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Workbench: Small example of setup with scale changing?

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written by: carvingCode

0beron said:
Holding the key down to get it to go green sounds strange. I've made a couple setups with split keygroups and I've not encountered that.


When building the Pico setup just now, I tried something different. I found that if I tapped the keys a tad harder than before they lit green right away.

Randy

written by: carvingCode

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 02:30:36 +0100 BST

Does anyone have a small setup example of changing scales? If so, could you post screenshots of the wiring and configs? Or a writeup of how you accomplished it?

TIA

Randy


written by: 0beron

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 10:45:33 +0100 BST

What have you got in mind? To replicate the scale / tonic controls from the factory setups?

If you're on the hangout this evening maybe we can have a bash at it face to face (or face to screen..)


written by: carvingCode

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 00:27:34 +0100 BST

>>
What have you got in mind? To replicate the scale / tonic controls from the factory setups?
<<

Essentially. Some simple method to create a setup with, say, 3 scales stored and be able to switch through them from the keyboard. The same for tonic and octaves.

I wasn't able to hop onto the G+ hangout - still in the day job then.

Randy


written by: mikemilton

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 12:15:29 +0100 BST

At the risk of seeming naive, why not use split 2 and put the tonic / scale controls in the small upper keygroup?


written by: carvingCode

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 22:24:21 +0100 BST

Mike - This might work, I don't know. How do we set up splits in Workbench? How can we utilize mode keys set up in one key group to affect scales of another key group?

Randy


written by: geert

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 08:27:53 +0100 BST

HI Randy,

Splits are merely several keygroups that are dividing up the keyboard area due to their selection of keys. When they're connected to the same upstream keygroup output, they're active at the same time and effectively split the keyboard.

The factory setups that allow one keygroup to change the scales of another keygroup, don't rely on mode key behavior. There's a collection of talkers that each set the scale for a particular keygroup. These talkers are connected to a 'scale selection keygroup' where each output enables the talker that belong to the relevant keygroup. In essence, the phrases in the talkers are pretty simply, like "keygroup 2 hey scale to minor set". In the factory setups though, they're a bit more complex since the actual names of the scales are dynamic and can be changed through the EigenBrowser.

Hope this helps,

Geert


written by: carvingCode

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:55:02 +0100 BST

Hi Geert -

Thanks for responding. Technically, this makes perfect sense. I can see why this would work. But, I don't know how to put this into practice using Workbench (or Belcanto).

Randy


written by: 0beron

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:49:32 +0100 BST

If I wanted to make a setup with mulitple splits I would do the following in workbench, starting from a blank setup:

1 - Create the alpha manager and wait for the keyboard agent to appear.
2 - Make a keygroup. To match the factory setups you can then rename this 'main keygroup', since we're not going to use this for playing - we're using it to hold other, smaller keygroups.
3 - connect the keygroup directly to the alpha keyboard (at the top level so all the similarly named ports are wired up for you)
4 - edit the keygroup musical keymap, and use the 'choose on keyboard' button to enter choose mode. Press the keys for your keygroup (the whole keyboard) in sequence. Press the last key twice to finish. You can do this fairly quickly by running your finger down each course in turn.
5 - connect the alpha keyboard key output to the mode key input on the keygroup (you have to expand them both to do this)
6 - set the mode key column and row inputs to your desired main mode key location.
7 - create new keygroup outputs on the main keygroup, by clicking the tiny 'create new' button on the output slot in the main keygroup. These 'outputs' are your splits. You then need to edit the keygroup to position these outputs (this determines where the red/green lights that you select the splits with appear). They default to 0,0 which makes them invisible.
8 - create keygroups to go into each split. Say we made 2 splits, and we want split 1 to be one big keygroup, and split 2 to be a 50/50 split. Make keygroup 1, 2 and 3.
9 - expand the outputs slot on the main keygroup so you can see keygroup output 1 and 2 that we made in step 7. Connect output 1 to keygroup 1, and connect output 2 to keygroups 2 and 3.
10 - press your main mode key, and select split 1
11 - edit keygroup 1 in workbench and choose its musical mapping. By selecting which course to choose in the dialog, you can select the five columns separately to make 5 courses. Leave a gap at the bottom of the keygroup for the main mode key and octave buttons etc.
12 - go to split 2, and choose mappings for keygroup 2 and 3 - make them the top and bottom half of the keyboard.
13 - now you're setup with two splits you can wire up instruments, a console mixer and an audio agent.
14 - To get scale controls like the factory setups, you need to make more keygroups, and connect them to outputs on keygroups 1-3, choose their layout etc, make mode keys for keygroups 1-3. Then you can add talkers to the scale keygroups.

