Sridhar Raghavan

Wondering where in the Piano View, the current Track Number of Name is displayed. In that View, Track-> has focus next and prev. But I am unable to find what the current track. The bottom bar only says "Piano View - Multiple Tracks" May be there is a way to display each Piano track on a separate tab??

Promidi Thanks for your note. I think you are right on the money. When you create a MIDI track, the MIDI track's actual channel defaults to “none”. This will cause the MIDI channel of any events in that MIDI track to obey the MIDI channel of those actual events in the MIDI track. If you set the MIDI channel of your MIDI track to something other than “none” (ie a number from 1 to 16) - then any events in the MIDI track will use that channel. Unfortunately, I am not seeing any menu/ways for setting the MIDI Channel for the Midi Track I have already in place. Any tips for this or other ways to accomplishing this?

May be declared it too soon. On my Synth, I see volume changing only for Channel 1!!! Regardless of the track I select and do automation with Piano Roll.

Update.. As expected I can/was able to bring up Piano Roll View and do the automation envelope there. A work around for now, though less preferred. ideally I would like to keep the automation envelopes of other/selected tracks in view while working on the envelopes of a specific track.

Context: I have a Midi Track which takes inputs from my Midi Controller (Akai MPK249) and Outputs to External Synth Korg PA600.. a) On the Input side, I can set it to listen to only a specific Midi Channel, like 3 or 9 or 10. Say I set it to 10. On the output side, I can only select a Target Synth (but cannot specify a Channel - and that is OK for now). b) I played and recorded some MIDI Sequence into this track. I wanted to now create an automation track for controlling, say, volume/velocity. I enabled R and W for automation. Added an automation track using the icon on the bottom left of the track. Question: On the automation envelope, I see that the default channel is 1. I infer that the automation will be applied to Channel 1. Am I correct in inferring that? But the track will have only data on Channel 10 (as set in (a)) due to input setting. How do I change the automation target channel to 10? Am I missing a step? Like converting MIDI CC to automation lane? or others. More Context I tried a various things, but unable to get to desired result. Below is a screen shot - you can see the context menu of the automation lane showing: Volume Default Ch1. Sorry for the poor graphics (it is a screen shot of 4K monitor).

Aslow3 Thanks for your detailed post and thoughts. I want to clarify a few things. I have to respectfully state that you are also missing the point by digressing unnecessarily into all kinds of things and saying why/how things are complicated. Please avoid it, as doing so may only serve to intimidate other earnest members of this forum who rely on experiential and pedagogical wisdom of experienced folks like you. No I am not frustrated, but I am just trying to surface the basic essentials/methods. Trust me, I do not shy away from any Complexity. But I would also do my best to clarify, encourage and ensure that posts remain relevant to their central purpose. Broadening of focus for injecting other ideas can be serendipitous and are always welcome, but some reasons for their relevancy should be included. A violin has strings, but it is not a guitar... Sounds like trolling, but that is not the point. Most devices are designed for particular purpose and Akai MPK is not an exception. Axiomatic Statements like these do not add much/anything to this context. I request that you read my original post and the summary again. You will see why I am making my above statements. You seem to miss basic principles about the mechanisms and paradigms of any DAW. While DAWs can do many sophisticated things, it can always have one or more tracks that are taking inputs from a Midi Controller, record and play it to an external synth. This basic idea should be remembered and not lost in all the "din" of other complexities. Ability to seamlessly combine the simple and complex things, without adding unnecessary complexities, is the function of any DAW (or for that matter almost any product). You can also see my posts related to instrument definitions, maps, insertion of MIDI commands etc. Your response includes concepts about "how/where domain knowledge is distributed within/across a system and its environment". This is a pivotal issue of Architectures, and I will proactively resist starting that discussion here.

John Vere Thanks for posting a prompt reply/comment. Everything in your comments is correct and consistent. But it is common knowledge and rather tangential basics to the questions in my post. Here is an accurate summary/update so far: a) No there is/are no desktop Utility to configure MPK249. Due to following reasons. AKAI has not published its MIDI API Interface. AKAI has not published the file format of Presets. Such things have become a widespread idiotic myopia in the Industry, sadly. I will skip repeating whatever I have said in many other places Some folks have tried to figure this out through reverse engineering and have had some success. Though such approaches can break anytime. Here is a link to a past discussion elsewhere. I may create a similar version in Python using Sysex messages. http://practicalusage.com/akai-mpk261-mpk2-series-controlling-the-controller-with-sysex/ b) MPC Beats is a Standalone DAW of its own. Quite capable. One can use any MIDI Controller to interact with it. Obviously, AKAI MPK249 or other AKAI controllers or MIDI Synth would be good choices. c) I am sure MPC Beats can be used with Cakewalk - like any other Synth or VST. d) In MPK249 there is a Preset for Cakewalk Sonar. I am not planning to spend anytime on that as I have no need for that for now. I am using Generic-25 preset for now. I will use it to create a PA600 preset (manually working with MPK249 screen) with all the right commands I need for controlling PA600. I do not have any problems sending notes and drum pad hits from MPK249 to PA600 through Cakewalk. I did not expect any trouble here. But I anticipate some issues sending Program Change commands. It is not because I do not understand, but because I do know far too much about MIDI/Program/Bank and Control Channels than I care to write about here. But I am stalled with the same old Cakewalk basic issues, which I have already posted and discussed here before, since early this year. Overall. I will post an update when I have worked these out.

