I just upgraded to Alchemy Mobile Pro and am really excited about using the MIDI functionality. I have looked in other posts and I can't find information about support of MIDI Change Control or Program Control messages for Performance snapshots or XY control. I did see Note Property in the Alchemy manual, but still did not call out the MIDI mappings.

Is there information somewhere? Thanks Craig

Hi Craig,

At the moment Virtual MIDI is restricted to notes, pitch bend and the mod wheel. It is not possible to "MIDI learn" the remix pad or other controls, but this will probably change in a future update. The main reasons for not allowing this yet are:

a) configuration - requires quite a lot of GUI work and we have not had time yet

b) performance - the CPU is already maxed out with many of the sounds, so adding MIDI CC could affect the number of voices

Not sure about Program Change - this is the first time it's been mentioned as far as I know. What apps would you expect to use that with? Or are you using an external keyboard and want to change presets without touching the screen?

Peace,
Andy.

Andy,

I get these funky ideas sometimes. Awhile ago, I started to use a Behringer FCB1010 MIDI foot controller to play notes and change presets (program change) on a rack synth and at the same time play bass. I just started to get interested in the many possibilities of the iPad, synths, and MIDI controllers/sequencers.

Anyway, here is the idea I had. I would like to play bass and pedal a synth at the same time. The synth would be on the iPad which gives me the flexibility of using multiple synths. Ideal would be for all of them to support background audio with uniquely addressable MIDI channels (some have this, MidiBridge may also help). I may even hook up a Yamaha DD-65 digital drum pad for more fun.

For even more fun would be to layer in Genome MIDI Sequencer (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4ulk2nHPbA starting at 5:30) in combination with the FCB1010. I need to experiment more with this and the FCB1010 for selecting different sequences in a song with program change; if even possible.

With Alchemy, I would like to use an external program change message to select the presets and loops.

Thanks for your response.

Craig

I just thought that it may be handy to use an expression pedal on the FCB1010 to change tempo or a foot pedal for tap tempo.

Anyway, thanks for putting up with these crazy ideas and I hope I am not too far out there. I use an iPad 2 and I know there is a restriction as to how many synths I can run at the same time.

I was just doing the same thing the last couple of nights with a Logidy umi3:
http://logidy.com/ and an expression pedal.

With the pedal, I control the sweep of the performance potentiometers; and with the buttons assigned to program mode, I switch between presets in assigned banks of pads.

I would like to also switch and pan through the remix snapshots in a similar way. Perhaps, midi learn will allow for that.

If anyone knows how to set up the umi3 to work that way, it would be much appreciated.

As someone who plays live, program change is always extremely helpful. Preprogramming my keyboards/controllers with program changes makes patch changes very quick, easy and requires less thought. I don't want to think through, "I have to change the patch on Alchemy Pro to be 'A Forest Gnome Dancing'"...I want to think, "I need to hit patch 32" and not necessarily be concerned with which synth is producing the sound. Though I am sure you recognize this already, but just want to point out, my main use is live.

I realize the way Alchemy works, it's not really setup for program changes. With an always expanding palette of sounds (sound pack downloads) how are you supposed to deal with program changes? One thing I thought of is allowing us to assign a Program Change number to sounds. Perhaps a little number control between the two X/Y pads. And you can even make it a Pro-only option. By default, the value is OFF.

Thanks for all the feedback and info. It makes a lot of sense that you are using Alchemy Mobile as a sound module and want to change presets without touching the screen.

Initially the app was designed to control Alchemy on the desktop, but it Alchemy Mobile now being used as a performance instrument in it's own right so we need to consider that as the app is updated over the next few months.

So, I will be pushing for a more thorough implementation of MIDI messages including program change - it's just not possible to say when at this point.

I think the easiest but still useful implementation would be to allow program change messages for the selected bank only. That way the user could is free to set up a list of favourite presets, set the order of the presets in the app, and use program change to step through the presets while performing.

Peace,
Andy.