MIDI data not being implemented for Octave Shift

[winkpain]

Is there anyone out there familiar with using the nord electro (mine is the 2) as a MIDI controller with CbB??

All is well and as expected with keyboard play and buttons and knobs for controllers except for the Octave Shift buttons (cc 29 from the nord) do not alter the MIDI notes being received from the keyboard, so no octave shift is obtained as would be expected or desired. These buttons do shift the octave of the onboard sounds on the nord, so the hardware is functioning.

The nord manual indicates that this MIDI octave shift data should be sent as expected and that the only MIDI info not implemented is the pitch shift and mod wheel data, because, well, the keyboard doesn't come with those pieces of hardware. No surprise there.

I can determine that MIDI data is being sent when pressing these Octave buttons and that Cakewalk is indeed receiving it at cc 29, however no change occurs.

I know how to filter the incoming note info once received in order for the notes to play at the desired octave (with note transpose sliders on the MIDI offset control in CW, for example) but the notes as seen by CW still get recorded/notated in the default octave. I can then select all and transpose, of course, but obviously this is all just a tiresome workaround. And I know how to assign MIDI controllers to functions in the DAW, but this octave shift function, so basic and ubiquitous, seems to not be available to assignment.

How and where does Cakewalk receive and use this octave shift data from MIDI keyboards? 

Is it, in fact at controller number cc 29 ?

Is there a way to go in and edit it to use cc 29 if not??

[bvideo]

What a pain. The Nord should have just shifted the notes before sending them. As it is, the track you record from the Nord would probably play back correctly on the Nord, but not on other synths. Also, most likely, the octave shift CC will not be sent when switching to a program preset that has a programmed octave shift. Again, not friendly to other synths.

It's possible a CAL script could run through a track and replace all the CC 29s with the appropriate octave shifting. Hopefully the CC event has an included value to indicate which direction to shift. And beware sustain (CC-64) messages and also notes held across a CC-29. But  the shift in a patch change probably won't be seen and may confuse your entire strategy. Also, what happens when you send MIDI notes to the NORD outside of the configured range? Would a track restructured this way still play back correctly?

CAL is a custom scripting language built in to Cakewalk. If you have a programming background you could do it. There are also a few people on this forum that are so skilled that they might volunteer to do it for you.

 

[JoseC]

Octave Shift for CC29  is not a standard MIDI implementation. As bvideo said above, a  hardware keyboard should send the actual note number, and not expect it to be transposed on reception. 

https://www.midi.org/forms/midi_chart-v2.pdf

[JoseC]

That seems to be a strange limitation of the Nord Electro. 

 

https://www.norduserforum.com/nord-electro-forum-f9/electro-as-midi-keyboard-change-octave-t13385.html

[winkpain]

Ah well. Thank you @JoseC and @bvideo

I thought it was likely not an easy situation.

As I said, according to the nord manual in its MIDI Implementation section, it says that:

"If you use the OCTAVE SHIFT function, you can transpose the Nord Electro 2
keyboard ± 2 octaves (if the selected instrument supports this)."

which is, of course, a little vague but makes it sound like they thought of it at least. The octave shift function is such a basic and ubiquitous function on all keyboards, I just took it for granted that it would work the way it's..... supposed to(?) But it seems that they are expecting an "instrument" (a DAW in my case) to support CC 29 as octave shift messages. I wonder which ones, if any, do...

And yes, I assumed that the change would be internal to the keyboard itself and that it would just alter the note numbers by an octave before the keyboard sent them.  And I didn't think that cc 29 as an octave shift was standard implementation as I've never seen octave shift ever being listed on any controller legend. But.... I figured I'd ask.

Using the nord is just my only option where I am at the moment. It is not a huge deal to do the MIDI transposing on a per track basis  for the time being, and a CAL script is a clever idea, but not necessary or worth it for now.

 

Thanks again!