MIDI interfaces, and Mixvibes.Everyone knows that Mixvibes software supports MIDI interfaces and controllers, and the fact of the matter is, any MIDI device with a MIDI output is compatible with the Mixvibes software range, wither it be through the MIDI port of your sound card, usb MIDI adapter or old school MIDI/game controller port. The intent of this post is not so much a tutorial but to arm even a first time user with the information needed to get you up and running, also to help expand your creativity while making the most of the MIDI features embedded in your Mixvibes software...
Some MIDI controllers are so compact they will quite literally fit in your pocket! With the ability to add further external control to your Mixvibes software creates a wealth of benefits for a performing DJ such as, one touch activation of features, fader controls, effects, looping, manual and pre programmed control of the inbuilt Mixvibes sampler and its features... adding MIDI control to your setup can save you allot of time during a set and help streamline your performance.
Before we get down to the nitty gritty, let’s do some research...
What is MIDI?MIDI (short for Musical Instrument Digital Interface and pronounced "middy") is a standard specification for networking two or more devices together. The type of devices we will discuss here, mainly just to keep things simple are sequencers and synthesizers (in our case, the Mixvibes sampler would be our synthesizer). What does this mean in the real world? This means that you can hook up two musical devices and have them "communicate" with each other. An example would be plugging a MIDI cable in the MIDI "OUT" of a sequencer and plugging the other end into the MIDI "IN" of a synthesizer. Then what ever you tap out on the pads, or play from the pre programmed sequences stored within the sequencer, it would send the information along the cable to the synthesizer, and the “synth” would play the notes, or defined instruments and/or samples. However, MIDI is a bit more complicated than that. There are things you need to know in order to get the sequencer to play correctly if at all on the synthesizer! Let's explore the basics of MIDI.
Some Basic ConceptsIn order to use MIDI you don't have to have a huge technical grasp on the subject. You just have to understand a couple things. The first is that MIDI information is not audio information. It is merely a set of numerical instructions that are sent and received between devices. The musical devices then translate this data into meaningful commands. So when a sequencer "plays" a song it is merely "telling" the synthesizer it is hooked up to which notes to play, how long to hold them, which sounds to use... etc. Think of MIDI instructions as a roll in a player piano. The roll by itself doesn't make any sound because it is instructions for the piano. But when the piano uses it to determine what notes it should play Walla! You get music!
Secondly, you need to understand how the flow of MIDI information works. When I first started out using MIDI all the "IN's”, "OUT's" confused the bejesus out of me. But it can all be simplified. MIDI data is sent out of the "OUT" port, MIDI data is received at the "IN" port. So for example if you want to send a MIDI data from a sequencer to a synthesizer the cables would connect on the OUT of the sequencer (because info is coming out) to the IN of the synthesizer (because the synth is receiving info). If you wanted to send info from the synthesizer to the sequencer, say sequence in a track then you would have a cable coming “OUT” of the synthesizer to the “IN” of the sequencer, though, just now Mixvibes does not support this feature.
ChannelsMIDI transmits on 16 different channels. This allows for 16 different sets of MIDI data to be sent at once. This would allow a sequencer to play a song with 16 different instruments. Each instrument typically would be sent on a different channel. For example the drum track would play back on channel 10, the synth-bass on channel 1, the lead synth on channel 5, and so on. You just have to make sure that the synthesizer that is receiving the channels has the correct sound selected for that channel. When setting up a synthesizer to receive MIDI channels, especially if it is not a multi-timbral synthesizer, it is important that the synth is not in "OMNI" mode. What's this? Let me explain. There are 3 different MIDI modes on a MIDI synthesizer. These modes are: "OMNI", "MULTI" and "POLY".
OMNI mode means that the synth will take all MIDI messages it receives, ignore the channel data and play back all notes on the current channel. So let’s say you have a sequence of a song that is arranged for a rock band. One channel plays drums, one bass and one a guitar line. Let's say that you have a synth in "OMNI" mode that has the bass guitar patch called up at the moment. Well if you send the whole sequence to the synth in "OMNI" mode it will play back all of the tracks: drums, guitar & bass using the bass guitar sound. Needless to say it will sound like a mess! To be honest, I'm not really sure why you would ever want to use OMNI mode and I always make sure my synths are not in that mode.
MULTI mode is for multi-timbral synths that are capable of playing back different instrument on different channels at the same time. Some of the earlier multi-timbral synths were the Korg DS-8 and the Ensoniq ESQ-1. Nowadays, most synth workstations are multi-timbral. When a multi-timbral synth is in MULTI mode it takes the MIDI data it receives and uses the channel data to distribute the info to the correct channel on the synth. If you played the same rock tune mentioned up above on a multi-timbral synth in MULTI mode (provided the right patches were set), you would get a nice playback of drums, guitar and bass guitar.
POLY mode is used on synths that you only want one specific channel to playback. The MIDI data received and played back depends solely on the MIDI channel you have chosen for that synthesizer to receive
Types of data that MIDI sequencers recordNOTE LENGTH, how long each key is held down
KEY VELOCITY, The speed that the key is pressed. The range of attack velocities are (1 - 127)
PITCH, What pitch is the note, based on the MIDI note numbers (21 - 108) Which corresponds to the 88 keys of a grand piano.