Let us know if you need help with any of those stages (I know 14 is a bit vague - I'll write this up in more detail if you want).


written by: john

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:04:25 +0100 BST

This looks like a good topic for a tutorial - how to make a split hierarchy and custom key layouts using Keygroups. Out next tutorial is likely to be based on Talkers and how to use them to manage scale and other playing changes on the fly (which will begin to address your questions Randy), but we could certainly look at defining splits and keygroup hierarchies right after, if everyone is interested.

John


written by: carvingCode

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:38:15 +0100 BST

@Oberon - Thanks so much for the details. I will work through these tonight/over the weekend.

@John - Count me among the interested. Thanks.


written by: GoneCaving

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:41:16 +0100 BST

Yep, I'd be interested in seeing that in a tutorial. In the meantime, I'm going to see if I can get Oberon's instructions to work for me.
D


written by: mikemilton

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 10:50:59 +0100 BST

Another approach that has been around for a while.

http://www.eigenlabs.com/wiki/1.3/Midi_implementation_chart/


written by: carvingCode

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 15:17:29 +0100 BST

What!? Another lost needle in the wiki haystack. Thanks for shedding light, Mike.


written by: carvingCode

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 17:32:38 +0100 BST

This works great with v1.4.x. I saved a setup with both MIDI Out and MIDI In ports routed. Normally, I don't set a MIDI In as I don't send any MIDI messages to the Harp. I set MIDI In port to the port I have my MIDI keyboard routed. Changing scales, tonic, etc. works fine. I can see the benefit of having a foot controller if I was going to use this alot.

One thing I'll point out. The wiki post alludes to using the MIDI In for this, but it doesn't explicitly instruct to set this up. So, look at the quick guide for whatever harp you have for how to choose the MIDI In port browser. I couldn't readily find that in the Tau quick guide, but luckily David Harvey created a nice guide that I use often for those combos I find esoteric or use less frequently.

Thanks again, Mike for popping this tidbit out of the stack.

Randy


written by: mikemilton

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 18:49:06 +0100 BST

Since you work with a DAW you could also create a MIDI track to time your scale/root changes.

You could also use the MIDI out from the tau (is MIDI not one of the choices for the percussion keys?).

Have fun, m


written by: carvingCode

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 16:24:07 +0100 BST

Oberon -

I used your steps to create a setup with a main keygroup controlling 2 keygroups and 3 splits. Outputs created in 'main keygroup' and wired to split keygroups. Mode key displays and is selectable. Musical maps were set for all 3 splits. Wired in AU's, console mixer and audio (settings I believe are correct for these, i.e.: plugins selected, routed to correct mixer channels, audio params setup).

No sound.

First thing I noticed, when choosing a keygroup, the tonics are not lit. Have double checked the setup against your instructions and all looks fine.

I've probably missed an implied step along the way. Any ideas?

Randy


written by: 0beron

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 09:23:08 +0100 BST

The tonic lights come from the scaler agents - wire in a scaler between the AUs and the keygroup.

Also check that in the EigenD->Window->Audio settings dialog that you have chosen an audio device - the audio agent defaults to 'No Audio Device'. Once you pick one you can save the setup and it'll remember it for next time.


written by: carvingCode

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:55:42 +0100 BST

Yes, all of the audio settings are in place. Set that up in the agent and checked the menu.

Thanks for the reminder about the scaler agent being the control point for keyboard lights. Will make that adjustment. Perhaps it will also solve the no sound issue.

Thanks.


written by: john

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:24:13 +0100 BST

Hi Randy

I doubt that connecting the lights will make any difference to sound. If you mail me your setup file I'll load it here and have a look at it to see if I can see what's wrong.

John


written by: carvingCode

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 22:14:08 +0100 BST

Thanks, John. As soon as I get a chance, I'm going to re-do the setup from scratch. If I have no luck still, I'll send you the setup for a review.

Randy



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