Low Row sustain and bend with MPE

[sagetone]

Hi,

I just recently got a Linnstrument. This is a fantastic controller!!! My primary DAW is Bitwig.

I can get Restrike, Strum, and Arpeg to work in MPE (ChPerNote) mode. But not Sustain and Bend. Those only work on the Low Row in classic MIDI (One Chan) mode. FW is 2.2.0 (just noticed 2.2.1 just came out).

Am I doing something wrong, or is this the suspected behavior? Would love to have Sustain and Bend operable from Low Row in MPE!

Thank you,

Todd

[Roger_Linn]

Hi Todd,

Thanks for buying a LinnStrument and I'm glad you're enjoying it.

The issue you describe is the nature of MPE as defined in the MPE Specification:

1) Messages related to each individual touches (note on, note off, channel pressure, pitch bend and Y/CC74) are sent over the Per-Note Channels, for example channels 2-8.

2) Messages related to all touches (Sustain/CC64, global pitch bend, Volume/CC7, Program Change, etc.) are sent over the Master channel (called Main channel in LinnStrument), for example channel 1.

To learn more about MPE, visit the LinnStrument Support page and click the button "What is MPE?".

I suspect the problem is that you're using a synth that supports MPE Per-Note Channels but doesn't support a Main channel, which is not uncommon. In this case, you can turn off the Main channel in LinnStrument, which will cause such common messages to be sent redundantly over all the Per Note channels. To do this, in Per-Split Settings, set MIDI Mode to ChPerNote, View (column 2) to "Main Channel", then in columns 3-6 deselect the selected Main channel. This is explain in the Panel Settings page, Per-Split Settings tab, "MIDI Channels" heading, at the end of the paragraph numbered "1)".

Update: I just tested the new Bitwig Studio 2.4 and to my surprise, it doesn't appear to support a Main channel. So I turned off the Main channel (as I wrote above) and discovered it works for turning sustain on but not off! I'll let Bitwig know about this.

[sagetone]

Excellent - thank you Roger! I just tried what you suggested and it works. Tried bend only, U-he Diva. This is a really nice touch, a common bend coupled with individual note bends.

Todd