FWIW: tips on using Roli Seaboard MPE with u-he synths in Bitwig

[killmaster]

I've been trying to figure out how best to use my Seaboard with u-he synths and @pdxindy was super helpful in me have a better understanding. I also heard back from u-he support with regards to their multichannel MIDI implementation. Just thought I'd post this to help anyone else who has the Seaboard and wants to use MPE with u-he synths. These have really helped me understand:

paraphrasing:

U-he synths post Zebra 2 are always in multichannel MIDI mode. If data is sent on a channel other than 1, it will be accommodated with it's own channel. If controller data comes in for those channels, it is only sent to that channel only. As far as which channels the notes are sent to, that is the job of the MIDI controller but the result is the same for the U-he synths.

So, in Roli's Dashboard, setting the mode to MPE will work fine in Bitwig as long as Use MPE is on and the track's midi channel from is set to "All" and to is set to "Same". This is because each note and the notes controller data is being sent on a different MIDI channel with the exception of global messages – data such as preset changes and pedal positions which are transmitted on the global channel (usually Channel 1) to apply to all notes equally.

The U-he MPE setup on the Roli site for Diva is old and not accurate any more. I wish they would take that down!

So a concise recipe to get MPE to work with U-he synths is (I'm sure there are other setups that would work just the same):

1) in U-he synths, set pitch bend to 48 and lock
2) In U-he synths, set Ctrl A modulator to CC74 (I set it in preferences so I don't have to change it every time)
3) in Bitwig, set Use MPE to on
4) in Bitwig, set track's MIDI channels From to "All" and To to "Same"
5) put Seaboard in MPE mode in Dashboard

Hope this is accurate. Seems to be working for me here now. Please let me know if I'm missing something...

G