Track Focus to MIDI message

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tagenda
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Joined: Sun May 05, 2019 1:07 pm

Track Focus to MIDI message

Post by tagenda » Sun May 05, 2019 1:32 pm

Hello everyone,

I was hoping someone could point out how to do the following:

Basically, I need Live to send out a MIDI message ( eg. a #cc ) every time a MIDI track is selected, in other words "upon track focus", to the MIDI output of the focussed track.

So my question is: is this generally possible and, if so, what would your approach be?

Thanks a bunch in advance!

chapelier fou
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Re: Track Focus to MIDI message

Post by chapelier fou » Sun May 05, 2019 2:45 pm

This would be super simple.
Observe the focused track and whenever it changes, send a CC out of the track that contains the device ? Is that it ?
MacBook Pro 13" Retina i7 2.8 GHz OS 10.13, L10.0.1, M4L.
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tagenda
Posts: 15
Joined: Sun May 05, 2019 1:07 pm

Re: Track Focus to MIDI message

Post by tagenda » Sun May 05, 2019 4:30 pm

Thanks for your quick reply! Yeah I guess we're talking the same thing here.

Observing the focussed track, as you put it, probably wouldn't do it, as I need the msg to be sent UPON or shortly after the change of focus BY the newly focussed track and NOT by the one that was previously focussed (observed in your semantics?).

To recap: when selecting a track, send a cc from that track's midi output.

I keep being amazed by how complicated even simple things can occur when fed through language :)

chapelier fou
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Re: Track Focus to MIDI message

Post by chapelier fou » Sun May 05, 2019 4:57 pm

May I ask what your goal is ?
MacBook Pro 13" Retina i7 2.8 GHz OS 10.13, L10.0.1, M4L.
MacStudio M1Max 32Go OS 12.3.1

[jur]
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Re: Track Focus to MIDI message

Post by [jur] » Sun May 05, 2019 7:36 pm

tagenda wrote:
Sun May 05, 2019 4:30 pm
Thanks for your quick reply! Yeah I guess we're talking the same thing here.

Observing the focussed track, as you put it, probably wouldn't do it, as I need the msg to be sent UPON or shortly after the change of focus BY the newly focussed track and NOT by the one that was previously focussed (observed in your semantics?).

To recap: when selecting a track, send a cc from that track's midi output.

I keep being amazed by how complicated even simple things can occur when fed through language :)
So? You just need the midi CC to be sent by the selected track as soon as it is selected. It sounds like you're over complicating things.
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tagenda
Posts: 15
Joined: Sun May 05, 2019 1:07 pm

Re: Track Focus to MIDI message

Post by tagenda » Sun May 05, 2019 10:27 pm

Of course!

I am slaving Live to Nuendo via MIDI clock (ugh..)

My standard Nuendo template reflects my hardware setup, pretty much like an analog console.

My standard Live template in turn mirrors the Nuendo one, meaning it contains some of the tracks present therein.

The (MIDI) signal flow looks like this: Push2 > Live 10 > Nuendo 8.3 > MIDI destination ( synths, outboard FX etc ).

I am currently not using Audio in Live, as there's no way to sync the two DAWs with sample accuracy. Theoretically, the only option to accomplish this is ReWire, but it practically screws Push support along with pretty much everything else potentially useful about it.

I am furthermore using custom M4L devices (via Push2 ) to control mixing-related parameters in Nuendo using its Generic Remote, which lets one control almost every feature inside Nuendo via MIDI.

Blaaa, sorry the prolonged answer. Bottom line idea is: use Live & Push as some kind of groove box with Nuendo as the main hub. It'd be nice to sync track selection between the two...my guts tell me this could be very useful....

tagenda
Posts: 15
Joined: Sun May 05, 2019 1:07 pm

Re: Track Focus to MIDI message

Post by tagenda » Sun May 05, 2019 10:28 pm

[jur] wrote:
Sun May 05, 2019 7:36 pm
tagenda wrote:
Sun May 05, 2019 4:30 pm
Thanks for your quick reply! Yeah I guess we're talking the same thing here.

