[Hardware Controller Presets] Thanks for creating and sharing this

[michaelsjackson]

Just want to thank you quickly here. Did not test it yet.

First use case which came to my mind: You could replicate any of your hardware midi controllers as a profile in this system, so whenever you are away from your hardware, you could still experiment using Android + Laptop (with Reaper), when at home again with the real hardware, you could do same, but now with the hardware option.

Other interesting use case scenarios could be written below. Thanks. Keep up the great work.

How are you using it mainly?

[domportera]

Hey thanks for the message! let me know how it goes if you do end up testing it.

That'd be a fantastic feature to have, but since there are so many different controllers and so many different ways to configure each of them with so many different plugins it'd be a nigh impossible task to do in a really useful way I think without having another app on the PC. Best way to approach this I think is from the user side - you can hand-make a custom profile that mimics each hardware controller you already have. It's a little extra work but to me seems like the safest option

[domportera]

Actually, I found a great database for a handful of controllers' default controls that I could potentially implement!

Saving this here for reference later:
https://github.com/usercamp/midi

[domportera]

As for how I mainly use this, I mostly use it for synth/instrument VSTs, and I use their MIDI Learn functionality to map different faders to different knobs/parameters in those VSTs. Ideally I'd like to use this to record Automation data in realtime but I've been having trouble doing that with Reaper for some reason 🤷‍♂️

[michaelsjackson]

I meant also hand made replication of hardware settings, not any automated help of this tool, as this tool can not know which hardwares I am using and how I mapped those (if they are programmable, as they should be, like Bitstream 3X for example).

Actually, some years ago I extracted all midi (sysex) data from Bitstream 3X configuration software (via AutoHotkey tricks), sent to ctrlr.org ( https://ctrlr.org/ ) developer at that time. This would be another huge list of ready to use configurations, lots of classic hardware settings, Roland, Yamaha, Korg ... as you know. :) But my custom hardware technique settings are not included, thus I would need to do it manually anyway.

[domportera]

Sick thanks for the reference! yeah that should totally be possible already - all you have to do is set up your profile(s) to the correct CC channels and other parameters and you should be good to go.

Only drawback of this software right now is that it only provides MIDI CC control - no direct DAW integration outside of this limited MIDI OSC communication

[michaelsjackson]

No problem, I am using mainly cc and notes. Plus pitchbend actually. (Bank select and program change as well of course.) As a summary what I am using:

• cc
• notes
• pitchbend
• bank select
• program change

If your tool can support all these, I could replicate anything also on your system. As button features. I am using:

• normal toggling (on - off)
• momentary toggling (toggling while holding key, toggling back when releasing key)

Depending how you want to use those buttons / keys, you need to make correct mappings in Reaper as well. When to use absolute and when to use 'toggle' in Reaper while midi mapping a parameter. When it does what you want exactly, then you set all correctly. :)

[michaelsjackson]

Btw. my favourite hardware device is an rgb mechanical qwerty, with programmable rgb lightning from command line. In the past there was this possibility only for brands from a certain company but slowly more and more alternatives seem to appear, which is great. This would mean, you can get high quality colored buttons, and you can program the color changes as you wish. When combining this system with another midi emitting system in the background, you can design / prototype your dream midi controller, at least for the button pressing part. For the faders, knobs you would need some other hardwares like midi fighter or bitstream 3x for example.

• mechanical rgb qwerty for unlimited high quality keys
• midi fighter for knobs
• bitstream 3x for faders + knobs as 4 x 8 matrix
• some extra velocity sensitive buttons like kboard or / and LPD8

There you go, a minimal setup with unlimited options.

[michaelsjackson]

Here a link to OpenRGB: https://gitlab.com/CalcProgrammer1/OpenRGB/-/wikis/home
Here the list of supported devices: https://gitlab.com/CalcProgrammer1/OpenRGB/-/wikis/Supported-Devices

[domportera]

Hey I haven't ignored your messages, I've been referring to them pretty regularly. I'm hoping to do a lot of the software control stuff, but hardware support is unlikely. This right now is what I would like to support in the near future:

No problem, I am using mainly cc and notes. Plus pitchbend actually. (Bank select and program change as well of course.) As a summary what I am using:

• cc
• notes
• pitchbend
• bank select
• program change

If your tool can support all these, I could replicate anything also on your system. As button features. I am using:

• normal toggling (on - off)
• momentary toggling (toggling while holding key, toggling back when releasing key)

Depending how you want to use those buttons / keys, you need to make correct mappings in Reaper as well. When to use absolute and when to use 'toggle' in Reaper while midi mapping a parameter. When it does what you want exactly, then you set all correctly. :)

as for the far future, I think some color change stuff depending on the state of the software controller would be nice, but right now i'm just focusing on static color theming on a per-profile basis (with templates that can be used across profiles). Anything involving 2-way communication with another system (i.e. hardware, Reaper, etc) I'm trying to avoid right now. A keyboard would be the easiest, but it is something I am trying to avoid maintaining as hardware and APIs evolve. You're always welcome to fork the repo, though!