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10-25-2019, 02:41 PM
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#1
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Oct 2019
Posts: 2
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Feedback to MIDI controller
Hi all,
I have what is probably a stupid question.
I've been messing about with an X-Touch Mini MIDI controller in pure MIDI mode.
Ive connected it to Reaper, and I was trying to set it up to suit me, by setting 2 of the buttons to cycle through tracks. What I was trying to do was have the ring of LEDs around the encoders reflect the volume and pan status of each track as I cycled through them, by making up new Custom Actions, with Go to next/previous track as the first action, followed by Send Pan as 2-byte MIDI message and send Volume as 2-byte MIDI message.
I was hoping that this would send the volume and pan status of the track focus moved to to the volume and pan CC encoders and be reflected in the LEDs, but it does not seem to work. Have I completely missed what these actions do?
I did set the MIDI channel of the X-Touch Mini as the MIDI output for each track, just in case this made a difference, but it didn't.
Thanks for any insights you may be able to give me.
Stefan
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10-25-2019, 10:13 PM
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#2
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Krefeld, Germany
Posts: 14,685
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Welcome in the Reaper forums !
You are right at this subforum for discussing that problem.
Reaper itself (by default) does not send out any Midi messages when you do any actions on the user interface. You need to do some programming or use a "Control Surface" plugin (as described in several threads in the subforum).
-Michael
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10-26-2019, 12:32 AM
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#3
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Oct 2019
Posts: 2
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Thanks for the response. I understand about having to do some programming to get this to work, which is why I was going down the custom actions route, it just doesn't seem to do what I expected.
Can anyone explain to me what the "send volume as 2-byte MIDI message" and "send pan as 2-byte MIDI message" actions actually do then?
I have also tried CSI, and have a somewhat working setup, but as I don't understand it's logic fully, I'm struggling to get it to do what I want.
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10-26-2019, 07:28 AM
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#4
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: home is where the heart is
Posts: 12,096
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10-26-2019, 09:12 AM
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#5
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: France
Posts: 627
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10-26-2019, 09:44 AM
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#6
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: San Jose, CA, USA
Posts: 115
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Quote:
Originally Posted by spynappels
Thanks for the response. I understand about having to do some programming to get this to work, which is why I was going down the custom actions route, it just doesn't seem to do what I expected.
Can anyone explain to me what the "send volume as 2-byte MIDI message" and "send pan as 2-byte MIDI message" actions actually do then?
I have also tried CSI, and have a somewhat working setup, but as I don't understand it's logic fully, I'm struggling to get it to do what I want.
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Hi spynappels,
In order to send feedback to a MIDI controller via actions you need a script that finds the controller as an output device, gets its device id, and then uses the StuffMIDIMessage function to send the message to the device ID. I'm not sure what the actions you are asking about do but that's not what you want to use to control the encoder ring LEDs.
I happen to have an X-Touch mini sitting on my desk so I should be able to help you with the coding. Can you provide the specifics of what two buttons you want to use to cycle through the tracks and what encoders you want to use for volume and pan?
You can take a look at same of the code I've done for the Presonus ATOM pad controller here: https://github.com/kmitch95120/Reaper-ATOM-Integration
Ken
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10-26-2019, 09:52 AM
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#7
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: San Jose, CA, USA
Posts: 115
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Regisfofo
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Thank you. I will certainly look at that project for reference. I just helped someone get the XT Mini working with NI's Traktor DJ software and it sparked my interest in getting it working better with Reaper. I currently use it to control FX parameters without any LED feedback.
Ken
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10-26-2019, 09:06 PM
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#8
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Krefeld, Germany
Posts: 14,685
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kenm
I happen to have an X-Touch mini sitting on my desk so I should be able to help you with the coding.
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Why do dedicated coding for a device/workflow, while by CSI this can be done by dedicated configuring ?
-Michael
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10-27-2019, 01:18 PM
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#9
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: France
Posts: 627
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mschnell
Why do dedicated coding for a device/workflow, while by CSI this can be done by dedicated configuring ?
-Michael
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This is no coding but agregating 2 nice scripts, realearn and Lbx Smartknob. Seems it can do great job for lot of controller. Csi is sure a great idea and neater way, but I did try to make it work with XTmini, and I failed...
By the way, Leon is about to realease a second version of his smartknob wich could be another nice solution.
