Omnisphere 2.5 Lemur / Midi Designer Pro Template Thread

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

But I don't know about a 2nd controller... that feels a bit shark-jumping to me.

Was thinking of something tiny like a Korg Nanokontrol or a Novation Launchkontrol i.e a small midi unit that had 16 controls ready to be assigned to things like extra effects etc. that are surplus to the standard hardware profile, but integral to a more advanced patch. Even, perhaps an iPad to compliment the hardware so that the Orb can become part of the equation.

Anyway, it probably is over the top for anything but a Live performance setup

[Echoes in the Attic]

Thanks Rob, looking nice there - it's an interesting idea to get bigger controls on more tabs. Pros and cons both ways of course. I guess my default is to get as much in a single page as possible without it being silly, just because it's closer to the hardware experience of jumping from one control to others. Most bigger synths so far have fitted OK on two, but I can see a case for performance controls on a third.

I'm 99% sure that NRPN won't work in those cases though, because the boutiques are set up for midi CC only. No mention of NPRN in the manuals at all for any of the Rolands, so CCs are pretty much certain to be what Spectrasonics exclusively use for those. I have the System 8 and Jupiter 8 pretty much in a decent workable place though, so shouldn't matter too much that it can't be easily ported.

I've largely got to grips with NRPN now for the models that do use it, but there might well be some odd things here and there that are still gonna confuse me, so thanks v much for the offer.

Echoes - yes, you could over multiple pages, but there isn't a way to label the pages on the SL is there? And it looks like only the 8 knobs get labels at all and not the faders or buttons, so it would mean a lot of pages.

I can't remember if you are on the beta or not, but you could in theory just try it out now if you were - the midi implematation tables are all on the Roland product pages website.

Regarding the SL labels, actually they show the row of whatever you touch, they are touch sensitive. Yeah no labeling the pages but I don’t think that’s really necessary with only a few pages. I preferred when they had screens above both sides in the SL mkI but oh well. Actually I still have an mkI keyboard but was thinking of getting a zero mkII.

I am not on the beta because I am computerless for a couple of months as I travel. iPad only for a while!

[mysticfm]

Now that Omnisphere 2.5 is out, maybe there will be renewed interest in this ... therefore I don't feel bad about bumping it.

I had a similar idea to what has been mentioned in this thread: programming the controls on my Novation Impulse to control one or more of the hardware synth profiles in 2.5. I am also using Lemur, so I'm going to be looking closely at what has been said and done in this thread thus far, from both of those perspectives.

One question: my thought of how to approach this was to have Omnisphere dump a MIDI Learn Report while in the hardware mode, and use that as a guide to setting up my controls. Unfortunately I can't really make heads or tails of the report, especially when it comes to the NRPNs. The Impulse can send NRPNs, but the report just mentions NRPN 31 (for example), with no indication of whether that is the MSB or LSB value. Furthermore, most of these lines in the report also have something like "GUI 33" in them, and I have no idea what that is referring to. Does anyone else happen to know more? The only thing I know for certain is that, so far, none of my attempts to program an NRPN button on the Impulse have gotten any sort of a response from Omnisphere, so I must be doing something very wrong thus far.

[noiseboyuk]

NRPN was working fine on the Lemur - eventually. It was rocket science to get it working though, had to use a kindly soul’s NRPN template and it required some real effort to figure out even then. When it finally worked, it was just a case of plugging in the NRPN number as a variable, even if it was over 127, I don’t think it needed anything over and above to differentiate between 7 and 14 bit.

What was demoralising though was after all those efforts my connection under Windows was terrible, and I’d even get midi feedback loops even though the routing all checked out. Solid on a Mac, but I really wanted it for Windows. Then actual music work got in the way and I sorta abandoned.

I found myself looking up Midi Designer Pro 2 again last night, thinking how much easier it looked to use. But I’d want to buy an old basic iPad to run it, and before I do that I’d need to be sure it will be rugged. I’ve dropped the developer an email for advice.

I think more than ever that this is potentially a really great way to go. The Spectrasonics demos are mouthwatering, but even buying one hardware synth will only unlock 1 of the 30 (and growing) profiles, so at the very least I’d want to be really sure it was getting the kinds of results I’d want. This is such a great taster for them all. As an example, I was originally interested in a System 1M, but the System 8 sounds don’t really do it for me as a whole, so my experiments stopped me buying redundant hardware. Of course you can get a bit of a sense of that just from presets, but it’s not the same as getting your hands on it.

