Basic chord layout

Question

MIDI Target Manufacturer(s): Original, Generic

Hi. Total noob here.

Trying to do a chord trigger control surface on ipad for PC arranger OMB (One man band), so it changes key of style.  What I want to have is about 60 pads on the screen that would trigger chords of my choice. Do not know where to start. The layout part (creating visual buttons and such) is more or less clear. But how do I program the actual button? Can somebody give me an example of how to program Em chord on a pad, so I can try to do all others from example.

Please see attached image. It was easy to set this up within the PC program, since all the midi parameters were entered for me by the program. I just assigned chords to pads. I want to make similar layout control for ipad.

Would very much appreciate your help.

Thank you.

P.S. There is an ipad app called Chordion, which is very clean and robust and does exactly what I want, but it only allows 24 chords on one page.

Images

layout

Comments

Multiple MIDI messages (chords, in this case) are easy in MIDI Designer, but very work intensive for you. Here's the biggest piece of the puzzle: https://mididesigner.com/qa/21/one-control-multiple-messages

In the future, we'll allow multiple MIDI messages per control, but for now... you'll be creating about 180 more buttons than you have... actually, it's less. Make sure to reuse!

Also, check out transpose in MD. This could be quite fun.

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Hi.
Thank you for the answer. I did as you suggested (Wow! You were right, many buttons to make!) It was straight forward, but here are 2 issues I ran into:
1) I made a chord layout with roughly 60 chords so far. One chord per button using "Supercontrol" (3-4 notes each in sub-control).  Now , I can not use "unique" notes as many other chords are using same note., so now each time I press chord button I made, all other chords that "share" the note light up. I do understand the "logic", but on the other hand, whole philosophy about graphical design is to make things... how to put it better... visually pleasing. Is it possible to stop the button "light show" in any way, so that only pressed button is lighted"
2) You suggested "hiding" subcontrols under supercontrol buttons... Well I went a bit different route, and started piling up all subcontrols one on top of the other. Now the problem is, if I made a mistake, somewhere half way, I would have to move about 100 buttons to get to the one that had error. Is there a way to bring in subcontrol without moving many buttons? As of right now, there is only delete option, under EDIT of supercontrol button.

Kindly let me know.
Thank you!

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For #2, I would suggest putting them on other pages (or even other banks... tap and hold on the BANK selector next to the page tabs to get other page banks) to avoid the whole problem. Stacking is hard, but there is "Send to Back" under delete, but that's not really workable for multiple layers. Another bank that's not visible is good. Remember, while there are actual, visible pages here, on some level there's no "weight" to the pages (they just exist in memory).

For #1, "now each time I press chord button I made, all other chords that 'share' the note light up.".... I'll do some testing and see if I can replicate this behavior. That's not my first thought of how this is supposed to work.

So I'll circle back about #1.

Thanks!
Dan

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Dan,  Thank you for replying!
I sorted buttons on other banks as you suggested.
I think I pin pointed when other buttons that share note light up. Here is the scenario:

Only Midi OUT set on Midi Designer.
When I am NOT connected to the arranger, when supercontrol buttons are pressed and "other"buttons that share same note do NOT lit up.
When I connect to the arranger and press chord trigger buttons the corresponding "supercontrol" buttons that share notes lite up.

Maybe this will give you a clue.

P.S. I initially thought that it is some sort of Midi echo, but with Midi IN port deselected in Midi Design, that should not be the issue.

I hope I am being clear. If not, I can make a short video and send it to you if you prefer.

Kindly let me know.

Best regards,
Mike.

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Hey there, please send me the layout to dan [at] mididesigner [dot] com (directly from Config -> Actions) and include qa5579 in the Subject... and when you say the "arranger," can you remind me of what that is?

Also remember that MD has a LOG so you can get a clue as to what's happening. Use the CLEAR button to not be looking at too much data

Thanks!

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Oh the PC arranger... so it must be something that's coming back from the arranger. Make sure you've got Supercontrols Send Own Values set to OFF in config.

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Thank you for suggestion.
Supercontrols send own values were set to off. This was not the case.
I narrowed down further. It is not the arranger! "Extra" buttons start light up when I start the program called Midimux server on PC.  It is a very popular bridge software between ios and PC.  In any case,  I sent layout to you.  Please let me know.
Thank you!

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sounds like MidiMux is causing a loop. You can check the log to verify this, but you can also just shut off MIDI Receive for the supercontrols: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/i67mxzfqo5hzcmp/Screen%20Shot%202017-02-01%20at%203.19.50%20PM.png?dl=0

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Dan,
Than you very much! Yes that worked.

One other thing. App store shows that there is an update 2.8.0, but once I click on it, it starts the download "circle" and than stops, showing that update is "still" available. All other apps that needed update, were updated without a problem. Restarted ipad, same thing.


P.S. Minor suggestion. I wish that app would open straight to the layout. I am guessing here, but I believe most of people who use MidiDesigner bought it for very specific tasks and once they designed their layout they going, most likely to stick to it or implement minor changes.  Or have an option of "Start app with layout X,Y..."   I am sure it was done as it was done for a reason, but I though to share my opinion.

Please let me know about the update.
Thanks!

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Thanks, regarding your issues with the App Store update: Apple is a multi-billion dollar company that runs the App Store and the App Store app is indeed created by Apple. And there are 36.6 million results on your question:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/6yp8seotxj87763/Screen%20Shot%202017-02-02%20at%206.57.02%20PM.png?dl=0

But let's see: when you say "restarted the iPad" you mean that you did a hard boot?

Regarding the minor suggestion: we're working on it: http://mididesigner.com/qa/5382/remove-welcome-screen-in-mdp2?show=5382#q5382  2.81 will allow you to do this, but if it's urgent, purchase the EFP and you'll see this button.

Thanks!
Dan

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Dan,
Thanks. Yes, I did a hard reset and and many other things. What helped was completely signing out of ipad / app store and signing back in. Finally, that way it was updated to 2.8
You must be tired of me by now already :)  Couple of other things please.
Is it possible to connect to PC via bluetooth? I enable and made discoverable BT on my PC.  My PC says connected to ipad. MidiDesigner loops on "Searching for Bluetooth LE MIDI device... Also loops on Searching for WiFi connections.

Thank you.

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Hey there, not tired at all!

So regarding BT: do you Win 10 Anniversary Edition: https://blogs.windows.com/buildingapps/2016/09/21/midi-enhancements-in-windows-10/
??

Also: rtpMIDI for Windows should let you do MIDI over Wifi: https://www.tobias-erichsen.de/software/rtpmidi.html

Thanks!
Dan