Opinion: Best mini keyboard controller for Bitwig

[backtomusic]

Right, but...

Well, I don't know what to tell you. It's basic, but works here. If you've modified your templates (mine is Default 1 or whatever) then obviously there might be some issues. But it seems like you know what you're doing, so either change the template or modify the script around your template

Pardon, got carried away reacting to how basic the implementation was and your mention of endless encoders. Thanks for checking and reporting!

Well then, I've got the M32 since it was cheaper now and needed a mini.

All of a sudden I can't use it in Bitwig 4.0.5 with the native script. "MIDI Output Error: KOMPLETE KONTROL M32 MIDI: Could not open MIDI ouput" and then it rambles about not sufficient memory.

Any of you guys have any ideas how to solve this.. as a generic controller it works, but then device knobs are not mapped correctly.

I have no clue whats going on what so ever.. the magical reboot didn't solve it either

What I have discovered is that uninstalling everything but NI Native Access makes it work, though daw-integration connection is then lost, but at least it does not crash and the 8 knobs work better than the generic one, and keybead.. but play etc is offline ofcourse. Reinstalling Ni Komplete Kontroll and the problem is back..

[Karbon L. Forms]

Right, but...

Well, I don't know what to tell you. It's basic, but works here. If you've modified your templates (mine is Default 1 or whatever) then obviously there might be some issues. But it seems like you know what you're doing, so either change the template or modify the script around your template

Pardon, got carried away reacting to how basic the implementation was and your mention of endless encoders. Thanks for checking and reporting!

Well then, I've got the M32 since it was cheaper now and needed a mini.

All of a sudden I can't use it in Bitwig 4.0.5 with the native script. "MIDI Output Error: KOMPLETE KONTROL M32 MIDI: Could not open MIDI ouput" and then it rambles about not sufficient memory.

Any of you guys have any ideas how to solve this.. as a generic controller it works, but then device knobs are not mapped correctly.

I have no clue whats going on what so ever.. the magical reboot didn't solve it either

I've had this shit all day today! I was buggering about with adding an NI Light Guide style LED strip to my M32. I needed MIDI from keyboard sent to the LED controller so used midi-ox for routing... I changed the Moss's controller MIDI input to the LED controller... All good, but then Bitwig started spewing errors for the MIDI output (ie DAW to keyboard). Restarts didn't help. Removed the whole midi-ox setup, still nope. Tried a virtual port routed back to M32, nope, midi-ox can't open it either.

Basically NOTHING can open said port. Thing is, it was fine a day or so ago when I first setup the M32.

So now the controller in BWS refuses to activate without the 2nd output slot filled. I had to give it a dummy virtual port that goes nowhere. Not sure what this means for the controller script. There doesn't seem like much the M32 can do midi sent to it. I should have a delve into moss's code.

The memory thing is bogus. It actually means 'device in use already' for the most part.

[backtomusic]

...Basically NOTHING can open said port. Thing is, it was fine a day or so ago when I first setup the M32.

...So now the controller in BWS refuses to activate without the 2nd output slot filled....

Well I've tried a Bitwig support, since it works in Ableton. Their first reply was that I must have something blocking the connection that I need to identify and close.
Well. I have nothing startad that does this. If it was the case I believe I would get the same problem in Ableton but there it works.

Soo for some reason the block is only in Bitwig with nothing else going on.

If I add M32 as a generic keyboard/controller it ofcourse works, and from the dropdown you can select it to be "converted" to the controller, when you do that it complains that the the "generic" is blocking the midi and after that the same problem.

[backtomusic]

Contributing to the thread i also have a Korg MicroKey.. since it has no special controls more than mod wheel , the integration with Bitwig is surprisingly bad

The stock script maps the mod wheel to first macro-control which means you cant use the mod wheel as a mod wheel.. so it is better to use the generic midi option.

