Help: How to switch motifs in Piano Motif AUv3 when switching Play Groups

danm

I want to switch motifs in Piano Motif AUv3 when switching Play Groups/Scenes in Loopy Pro.

I'm thinking the only way to do this is to (ahead of time) create x number of Piano Motif AUv3 instances (each piano motif instance playing a different motif), where x is the number of different play groups/scenes in my song, and (while performing) unmuting the appropriate piano motif instance (and muting others) when switching play groups/scenes.

I could also use the arrangement mode in piano motif, but the above provides more flexibility.

Any better ideas?

I wasn't able to find any way to load a specific saved motif by sending midi to the piano motif instance.

Nor was I able to get AUv3 presets to work, not sure if anyone else has been able to do so, would be good to know if this was user error or ?

Thanks

CracklePot

Might be easier to just work with midi files exported from Piano Motifs than try to make it do something it isn’t currently able to do.
But don’t let me discourage you, just pointing to a possibly easier path.

oscillotus

How I do it is to dump the motifs into MIDI clips in Loopy Pro. Then muting Piano Motifs and activating/deactivating the clips.

I'm not on my iPad right now, but there is an option to arm the donuts/clips so that they start recording play I hit play. I arm all 3 channels and then I hit play, so it records the MIDI data of each channel at the same time.

danm

Thanks @CracklePot and @oscillotus, makes sense.
I'm going to add a separate page in my project that's dedicated to making these recordings (recording into midi clips) from piano motif and then I can trigger the appropriate row along with the aforementioned play groups/scenes.

I'm envisioning 5 rows on this new page (to match the 5 play groups/scenes I have on my main song page), with 3 midi clips in each row. ie: one midi clip for each possible piano motif midi output channel. Hmm, I guess I'll do one color per row.

I guess I'll need to set up simultaneous recording too.
And then in the mixer, for each of the 3 colors/rows, I believe I'll need to set the "Channel Filter" to match the midi output in piano motifs.

Not sure simplest way to arm all 3 of the midi, but will look into that.

Also, is there some way to do this and reduce color collisions? I have used most of the colors (at least the ones I can easily discern from each other) for my main page audio clips for the song parts and I think if I reuse any of those on the piano motifs recording page, it's going to cause issues when certain things/play groups get triggered/started, but not sure...any thoughts on color layout for this new page also welcome and/or anything else you think I got wrong, above, or should consider

Thanks

oscillotus

This looks good!

These are the options that could be enabled to do it one-shot.

As for the colors, I unfortunately don't use enough of em to give you a worthy solution. Maybe someone else can chime in or you experiment a bit. I have found that uploading Loopys manual into an LLM gives pretty good answers. Often routing ideas combined with actions that I did not think about.

Let me know if anything doesn't work as planned

danm

Thanks @oscillotus, appreciate it! I'm getting closer, but have a related question.
When I'm about to start recording the piano motif channels into the clips on this new page, I'll want to start the master clock, but I do not necessarily want the currently selected play group/scene on my main page (with all the main song parts in it) to start playing, so prior to starting the master clock, I want to do the equivalent of tapping (deselecting) the currently selected play group/clips (set up to "All loops play/stop together") on the main page. I'd like to create a button to do this, but not sure how to do this via action, so any guidance appreciated

wim

@danm said:
Thanks @oscillotus, appreciate it! I'm getting closer, but have a related question.
When I'm about to start recording the piano motif channels into the clips on this new page, I'll want to start the master clock, but I do not necessarily want the currently selected play group/scene on my main page (with all the main song parts in it) to start playing, so prior to starting the master clock, I want to do the equivalent of tapping (deselecting) the currently selected play group/clips (set up to "All loops play/stop together") on the main page. I'd like to create a button to do this, but not sure how to do this via action, so any guidance appreciated

If I understand your question correctly, there's no "deselect" action. You have to select another clip. Could be an empty one not on that play group.

oscillotus

I'm not on my iPad to validate, but have a look at this. It looks pretty close to what I'd do. https://g.co/gemini/share/ffacf8e42120

Go down to the second answer where I ask it to add a stop clock and arming the 3 midi clips, the first one had it a bit wrong.

danm

Thanks @wim.
Thanks @oscillotus, really appreciate the link.

