keyboard controller focus

[tubular2000]

hi, i'm demoing w9 at the moment and really like it, but there are 2 issues that annoy me. the first one being a deal breaker.
- if i have 5 tracks with a vst instrument, my controller can be assigned to only one at a time, i know i can create alias, but then all tracks play at once. every other daw that i know works the same, only the track that has the focus receives the signal from the controller. is there a way to set it up like that?

- clicking on a track doesn't select it. you have to click on the header to select a track, that makes for a lot of mouse movement.

i which there is a way to fix my first issue because i use multiple vst instrument in all of my productions.
thanks for your help

[Clac]

I have the same question.

[zzz00m]

You can set up as many virtual MIDI input sources as you need, and link them all to one actual physical MIDI input port with the controller.

Then just enable one of these virtual input sources on each track and all tracks will all play at once, based on incoming MIDI data from the controller.

You can use the solo buttons on the mixer outputs to isolate and play selected instrument(s). Alternatively you can disable the MIDI inputs on unused tracks, mute them, or freeze them by inserting a freeze point in front of the instrument.

This is different than the way that many other DAWs work, but once you get familiar with this workflow you will maybe appreciate the flexibility. I admit that I was surprised by this when I first encountered it, but it's really not a big deal. I actually prefer this over the way that Ableton Live does it.

[FigBug]

The first issue came up a few times at NAMM while I was doing demos for people, it's also come up on the forum in the past. We talked about it and I think we have a plan to fix it. How does this sound?

- In MIDI / Audio settings we will add a option to set default midi / audio input
- We will add two options: midi input follows selection / audio input follows selection
- When you select a track or plugin it will move the default input to the track
- If the track is routed to a MIDI output or contains a synth, the MIDI input will be moved to track, otherwise audio input
- If the track already contains an input, the input won't be moved

Should the setting be global or per edit?

[tubular2000]

i think a global "input monitoring follow selected track" setting would do the job, one for audio, one for midi. also the virtual keyboard in w10 should follow the selected track without having to activate it each time we select another track.

[Peter Widdicombe]

I like the idea of having MIDI input following the active MIDI track. However, this may not work for those with multiple MIDI keyboards.

Could ONE midi input device (i.e. a virtual) be set to default/follower that is dynamic, and any others would have to be statically selected? If you select a MIDI track that ONE default/follower would default as the input device; and if you want "the other" keyboard you would then have to select it.

Track properties would also have to be set on those that you don't want to be followed; so for example a MIDI drumkit wouldn't jump to the synth keyboard when selected; and the 76-key weighted could also be "locked" to the the piano track. All the orchestral stuff and regular synths tracks follow...

Not a problem for most of us that only use one MIDI input device.

[tubular2000]

what i propose is a much simpler solution. when you create a midi track, you assign it what controller you want to use. then when you select a track, input monitoring is turned on only for that track. so whatever track you select, will be monitored with the previously selected input device.

[Peter Widdicombe]

I like that one - much simpler and just as convenient as my proposal !

I still like the idea of a "default midi input device" though, that would get assigned to any MIDI track unless input gets overridden by a custom selected alternate MIDI device or track. So for those with a single device, it's completely transparent and logical.

[Steve Bolivar]

+1 to Tubular2000's idea if the architecture of Waveform will allow it. If not, midi input follows selection / audio input follows selection would work too.

[chico.co.uk]

what i propose is a much simpler solution. when you create a midi track, you assign it what controller you want to use. then when you select a track, input monitoring is turned on only for that track. so whatever track you select, will be monitored with the previously selected input device.

There's no concept of midi tracks, or audio tracks in Waveform, so I don't see how the suggestion would work. It's a solution for a different daw, that doesn't work the way Waveform does.

[tubular2000]

i don't see how this is incompatible with how waweform works. whatever the input you have set on a track, when this track has the focus, its input monitoring turns on. it can be audio, midi or both, it doesn't make a difference. you can turn this behavior on or off in the audio/midi devices settings.

[chico.co.uk]

You don't set inputs on multiple tracks, you set one (or more) input per track. You can assign three inputs to one track, but not one input to three tracks.

So to enable input monitoring on any given track, the input has to be moved to the track, to fit the pre-existing way Waveform works. Which means you need to handle how that happens, probably in the way FigBug described. You can't propose something "simpler" which doesn't work, because you can't do what you've described.

[tubular2000]

there is clearly something that you don't understand. waveform already have this functionality. except that it is manual. i just want the option to make it automatic. even a simple "Monitor" button on the track header would do the job.

[chico.co.uk]

For that to work, you'd need to have an input assigned to each track, and when you click on a track, input monitoring gets turned on that input, and turned off all the rest of the inputs. You might want that functionality, but it's not how anybody else would want this to be implemented.

Say you click to give track 4 focus, is the input supposed to stay on track 1, with it's little yellow M highlighted? But not record, or playback through anything on track 1? It would actually direct it's output to track 4? That goes against how everything currently works. If you can't see that, i'm not sure how to explain it.

[grayter1]

Like the OP, I'm demoing W9 (on the strength of the soon-to-be-released W10), and the track focus/midi input monitoring issue is one of the only things throwing me off. It would seem that users that have been with the program for awhile aren't interested, but if you're coming over from Pro Tools, Logic, Reaper, etc, it's a standard thing.

That said, in the 48 hours I've been playing with Waveform, I liked it enough to buy it, and am eagerly awaiting v10.

tg