It will be a huge time sink to get them all set up, I was kinda hoping several people would help pool resources, but nobody else showed leaving me as Billy No Mates. So currently conflicted still about the whole project... I’d like a few stars to align with Windows and extra pairs of hands.

[Echoes in the Attic]

NRPN was working fine on the Lemur - eventually. It was rocket science to get it working though, had to use a kindly soul’s NRPN template and it required some real effort to figure out even then. When it finally worked, it was just a case of plugging in the NRPN number as a variable, even if it was over 127, I don’t think it needed anything over and above to differentiate between 7 and 14 bit.

What was demoralising though was after all those efforts my connection under Windows was terrible, and I’d even get midi feedback loops even though the routing all checked out. Solid on a Mac, but I really wanted it for Windows. Then actual music work got in the way and I sorta abandoned.

I found myself looking up Midi Designer Pro 2 again last night, thinking how much easier it looked to use. But I’d want to buy an old basic iPad to run it, and before I do that I’d need to be sure it will be rugged. I’ve dropped the developer an email for advice.

I think more than ever that this is potentially a really great way to go. The Spectrasonics demos are mouthwatering, but even buying one hardware synth will only unlock 1 of the 30 (and growing) profiles, so at the very least I’d want to be really sure it was getting the kinds of results I’d want. This is such a great taster for them all. As an example, I was originally interested in a System 1M, but the System 8 sounds don’t really do it for me as a whole, so my experiments stopped me buying redundant hardware. Of course you can get a bit of a sense of that just from presets, but it’s not the same as getting your hands on it.

It will be a huge time sink to get them all set up, I was kinda hoping several people would help pool resources, but nobody else showed leaving me as Billy No Mates. So currently conflicted still about the whole project... I’d like a few stars to align with Windows and extra pairs of hands.

I think it would be great to get this working with midi controllers that have screens for control labeling and enough controls to notbhave to jump a million pages (like NI Komplete Kontrol). I think Novation SL and Nektar are the obvious choices. Once I get one of these again soon I’ll be looking into it but it will take a couple more mo the before I’m settled.

I really wish spectrasonics would make midi templates or document some guidance about mimicking these layouts with midi controllers. I want to try to replicate the prophet x layout with a midi controller.

[topaz]

Hi Guy thanks very much for doing these ( I know how much time is involved in doing these things )I will check them out as soon as possible.

The whole Lemur thing seems to be
Tiny right now all the people on the Facebook group don’t respond the Liine forum has gone.

For me it was the frustration of a small iPad screen and even the prospect of an iPad Pro was good but the pricetag way too high For only using as a touch device.

But my interest is a renewed as I just got a 21.5 inch IPS touchscreen for under £200 and an Odroid C2 single board for under £100.

I highly recommend this set up yes there are far more apps available on iOS than android but the small amount that is there is very good.

Lemur working well, i use it over ethernet.

TouchDAW.

Looking forward to touchable pro for when I use Live.

Right now I’m working on a 16 channel mackie Cubase mixer with all my frequently use key commands all on one screen.

I personally think the whole touchscreen experience has been let down by small expensive displays.

Best Matt

[noiseboyuk]

I've happily migrated across to Midi Designer Pro. A far less aggravating experience all round, and the developer seems very active and keen to help. I've bought the app, the in-app purchase which unlocks a few extra goodies, and MusicIO, another app which means I can use a lightning cable to communicate between the iPad and the PC.

Setting Up the communication between MDP and Omnisphere

Windows 10

First, get the communication method working. I didn't have much luck with Wifi, so the MusicIO app was needed (about £5 for the basic midi-only version which is all we need). It requires iTunes to be installed on the PC unfortunately, but at least it doesn't need to be running. Nothing worked until I installed it, and then it worked instantly when I did.

You need to add 2 tracks to your DAW. 1 is an audio track with MusicIO installed on it. Open the app on the iPad, then the two should just find each other and the iPad ring will turn green. No need to touch any other settings I've found.

The other channel is a midi track. Route the in to be the MusicIO virtual midi port, and the out to Omnisphere.

By default, MDP on the iPad sees MusicIO and routes automatically. Select a Hardware Profile in Omni and you should be good to go.

MacOS

This needs a small MusicIO app installed, which works as a server. It then just works - all the problems I've had are to do with iTunes getting stuck in a loop with my iPad wanting to update it but not doing so.