I've got it mostly figured out, though I do have a specific question (for you or anyone who's interested to chime in) from your shared link...in the link, I see where it says:

Actions 3, 4, and 5: Arm Each MIDI Color Now, repeat the following steps for each of the three MIDI color groups you want to arm.

Tap the plus icon ➕.

Go to Clip -> Record.

Set the parameters:

Target: Specific Color. You'll then be prompted to select the first of your MIDI colors from the list.

Presumable, the above is from the Loopy Pro manual and/or UI...
Might you you be able to show me (via screenshot, if poss) where you found Clip -> Record and "Target: Specific Color. You'll then be prompted to select the first of your MIDI colors from the list." in the Loopy Pro UI, please?

I was able to find similar things, but not this exact wording anywhere...Just interested, if you're willing to share...Thanks!

oscillotus

I’d probably do it this way.

Let me know if it works for you. I’ll have a bit more time tomorrow if it still doesn’t work.

espiegel123

@danm : I think you are calling play-enabled clips selected clips. Use the stop action to make them not play-enabled. Stop with Playing Clips as the target will make them not play-enabled.

danm

Thanks @espiegel123.
Thanks @oscillotus, really appreciate the details! I targeted 'specific clip' instead of next empty, but both seem to work.

I have 2 questions and may start a new thread on one/both of these, but will try here first:
1. @espiegel123, I'm building off of your sample work-in-progress project with the song forms, btw. When I arm the 3 midi clips on this new page and start the clock to record the 3 midi channels from piano motifs, they each start to record and the first 2 end recording after 4 bars, as expected, but the third one doesn't stop recording, wondering where I might look to change this behavior. I have all 3 midi color groups set up with simultaneous recording and auto count out on, so thought they would all stop recording after the 4 bars, which I set in the clock settings...any thoughts on where I might start looking to figure this out, based on how you set up your sample project? If not, I can share some more info

2. Compare / contrast your interest / use for piano motifs with something like audiomodern riffer (or others) and discuss how you use each and why you like one vs the other in certain situations

Thanks

espiegel123

@danm : I would double check that auto count out is actually on for all of them and that count-out is set to master. Make sure you haven’t inadvertently overridden something.

Without seeing all the settings all I can do is point you to what to look at.

oscillotus

@danm said:
Thanks @espiegel123.
Thanks @oscillotus, really appreciate the details! I targeted 'specific clip' instead of next empty, but both seem to work.

I have 2 questions and may start a new thread on one/both of these, but will try here first:
1. @espiegel123, I'm building off of your sample work-in-progress project with the song forms, btw. When I arm the 3 midi clips on this new page and start the clock to record the 3 midi channels from piano motifs, they each start to record and the first 2 end recording after 4 bars, as expected, but the third one doesn't stop recording, wondering where I might look to change this behavior. I have all 3 midi color groups set up with simultaneous recording and auto count out on, so thought they would all stop recording after the 4 bars, which I set in the clock settings...any thoughts on where I might start looking to figure this out, based on how you set up your sample project? If not, I can share some more info

2. Compare / contrast your interest / use for piano motifs with something like audiomodern riffer (or others) and discuss how you use each and why you like one vs the other in certain situations

Thanks

1.) I manually set the loop length of the clips to match the loop length of PM. Eventually I'll have to understand how the auto-functions work.

2.) You might want to start a new thread with this. I'd be interested to see how other use MIDI generators. For my part, I just rotate them. I find I always have learned new ways to use each of them each time I come back. I particularly have a soft spot for Harmony Bloom in addition to PM. They also work great together. PM I find is more predictable and gives structure while HB more chaotic.