Hope some one can answer a few basic question(s). I have an AKAI MPK249 which has been lying idle for a while and I decided that I will use it with Cakewalk (with my Target Synth as Korg PA600. I have no need as yet for configuring MPK249 for Cakewalk - as Cakewalk will use MPK249 as a Generic Midi Controller for inputs). Everywhere there is only mention about setting up with DAW and basic questions are never answered. In this forum as well. I am not complaining that no one addresses them, but just intrigued that no one seems to miss it. a) Is there a desktop Utility for creating/editing Configurations/Presets for MPK249? I installed MPC essentials, thinking that would provide me that. But its focus is elsewhere almost like a DAW. Strangely that software does not even have a SETTINGS menu!! For example, I have an Alesis Vortex, now for several years. (Like with many other MIDI controllers) I use a Desktop App, which gives a UI that mirrors the actual Hardware buttons sliders and knobs and MIDI functions/sequences can be assigned to them. The configurations can be SAVED to disk and/or pushed to the midi controller. This makes things so much easier working with large Screen, Mouse, Keyboards and UI of Windows to do things. Rather than struggle with the TINY screen and lengthy menu chains on the Midi Controller. b) While I can easily argue in favor of MIDI Controllers configured for specific DAWs, I see more reason for why they need to be configured for Specific Synths - as that is the target of MIDI sequences and commands, especially that are beyond basic MIDI CC/Pitchbend kind of commands.. For example on my KORG PA600, Selecting Styles, Variations, Fades, Performances etc. are special/private MIDI commands (uses MIDI message formats, but actual CCs private). c) Is there a Cake Walk preset for MPK249? I do not see one in the factory list. What is the best/close one to use? d) Is MPC Beats or Essentials of any relevance when using Cakewalk? Thanks in advance.

Just in case it got buried, I want to highlight the most important aspect of VITAL, that is very exciting and of most interest to me. Support for Indian Classical (and Alternate) Tuning via Scala files. I already posted a Zip file containing several Scala files covering a wide range of Tuning Systems. It works nicely as a standalone as well as with Band labs as a Plugin and the ability to create and customize Instruments through a wide range of mechanisms. Thanks to all posters here. It is nice to see that there is already a "knowledgeable immersed" community here focused on the intersection of Band Labs and Wavetable Synths (like Vital). regards

ABACAB are you the In The MIX channel? I am a subscriber... Fantastic work.

ABACAB , Kevin Perry thanks for your upbeat comments. I will watch the video as well.

I did a better/proper search here and finding lot of posts on Vital and Surge. Great to see them ! Sri.

I came across Vital Synth today and just beginning to explore for creating Custom Patches/Instruments. https://vital.audio/ Found that it is supporting Custom Tuning Via Scala Files. I am currently playing with it in Standalone Mode and Will also use it as a VST with Band labs. Putting this out here, just in case there are other Users who are far ahead of me in terms of Usage and Knowledge. Thanks Sri.

Hmmm.. so the documentation on MFX filter is misleading? I was so excited to start using the potential power of those filters. regards

SCOOK above is a screen shot of my UI. It looks quite different and I was not able to map to your screen shot. David Baay your tip helped and I flipped the drop down "Custom" to All and I was able to see the Channel Selection. regards Sri.

scook I looked at MFX the plug-ins and it seems to have a Filter Function for mapping Input Channels to Different Output Channels. Looks like what I was looking for. Thanks also to point out that unlike CAL, this would work in-line in real time. regards

scook CAL cannot process data in real time but drum maps, and MFX plug-in do. If passing data on to hardware, MFX plug-ins may be the simplest solution. Thanks a lot for the above as it will get me going in the right direction. Use the channel drop down in the track header or track inspector to force the channel Can you elaborate on this - as I tried various things, but not able to navigate to this function. May be a screen shot or two?? regards

I am posting this to get a clearer understanding and confirmation of the situation. I have gone through most of the posts and I still not clear about whether the below is possible (without invoking complex pathways) or not. Here is the basic question: 1) I create a MIDI track. 2) Assign its Input to a MIDI Source and a Specific Channel (like RTPMIDI, 3) No issues here. Works fine. I can play Geoshred on iPad and record the events. I an also play the recorded events on my KORG PA600. 3) I want to assign the MIDI Output to a specific/different midi Channel (MIDI Output -> KorgPA600, Out Channel -> 2) I am able to select [a different MIDI] Destination, but unable to select a Channel. Is this the current behavior? and cannot be changed? I would also like to understand why this constraint/situation Moving further on, what are the mechanisms that can be used for doing filtering and transformations of Input MIDI Events before sending to MIDI Output? I feel confident that this may be possible with CAL, but wonder if there are other UI panels for doing this. Thanks in advance regards

