djastroboy wrote:Not unique to Live. You'll find this confusion in many sequencers, hard & soft.
I've been fighting this plague since 1980-something.
My only solution has been a hand-written conversion chart tacked on the wall.
You think the "off-by-one" problem is bad, wait till you get deep into choosing banks. Your pain has only begun.
Amen, Brother, Write the Words on the Walls
Yes, I use external sound generating/playing devices.
This brings up a very old and wide-spread problem, how to save time “setting” up to “play/record” tones/samples into “phrases/clips/audio tracks” and record MIDI also.
I have totally quit using bank/patch setups in-track to select sounds (unless I am using a MIDI sequencer specifically written for the specific tone generator, as in XGWorks3 for any XG instrument like my MU-100R or Sebastion’s SW1000XG).
I churn out lots of music in the form of both audio and MIDI phrases/loops and I have lots of gear to do so (in fact, almost the same gear/software that Sebastian uses.)
I use “no-note user-SONGS” as multi-track setups/templates. (“as” templates) While some of my sound producing gear has built-in sequencers with “user-TEMPLATES,” there are more slots for user-SONGS than templates AND, to me, “templates” are used as style-specific starting points to create “no-note user-SONGS” from, to be used, perhaps, as TEMPLATES, but “no-note user-SONGS” are always “Project specific” and saved with the “Project” in its PROJECT FOLDER.
Simply put: In LIVE!, I set up one MIDI track to play the Korg Karma (using only the Triton tone engine, not the Karma function, just turn it off) and set up an audio track to record/play the audio from the Karma!
The setup for the sound is done IN THE KARMA, not remotely from the LIVE! MIDI track. The LIVE! MIDI track sends note/controller MIDI on a specific channel to the Karma.
Any tweaking/selection of sounds is done on the Karma panel using a sequencer user-song (for multi-channel play) and that song is saved for easy setup.
Of course, to use several sound devices (external or internal) you must have one MIDI port (set of MIDI I/O) dedicated to each sound module/device. . .
. . .and either turn off receiving/transmitting anything but note specific data to or from the Module (including SYSEX, except during setup measures to call the Song in the Module sequencer.)
Remember not to change-and-save any “sound patch”, use the sequencer channel to make any sound quality changes/effects and save the sequence. Korg factory patches (programs/combis) can be overwritten and/or moved, maybe other manufacturers also?
If your external sound device has NO SEQUENCER, use a separate computer MIDI file for the setup, dumping setups by song or track FROM the device to track OR. . .
Dedicate enough “no-note” PROJECT MIDI tracks as setup to dump to and load back to the device. (Use separate no-note tracks so to manipulate them without endangering any music playing data).
Basically, make changes by hand at the device panel and save the changes for the project elsewhere in some convenient place (for you) to recall. Be sure to save any changes/backups/versions to that place.
THEN figure out how to speed up setup, possibly using device specific SYSEX to “call” the “no-note User-SONG” in the device.
The best way to keep things under control while playing/creating (not setting up) is to filter the MIDI input of the sound device so that you cannot accidentally send something from the computer sequencer, etc. and disable the MIDI output back to the computer (keep “local on”)
I use a separate keyboard to “Play” the track, not the sound generating keyboard. If you must use local off do so but carefully. Best way to monitor playing without latency is to leave local on, record MIDI in the computer and don’t send it back . Later, record audio using the computer sequencer track to play its MIDI track.
After the setup, only note/play specific data from sequencer track to module should be allowed.
I use MIDI-OX (several copies loaded) and virtual MIDI ports for lots of isolation and conversion of MIDI).
If you say that this defeats (or ignores) the supposed capabilities of the sequencer program to setup/control sound sources other than plug-ins, you are right.
It becomes too much work if you use more than one brand of external device and even using two identical Korg devices here, I still use my method.
Funny how modern automation SETUP brings complications that defeat creativity. Mix and match old and new, manual and automatic to preserve YOUR creativity !!!!!
I love knobs and buttons. . . and now touch-screens. . .
. . . and two wheeled transportation devices. . .
Pilgrim John