!

[kungpostyle]

I'd like to use a Tascam US-224 I have laying around as a control surface for transport functions. Has anyone tried this? I see the above post refers to using mackie emulation mode for a Tascam FW-1082.

Just wondering if anyone has any tips, I give it a try tonight and post what I find.

[oeborg]

Instead of setting up a control surface in Reaper you can try the shortcut route.

When a button is pressed/depressed, a fader is moved etc the US-224 transmits a midi message. These messages may be assigned to actions like 'Transport: Stop' and 'Transport: Record' in Reaper.

I've done this with an US-428 and it works quite well. What you wont get is feedback on the control surface since, as far as I know, it's not possible make Reaper send midi messages on events like 'starting to play'.

[kungpostyle]

Hi Oeborg,

The short cut method seems to be working well. I have all the buttons doing what I want, except the actual record button. When I hit record I get a waveform image that lasts about .25 seconds before stopping. The cursor keeps moving down the track but nothing gets recorded. Have you seen this? I'll keep trying.

Thanks for your help, It's looks like this will eventually work.

Kung

[oeborg]

I guess your shortcut for recording is 'MIDI Chan 15 CC 23' and 0.25 sec is the time between button down and up.
Probably Reaper will continue recording if you keep the button pressed...

From Tascam manual:
TRANSPORT_REC
o Button-down: BF 17 7F
o Button-up: BF 17 00

BF->CC on channel 15, 17hex->CC 23, 7F and 00->CC value
I think the problem is that Reaper evaluates both these messages as 'Transport: Record' and toggles record on and off.

Try to set 'MIDI CC Mode' for the shortcut to 'Relative 1 (7f=-1, 01=+1)'. I think this will make Reaper ignore the button up message.

What about the play button? Getting "double clicks" her as well?

[dfackler]

Instead of setting up a control surface in Reaper you can try the shortcut route.

When a button is pressed/depressed, a fader is moved etc the US-224 transmits a midi message. These messages may be assigned to actions like 'Transport: Stop' and 'Transport: Record' in Reaper.

I've done this with an US-428 and it works quite well. What you wont get is feedback on the control surface since, as far as I know, it's not possible make Reaper send midi messages on events like 'starting to play'.

Any chance this procedure could be posted to the Wiki?

[kungpostyle]

Oeborg,

Thanks! That did it!

You were exactly right, the recording was stopping as soon as the record button released. Changing to "Relative 1 (7f=-1, 01=+1)" fixed it.

Thank you!!!

[kungpostyle]

dfackler,

The procedure is spelled pretty clearly out in the reaper manual. You could copy and paste it to the wiki from there.

Tascam us-224 and us-428's are pretty cheap on ebay. the us-224 is small and makes a great control surface for transport controls.

Kung

[dfackler]

I've got the Play/Pause, RW, FF, REC, Stop, Set Marker. Locate, and a few other things working with the US-428. The wheel is boggling me. It outputs the same MIDI note regardless of direction. I'm no programmer, but it seems logical for the CW rotation to send one MIDI note and CCW to send a different note. Any thoughts?

[dfackler]

I can now get the wheel working, although so slowly it's not really of any value. This may be caused by my ancient 500 mHz G4. I'll get it connected to an Intel Mac within the next few days.

Muting selected tracks or arming selected tracks for recording sticks only as long as I hold the appropriate button. I've tried all the 'relative' settings in addition to 'absolute' to no avail.

Progress is good, though.

D

[oeborg]

I think I ended up using the US-428 in “Four Control Banks (Encoders)” mode. The mode may be changed in the US-428 control panel.

I haven't got the CS and the computer I configured the shortcuts on available at the moment. But I found the attached ReaperKeyMap file on my home computer.

This document should have all the information you need: http://www.tascam.com/i-717-232-128-0-831CFDD6.pdf. Four Control Banks Mode is described in chapter 8.11.2

[dfackler]

Thanks for the map. I'll give it a try later today.

DKF