Understanding Animoog Z keyboard and getting the same feel from a piano roll?

pedro

Please someone correct me if I’m wrong, there’s a bunch of threads on this already, has anything changed?

abf

Since the OP didn't understand Animoog uses MPE I'm guessing it would be difficult for them to find the information they were looking for by searching. I appreciate this thread because now I know of two sequencers I can check out for my own projects.

wim

@pedro said:
… has anything changed?

No.

But I can tell you, it’s a hard slog finding and following all the posts where all that was figured out.

espiegel123

@Gavinski said:

@wim said:

@Antos3345 said:
Is it possible to use the Animoog keyboard to record into a midi sequencer maybe ? I don’t understand the point of this keyboard if one can’t sequence it. Maybe in Ableton ?

It's possible to record to any midi sequencer. However, Midi Tape Recorder and Xequence 2 are the only ones that I know of that have the needed MPE recording and level of accuracy to work well enough to provide a decent playback experience when using expression.

Midi Tape Recorder was developed by the Animoog developer at the time specifically to bridge this gap.

Atom2 records mpe too though. What level of accuracy is missing?

@Antos3345 you still won't be able to draw in that expression in Atom2. If you want atom2 output to be mpe, you will need to play mpe into it. So basically you should use the animoog keyboard to record your notes into atom2 and it should then play things back identically. Midi Tape Recorder is also a great auv3 solution for that kind of recording and playback.

Merely recording mpe is not enough …you need to accurately capture the timing and order of events. If you record from animoog z’s keyboard with a patch with lots of gliding, it will be obvious that Atom 2 doesn’t reproduce the performance. If you search the forum , you will find a lot of conversation about it.

wim

I’m finding so far that a certain looper app which has midi looping in testing is doing a decent job with Animoog Z recording and playback. 😎

tyslothrop1

@wim said:
I’m finding so far that a certain looper app which has midi looping in testing is doing a very decent job with Animoog Z recording and playback. 😎

Ooh promising, very much looking forward to this.

uncledave

Here is the earlier thread I remembered about problems with Animoog Z MPE input. Animoog Z came out in November 2021.

rapidfire

@Antos3345 said:
I have been trying out Animoog Z and many of the sounds are quite amazing . I just find when I am playing notes from it’s internal keyboard, it sounds better and a lot of of expression, but when I try just sequencing it from a piano roll like Atom, it loses all the mood. How can I get it the same feel like from the Animoog keyboard in a piano roll? Thanks as always

I just recorded a few bars with AnimoogZ using its own piano roll and recording it in Cubasis 3, sliding up the blades produces aftertouch which gives expression to the sound, I also tried it with my Novation keyboard with aftertouch and that also recorded into Cubasis 3, which of course can be edited.

pedro

@uncledave said:
Here is the earlier thread I remembered about problems with Animoog Z MPE input. Animoog Z came out in November 2021.

I do own animoog Z but I seldom used it, I confess. But the keyboard is the same as animoog original, right? So this discussion predates 2021 by a few years

abf

@rapidfire
Is Cubasis 3 recordng channel aftertouch or poly aftertouch?
If it records MPE I'd be interested in it.

pedro

You guys keep talking about MPE like it’s something new, not MIDI. Well it isn’t, it’s just MIDI used in a cleverer way
A number of apps will record it (the notes) but will not capture the full expression (per note/channel). For instance using pitch bend for slides is an animoog thing, afaik.
And everyone does their own vision of MPE as there’s not a standard per se

AND the only apps that capture it all are X2 and MTR. Don’t listen to me @wim said the same and he sure knows about it Go by him

abf

@pedro said:

AND the only apps that capture it all are X2 and MTR. Don’t listen to me @wim said the same and he sure knows about it Go by him

ok thanks for the confirmation.

rapidfire

@abf said:
@rapidfire
Is Cubasis 3 recordng channel aftertouch or poly aftertouch?
If it records MPE I'd be interested in it.

Cubasis records both Poly Aftertouch and Aftertouch directly from AnimoogZ, but on playback it is only Poly Aftertouch that you hear, so as far as I can tell, no, you can’t record MPE.

Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr

@pedro said:

@uncledave said:
Here is the earlier thread I remembered about problems with Animoog Z MPE input. Animoog Z came out in November 2021.

I do own animoog Z but I seldom used it, I confess. But the keyboard is the same as animoog original, right? So this discussion predates 2021 by a few years

It is my contention that the original Animoog kb is superior to the AU version. It uses the full screen, and the range drag bar seems to respond a lot better.

pedro

@Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr said:

@pedro said:

@uncledave said:
Here is the earlier thread I remembered about problems with Animoog Z MPE input. Animoog Z came out in November 2021.

I do own animoog Z but I seldom used it, I confess. But the keyboard is the same as animoog original, right? So this discussion predates 2021 by a few years

It is my contention that the original Animoog kb is superior to the AU version. It uses the full screen, and the range drag bar seems to respond a lot better.

I feel the same way but I’m not sure it isn’t just my imagination They must work the same, but if anything changed I think I prefer the old version. Nah they work the same

Thebosch60

I had the same issue when I started using Animoog Z. What worked for me was adding pitch bends and tweaking the modulation in the piano roll. I also played around with velocity and used automation to capture some of the dynamic changes you get from the actual keyboard.

reasOne

Dang midi tape recorder is badasss!! I grabbed it a long time ago for free but just now finally watched the video and used it on AZ. Wish it had over dub but hey i just need to do better 🤣

abf

Thanks to the suggestions in this thread I got MIDI Tape Recorder and I am enjoying it. I wanted something just to capture my Animoog Z ideas. It's the right app for that- stable, easy to set up and use in AUM, and it plays the MPE back perfectly.

Antos3345

I was trying to record a track using the midi tape recorder and it's old school cool, but is there any way to edit or even quantize my notes. I'm not the best keyboard player:)

espiegel123

@Antos3345 said:
I was trying to record a track using the midi tape recorder and it's old school cool, but is there any way to edit or even quantize my notes. I'm not the best keyboard player:)

Midi tape recorder is just a recorder. Xequence 2 is the only iOS app I know of that records and plays back Animoog Z correctly that has editing. I am not sure how well quantization works with mpe that has lots of controller data. Animoog Z is super sensitive to controller data timing in relation to the notes.

SevenSystems

@espiegel123 said:

@Antos3345 said:
I was trying to record a track using the midi tape recorder and it's old school cool, but is there any way to edit or even quantize my notes. I'm not the best keyboard player:)

Midi tape recorder is just a recorder. Xequence 2 is the only iOS app I know of that records and plays back Animoog Z correctly that has editing. I am not sure how well quantization works with mpe that has lots of controller data. Animoog Z is super sensitive to controller data timing in relation to the notes.

When Xequence quantizes MPE notes, it will obviously shift the corresponding controller data by exactly the same offset and thus your performance will be fine except in contrived circumstances 👍

Antos3345

Nice and thanks for the explanation. Also, is there anyway to make the Animoog keyboard any bigger ? I have to watch again the developer's video on YouTube.