SD3 MIDI Layout window – duplicate/aliased note visibility

[pumpkinking]

I like the new SD3 MIDI Layout window – thanks for developing this!  Much better than the static PDFs.

I see there is an option to dim duplicate notes, but I cannot find a mode where it is functional.  See the screenshot showing the default core kit with no midi mapping preset loaded.  You can see that the Ride (highlighted) has duplicate/aliased midi notes, and yet the option to dim the duplicates is not available.  This option does not work for my custom midi mapping presets either.

Whenever I am fiddling with a kit preset or the module settings, I have to spend a lot of time poking through the individual assignments in the midi mapping interface to find open notes or reassign existing.  Continuing to develop and enhance this dynamic “all at once” visibility into the mapping would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Topic

[Olof]

Thanks for the feedback. The Dim Extra Notes option is meant for e-drum presets so that only the main notes sent by the e-kit (by default) are shown with full opacity.

Olof Hermansson - Toontrack
Coder

[pumpkinking]

Hi Olof,

Thanks for the response!  I exclusively use SD3 for e-drumming, but I have a custom trigger setup that uses two eDrumIn modules for which there is no supplied e-drum preset, so I must create user e-drum presets for everything I do.  It seems that my user e-drum presets are not supported by the “dim extra notes”.

Is this expected?  It would seem this “dim extra notes” functionality would be especially useful for people who create and maintain user e-drum presets (ie. those who need to modify the note assignments and look for open notes to add new instruments), and yet that seems to be a case where they do not work.

Thanks and have a great day!

• This post was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by pumpkinking.

[Olof]

Main notes can not be specified/changed in user e-drum presets at the moment. I don’t know if that will change in the future.

There is a visual bug with the Dim Extra Notes entry in SD3 currently, the description text says it is unavailable when it is selectable and doesn’t say it’s unavailable when it is.

The note list in e-drum settings could be a better place for a feature to show duplicates in the e-drum preset? And “MIDI Mapping Keys” may a good place to show duplicates in the internal MIDI mapping (so you don’t need to click through all instruments looking for expandable articulations in the MIDI Mapping property box)? Anyway, it’s not up to me, the interaction designers may have a look at it some time.

Olof Hermansson - Toontrack
Coder

[pumpkinking]

Hi Olof,

Thanks again for responding – I do appreciate the time in understanding the request and refining what I’m referring to.

The primary workflow issue that I’m referring to would be adding instruments or enabling articulations of existing instruments that are not currently midi mapped.  Secondary would be refining/validating the midi-in/edrum mappings.

Here is a specific example – in the SD3 core default kit, the ride cymbal has a few duplicate note assignments, eg 51 and 113 both trigger the bow tip articulation.  This means that, should I need to assign a note to a new articulation or instrument, I could use one of these two notes and not remove existing functionality (although an e-drummer would have to take care to not remove the one mapped to the e-drum kit).  Say for example, I want to add the “FX” articulation for the ride (which by default is not midi-mapped), an I use the “add note” menu item available in the midi mapping callout for FX.  Knowing which midi notes are either unassigned or unmapped duplicates from the layout window would be a helper here.  Currently I have to gather this info from several sources.

I know there is a suggested note menu item, but I have found this to sometimes be destructive (changes notes that are assigned and I am using).

What would really be wonderful is a GUI “connection board” of sorts that would allow me to connect incoming e-drum midi to instrument articulations directly, and all visible in a single window like the midi layout window.  The midi-in/edrums window can do this, but only one-by-one without the “world view” of the entire set of 128 notes.

I have done this myself with a spreadsheet where I have columns for midi-in/edrum note, articulation note and articulation name.  Seeing that is actually quite helpful, especially when I can sort by different columns.

Anyway, thanks for reading and tolerating my verbosity, and hopefully the UX team can think about these workflows and some cool visuals that might help.  Keep up the great work!

Thanks, Joe

1

Thanked by: Olof

[pumpkinking]

One more possible enhancement in this space that just hit me would be a CSV output that would contain a row for every midi note value in the kit/preset and columns that would show the midi-in/edrum mapping and instrument/articulation.  This would be very handy to see it all at once and validate that it is setup the way I want.

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