MIDI Control for audio tracks on Play+

[andrija.brljak]

Hello everyone,

is it possible (and if so how) to control the parameters of the Play+ 8 audio tracks (volume, filter cut-off, etc.) via MIDI CC from an external MIDI controller?

I don’t see how to assign the MIDI IN channel to the audio tracks … and I guess this should be possible - like every groovebox/sampler I owned in the last 20+ years had this option

Thanx,

A.

[katzi]

That’s not possible.

[andrija.brljak]

Oh wow

Well that’s strange … I read about it in the meantime and I see a lot of people already addressed the issue with MIDI IN in general.

But why? So strange
It seems like an obvious and necessary capability - I mean, what good is it if you can only control one track in real-time?!

Is there a plan to add it to a future firmware update?

I saw that there were some updates in the latest firmware that are labeled as WISH. Can we add this to the next firmware? Is there like a vote/poll for the features?

Without MIDI capabilities, this is really just an overpriced sequencer

(so demoralized now … never in my wildest dreams would I assumed such an essential feature was overlooked)

[Patrick]

Hi and welcome to the community, nice to have you here!

If you have a feature request, you can always create a wish. Its essentially a voting system, once it gets enough votes (above 20) it will be discussed by the devs. Not guaranteed that it will be implemented though.

Feature Requests

There are similar wishes like this one from 2023 where you can vote:

MIDI control over patterns

What is the problem? MIDI control over patterns is very important in complex setups, when player is trying to automate things, making his/her devices “speak” with each other. It’s especially important for live performances when player often doesn’t even have a spare second or free hands while playing a keyboard, a guitar or whatnot. Still, there’s a need to switch from one musical part to another or introduce some movement in play’s arrangement, but the device isn’t capable of “listening” to ext…

General advice would be, work with what you currently have, although the devices are actively developed, it can take several months/years before new things arrive.

[andrija.brljak]

Thanks for the info - I appreciate it

I have created a new feature request:

MIDI Control for Audio Tracks - input channel & CC

What is the problem? The audio sampling tracks (green) have no MIDI control capabilities. In other words, there is no way to use MIDI to control the parameters (filter cutoff/resonance, volume, pitch, etc.) of different audio tracks in real-time. The only way to tweak/modify a parameter (example: Filter Cutoff) for all notes in an audio track is by selecting the track and then tweaking the knob on the panel. If more audio tracks are selected, all knobs you turn on the panel affect all selected…

Hopefully people will vote.
I feel so stupid now because I did not check this before purchase - it just seemed like one of those things that is a no-brainer (like you will not check if there are wheels on a car).

I glanced around … and it seems that even the most upvoted features are not really implemented fast … so I am afraid my next post will be “Mint condition Play+ for sale in Copenhagen”

[Patrick]

Get familiar with it first, its one of the best around. Many happy users here😉
And thanks for the wish!

[andrija.brljak]

I will (am trying to) … I mean - everything else is really great. This is why I bought it.

Actually the ability to have track of different lengths and speed sold it for me - because I like to experiment with polyrhythmic sequences.

I know that there are cool features such as randomization, chance and all that. But that all seems like extra flavor to me (nice, but not essential). This thing, however, seems kinda essential.

We will see.

[ambivalence]

dude, I wouldn’t hope. my midi «wishes» were posted early 23’, midi implementation was promised in late 2022 when Play just released. when I posted a wish like «external CC messages for Play» they’ve made me to create three separate ones just to make it clear why is it needed, even though it’s just silly, obvious and, well, what a time waster. since then polyend managed to release about 3 or 4 devices, couple of them was somewhat trimmed down «Play», but ready for external CC/PC. good luck.

another related wish, probably wasn’t understood because of too many words:

Possibility to select and remember different tracks and variations in patterns view

What is the problem? Patterns mode could be more fit for performance if it would have its own selection of tracks and its own variations, separate from the Sequencer mode. By having the possibility to select tracks independently in Patterns mode, the performer will gain the ability to quickly tweak some parameters for a set of tracks, with no need to deselect anything and reselect again. By having separate set of activated variations in the patterns mode, it would be easier to organize patterns …

not midi, but could have made Play more immediate allowing to manupulate different tracks fast. however, I sold mine, and even 499$ on sale for P+ doesn’t look good enough for me.

[andrija.brljak]

Yeah,

I was afraid of that

I wouldn’t have bought it if I knew … but this is such a basic functionality that it didn’t cross my mind

I am still trying to work around it … but I discarded it for drums completely and am back to my TR-8 … becuase I need some expression with the drums.

So I am kinda using it as an overpriced sequencer now … we will see - the votes are not in yet - there is still a bit of hope left.

A.