Observing the focussed track, as you put it, probably wouldn't do it, as I need the msg to be sent UPON or shortly after the change of focus BY the newly focussed track and NOT by the one that was previously focussed (observed in your semantics?).

To recap: when selecting a track, send a cc from that track's midi output.

I keep being amazed by how complicated even simple things can occur when fed through language :)
So? You just need the midi CC to be sent by the selected track as soon as it is selected. It sounds like you're over complicating things.
It's been a long day indeed, you nailed it there.

chapelier fou
Posts: 6011
Joined: Mon May 15, 2006 12:15 pm

Re: Track Focus to MIDI message

Post by chapelier fou » Mon May 06, 2019 5:30 am

So, what cc messages are used to select tracks in Nuendo ?
MacBook Pro 13" Retina i7 2.8 GHz OS 10.13, L10.0.1, M4L.
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tagenda
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Re: Track Focus to MIDI message

Post by tagenda » Mon May 06, 2019 8:28 am

Doesn't matter, it understands pretty much anything MIDI...cc, notes, nrpn etc. No OSC natively though. I guess simply cc #19 would do for a start.

chapelier fou
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Re: Track Focus to MIDI message

Post by chapelier fou » Mon May 06, 2019 9:08 am

And then, the cc value selects Nuendo’s tracks 1-128 ?
MacBook Pro 13" Retina i7 2.8 GHz OS 10.13, L10.0.1, M4L.
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tagenda
Posts: 15
Joined: Sun May 05, 2019 1:07 pm

Re: Track Focus to MIDI message

Post by tagenda » Mon May 06, 2019 9:17 am

Ah, no that's not how it works...one would create custom macros / logical operations which select tracks by name, type or other properties. These can be triggered by incoming MIDI msgs...it's more or less freely configurable.

chapelier fou
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Re: Track Focus to MIDI message

Post by chapelier fou » Mon May 06, 2019 9:42 am

I could write the M4L device for you, but you need to tell me precisely what message you want when track x is selected.
MacBook Pro 13" Retina i7 2.8 GHz OS 10.13, L10.0.1, M4L.
MacStudio M1Max 32Go OS 12.3.1

tagenda
Posts: 15
Joined: Sun May 05, 2019 1:07 pm

Re: Track Focus to MIDI message

Post by tagenda » Mon May 06, 2019 10:19 am

Dude, that would be absolutely lovely of you! The thing is that I need to figure out myself which cc's make sense in the context of my ( rather complex ) setup, as there's lots of MIDI traffic happening throughout the system. It'd perfectly do the trick if you sent a commented device and I shall be able to take it from there. I've done some basic M4L programming before, but simply have no time for such research atm...

chapelier fou
Posts: 6011
Joined: Mon May 15, 2006 12:15 pm

Re: Track Focus to MIDI message

Post by chapelier fou » Mon May 06, 2019 10:38 am

That's not the same approach wether you want :

- a different CC# per each track
- a single CC# for all tracks, and the CC value would select the track.

So I'll let you decide before I do the patching.
MacBook Pro 13" Retina i7 2.8 GHz OS 10.13, L10.0.1, M4L.
MacStudio M1Max 32Go OS 12.3.1

chapelier fou
Posts: 6011
Joined: Mon May 15, 2006 12:15 pm

Re: Track Focus to MIDI message

Post by chapelier fou » Mon May 06, 2019 10:44 am

Well, I just saw that most of the patch is already done in the original patchers provided with M4L.
Create a new object, name it "M4L.api.ObserveSelectedTrackIndex". Bang it's input. The left input with always output the currently selected track.
MacBook Pro 13" Retina i7 2.8 GHz OS 10.13, L10.0.1, M4L.
MacStudio M1Max 32Go OS 12.3.1

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