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10-29-2019, 04:07 PM
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#10
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: San Jose, CA, USA
Posts: 115
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mschnell
Why do dedicated coding for a device/workflow, while by CSI this can be done by dedicated configuring ?
-Michael
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Hi Michael,
For the last two days we've been without cell service and internet connection so I spent quite a bit of time working with CSI. For the XTouchMini the MST file that comes with CSI doesn't provide any LED feedback since it isn't configured to use the correct MIDI messages. I was able to get the buttons to work correctly, but not the encoder LEDs. Do you have any examples of CSI controlling the XTMini encode ring LEDs?
As far as what the OP wants to do, I'm not sure how to go about setting two encoders to control the same channel. Still getting my head around the ZON file.
Ken
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10-29-2019, 04:10 PM
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#11
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: San Jose, CA, USA
Posts: 115
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Regisfofo
This is no coding but agregating 2 nice scripts, realearn and Lbx Smartknob. Seems it can do great job for lot of controller. Csi is sure a great idea and neater way, but I did try to make it work with XTmini, and I failed...
By the way, Leon is about to realease a second version of his smartknob wich could be another nice solution.
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Unfortunately during our recent communications blackout, I wasn't able to download any scripts. I'll take a look at these and see what I can accomplish.
Ken
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10-29-2019, 04:49 PM
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#12
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Krefeld, Germany
Posts: 14,685
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kenm
Do you have any examples of CSI controlling the XTMini encode ring LEDs?
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Neither do I have a "Mini", nor do I currently actively work with CSI. I only did some tests with my "Compact" a year or so ago.
You will need to skim (and/or ask in the) the "CSI" thread. They will be happy to help.
-Michael
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10-29-2019, 05:27 PM
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#13
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: San Jose, CA, USA
Posts: 115
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mschnell
Neither do I have a "Mini", nor do I currently actively work with CSI. I only did some tests with my "Compact" a year or so ago.
You will need to skim (and/or ask in the) the "CSI" thread. They will be happy to help.
-Michael
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Skimming now.
As it turns out there is one major design flaw with the Mini and that is the fact that there's only one set of MIDI messages to control the LEDs for both A and B layers. In other words you can't get button/encoder feedback for Layer B if you are already getting feedback for Layer A. Also, there's no MIDI message sent when you switch from A to B.
In my opinion, this makes the usefulness of the XTMini limited.
Ken
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10-30-2019, 12:36 AM
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#14
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Krefeld, Germany
Posts: 14,685
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kenm
only one set of MIDI messages to control the LEDs for both A and B layers. In other words you can't get button/encoder feedback for Layer B if you are already getting feedback for Layer A.
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Similar with the "Compact"
- When in Layer A all feedbacks go to Layer A (if the parameter is programmed there), none to A
- When In Layer B all feedbacks go to Layer B (if the parameter is programmed there), none to B
- Pressing the layer Buttons does not send anything
- No way to switch the layer by Midi.
Really annoying !!!
Seemingly they don't have a firmware update.
-Michael
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10-31-2019, 11:39 AM
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#15
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Heidelberg, Germany
Posts: 797
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kenm
Skimming now.
As it turns out there is one major design flaw with the Mini and that is the fact that there's only one set of MIDI messages to control the LEDs for both A and B layers. In other words you can't get button/encoder feedback for Layer B if you are already getting feedback for Layer A. Also, there's no MIDI message sent when you switch from A to B.
In my opinion, this makes the usefulness of the XTMini limited.
Ken
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When using with "smart" solutions like CSI, it is better put XTMini into MC mode. Layers A/B are just 2 additional buttons then, they will not switch layers in hardware (but that can be done in software). For encoders, use feedback people use for MCU (and alike) encoders (that is not just current value, it has special encoding in MC).
That is not an option for Compact since it loose some encoders in MC mode.
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10-31-2019, 12:42 PM
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#16
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: San Jose, CA, USA
Posts: 115
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Quote:
Originally Posted by azslow3
When using with "smart" solutions like CSI, it is better put XTMini into MC mode. Layers A/B are just 2 additional buttons then, they will not switch layers in hardware (but that can be done in software). For encoders, use feedback people use for MCU (and alike) encoders (that is not just current value, it has special encoding in MC).
That is not an option for Compact since it loose some encoders in MC mode.
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Thanks @azslow3. I'll give that a try.
Ken
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