Possibilities for a new eXT MIDI plugin

[EWIPlayer]

Hi folks,

I don't own eXT, yet, but i'm wondering if it will allow me to write the plugin that i'm dreaming about:

I want to write a MIDI plugin that, given a monophonic MIDI input signal, will build a user-defined chord (possibility of a different one for every note), and output that chord to any number of different synths (i.e. split the midi signal). I can then "rotate" the assignments for each new note played in a flexible manner (defined by the user).

I'm sure i can do everything but the splitting. I know that i can write a VSTi with multiple audio outs but can I write a MIDI plugin with multiple outputs?

I'm a very experienced programmer but a complete noob when it comes to writing VSTi's and MIDI plugins. Does anyone know what the best format would be to use? I'm assuming that I would need to write a VSTi but I'm not sure what would be best.

I know that Project5 wouldn't be able to do the multiple routings that i want, so writing it in MFX is basically pointless (as far as i know, Cakewalk products are the only ones that use MFX anymore).

Thoughts and ideas would be MOST appreciated! eXT is a pretty wicked host and it's wild that it's also an embeddable VSTi (which would probably solve the problem that i can't do what i want in Project5 and friends). I think i'll have to buy it if i can do this with it

Regards,
EWIPlayer

[Amberience]

XT can make chords per midi note - no problem there. It's a feature of the Chord component. As for splitting the signal, it probably could be done, but I'm not too sure how at the moment, I need to think about it some more.

[Amberience]

I think what you'd need to do is have a chord component for each synth. You can grab the monophonic midinote, use the Midi Patcher component to only select that note and output it through it's first input. I'm not sure that makes sense, so I'll do a screenshot.

[tjvigil66]

You can split the various MIDI note signals using the MIDI patcher! From there, just send each note to different chord comps.

[Amberience]

[EWIPlayer]

It's not bad, but it only gets me a small way there. I really think i need to write something new. I need the capabilities of the MIDI patcher and the Chord module integrated together, along with a rotate mechanism. The rotate mechanism is what i'm really going for here, but it hinges on chords and splitting.

Let's say i have defined the following:

For note A2, create the following chord:

A2, Gb2, D2, Bb1

Now, route the notes in the following way:

A2 -> Albino2 : Albino Planet
Gb2 -> Albino2 : Cold Planet
D2 -> z3ta+ : Swarm Swell
Bb1 -> z3ta+ : Metallic Seq

Now, with every new note-on for A2, i rotate the routings. So on the next time through, the following will be the routing:

A2 -> z3ta+ : Metallic Seq
Gb2 -> Albino2 : Albino Planet
D2 -> Albino2 : Cold Planet
Bb1 -> z3ta+ : Swarm Swell

And so on... obviously that's just an example. I would make it much more flexible (like, say the A2 doesn't participate in the rotations and always points at Albino Planet).

I believe that something needs to be written to do this. The fact that the MIDI patcher exists is a very good sign... the splitting can be done. The chord part is obvious. It's the technology that i need research on. What are the MIDI patcher and friends written in? Are they VSTi's or are they some proprietary eXT format that i can't make use of?

The old Oberheim XPander had a feature for rotating chords and it was put to great use by Michael Brecker and Judd Miller, and i would really like to have one of my own. I play a monophonic wind synth and this feature would be the coolest thing to have!

Regs,
EWIPlayer

[Amberience]

Remember you could split the result of the chord patcher also - so that would let you split the chord and assign the notes to different synths.

As for rotating it... that is a little bit more troublesome. Need to think about it.

[EWIPlayer]

Remember you could split the result of the chord patcher also - so that would let you split the chord and assign the notes to different synths.

As for rotating it... that is a little bit more troublesome. Need to think about it.

I guess i could but if i wanted to do a different chord for every note in the scale, that would be 14 patchers and 12 chords, 60+ routing cables and a ton of mucking about (edit the first 2 patchers to the chords, then the chords, then the next 12 patchers to the synths -- and that's just for one octave). I agree it's sorta doable (without rotation) but i'm really looking for something a bit more integrated. I would be giving this away to all of the wind synth players i know and i wouldn't blame them for turning their noses up at a solution that requires that much mucking about.

[tjvigil66]

As for rotating it... that is a little bit more troublesome. Need to think about it.

Not terribly so. Using NF's ControlFront, you can step through any number of CC values. Route those CC values to notes via NF's MungRack & you have your rotation!

It might seem daunting to set up the first time, but it really isn't that bad. Plus...you really only need to set it up once & save it as a eXT preset.

[EWIPlayer]

daunting to say the least

I really want to write my own for this... partly just because i want to write one but also because that setup is just brutal.

Regs,
EWIPlayer

[Amberience]

Remember you could split the result of the chord patcher also - so that would let you split the chord and assign the notes to different synths.

As for rotating it... that is a little bit more troublesome. Need to think about it.

I guess i could but if i wanted to do a different chord for every note in the scale, that would be 14 patchers and 12 chords, 60+ routing cables and a ton of mucking about (edit the first 2 patchers to the chords, then the chords, then the next 12 patchers to the synths -- and that's just for one octave). I agree it's sorta doable (without rotation) but i'm really looking for something a bit more integrated. I would be giving this away to all of the wind synth players i know and i wouldn't blame them for turning their noses up at a solution that requires that much mucking about.

You could make a single EXT file with it setup for one note. Then duplicate it twelve times with a EXTvst.

I wouldn't know how to setup a rotation, but if you know each chord is gonna have a max. of four notes - it shouldn't be too hard to get this going.

[tjvigil66]

daunting to say the least

I really want to write my own for this... partly just because i want to write one but also because that setup is just brutal.

Regs,
EWIPlayer

Good luck with your plug! It sounds like a solid project & probably not too difficult all things being equal. Are you going to write the plug yourself or are you going to wire it up in SE?

[steffensen]

as piranha said, this can be done with midimunger. good luck with writing yer own plugin tho, perhaps ther will be more?

[EWIPlayer]

Good luck with your plug! It sounds like a solid project & probably not too difficult all things being equal. Are you going to write the plug yourself or are you going to wire it up in SE?

I'm gonna write it myself. I'm a decent programmer and i'm looking for something new to do. Programming at work isn't exactly floating my boat all the time, and this looks like it could be fun and also very useful to me, so i'm just trying to figure out VST at this point. It will take me some time, but i'm in no serious hurry. I'll just work on it as i find time here and there.

But eXT appears to be the only host out there that has the flexibility to do what i want. Pretty damned impressive for a one-man show!

[asseca]

Hi EWIPlayer, are you going to start in C++ or Delphi ??

BTW, most of energyXT has been written in Pascal...