Midi Track and Automation

[Sridhar Raghavan]

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).

 

 

 

[Sridhar Raghavan]

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.

[Sridhar Raghavan]

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.

[scook]

The Mix workspace hides the channel drop down in instrument and MIDI track headers. To see the drop down either change to a workspace that displays the control, create a custom workspace or set workspaces to None.

The channel drop down (betweem B and C in the image below) is always available in the track inspector.

[Promidi]

I might be wrong on this, but I believe that what you need to set is the MIDI track's actual channel. (under where you enter any MIDI FX)

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.

I sequence 16 channel MIDI files for an SW1000XG, which is a 32 track (I only use the first 16), multitimbral XG MIDI playback card.

In CbB,  I have 16 MIDI tracks.  Each of those MIDI tracks has their MIDI channels numbered 1 to 16 respectively.  This means that the MIDI channels use the MIDI track's MIDI channels.  These MIDI channels settings override any channels set in the events themselves.  This way, the notes and events get sent to the correct part on the SW1000XG.

Personally, I have only ever used the PRV single Controller Lane for the many controllers I use in my sequences.  I actually find these more flexible (and access to the transform tool)

[Sridhar Raghavan]

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?

 

[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??

[Sridhar Raghavan]

scook

Thanks for your tip. Missed yours after reading ProMidi. 

I will follow your suggestion.

 

[Sridhar Raghavan]

 

scook/Promidi

Just what I needed. Your PNG and getting Default Midi Channel right, helped me to locate where I can set the MIDI channel. Will give that a try now.

Thanks.

[scook]

To display multiple PRVs, after opening the first PRV, right-click the tab at the bottom of the PRV in the multidock and "Lock Contents". Repeat as needed.

[Promidi]

30 minutes ago, Sridhar Raghavan said:

Unfortunately, I am not seeing any menu/ways for setting the MIDI Channel for the Midi Track I have already in place.

In track view, select you midi track and then open the inspector (Press i )

It's under where you enter MIDI FX plugins.....  look for three fields with “none”.  The top one is the track's MIDI channel.  Click on that to change from “none” to MIDI channel.

[Sridhar Raghavan]

scook/ProMidi

Thanks a lot. I am now able to change the default MIDI channel on each track and have the automations working on the right channel.

I did/do this manually.
Appreciate if you can indicate how can do this in the script below, which I use often to split a recording where all channels are in one Track.
While Track Name is getting set correctly, the Track Channel is not getting setting right.

Whether I not using the right Command? or that command is not working anymore?

=================================================

; SriKorg.cal

;
; Sri KOrg Creates 16 Midi Tracks
;

(do
    (include "need20.cal")    ; Require version 2.0 or higher of CAL

    (int nTrk 1)

    (getInt nTrk "First destination track?" 1 256)
    ; (-- nTrk)    ; CAL uses 0..255

    (int nChannel 0)  ; nChannel declaration and set to 0

    (while (< nChannel 16) ; going from 0,1,2...15
        (do
            (TrackName (format "Split Chan " nChannel) nTrk)   
            (TrackActive TRUE nTrk)
            (TrackChannel nChannel nTrk)            
            (++ nChannel)
        )
    )
    (pause "done")
)

==========================

[scook]

Looks like a heavy edited version of the Split Channel to Tracks CAL bundled with CbB but unlike the original script nTrk is not getting incremented along with nChannel. This seems like an important step so that each channel resides on a separate track.

[Promidi]

Is this what you’re after?

(do
    (include "need20.cal")    ; Require version 2.0 or higher of CAL

    (int nTrk 1)

    (getInt nTrk "First destination track?" 1 256)
    (-- nTrk)    ; CAL uses 0..255

    (int nChannel 0)  ; nChannel declaration and set to 0

    (while (< nChannel 16) ; going from 0,1,2...15
        (do
            (TrackName (format "Split Chan " (+ nChannel 1)) nTrk)   
            (TrackActive TRUE nTrk)
            (TrackChannel nChannel nTrk)            
            (++ nChannel)
            (++ nTrk)
        )
      
    )
    (pause "done")
)

[Sridhar Raghavan]

scook/Promid

Thanks a lot. Both of you are absolutely right. My eyes did not catch that silly little bug - of missing statement.
I will update and confirm.  
This is wonderful.

[Sridhar Raghavan]

Looks like I sent you the wrong script (which was a debugging aid).  Thanks for the help regardless.

I ran the correct script and everything worked fine, including setting the names and default channels.

Here is the screen shot, where the first track contains all the midi channels and the script creates one track per channel.