BernMeister Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 Hello all, I'll preface the following by saying I've tried a net search but came up with vague results thus far... I'm looking for a device (maybe even an iphone or desktop app) where I can create a step sequence, then trigger/step through that sequence one step at a time from my keyboard (for live tempo control...). And better yet, I'd like to trigger through the steps using both midi key-down and key-up (if you can imagine stepping through 16th notes by playing 8th notes as key-down/up triggering to keep timing stable). I read somewhere that Max for live might be able to do this. I may try posting and asking on their forum eventually. Would you folks have any thoughts on this? Appreciate your input Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashville.Guru Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 MidiStep seems to do exactly what you want, at first glance. While I'm not sure it responds to Note Offs out of the box, there's a simple trick to achieve that effect. Depending upon your DAW/Host, you can insert another plugin upstream which converts Note Offs to Note Ons (with appropriate filters of course!). midiConvertor3 from the pizMidi collection should do the trick. Max/Max for Live can certainly do it, but then it can do anything, and it's kind of a nuclear option. It's more of a visual programming language than a tool, and involves a learning curve. Overkill, IMO. What DAW/Host are you using, btw? Bidule seems ideal for this kind of stuff, and can also be used as a plugin within other DAWs. - Guru This is really what MIDI was originally about encouraging cooperation between companies that make the world a more creative place." - Dave Smith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BernMeister Posted June 4, 2015 Author Share Posted June 4, 2015 Thanks Guru, I tried the midistep plugin (with cubase as daw) but it's finicky at best. I'm able to trigger whatever I've put in, but I can't get it to output to a vsti (yes, I assigned the output as the vsti's input). Besides, I'd need it to receive key-down and up triggers as I've explained in my OP. Furthermore, it's crucial that if I have two different sequences to trigger, each of their respective trigger notes must reset the start point of the other's assigned sequence. And an additional dummy trigger is also needed to reset any current sequence. I guess I'll have to look at Max. For the sake of staying compact, I'd like to avoid bringing a laptop along to do this (hence wondering if an iphone or ipad app exists). Of course, I could opt for a Win tablet of some kind. Otherwise, a hardware equivalent would be ideal too (something along the lines of Arturia's beat step, if it does what I need). My goal is to trigger (re-trigger) my existing hardware synth (which obviously doesn't have the function I'm looking for). The search continues... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashville.Guru Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Cubase is your problem - it's simply not the right tool for the job. Note that your requirement falls outside 99.99% of the typical use case scenarios for Cubase...! Especially after your edit to the last post... Bidule and Max are platforms designed exactly for the kind of things that you want to do. Customized, tailor-made solutions for a very specific requirement. FWIW, I have hundreds of hours of experience programming both Bidule and Max. I would be seriously impressed if you begin learning Max now, and can implement what you need within... weeks . And you'd still be reinventing the wheel. Between Bidule and Max, Bidule is most certainly the quickest and most effective way for a solution. Use midiStep as a plugin within Bidule, and you should have a perfectly working solution within an hour, tops. And yes, with all bells and whistles: note on and note off triggers, trigger notes resetting and restarting the other's sequence. Do let me know if you have trouble getting it to work, I can help out. Also, fellow forumite @ReezeKeys is an expert with complex and novel solutions in Bidule. In fact, we've both implemented customized tempo-syncing of sequences in Bidule - see here for a discussion. A bit different from your approach, but no less complicated, though! Also, Bidule will work fine on any compact Win tablet. In fact, MIDI processing happily requires negligible horsepower, so even an Atom-based tablet will work fine. Just make sure it's running full Windows, not RT. - Guru This is really what MIDI was originally about encouraging cooperation between companies that make the world a more creative place." - Dave Smith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BernMeister Posted June 5, 2015 Author Share Posted June 5, 2015 Thanks again Guru, I'll give all of this a try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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