MIDI CHANNEL, the channel that each device is transmitting or recognizes
AFTER TOUCH, how hard the keys are pressed
CONTROLLER DATA, data such as sustain, modulation, pan, pitch bend etc.
PATCH CHANGES, Sound change information.
So now that you have some basic information on MIDI and its concept, it’s now time to start configuring Mixvibes and your MIDI hardware so they will communicate.
First of all ensure you MIDI hardware is switched on and is connected to the MIDI interface connected to your computer. Open Mixvibes and from the file menu select “Preferences” then “Options” or use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl+Shift+O”, from the options tabs, select “MIDI”.
The following settings determine your MIDI input device (MIDI interface) and the configuration files associated with your MIDI hardware.
There are three main options, Activate, Device and MIDI Files. With the Activate box checked, Mixvibes will accept MIDI commands from the MIDI interface which is selected in the Device drop down list. The Device drop down list will display the MIDI interface devices connected to your computer. The MIDI file list Displays, Creates and Edits the MIDI configuration files Mixvibes uses to store MIDI command information.
First of all you need to select a MIDI input interface, click the down arrow to expand the drop down list and select the MIDI interface that your MIDI hardware is connected too. This could be your audio card, usb interface or actual MIDI hardware if connected via usb, it should be clearly identifiable from the list.
Mixvibes already has a comprehensive list of preconfigured MIDI hardware devices; search the list to see if your MIDI hardware is already listed as it could save you lots of time, highlight the file name to select it. If your MIDI hardware is not listed then you will have to create a configuration file, to do this hit the “New” button. A new file will be created with the default name of “new1”, to edit the name of the file, double click the file, rename it, and then hit “Enter/Return” on your keyboard to save the changes. The “Edit” button opens the Mixvibes MIDI configuration file editor
(i may cover this at a later date
).
Finally, active your newly connected device by checking the “Activate” box.
Now that you have made the necessary changes to the MIDI configuration, go ahead and close the “Options” window.
Now it’s time to make sure that Mixvibes is receiving commands from your MIDI device. From the file menu select, “View”, then “Info”. Mixvibes will now display the session info at the foot of the main window, to the very right of the session info bar you will see the MIDI codes being received from your MIDI hardware, on first start up the field remains blank until the first MIDI command is received. Pressing a pad/key/pedal or adjusting a variable on your MIDI hardware that sends a MIDI output code will activate the display; this will also signal that everything is working as it should.
Learning and mapping commands from your MIDI hardware.You now have to fill your new configuration with MIDI command codes from your MIDI hardware, this can be done by manually entering the information into the Mixvibes MIDI configuration file editor (Preferences>Options>MIDI tab). This method can be very effective though does take allot of time, thankfully Mixvibes has a MIDI learn feature enabling users to use the graphical interface to record commands and automatically save the desired action with its values to the configuration file.
This is the feature we are going to look at in this section.
There are two main options for MIDI learning mode; these options can be found by navigating to the following, “Preferences”, “Learning”. “Enable” activates the MIDI learning feature in Mixvibes, “Permanent” this option determines wither or not Mixvibes should write the learned information to the configuration file.
Select “permanent”, then select “Enable” or use “Ctrl+Shift+L” to enable learning mode. Now you’re ready to start learning some commands.
I will use the Mixvibes sampler for this demonstration however learning commands from all the different feature types work the same. The sampler is most relevant to the hardware i have for this demonstration so it’s all good!
Learning buttons; Select the first sampler pad by holding the mouse still over the pad for two seconds, when Mixvibes is ready to receive the input message from your MIDI hardware the pad will turn silver. When the pad i highlighted silver, press the first pad on your MIDI hardware once, and that’s it, code leaned! Repeat this for as many sampler pads as you want to setup.
Learning knobs and faders; select the volume fader in the Mixvibes sampler by holding the mouse still over the area of the fader for two seconds, when Mixvibes is ready to receive the command the fader will turn silver. When the fader is highlighted silver, slide/turn your fader/knob slowly all the way to the top/right then all the way back to the bottom/left. Repeat this for any other faders and knobs you wish to use, all faders and knobs learn in the same way, however pitch/MT/Key faders have their actions inversed (up = down, down = up, left = right, right = left).
Don't forget to turn off MIDI learning when you’re finished!
Hints,
Saving more than one configuration file with different configurations for the same MIDI hardware enables you use the device for different things depending on your needs for any particular performance.
Learning works for the keyboard also in exactly the same way, follow the steps for adding a sampler pad only press a key on the keyboard instead, Dont forget to setup a new keyboard configuration file in “Preferences>Options>Keyboard” in the same way you setup a MIDI configuration file.Well, there you have it. Some information on the basics of MIDI setup and how it works... and everything you need to know to get your Mixvibes setup up and running with external MIDI control...
the rest is up to you, it won’t be long until you find a configuration that fits you best, you’ll be looping, sampling and using effects, adding that extra bit of creativity into your performance.
If you decide to follow the instructions detailed in this post then i hope it works for you without a hitch, and easy enough to understand...
Peace
Bryan.
