Better MIDI Learn (for XYZ input mapping)

[guycalledxan]

Hi,

I've had a look through the forum and the old issue tracker. I can only find one post on this, the relevant bits being from 2007 (I guess it never got logged in the issue tracker): https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=114866

I was trying to map a MIDI XYZ pad from a Sensel Morph onto a the XY & amplitude setting of Reformer.

I LOVE Reaper's MIDI learn, it's so easy to quickly map any interface with any parameter on any plugin, for really performative sound design. So I'm not complaining about it entirely. But on this occasion I had the opposite experience. I had to jump through way too many hoops to get the params setup.

The problem was that the MIDI learn function would only see the CC for Z, the button press. I couldn't get it to show me the CCs for X or Y. I could have tried all the workarounds with ReaLearn, Injector, etc. but in the end the quickest was to setup a new Morph mapping with the X and Y CCs I needed as buttons, jump into Reaper to do the learn, then switch the morph map and jump back into Reaper.

My first thought as to how this could be better was what Banned said:

"I also think we should just be able to edit the CC manually. I mean, we can even select the text with the pointer (it is not greyed out or anything), suggesting that we can just edit it. Weird… "

I think that would be very handy and, I would hope, be a fairly easy change?

But actually, I think plamuk had a really great idea:

"[...]for devices that send multiple CCs, this makes learning a real nightmare. [...] REAPER could address this by allowing users to manually assign CCs to parameters and/or by showing all moved CCs instead of the last moved CC in the learn window."

This would mean that we would get a list from all the recent concurrent input, then we could choose what we want. That has the advantage of keeping the process feeling the same as it is now, it shouldn't complicate single CC input, manual input would be a last resort for the occasional edge case.

More expressive controllers are becoming more common. The MIDI Learn feature means that I was able to use all sorts of hardware in Reaper without ever having to worry much about controller config apps. But as new control types and MPE become more popular, I think this issue will start to trip up more users, and make the Learn feature less useable.

There are a few other feature requests relating to MIDI learn floating around. I personally would have found this one very useful too:
https://forum.cockos.com/project.php?issueid=4127

And I really like DarkStar's suggestions here:
https://forum.cockos.com/project.php?issueid=272
Although I took the comment "Edit 2015: Also shows the learned details in the tooltip and Automation Envelope window." to mean it's closed to their satisfaction.

As usual, if I've missed a forum post or not understood an actual workflow (not a work around) then sorry, my bad. Otherwise, I hope this makes an update soon.