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        MIDI-OX >> Scripting Questions >> Momentary note ON/OFF to  "latching"
        
(Message started by: KorgMan on Dec 5^th, 2021, 4:16pm)

Title: Momentary note ON/OFF to "latching"
Post by KorgMan on Dec 5^th, 2021, 4:16pm

Hi folks...

I have an FCB1010 foot controller which sends out separate note on/off messages for some of its pedals ( 1 - 8 )

They are momentary in that it gives note on when the pedal is pressed and note off when released.

I'm trying to set the FCB1010 up to control native instruments Guitar rig VST (in Cubase).

Guitar Rig recognizes the note on/off OK, but what I'm trying to do is switch effects on/off in the the rack via the pedals with a LATCHING signal.

As it stands the effect only switches on momentarily while the pedal is pressed then goes off immediately once pedal is released.

My thought is that the best thing to do might be to convert the note ON/OFF into a CC message to be received by Guitar Rig VST.

However, I can't quite get my head around how to make it happen via MIDIOX...

It needs to be "alternating" between CC value 0 and 127 each time I send the note ON/OFF message.

Is the MIDI OX translator able to do this?

Or... could a script be written - does MIDI OX runs scripts?

Quite a simple thing really, in fact it's easy if the software your controlling has a built-in capability to interperate messages as "latching" like Ableton does - but I'm not aware of any such capability in Cubase or Guitar Rig.

Any help would be appreciated, many thanks :)

Title: Re: Momentary note ON/OFF to "latching"
Post by Breath on Dec 5^th, 2021, 7:19pm

Hi,
if you are confused about how to do it from the FCB10101's front panel, there are editors available for the Behringer FCB1010 that will let you change what Midi messages the foot switches and pedals put out.
Here is one written by Mark van den Berg, a friend of mine...
https://mountainutilities.eu/fcb1010

There is a rewritten firmware for the FCB1010 (with a bit of code from me in it as well 8 ) ...), but you need to open up the unit and swap the memory chip.
Not hard to do and really well worth the effort.
It changes the FCB1010 from 'very ordinary' to one of the best foot controllers available.
Lots of bug fixes and extra features ... and links to a big user group for help.
https://www.fcb1010.eu/uno.html

Mark's editor is only for the stock standard FCB1010 not the UNO, but there are a couple of free editors available that handle both versions.

There is a commercial editor available, but I'm not sure why you would bother.

Either way, you should be able to program one or all of the FCB1010 presets to do what you want without having to go through MidiOx.

That being said, if you still want to go that way let me know and I'll show you how to do it.

All the best
Royce

Title: Re: Momentary note ON/OFF to "latching"
Post by KorgMan on Dec 5^th, 2021, 7:43pm

Hi Royce,

I'm aware of the uno upgrade and would be considering this in future - even just to get toggling lights on the individual pedals!

I have the current mountain FCB editor as well as on older version.

Current version allows me to specify CC# for the individual pedals but only one value, whereas the older version allows two values. Neither here-nor-there though as in both cases it still remains a momentary switch rather than latching.

There something rather vague about latch mode in the cubase manual under midi expression control but I can't for the life of me figure out how to get that to work!

So.. until I decide to fork out on an uno chip.. I think MIDI ox might be my best option.

[I'm also fairly convinced it could be done with max MSP and in fact have been experimenting with it, but no luck yet... it's been a frustrating day so far!]

Title: Re: Momentary note ON/OFF to "latching"
Post by Breath on Dec 7^th, 2021, 9:51pm

on 12/05/21 at 19:43:57, KorgMan wrote:

Hi I'm aware of the uno upgrade and would be considering this in future - even just to get toggling lights on the individual pedals!

OK. You might like to browse through the UNO user group that moved from Yahoo to groups.io for some comments about the versions later than Ossandust's UNO v1.0.4
https://fcb1010.groups.io/g/uno/messages

Quote:

I have the current mountain FCB editor as well as on older version.

Excellent

Quote:

Current version allows me to specify CC# for the individual pedals but only one value, whereas the older version allows two values. Neither here-nor-there though as in both cases it still remains a momentary switch rather than latching.

I needed the latch for a MIDI wind controller I was playing, but ossandust had added so many extra features (and bug fixes) that he needed for playing the organ that there was close to no space left in the EPROM.
I implemented the latch code for CC, in my case one press to turn on and next press to turn off, but to set it up in a switch ended up as a bit of a complicated process.

Note that I don't think Mark's editor supports UNO, but there are other editors that do.

Quote:

There something rather vague about latch mode in the cubase manual under midi expression control but I can't for the life of me figure out how to get that to work!

So.. until I decide to fork out on an uno chip.. I think MIDI ox might be my best option.

I see that there is now a number of commercial versions that may have nothing to do with the original Uno code so be careful.
There is some reaction to the various new 'versions'.
My latch code is part of v1.0.4 and was my last connection to UNO.

Unfortunately, in latching as you are trying to 'flip' the state of something so MidiOx would have to remember what the state the receiving device currently is.
So if you used Note On 64 (C4) MidiOx could change it to CC34 value=1.
On the next Note On 64, MidiOx has to remember that it has already set CC34 to 1 and must now swap it to value=0.

In MidiOx the only way to do this is with a script. There are a number of script examples in various programming languages that came with MidiOx.
Check out the F1 help and go to the bottom of the subject list.

Quote:

[I'm also fairly convinced it could be done with max MSP and in fact have been experimenting with it, but no luck yet... it's been a frustrating day so far!]

That might be worth persevering with.

All the best
Royce

Title: Re: Momentary note ON/OFF to "latching"
Post by KorgMan on Dec 8^th, 2021, 8:32am

Hi Royce,

Thanks for your comprehensive answer!

I have to hold my hands up at this point and admit that in the end, I managed to fix my problem embarrassingly easily - the plugin (NI Guitar Rig 6) has macros which automatically convert the midi notes to latching "switches" - I just wasn't using them!

That said, I'm still interested in the possibility of running scripts in MIDIOX, having just begun a newbie's journey into programming in general...

I had a look at the help file in MIDIOX and have a rather dumb "fundamental" question:

Would I be right in thinking one needs the relevant COM server to run scripts on MIDIOX... I checked one of the script samples from the website and the ZIP contained "VBClient4.exe" - so this is presumably the environment for running VB scripts? If I wanted to run C++ or Jscript, I would need the relevant client?

Admittedly I have barely the first clue about any of the above languages, having just taken my first baby steps into learning processing (Java) and built the odd patch in Max... just trying to get things straight in my head!

Many thanks and best wishes, David.

Title: Re: Momentary note ON/OFF to "latching"
Post by KorgMan on Dec 8^th, 2021, 9:39am

hmmm. interestingly, when I try to run VBclient4, i get an error saying COMDLG32.OCX or one of its dependencies is not registered correctly...

I get the feeling there's something missing in my system