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Sunvox with midi encoders, light-up pads, etc

Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2017 7:04 pm
by TheMonopluralist
Hey hey forum buddies,

I am awaiting delivery of a class-compliant midi controller keyboard (arturia minilab mk2) which has "endless" rotary controllers which send midi cc messages, and LED-illuminated pads. I was wondering how sunvox deals with these. So, some questions hopefully someone can help me with:

1) If I map an encoder to a specific parameter of a specific module, will sunvox be able to update the controller value if I change it in the software (e.g. with the mouse)? This would help avoid parameter jumps when touching the encoders.

2) If I load a saved sunvox song file which has midi controller assignments already created before it was saved, will it be able to send the current cc values of the assigned parameters out to the controller? This would make it possible to load different songs without the "parameter jump" issue when touching an encoder for the first time.

3) I am aware that the module bypass and mute options are not directly midi controllable - i figure there's probably a workaround but haven't got round to looking into it. Assuming this is doable, the same questions as above really: can sunvox send some kind of snapshot of midi cc values either on project load, or if values are updated e.g. via the mouse? This would enable me to see which effects are "active" by looking to see which pads are lit up. Alternatively, if someone has a workaround or a different way of achieving a similar result I would love to hear it.

Re: Sunvox with midi encoders, light-up pads, etc

Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2017 11:48 pm
by NightRadio
I am awaiting delivery of a class-compliant midi controller keyboard (arturia minilab mk2) which has "endless" rotary controllers
Endless MIDI controllers are not supported in SunVox now. And there is no MIDI controller feedback, so you can't send the SunVox controller value back to the hardware MIDI device automatically.
But i plan to implement it in one of the new SunVox updates.
You can help me to test it :)

Bypass, Mute and Solo buttons can be controlled by the shortcuts which can be assigned to the MIDI buttons too. But again there is no MIDI feedback

Re: Sunvox with midi encoders, light-up pads, etc

Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2017 12:25 am
by TheMonopluralist
Thanks for letting me know the current status. Good to know that I can use shortcuts for Bypass, Mute, Solo with MIDI buttons.

I would love to help you by testing! I feel that this program is amazing, and am so happy that you continue working on it. Please just let me know how to help! I use sunvox on a raspberry pi 3 with touchscreen, and an android mobile phone, and also windows (8.1 and 10), so can test in all or any of these environments for you.

Re: Sunvox with midi encoders, light-up pads, etc

Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2017 1:24 pm
by NightRadio
Ok, thank you!
I will tell you when the new beta-version (with endless MIDI ctls support) is ready for testing

Re: Sunvox with midi encoders, light-up pads, etc

Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2017 8:19 pm
by TheMonopluralist
No problem, thanks very much!

Maybe what I've learned so far will help somebody:

After doing a little bit of research I have discovered that my expectations of how endless encoders sometimes work was probably wrong. I didn't understand that "relative mode" was achieved by sending a string of midi cc messages from a very limited range (such as cc65-cc67 for a clockwise turn of the encoder, depending on the speed at which it is turned) which is expected to be understood by the software as something like "increase current value". My Behringer BCR2000 has endless encoders but they seem to send out absolute values (at least, when using the 5-pin DIN outputs) if I recall correctly. I don't actually know about my MidiFighter Twister but I actually think it might also use an absolute mode. I have used these things in a "hardware only" setup (via a Bomebox that allows me to use class-compliant usb-midi devices without needing a real computer in the chain) and they always seem to have worked how I had expected with my other hardware. The arturia keyboard I have ordered has options to use the encoders in either absolute mode (sends cc values from 0-127) or in one of three relative mode settings. I expect that the absolute mode MAY provide some level of functionality with sunvox already, but won't be able to test this until it arrives, at which point I will provide an update in this thread.

Re: Sunvox with midi encoders, light-up pads, etc

Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2017 1:20 am
by TheMonopluralist
Update: keyboard arrived.
As I sort of expected, using the encoders in "absolute" mode, instead of "relative" mode, did provide a level of functionality in sunvox (yay). Of course, as with almost any midi controller, it is somewhat limited in that there is no way to assign midi channels to modules directly (just the keyboard split method) although something can be achieved by mapping the encoders to whatever (global) channel the keyboard is set to use, and then changing the global channel so the encoders' mappings change too (of course without midi feedback at this stage).