LAN Based MIDI Solution

Recently I was considering purchasing a USB powered MIDI interface for my development/composition laptop. The idea here being that I would flop some 30+ foot long cables from the composition desk over to the recording desk and DAW. SoftSynths are ok but they often lack detail in harmonic overtones that will rear their nasty heads when you start pushing performances through a more realistic set of samples. I’ve been working on a few things and just got tired of exporting MusicXML to the DAW for previews. I was looking for real-time.

For whatever reason (probably my reluctance to part with cash) I decided to look and see if anybody had virtualized MIDI over LAN. I remember Steinberg made some early attempts with this type of thing long ago for net jams and MIDI has skirted around a CAT5 type connection so surely somebody just got smart and decided to ‘packetize’ the messages in a client/server app. Yes.. they did.

rtpMIDI is a really great little utility to have in your studio toolbox.

In all fairness, Mac has had this for awhile but I’m still in PC world. It’s rare I find a PC based MIDI utility that actually works… that’s why I’m posting this. In a matter of minutes I was able to setup my DAW as a server and connect to it from the laptop client. Running Finale on the client machine I was generating live MIDI over the network to my Midex8 hooked up to a Yamaha P-60. The best part? The laptop was on a wireless connection so I can freely pop into the next room to sit on the couch and still listen to performances or even edit without having to switch back to localized SoftSynth sounds or go back in the studio.

Global MIDI Controls and AmpliTube 3.5

So it’s been over a week since I posted about AmpliTube 3.5 and MIDI control. I had planned to post more sooner but my personal and professional to-do list just never stops. I wanted to do a little writeup on single-source multi-target control of AT3.5 (next post or so) but got a little distracted by all the other MIDI options within AT3.5 and the quick realization that I had no clue what half of this stuff was even for.

One aspect of my pedalboard are these two oddly placed switches kind of lower and between what would normally be bypass switches for the pedals.

Preset Browser Switches

My intention was to make these preset browsers but never tried to do so until this writeup. I have spent a lot of time in the MIDI Control Preset window where I never saw the option and obviously never really looked at the Global options. Getting to the Global options is simply a matter of clicking the MIDI button in AT3.5 then selecting the Global button in the top left corner.

Global MIDI Control Window

I’m glad to see that AT3.5 has two specific pre-configured entires for preset changes. If you recall from my previous post “Quick Guide To Using External MIDI Controllers with AmpliTube 3” all I need to do is highlight the Preset Next entry, click Learn then tap the next button on my controller. Repeat for the previous button and we’re ready to change presets at the simple tap of a foot.

Other Fixed Options in Global MIDI Control

So next my eye is drawn to the Volume, Wah, and Wharmonator entries. Probably because I want to try and exploit them in unintended ways (it’s a personal tic). I can’t help but wonder what happens if I use two volume pedals in series? Ok sorta dumb I know, but what if I run a parallel config like signal chain 2 and have a pedal on each, what happens then? If I use two different Wahs, does it alter both? Let’s find out what’s going on here.

So after training the volume in signal chain one, anytime I drop a volume pedal, and regardless of which slot I move it to, the volume control just works. Pretty nifty. A huge time saver for a commonly used pedal. Dropping a second volume in-line defaults the control to the first volume in the series. That makes sense. Setting up a parallel config and placing a volume in stomp A and stomp B results in only the pedal in Stomp A responding to the controller. This makes a little less sense to me but I get it. Ok Wah time. I set the Wah row to learn in Global MIDI control and tap on a pedal. Good to go. Returning to the stomps I run the same tests as the volume and get the same results. I’m not terribly surprised to get the same results.

This all may sound like a bunch of overkill but I was just curious to learn the primary intent of the global ‘default’ controllers and now know it’s just for your first matching pedal in the chain (and behind the scenes AT3.5 scans Stomps A through B in slot order order making no distinctions between serial or parallel configs.) Obviously any deviations from this single pedal approach are best handled by MIDI Preset control setups as covered in the previous post but part of me wouldn’t mind a ‘cascading’ approach to control the first ‘non-bypassed’ Wah in the chain should I want to use two flavors in the same preset. Just a thought.

Abstract Guitars on the Site

I completed some new work in June and am just now getting around to posting the images…

“Duo” – 48×48
Congrats to Jim Nichols who won Duo in the “name my studio” contest on Facebook.

“Solo” – 48×48

“One” – 27×38
Congrats to Trey Lominack who won One in the follow-up “Name in the hat” giveaway
on Facebook.

Website Tweaked… New Works on the Way

I finally got around to posting some tweaks to my website… after sitting on it for maybe 2 or more months. Nothing majorly new here except it now links in a live twitter feed and main content is supplied by WordPress. This will let me keep the site updated in a more timely fashion. Speaking of updates… new artwork will be posted this weekend.

I’ve been working on a series of retro-stylized abstract guitars and since three are complete, it’s time to start putting them online. Congrats to Jim Nichols and Trey Lominack, both winners of my art giveway that took place in June.

There will be another giveaway soon. I just have a few other things to put into play first.