FR: MPE MIDI editing capability

[kejkz]

Hi,

As an owner of the MPE keyboard and using a lot of plugins with that capability, I really like to record per midi channel data in that mode while recording to have more expressive midi performances. And while Mulab does support recording of the midi events sent from an MPE keyboard perfectly, like it should, editing that data, or better said, visualisation of that data is currently a bit problematic when you try to edit it using the midi editor. Main problem is that CC and pitch bend messages are overlapping each other while editing or looking at the stream:

Screenshot 2023-10-20 at 08.42.58.png

I believe that it would be (relatively) simple for Mulab to support displaying this data in a better fashion. It's only important to differentiate the velocity on, velocity off, cc messages, aftertouch and pitch bends per midi channel. Selecting a respective note of a given channel should also select the current cc of that same channel for editing.

This is really not a show stopper for me personally, since I'm in most cases not editing my MPE performances, but I believe it would make MuLab a more complete host to have this capability.

I believe that this page by Roger Linn is a good general guide for adding MPE capabilities: https://www.rogerlinndesign.com/support ... to-add-mpe

Thanks for taking it into consideration

[pljones]

velocity on, velocity off

You mean "Note On" and "Note Off"? MIDI "Note On" messages (and "Note Off") incorporate the note velocity/volume as well as pitch/note number.

For each channel, for any point in time, I'd like to see
* the currently active notes (i.e. notes where "Note On" occurred more recently than "Note Off"), split by note number/pitch and showing what the notes velocity was
When an active note is selected, and for any point in time within that note::
* the latest channel and/or polyphonic aftertouch value(s) - per active note, the same if channel is more recent than poly
When an active note is selected (same value for all active notes at any time for the same channel), and for any point in time within that note:
* the latest pitch bend
* the latest program change, ideally with bank select
* the latest CC values, split by CC number (with both raw and MSB/LSB value support), ideally support for RPN and NRPN values
for all the above, values both at the time of the Note On and the current play head time would be ideal, as some values are only applied by modules at note trigger time and some apply through the life of the note

And
* ideally some form of SysEx handling

And editing support for all the above.

https://archive.org/details/Complete_MI ... ion_96-1-3

Within a sequence, I don't think there should be a limitation on the channel number but I do think it would be good to have 16 distinguishable channel identifiers for the active notes.

I'd also like the current MIDI hardware support extended, so that a MIDI inputs/outputs could be mapped to "extended" channels, rather than limitting to 16 (i.e. allow 16 per hardware input or output, as opposed to a forced MIDI merge).

[ElVincente]

I agree with kejkz request. It would be great to be able to visualize and edit cc and pitchwell of the last selected note midi channel.

[kejkz]

velocity on, velocity off

You mean "Note On" and "Note Off"?

I believe we're covered with these two (not on and off), but there is one additional information sent on some of the keyboards (not all) and that's velocity off power. Basically for example if you're holding the key for a bit (aftertouch) and you press it and then lift, you get a note off velocity value. I'm sure that's not only connected to MPE per se, I have 3 keyboards here, and two support it, and it can be quite nice variation to a sound while performing.

Btw yeah, I like your ideas, all of them would be really good to have. Current editor gets the job done for simple midi data, but it can be a daunting to edit anything more complex than that.

[pljones]

Yes, "Note Off" and "Note On" both include a velocity value - the only difference between the two is the message type. Frequently (a) running status is used, meaning a single Note On with Channel is sent, followed by Note number and velocity values, where velocity zero is explicitly defined to mean Note Off; and (b) because of running status, the Note Off velocity is very frequently ignored anyway.

If you're sending polyphonic aftertouch, of course, running status becomes less useful and sending the Note Off velocity also make much more sense.

[Tj Shredder]

I am new to MuTools, and a LinnStrument user. Is it already possible to build MPE synths or to turn existing ones into MPE within the plugin somehow?
Voice per channel would already be sufficient in most cases…