DAW with MIDI CC re-recording in the “latch” mode (MTS maybe?)

vlaoladis

Hello everyone!

I tried to do a thing which should be quite simple but turned out to be extremely difficult because of iOS DAW inconsistencies.

I have several drafts in the Staffpad which I wanted to “replay” via SWAM instruments I already have.
My current skill is not enough to play everything live and my drafts don’t worth learning and practicing them, honestly . So I want to export MIDI file from Staffpad, import it into a DAW and record SWAM parameters automation while it is playing (via TouchOSC/Loopy/Xequence or any other faders). Sounds easy isn’t it? but that’s what’s I’ve found:
1. Xequence + AUM. Almost perfect setup, Xequence have built-in faders and correctly replaces old CC values with the new ones during the “re-record”. But using two apps, messing with limited amount of tracks (16 midi channels), inability to quickly freeze/unfreeze really kills the vibe for me. And also I’d like to experiment with tempo automation which is impossible in this setup
2. AEM + TouchOSC (for faders) + CC mapped to the swam params. Works relatively OK during the first take, but on the re-record SWAM receives both old and new CCs and jumping between them like crazy (and sometimes new values are not even recorded after that)
3. Logic Pro + TouchOSC + CC. Almost the same as AEM: new values are recorded, but old ones are still read first so the sound is crazy. And parameter automation (which has the “latch” mode) doesn’t fit for two reasons: right now there’s a bug related to reading SWAM faders; and SWAM instruments have much more parameters than there are faders in their UI, so it’s still falls to using MIDI CCs
4. TouchOSC + Helium + AUM. CC rerecord also works (especially if setup TouchOSC to fire events constantly until the finger is raised from the fader). But Helium can’t import Staffpad MIDI. (+ almost the same drawbacks as Xequence +AUM)

Sooo, the question is - does anybody know another way to set this workflow up ?

Also I’m looking at MTS right now, it’s version history and feature set looks very interesting for me. I prefer old school linear composing without matrixes, clips, loops etc. But it’s quite pricey for buying without understanding if it works. So if someone owns MTS, could you please check how it works? I can prepare the Staffpad exported midi file to test the import, and I guess any midi fader capable of producing CC values will work to test how it rerecords them

vlaoladis

OK, I bought MTS Pro to check this usecase, unfortunately it doesn’t work either: in the override mode it removes all midi information in the selected region (not only the target cc). And in sound-on-sound it stores old an new cc values all together.

I hope AppStore will provide a refund

rototom

i'm not sure i understand correctly what you want to achieve, but if it's remapping of cc messages, a streambyter script could help.
https://apps.apple.com/de/app/streambyter/id1398712641?l=en-GB

SevenSystems

@vlaoladis glad to know your problem was at least partially solved with Xequence.

To get 32 channels instead of 16, you can use both the "Xequence -> AUM Destination" and "Xequence Source -> AUM" routes simultaneously, i.e. spreading your instruments between the two. You have to enable "Xequence Source" in "..." -> MIDI / Recording -> MIDI Output -> Virtual Source. Then use "Xequence Source" as the MIDI Destination for some of your instruments on the instruments screen, and select "Xequence Source" in AUM instead of "AUM Destination".

vlaoladis

@rototom said:
i'm not sure i understand correctly what you want to achieve, but if it's remapping of cc messages, a streambyter script could help.
https://apps.apple.com/de/app/streambyter/id1398712641?l=en-GB

Thank you for the suggestion anyway
My question was not about remapping, but about recording and editing MIDI CC "on the fly" with the external controller (as it's done in the "Latch" automation recording mode).

I've recorded a small video demonstration of the problem:

@SevenSystems said:
@vlaoladis glad to know your problem was at least partially solved with Xequence.

To get 32 channels instead of 16, you can use both the "Xequence -> AUM Destination" and "Xequence Source -> AUM" routes simultaneously, i.e. spreading your instruments between the two. You have to enable "Xequence Source" in "..." -> MIDI / Recording -> MIDI Output -> Virtual Source. Then use "Xequence Source" as the MIDI Destination for some of your instruments on the instruments screen, and select "Xequence Source" in AUM instead of "AUM Destination".

Hi @SevenSystems, thank you very much for your awesome job! I really love how Xequence is made.
Thank you for the advice, that's a nice hack.

I want to try pairing it with Loopy Pro to simulate "freeze/unfreeze" logic (because even 5 SWAM instruments playing in parallel almost burn the CPU). And I will be happy if Xequence 2 can receive tempo from Loopy Pro because then I will be able to modify it during the "freeze"

SevenSystems

@vlaoladis said:

@rototom said:
i'm not sure i understand correctly what you want to achieve, but if it's remapping of cc messages, a streambyter script could help.
https://apps.apple.com/de/app/streambyter/id1398712641?l=en-GB

Thank you for the suggestion anyway
My question was not about remapping, but about recording and editing MIDI CC "on the fly" with the external controller (as it's done in the "Latch" automation recording mode).

I've recorded a small video demonstration of the problem:

@SevenSystems said:
@vlaoladis glad to know your problem was at least partially solved with Xequence.

To get 32 channels instead of 16, you can use both the "Xequence -> AUM Destination" and "Xequence Source -> AUM" routes simultaneously, i.e. spreading your instruments between the two. You have to enable "Xequence Source" in "..." -> MIDI / Recording -> MIDI Output -> Virtual Source. Then use "Xequence Source" as the MIDI Destination for some of your instruments on the instruments screen, and select "Xequence Source" in AUM instead of "AUM Destination".

Hi @SevenSystems, thank you very much for your awesome job! I really love how Xequence is made.

Thanks for the kind words! Yes I was definitely surfing a very good wave when I created Xequence in 2017 😄

Thank you for the advice, that's a nice hack.

I want to try pairing it with Loopy Pro to simulate "freeze/unfreeze" logic (because even 5 SWAM instruments playing in parallel almost burn the CPU). And I will be happy if Xequence 2 can receive tempo from Loopy Pro because then I will be able to modify it during the "freeze"

Just a heads up -- Xequence is not able to follow tempo changes either via MIDI clock or Ableton Link. It does support receiving tempo from Ableton Link, but this is not "smooth", so no slow tempo ramps etc.

klownshed

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