The keybed is much worse then the NI M32 though. So even if you get the hostintegration problems with M32, the latter is nicer and cant at least be used as a generic midi controller with its knobs. A shame you cant map the transport buttons on the M32 too :/

[Karbon L. Forms]

...Basically NOTHING can open said port. Thing is, it was fine a day or so ago when I first setup the M32.

...So now the controller in BWS refuses to activate without the 2nd output slot filled....

Well I've tried a Bitwig support, since it works in Ableton. Their first reply was that I must have something blocking the connection that I need to identify and close.
Well. I have nothing startad that does this. If it was the case I believe I would get the same problem in Ableton but there it works.

Soo for some reason the block is only in Bitwig with nothing else going on.

If I add M32 as a generic keyboard/controller it ofcourse works, and from the dropdown you can select it to be "converted" to the controller, when you do that it complains that the the "generic" is blocking the midi and after that the same problem.

Ableton does not use the output port (by default) and if I try and activate it... NOPE!

I did some tactical searching through Moss's (spaghetti) code and I don't think the outputs even used? There's sysex that gets sent but I think that uses the DAW port. Can't be sure with 57 layers of abstraction style Java. I'll test functionality.

[antic604]

Seems like there's new contender & considering it comes from Nectar, Bitwig's integration should be at least solid:

https://nektartech.com/impact-lx-mini/

[Alchemedia]

Seems like there's new contender & considering it comes from Nectar, Bitwig's integration should be at least solid.

Not too shabby for $120.

[backtomusic]

Ableton does not use the output port (by default) and if I try and activate it... NOPE!

I did some tactical searching through Moss's (spaghetti) code and I don't think the outputs even used? There's sysex that gets sent but I think that uses the DAW port. Can't be sure with 57 layers of abstraction style Java. I'll test functionality.

Well, disabling KOMPLETE KONTROL M32 MIDI and rebooting then enabling it again the integration works. Same effect if you uninstall the device.

But after reboot it's the same, something is blocking M32 MIDI, and as far I can tell it is the NativeInstrumentsHostIntegration, the only non windows midi processes i can identify is Native Instruments only.

NI Support has come to the point where they started to point out Bitwig is not supported. Though that is not the issue at hand.. the issue is why M32 MIDI is blocked. And I have nothing else than NI HostIntegrationAgent as a suspect of being the blocker.

For someone thinking of getting the M32. Komplete kontrol works for me since it does not need ouput.

And you can work without the "hostintegration" by adding two controllers.. a generic controller setup to map the knobs to macros, and a MCU-controller for PLAY/REC/STOP/LOOP buttons. And the big "knob" can be used to scroll the timeline, move between tracks.. though it somehow bugs out sometimes and stop working.

Whats missing is the ability to control volume/solo/mute

[backtomusic]

...Basically NOTHING can open said port. Thing is, it was fine a day or so ago when I first setup the M32.

...So now the controller in BWS refuses to activate without the 2nd output slot filled....

Well, I have found the solution. All evidence in my case pointed to that NI has stored
a corrupt file somewhere that it reads upon reboot, and that this file is not removed during uninstall.
So I searched the usual folders for Native Instruments folder, and renamed the containing folders to X-<something>-

Basically I did the following, and I had nothing that needed saving, but I guess it's good to keep the backup by renaming the folders instead of deleting them if presets one has setup is stored somewhere there.

1.I Inactivated the device "KOMPLETE KONTROL M32 MIDI"

2. I stopped every NI-service I could find and the app started in the background called "NTKDaemon" and whatever NI-related wasn't stopped by the services. This is because the folders contained in the native instruments folders was locked and could not be renamed otherwise.

3. In AppData/Local/Native Instruments folder I renamed all folders with a prefix "X-" i had to get them back. In c:\ProgramData\Native Instruments I renamed the folders "Controller Editor" and "Komplete Kontrol"

4. Reboot

5. Activated the device "KOMPLETE KONTROL M32 MIDI"

6. Rebooted once more.

7. Everything is working and KOMPLETE KONTROL M32 MIDI is not blocked anymore, I can reboot how many times I want and the problem is gone.. no more locked M32 MIDI.