Quick MKey poll/rfc...

[valley]

A quick question for Tracktion users:

I've just entered the world of laptop ownership as I'm likely to need to do some work on the road in the next month.

As such I have Tracktion now running on my laptop, and figured I'd pull out MKey to use as a controller keyboard[1].

I noticed a couple of bugs, and a few features I'd like to add.

What I want to know is, if anyone is using it, and if so, what features you'd like to see. If no-one is, I'll just do a quick fix version just for myself.


[1] I genuinely have never used it - it was written almost entirely for other people...

[djsubject]

OK i cant take it any more what is a MKey what can it do & how much is it?

oh & is it worth buying??

subject

[valley]

What it is:

http://www.adbe.org/freebies/plugins/mkey.html

how much? Freeware.

Is it worth buying? No.

[djsubject]

thanx vally

[braj]

I use something similar in OS X and couldn't live without it. Mkey sounds cool, and any T laptop user would benefit by having bugs fixed.

Unlike many other keyboard plugins, MKey uses a low level keyboard hook to allow it to trap key presses even when the MKey window is not being displayed. This means you can be editing synth patches on a VSTi and MKey will continue to convert your key presses to notes.

This makes it 100% better than something that needs to be forward to function.

[FoxV]

Looks very cool. I want to give it a try. I'm traveling in CA this week, and I'll see if it works for me. Seems complicated to get it to work in T though. But we'll see.

[valley]

It isn't complicated to use, but it has no MIDI record ability.

Previewing sounds or ideas is as simple as sticking the plug before the vsti you want to control.

Recording a performance is decidedly less inutitive - that's one of the things I was thinking of adding.

[FoxV]

Valley,
You mean you can't record the midi? ...without the workaround?

[darcyb62]

Hey Valley...
I have been using Mkey off and on for a bit now and I like it, once I figured out how to do the rest of the midi stuff (i.e. midi yoke)... I think if you could simplify the recording component it would be much better tool.

[Ixox]

Valley, i've used it on my laptop during last summer hollydays.
It worked fine and was very usefull...
I used it along with MidiYoke and that was perfect.

I wrote that with it
http://ixox.net/08_04_Ixox_FromEastEurope.mp3
OK i also used the mouse to adjust 2 or 3 things...

[braj]

Oh, not recording is a problem. So, with MidiYoke, is it just a matter of configuring Mkey to send to a port, and the host to input form that port? That doesn't seem to hard if that's the case.

[valley]

Valley,
You mean you can't record the midi? ...without the workaround?

yup.

It is a plugin, and Tracktion can record MIDI output live from plugins.

I could add a virtual MIDI device, but I don't much like them.

I wrote it as a favour for someone back in the day (can't even remember who now), and adding a MIDI stream, and MIDI export section just seemed like a lot of work.

Now I'm using it myself, I find myself wanting a MIDI record function.

[valley]

Oh, not recording is a problem. So, with MidiYoke, is it just a matter of configuring Mkey to send to a port, and the host to input form that port? That doesn't seem to hard if that's the case.

Yup.

You'd just put MKey on a track by itself with the track output set to some virtual MIDI loopback (such as MIDI Yoke). The loop back device would just take the MIDI from the track and pipe it to a virtual input.

The optimal solution is to add a virtual input to MKey but I always wanted to keep it simple, light, and driver-free.

The second solution is just to add a record function that allows you to create MIDI clips whilst playing. I dunno how easy it is to do drag'n'drop to Tracktion, but ISTR ModuLR did exactly that with stepchild.

[Mr. Tingle]

I use it all the time (ALL the time!) and it is great. I use it in conjunction with midi yoke.

BUGS:
Sometimes it won;t initialise ie. I press CAPS but no change to keyboard (still has T short cuts).

SUGGESTIONS:
Include jthamamus into it.

P.S. the album 'Everything is Now' was written entirely with MKEY (see below)

[braj]

I don't think the MidiYoke route is too difficult, and it is useful for much more than just Mkey. As long as your docs are good, most people who deal with midi ports should understand.