User 905133 no worries and please no need for apologies as all of us miss things and also can be blind to the ambiguities we inject into our communications. I imported Korg/Korg Drum INS definitions now, just to rule out possible issues with default INS definitions. Have not checked it out yet. But I have a question. In Cakewalk how does one Mark a Channel as "Drums". Is Channel 10 is fixed/defined to be "Drums" (per MIDI convention) and cannot be changed? regards

User 901533, Mcleod Thanks for your additions to this conversation. I was just away on other fronts for a few days - and so the delayed response. If you read my last carefully, you will see that I have exercised all avenues very rigorously and methodically, including the ones you are suggesting, showing you carefully the results. (I did not pursue SYSEX as this does not belong to that "domain" and warrant invoking those mechanisms). So I concluded that there is something else going on, and is not of my causing. I will resume soon and try to figure out . regards

Update.. Good News: I did find two CAL commands, sendMIDI and INSERT which might do the job. Not so good news.. sendMIDI is ignoring parameters Just putting this out here, in case anyone knows why this is happening.. is it a known issue???. ; --------------------------------------------- ; Sri Style Select CAL. Created this and executed it. Via Process->... ; (do (pause "Starting ") ;(sendMIDI 1 15 PATCH 100) ; takes only one argument. Though DOC says 2 (sendMIDI 1 15 CONTROL 00 00) ; ignores the second 00. See (1) below (sendMIDI 1 15 CONTROL 32 27) ; ignores 27 See (2) below (sendMIDI 1 15 PATCH 8 ) ; ignores 8 See (3) below (pause "Done ") ) ; -------------------------------------- ; executed without visible errors. =============================== Incoming MIDI Events in Midi Ox MIDI commands are coming out.. But they are missing the parameter values... Obviously cannot do the right thing on PA600 Keyboard.. TIMESTAMP IN PORT STATUS DATA1 DATA2 CHAN NOTE EVENT 1) 000EE6B5 3 -- BF 00 00 16 --- CC: Bank MSB Missing the second argument 2) 000EE6B5 3 -- BF 20 00 16 --- CC: Bank LSB Missing the second argument 3) 000EE6B5 3 -- CF 00 -- 16 --- PC: Acc. Grand Piano Missing the first argument regards

bvideo I agree - for just name mapping, which is actually quite important for Drums, ins definitions would be sufficient. But if the same ins file can be used for generating drum maps (and possibly adding some more power and flexibility) it is better to go with drum maps (not sure what the cons are). But with percussion and drums, especially Indian, a given named note would require many strokes at the same time -- for example a specific note on the Left Side of the Drum and another on the Right hand side of the drum, Such composites strokes would have a simple Name, but generate multiple MIDI events. Drum Maps provide general mechanisms for doing these. I do use drum maps. I am not yet sure whether Cake Walk Drum Maps are capable of doing this - or one has to resort to Articulation Maps (whose design center in Cakewalk may or may not be suited for One-Logical-Key-Press -> Multiple-Physical-Midi-Events). regards Sri

Chris.r Thanks for your suggestion. Here are my observations: a) I have been using these MIDI Sequences for several years now. They are well tested and are used in my Python Midi Generators/Players. b) Not all the actions one can invoke, pressing various buttons or making selections, on a Hardware Keyboard, like Korg or Technics, are actually emitted on the MIDI-out. This is usually the case for many proprietary command sequences. However, many of them usually have MIDI IN sequences for control. Not sure of the technical rationale for this situation. Sometimes, such actions are sent out as opaque/undocumented Sysex messages - and so does not enable user to create/insert them into MIDI files. This issue should be behind me soon, as I pin down some nuances in Cakewalk. For example, numbering of tracks and channels (0+ based, though UI is 1+). I am more focused on creating a CAL script if it all possible, as it will far more flexible and reliable - than manual entry. The script can perform the calculations, checks and actions. I have not yet figured the CAL command for inserting a MIDI Command into track at a selected time. regards

An update... More on using the Events List (thanks to SCOOK for the reiterating persuasion) to add Style Select/Switch MIDI sequence. I did monitor what is coming out of Cakewalk by routing it to Midi Ox. I can confirm that the specific MIDI sequence is coming out Cakewalk, and is not being filtered out some how (including by some validation checks). This is good news. Now I can focus on what I am doing wrong. regards P.S. Some Look Ahead Questions.... Is there was anyway to add a sequence of [valid] commands which is not one of the canned list. For example, a sequence which has silencing all notes, changing drum kit tuning for a series of drum kit keys, and reenabling all sounds. Or issuing a complex series of portamento sequences, changing start and end points and portamento time etc. Colin/CAL experts: can these insertions be done through CAL scripts? It would be so much more reliable and easier.

Colin Thanks for the pointer and confirm that it is you. I read that a couple of days ago and found it very useful. Very well written. I was wondering whether it is you and now I know. regards