Programming with Midi Designer Pro 2

I found it really easy to use next to Lemur. Make Similar is such a great feature - get one control working, and Make Similar copies it and advances the midi numbers to the next unused channel. Often this is exactly right, and it even defaults a physical layout based on your first two actions. Can be incredibly quick to get a row of controls going once your head is round the basics.

By default MDP uses a split screen mode, but I prefer just tabbing full screen. This is an option in the Config page for each layout.

Notes on NRPN and HiRes Midi

Note - only relevant if programming new layouts, you don't need to know any of this if you're just using other people's templates.

So having done a little more research and testing, here's my best understanding (bear in mind I'm absolutely still finding my feet with all this, don't trust my word for any of it!)

NRPN

This uses fixed Midi CCs to have a high range of controllers and numerical values

MSB - CC99
LSB - CC98
Parameter Value (used in 128 mode) - CC6
Fine detail parameter value (additionally used in 16K mode) - CC38

So for this, all the CCs are set in stone. As far as MDP goes, you go into NRPN mode (if any of the numerical values are over 128 it's likely all using the NRPN 0-16K mode) enter the MSB and LSB which is the NRPN value. Often this is written as a single number, and you need to divide it up into an MSB and LSB - MSB is counted in blocks of 128, LSB is the remainder. If your NRPN number is 121, MSB=0, LSB =121. If the NRPN number is 131, MSB=1, LSB=3 (128x1 + 3 = 131). 419 is MSB=3, LSB=35 (128x3 + 35) etc

HiRes Midi CC

These are separate pairs of midi CCs. MSB is the lower number, LSB the higher. I believe these pairs are fixed and are 32 apart. Here's the pairs that the Moog Voyager uses

MSB (LSB)
1 (33)
2 (34)
3 (35)
4 (36)
5 (37)

etc

To use in MDP, you go into Control Change mode and set the 14 bit switch. Then just enter the CC number of the MSB, the allocation of the LSB is automatic and you don't need to do anything.

The good news is MDP handles both happily!

Templates I've made so far

Moog Voyager

https://mididesigner.com/qa/7249/moog-v ... 1-1-update





Roland SH-01a

https://mididesigner.com/qa/7248/roland ... sphere-2-5



DSI Oberheim OB6

https://mididesigner.com/qa/7224/dave-s ... sphere-2-5







Roland VP-03

https://mididesigner.com/qa/7198/roland ... sphere-2-5



Roland JU-06

https://mididesigner.com/qa/7197/roland ... iphere-2-5



Existing Templates on the MDP community which work with Omni

DSI Prophet 12

2 versions: The Performance Tool

https://mididesigner.com/qa/6787/layout ... 6787#q6787





The Full Editor (6 pages, just showing one here)

https://mididesigner.com/qa/6098/layout ... 6098#q6098



Roland SE-02

https://mididesigner.com/qa/6182/roland ... 6182#q6182

[topaz]

Sadly MDP has no android version and looks like it never will.

[Echoes in the Attic]

That MusicIO app has some pretty bad reviews on the app store. It's working ok? Is there really no other way to get info from an ipad to a windows maschine? Or do people usually use wifi but you had bad luck with wifi?

[noiseboyuk]

Echoes - You can connect via wifi, but that's always a nightmare on Windows for me. It doesn't help that my studio is out of range of the main router in the house, and I have a 2nd router just for the studio that is run from a LAN cable, and invariably this doesn't work with wifi apps.

I was actively looking for a cabled solution, and for me musicIO has been excellent. I fought for ages until I read somewhere about it needing iTunes installed, the moment I did that it's been very solid and no fuss. Note - the main musicIO app is for transferring audio which would require good bandwidth, but we only need the midi-only variant which is massively less demanding. The last reviews I can see for this were over a year old, 2 were 5 stars, 1 was 1 star.

Topaz - yes, its a shame there's no Android version. I'm running the app on an iPad mini 2, which has a considerably smaller screen than my Fire 10 HD that I was using for Lemur. It's not been as annoying as I feared though, and I see they are pretty cheap on eBay these days, around £70 for a small capacity Mini 2, which is all you'd need. All my designs are based with the smaller screen in mind, I dislike crowded fiddly layouts, these are for clumsier fingers

[noiseboyuk]

One more up, probably the last until 2.6 is out, for the Sub 37. Has that cute multidrive thing.

https://mididesigner.com/qa/7284/moog-s ... sphere-2-5