Receiving Program Change Messages

[jaredthechase]

Hi, I'm a bit new to all of this, so I apologize in advance if there's something obvious that I'm missing.

I've been searching for some software that will translate incoming MIDI program change messages into MIDI cc or note on/off messages. I tried a few freeware programs and downloaded a trial of Bomes and couldn't get into any of them. Anyway, I read on another forum somewhere that although Osculator is mostly designed for OSC translation, it could do what I was looking for.

I hope that's the case, because after downloading the trial, I'm thinking this might be the perfect program for me... I've been wanting to learn more about using OSC to control Ableton, and Osculator looks beautiful and seems very simple to use.

However, I've come across an early roadblock in getting it to translate messages. The controller I'm using is a Tech 21 Midi Mouse. I believe I have the routing set up correctly. When I press one of the footswitches, I get "midi/program/1" under the Message column. However, I get this no matter how many times I press the footswitch--I'm just getting the message type/channel info. Instead, it seems it should be cycling through the 127 different program change messages available on Channel 1.

So how do I get it to recognize the "argument"--the specific PC value--in addition to the MIDI message type/channel? If this is possible, and I can route this pedal to progressively cycle through Note or CC messages instead of PC messages, I'll gladly pay even more than you're asking for--I'm really psyched about Osculator and would love to support you guys if we can get this to work!

Thanks for your help.

Jared

[camille]

Hi Jared,

Thanks for your interest in OSCulator!

When OSCulator receives a MIDI Program Change (PC) message, it translates that to OSC and register the OSC message in the main window with that format: /midi/program/<ch>, where <ch> is the MIDI channel on which the message was received.

The /midi/program/<ch> message has one argument, being an integer value representing the PC number. So, all you need to do is feed a MIDI CC event with the values of this /midi/program/<ch> message.

Attached is example file demonstrating this simple configuration.

You mentioned you wanted to "see" the actual PC numbers. Although I don't think you need to do that in order to send MIDI CC form PC, here is how to "inspect" the values received from a MIDI PC (or any OSC message). In OSCulator jargon, this is know as "demuxing" (or "demultiplexing"). When an OSC message is demultiplexed, OSCulator displays the received values in a list.

To demux a message, you select it and choose Edit -> Demux. Then re-send the message again to register its values. The resulting sub-messages have no argument, so when a MIDI PC is received, you will see something like a spike of activity simulated by a number going from 1 and 0 during a short period of time (use the Quick Look window to see that).

Finally, the manual is your friend (choose Help -> User Manual), MIDI input is described at page 47. Even if you don't understand everything from the start, skimming through the manual is a good way to get a feeling of what's possible with OSCulator.


All the best,
Cam

[jaredthechase]

Cam! You're the best. I've just purchased Osculator, and can't wait to delve deeper into it.

First of all, I promise that I did download and read the manual, as well as search these forums, before starting a new thread. My confusion was due to my beginner's lack of understanding, not lack of effort!

Demuxing solved my problem. Essentially what I needed to do was assign unique events to the same footswitch as it cycled through the different PC messages. The example file you attached is pretty much the same thing I had created myself, and that's where I was stuck--with that file, for instance, each time I pressed the footswitch, Osculator would always output MIDI CC 1 10. But after demuxing and assigning unique values, Osculator now outputs MIDI Channel 1 CC 0, then MIDI Channel 1 CC 1, then MIDI Channel 1 CC 2, etc, progressively as I hit the footswitch. I've attached a screenshot in case someone comes across this thread and has the same issue.

midi mouse.png

I realize this is very simple stuff, so thanks for being patient with me! Wow, I was just looking for a simple MIDI routing solution, and now I've ended up with a very powerful program that opens up an entire world of control possibilities. Now instead of rehearsing my set, I may end up spending all of my time soldering IR sensors to Arduinos and live-processing sounds in Max using TouchOSC. Argh, thanks a lot! ; )

Jared