How to intercept and edit Note offs?

[clik]

Hi - I need a little help with some Note off messages leaving OSCulator.
I'm using a plugin called Molar (originally built to work with a monome) in Logic, with 2 Launchpads in an 8x16 configuration (instead of a monome 128).
I've mapped the Launchpads in Automap, which triggers Molar in Logic.
Molar sends it's LED feedback OSC messages on 8080, and in OSCulator I change these to MIDI notes, which go out to the Launchpads = LEDs = cool. Phew!
And 95% of the LED info is displaying correctly on the Launchpads - i.e. Rows 1 - 7 - the running lights of the sequencer and all pad presses. No problems there.
Now, the 16 pads on row 8 have 'meta' functions.

Molar 128 row 8.jpg

When pressed, they access pitch, edit, wav etc. (see pic) and while pressed, they cancel sequencer /running lights feedback, and news LED info for those meta functions is displayed.
But when a 'meta pad' is released, that Note off should clear all meta LED feedback, so we see the sequencer info displaying again.

And that seems to be where the problem is - meta pads Notes On work as expected, but meta pad Notes Off don't. I'm guessing there's a Note Off message I haven't defined properly in OSCulator?
I might need to edit the /128/clear 0 message, or to change the velocity of the Note Offs from 127 to something else? I've tried but failed so far.
x 2013-02-11 at 13.40.54.jpgx 2013-02-11 at 13.32.41.jpg
Hope you can help me solve this one, and sorry for the long-winded explanation.

[camille]

Hi click,

This looks like a nice project.

I fear it will be hard to help you from a distance, but the first thing I can see in your OSCulator screenshot is that one inbound OSC message has been demux'ed two time (/128/led, argument value 0, then again 0). It does not look coherent with the other definitions.

Also a couple of questions:
Where do the /128/led and /128/clear message come from?
I suppose they come from the Molar plugin. Then what is the target #2 to which you are routing the received OSC messages?

Best,
Cam

[clik]

Hi Camille,

[I've tidied up that double demux, though I don't think it was causing any problems]

Yes, the /128/led and /128/clear messages are from Molar.

The #2 target is for a 2nd OSCulator: because each Launchpad has it's own MIDI port, I need one OSCulator per Launchpad - so 8x8 LED feedback (columns 0-7) goes to one Launchpad (left) and 8x8 (columns 8-15) go to the other (right).

I have a feeling the key to this might be the /128/clear message at the top - it shows activity when row 8 pads are released. It isn't clearing LEDs on the Launchpads, maybe because there are no MIDI notes/velocities defined there? Could duplicating the /128/clear/0 message with the right event type/value/velocity help somehow? Or should there be 128 'clear'/MIDI note messages, in the same way that there are 128 'led'/MIDI note messages?

In the video, you can see how the Molar's note offs/LEDs behave, compared to the the Launchpads.

[camille]

Very nice and instructive, thank you.

About two OSCulator windows: I think you picked the right solution, however remember that you can create several IAC Bus ports (look at the Audio/MIDI Setup application), and that you can use IAC Bus ports in OSCulator by activating them from the Parameters Window. Now, it would be required that your Launchpads run a different MIDI Channel to be able to differentiate. I don't know if that is possible...

Finally, about Molar. I feel that if that plugin is able to send OSC messages, it should be able to receive them as well. Or maybe was it what you were suggesting? Maybe you should look into that direction...


Best,
Cam

[clik]

Molar is receiving messages i send to it, no problem there. The problem is missing note offs or the velocity of the note offs leaving OSCulator I think - that's why most of the LEDs on the Launchpads in the video stay green/don't clear.

Do I need to duplicate the MIDI notes in OSCulator and change their note off velocities? I'm not sure how to do that correctly...

I'd love to fix this

[clik]

Got it

For the 'clear' part of the message, I needed to create 128 MIDI note messages (to match the 128 'led' messages) with the values seen in the images below.
The 'In. min' and Out. max' took a bit of experimenting to get right.

Molar clear msgs.jpgMolar clear values.jpg
Working perfectly now:

[camille]

Awesome!
Is that video from your computer running OSCulator?

(BTW, you are routing the message /128/clear twice, I don't think you need to).

[clik]

(BTW, you are routing the message /128/clear twice, I don't think you need to).

Good point.

Is that video from your computer running OSCulator?

Yes, OSCulator is catching OSC messages from Molar and sending MIDI notes out to the Launchpads => LED feedback.

(If anyone's interested, Molar is freeware, available here)