Use maximum poly aftertouch value as cc possible

[_el]

Hi there,

I'm thinking about switching to Bitwig (16-track for now). Mainly because of MPE. I only tested the demo version for a bit, so I don't have any knowledge about it yet. I have one specific thing I would want it to do - maybe someone could tell me if this is possible.

I use a Linnstrument and I want to find the highest pressure value of all played notes and use it as cc.
I had a seaboard for a while and it was in Roli's Dashboard as a setting called "Pressure Tracking" set to "hardest".
The main reason why I need that, is when I play something like Samplemodeling brass in mono. Especially with something like fast portamento gradually getting louder, without that setting the pressure values are very inconsistent, because I would need to hit every other note at pretty much exactly the same pressure as the previous one to sound fluid.
With the seaboard and that "Pressure Tracking" set to hardest setting, it's easy to perform, because I can hold the first note, slowly increasing pressure while lightly tapping the second note. So it uses only the (very constant) pressure value of the first note, because the second notes pressure value is lower.

I hope I did explain it well enough!
Cheers, Lukas

[antic604]

I hope I did explain it well enough!

I believe you did, but since I've no practical experience with MPE or don't have a controller that's capable of it I can't really help. Have you tried using modulators - Expressions or MIDI, in particular - and see what they output for Pressure?

https://www.bitwig.com/en/bitwig-studio ... ators.html

[_el]

Thanks for the tip, I'll have a look at those!

[_el]

I tried those! Unfortunately I think there is no way to build some sort of logic into them. It constantly updates pressure values between all the notes, which gives me a pretty jittery data. I guess I would need some sort of list to store my pressure values and get the maximum of that but couldn't yet find such a thing. I found the math modulator, which has a "max" function, unfortunately it only works for comparing two separate inputs. I can send two notes on different channels with my Linnstrument. I'm currently trying to find a way to get their individual pressure data so I can feed it into that math modulator. Then it would at least work, if I play two notes at a time.

If anybody has an idea, I'd really appreciate it!

[_el]

So I got a kind of hacky way working - still hope someone can point me to a more practical solution.
For anyone interested, how it's working for now:
I can set the Linnstrument to send each note on a separate channel and limit the amount of channels to two for example. So first note goes through channel 2, second through channel 3, third through channel 2 again and so on.
I create two tracks, one for channel 2 and one for channel 3. Now I have my pressure values separated.
There is a modulator someone created, which is called SuperMacro-8. This lets me send those values to a third track and compare them with the math modulator and get the maximum of both values. "That's it"
So for any additional note I would need an extra track and even more math modulators. But this would get about as practical, as getting standard MPE working in Ableton

Cheers, Lukas

[antic604]

So I got a kind of hacky way working

Awesome. And a very Bitwig-y way to do things

I can't test that, but I think Expressions modulator is polyphonic, so it should be transmitting multiple values at once (even using one MIDI channel)? Assuming this is correct - which it might not be - you might still want to try the following:
- use Math to read Max between 0 and other input modulated by Expressions?
- if above doesn't work - map the same Expressions to several Macro modulators to see if they get different values?
- if above works and they get differet readings, then build a reverse-tree of Math modulators reading the Macros in pairs to find the maximum (e.g. 1 vs. 2, 3 vs. 4, 5 vs. 6 then winner of 1 vs. 2 agains winner of 3 vs. 4 and so on)

[_el]

Oh man ... I was just about to buy Bitwig 16-track, when I found out that my hacky solution only works in the Studio version. The small one doesn't have the audio rate modulator.
Thanks antic604 for your suggestions! Unfortunately I didn't get them working. Expression to multiple macros modulates all of them evenly. And the tip with the math modulator won't work as well. Thanks, though!

[antic604]

Thanks antic604 for your suggestions! Unfortunately I didn't get them working. Expression to multiple macros modulates all of them evenly. And the tip with the math modulator won't work as well. Thanks, though!

Damn

Anyway, you might wanna try to search the buy/sell sub-forum here or Reddit for 2nd hand copies of full Bitwig, that will usually be half the price or thereabouts - it's really worth it

[_el]

Thanks for the tip, will check that out!

[pdxindy]

So you want per note pitch and timbre and in a way, turn the aftertouch into a global value... why not just use a modwheel or other regular CC?

[antic604]

why not just use a modwheel or other regular CC?

Probably not enough hands

[pdxindy]

why not just use a modwheel or other regular CC?

Probably not enough hands

That is why I have an expression pedal!

[_el]

The approach with another controller would work but I think it's just nicer to control it through pressure. And yeah, I also like to play with two hands, even for mono lines. As I said in my first post, I knew that setting from the seaboard and it just works great, so I wanted to find a way to get the same thing with my Linnstrument.

[pdxindy]

The approach with another controller would work but I think it's just nicer to control it through pressure. And yeah, I also like to play with two hands, even for mono lines. As I said in my first post, I knew that setting from the seaboard and it just works great, so I wanted to find a way to get the same thing with my Linnstrument.

Make a feature suggestion in the Linnstrument forum. Roger is open to such suggestions for future firmware updates related to actual playing.

[Echoes in the Attic]

What's the equivalent seaboard setting?