The nanoKontrol works a treat for now, so I'm pretty good to go. I did end up getting an Android tablet, but that's for work (ugh). Finally upgraded to full Alchemy from the player, so that'll keep me busy.. while..

..I wait and see how the QuNeo is received.

I need a new PC as well, on this wheezy dual-core Pentium laptop, 3 instances of Alchemy causes CPU overload.. sigh.

Last night, I used midi learn to assign the sliders and knobs on my Oxygen 61 to Alchemy Player. It seems to work well but for the fact that some of the settings change when reaching the end of a midi loop in Reaper; I've probably missed a trick somewhere.


I'm still saving up for Alchemy, never mind a tablet!

Can't believe nobody has mentioned MIDIMe for the Ipad. Perfect for Alchemy and Zebra with 6 recordable x-y pads with some handy options such as recordable gestures per keypress.

http://www.burgerkone.com/midime/

Controllable mayhem

Not sure what's causing this, but you could try resetting MIDI learn. To do this select "MIDI Unlearn All" from the Alchemy Player file menu. Does the problem still occur?

MIDI CC numbers from 16 - 63 are best for MIDI learn as numbers below this are often used for pre-defined actions and some hosts may send reset messages. It should be possible to select custom CC numbers for each of the controls on the keyboard, and then re-learn the Alchemy Player controls.


Thanks for the tip, looks useful and gives me some nice ideas

Peace,
Andy.

Thank you for the advice: much needed! In case you haven't guessed already, I'm very ignorant about all things MIDI and most things musical.

After watching the Camel Audio introductory video for Alchemy Player, I used the "Octave" control (bottom right-hand corner) to assign the eight snapshots to my keyboard from C5 upwards. It's a clever feature that made my Oxygen 61 feel like it was finally earning its corn. At last, I started to get the instant control that mouse-clicking lacks and started to enjoy myself.

I took your advice and selected "MIDI Unlearn", thinking it best to get my DAW's (Reaper) basic controls mapped. M-Audio DirectLink auto-mapping, in its wisdom, ignores Reaper and so I am forced to assign controls manually. I've successfully mapped the basic transport, volume and pan controls for the first eight tracks to the appropriate Oxygen buttons but have come a cropper when trying to map Alchemy Player's knobs. As you suggest, it's probably something to do with the CC channels.

For example, if I use MIDI Learn to assign Alchemy Player's Knob 1 by moving the Oxygen's first rotary knob, I end up with the one keyboard knob controlling Knob 1 and the pan control for Track 1. (Reaper's action "Set Pan for Track 1" is MIDI Chan 1 CC 17.) How do I get around this duplication error? I presume it has something to do with selecting MIDI banks; something I've never done.

I apologise if this post is confusing.

It sounds to me like Reaper is using MIDI Channel 1 for host control, so what you would do in this case is set the Oxygen to MIDI Channel 2 when you want to control Alchemy or some other plugin.

At least, that is how it works with the Novation Impulse and Logic - and this sounds like a similar problem: MMC (transport control) and mix control on channel 1, plugin CC's on channel 2 or higher.

There should be an menu / option somewhere on the Oxygen to set the current MIDI channel. The default is sometimes "Omni" or "All". Try changing to 2 before using MIDI learn.

Peace,
Andy.

Thanks to your helpful advice, I have waded through M-Audio's pestilential manual and have hopefully assigned Alchemy Player's rotary controls 1-8 to the Oxygen 61's knobs on MIDI channel 2. However, I find that if I play a MIDI loop and adjust one of Alchemy's rotary controls it reverts back to a zero value at the end of the loop. Curiouser and curiouser.

If only M-Audio's philosophy matched Camel Audio's, there wouldn't be a problem. The Oxygen 61 is a budget product, presumably designed to attract newbies, yet its documentation is dull, confusing, unhelpful and assumes familiarity with MIDI. Getting it to work with Reaper and Alchemy shouldn't be such an ordeal. Grrr.

This could to be caused by either of the following:

(1) The MIDI region contains automation data, or you've recorded some MIDI CC data to the region. When the transport loops it is sending the data to Alchemy Player.

(2) Reaper is sending a reset message when the transport loops or stops - there are options for this in Reaper, but we need to work out what the actual cause is before we start changing preferences.

Does the problem occur in a new project with only Alchemy Player and a new MIDI recording?

Peace,
Andy.

Hi Andy,

As far as I can tell, the only automation data in the MIDI loop is the velocity, which is set to 127. Hardware and MIDI are a mystery to me, I'm afraid. I can barely start my laptop.

I've rather hijacked this thread, haven't I? Would it be best to start a new one and let KVR members get back to discussing the topic in hand?

Hopefully this will be the last post required to fix the problem If not, send me a PM and we can take it from there.

In Reaper preferences (Options -> Preferences) there is a checkbox to reset MIDI CC messages on stop / play. This option is enabled by default, which will reset any controls with learned MIDI CC assignments to 0 (e.g. if the filter cutoff is assigned, it will be closed, which might prevent any output). Unchecking this option (see image) will solve the problem.


(click for full size)

Peace,
Andy.

I won't be able to try this fix until tomorrow. Perhaps your advice will prompt me to RTFM.

Before I stop hijacking this thread: thank you for your help. From the website design and video tutorials to the software to the special offers to the online help, Camel Audio's attitude to their customers is nigh exemplary. My wallet is getting nervous.

No worries, and apologies to the OP for being mostly off-topic the last few posts.

Back on-topic: V-Control for iPad looks like an awesome host / plugin controller app. More info here:

http://www.kvraudio.com/product/v-control-pro-by-neyrinck

Discussed in this thread:

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4881767

(works with any host, not just Logic)

Peace,
Andy.