Synth as Midi-Controller

Synth
1

Do the parameter knobs of the Synth send midi? I would like to map them to some Ableton plugins, but they do not give any MIDI signal in Live. Am I missing something?

Thanks.

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As far as I remember, the Synth sends on the same ports it receives MIDI, so you’d have to set the ports to USB, not to “Jack”. Also Macros will not send MIDI data, so you need to try one of the 9 parameter knobs. If you receive notes from a one of the slots in Live, but not controller data from the same slot, that means you’re out of luck.

@synthdawg Maybe it’s a good idea to add a Midi Implementation Chart to the manual? The MIDI association has published version 2.0 of their Implementation Chart format, which now has 3 pages, because it lists CCs on separate pages, so that’s much simpler to create now. (here you can get a copy the format without signing up)

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Thanks for the valuable information, I will look at the links you sent. I guess it doesnt work, since I receive MIDI from the pads though.

4

I’ve just tried sending MIDI signals through USB using the Synth knobs, and this is what I found:

  • the Pitchbend knob works
  • only 5 out of the 9 Parameter knobs work (all three in the top row and the leftmost ones in the middle and bottom row)

Kind of a weird situation, as it would be great if we could at least use all 9 Parameter knobs. Does anyone have the same situation, or is my unit faulty/needing a different configuration?

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5

I certainly did not turn all the 9 parameter knobs, when I was testing the MIDI functionality. I am currently on vacation and not able to verify this, but I will try and verify as soon as I am at home again.

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I ran into the same issue using midi in and out with my MPC plus one. It seems like the cut off and resonance knobs when turned will flicker and glitch on the screen but will not increase or decrease in value. But when I remove midi in from mpc1 + to polyend synth it goes back to normal function

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Hey, I can confirm that the pitch bend knob works on my device. Contrary to your findings, only 4 out of the 9 parameter knobs send MIDI. Did you make a typo or its really 5 knobs for you?

Should we make a bug report or male a wish for this?!

8

I’ve just tried again to double-check, and I think I found out what’s going on here!
It’s actually possible to use all 9 Parameter knobs to send MIDI, as long as they’re controlling continuous values on the associated engine on the Synth (more on this later). Let me explain with an example.

The simplest way is by going to Scene and selecting Init; this will create an empty scene with an ACD synth. If you go to the Engine section, you’ll notice all 9 Parameter knobs control something here; now open Ableton (or any other DAW) and assign each knob to control something via MIDI. You’ll notice they all work, apart from the rightmost knob in the middle row: if you look at the Synth screen, this knob controls Sub Mode, which has discrete values (-1 Oct Square, -1 Oct Pulse, etc); for some reason, when knobs control discrete parameters (or when they are unassigned) you can’t use them for MIDI. In fact, if you open the MIDI settings section on the Synth and choose Control Change mapping, you can see the CC number associated to each Parameter knob.

I haven’t found any synth engine where all 9 knobs are usable (either some are unassigned or some control discrete parameters), so I think it would be useful to have a “MIDI synth engine” where all 9 Parameter knobs can be used to send MIDI signals, it would be a cool feature!

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9

Hey, that‘s a great finding! Thank you for clarifying , that is indeed a quirky MIDI implementation to say the least.

I think your idea of a MIDI engine is cool. I would strongly appreciate a feature like this.

Should we post this in the wish list or file it as a bug? This should (hopefully) be an easy fix.

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10

Hi, apologies for the delay, I had a very slow return to reality after the holidays…

I opened a new draft wish here, hopefully it will be picked up and worked on soon. Feel free to edit and add more details if you feel it would improve the wish!

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11

I would love to see a MIDI engine that allows us to setup a channel as a midi controller and assign the encoders to the midi ccs of our choosing and save this as a preset for that Engine. Like on the Digitone 2

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also, while they are at it (hopefully), leave the Mod section for midi use and allow the 3 C encoders to be used as macros, able to be pointed to multiple of the CC values with varying -/+ depth per CC we would get to assign to the 9 encoders.

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There is a drafted wish here. Please feel free to add, if you feel something is missing.

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14

Sorry for the late reply and i’m not sure somebody has mentioned or noticed this yet.
I think the reason why CC’s appear inconsistent, is that not all knobs are internally mapped to CC.

I think it sends out CC for all parameters that also have the capability to receive CC.