Automation CC1 & 11 via the MOD wheel on a midi keyboard?

[Theo Ussay]

Hello, I am a new CbB user learning to compose on a DAW! I used to compose with a real piano and a pencil - yeap, this kind of humans still exist in 2021!

But I adapted. ?So I am with CbB as a new starter. I am using a Korg microkey 37 and I watched loads of youtube tutorials but still cannot figure out how to map the MOD wheel to CC11 for writing automation whilst I play the tiny keyboards. I tried ACT lean function, but nothing suggested CC 1 or 11 or 21 on the ACT control panel. I also tried to select MIDI from the dropdown menu of the automation track (aka A1) to enter the "MIDI envelope" and select Control (type) --- 11-Expression (value) --- channel11 (channel), but nothing happened when I use the MOD wheel on my Korg microkey37.  One thing strange happened tho - I could see midi signal input on the VST track but I heard no changes in the expression of the sound. So, I must be missing something. Could any one help me to solve this so I don't need to return to composing with a piano and a pencil?? Thank you!  

Edited June 15, 2021 by Theo Ussay

[scook]

Have a look at the 64bit TenCrazy PW-Map MFX from https://www.tencrazy.com/gadgets/mfx/

[Johnny Tsao]

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Edited March 12 by Johnny Tsao

[bitflipper]

^^^ This would be the best for you. It's usually better to do the translation at the source rather than recording the "wrong" CC and translating it on the fly during playback.

There are also programmable MIDI controllers that provide general-purpose knobs and sliders that can be assigned to any MIDI CC or note you want. Since you like compact devices, check out Korg's nanoKontrol. It's cheap and small enough to fit into a laptop case.

[rfssongs]

Korg NanoKontrol is a nice little tool for this - fairly inexpensive as well.

[Theo Ussay]

@bitflipper & @rfssongs YES - I do want to purchase a Korg NanoKontrol 2, I just thought that I should learn how to map a single basic mod wheel before using a more complicated midi controller.  Looks like this thingy isn't that simple - I followed what @Johnny Tsao suggested and download the driver and Kontrol Editor to assign my mod wheel to CC11 via Communication function. I clicked "save" after I finished the reassignment in the Korg Kontrol app. I have no idea what the save filed is for but I kept it anyways. Then I opened CbB and got this message...

The solution I got on YouTube was to uninstall the USB-MIDI driver - which is required to use the Korg Kontorl Editor. Anyways, I uninstalled it. Then I tried to assign my CC1 to CC11 again without the USB-MIDI driver. Then opened CbB. This time the microkey is detected and I have no problem using it, but on my VST (Spitfire Studio LAB plugins), the mod wheel is still with the default CC1 after I used the learn function comes with the LAB plugins, not the CC11 I reassigned via the Korg Kontrol Editor. 

I then go ahead to record a couple of measurements by using the only wheel I have to control both CC1 & CC11. Then it turned out that the data from the mod wheel is merged into the same track with the notes. Even if I opened the automation track, there's no data there and I found no ways to separate the notes and the data I "drew" via the mod wheel.  

Okay... it's bit lengthy. Let me sum up a bit.

1. The mod wheel assignment still didn't work after using the Korg Kontrol Editor + Korg USB-MIDI driver, and the USB - MIDI driver somehow made CbB unable to detect my mini keyboard. After uninstalled the USB-MINI driver and reassigned the mod wheel via Kontrol Editor again, I still don't see the desired result when using a VST plugin with ready-made learn function.  

2. I then used the ready-made learn function of LAB VST, I used my only mod wheel to control both CC1 & CC11, but turned out the automation data are all put together in the same track with musical midi notes. However, they should be in a separate dependent automation track. How could I put these data into an A1 or A2 track whilst recording/playing my keyboard? 

These problems seem to relate to each other, as a newbie these basic settings all seem pretty complicated - but I imagine a DAW is here to make the life of a composer simpler, right? ?

 I really love how generous everyone on the CbB community is and I am sorry if my questions irritated anyone ?

PS

The plugin recommended by @scook looks promising, I would give it a try after I learn how to solve the problem of using mod wheels to draw automation in the automation tracks.

 

[rfssongs]

I am a little confused by all of your steps however note the following:

* The learn function won't cause the controller to send a different CC. It will just cause the program or Plug In to react to the CC you set up. You might want to just set your VST to the default of the control. Look at the event list to verify what you now have sending from your controller.

* If you are using the automation you don't have to reset your device to another CC unless you have a conflict. If you have already reset your device it may still be remembering what you reprogramed & may confuse things a bit if you think CC1 is still being sent by the mod wheel.

* Learn is also fairly simple too but I have found I prefer to draw the shapes anyway because it creates less data & because the automation tends to jump back to value while you are not moving the controller. I'm sure there's a solution I just never bothered.

* If you want to split CC data from a track to paste into another track you can use edit select by filter in a midi track. There is also apparently now a way to move your CC to an automation track. I have not used it yet but you could look into that as well.

* On the NanoKontrol it's been a while but I don't recall have any problems setting it up. The program is easy to use. Just make your own map, say on excel or something.

Here's mine so far:

 

Good Luck.