MIDI Note to fire buttons
Is it possible to have a MIDI note fire different buttons? I can describe in more detail below what I'm trying to accomplish.
Essentially I have a button set up in sound flow to control a protools function. Ideally, I would be able to have a MIDI note fire from Ableton to press this button automatically so a physical button press is not necessary. One way I've done things like this before is using bit focus companion which is great however there is not already an integration with sound flow (it seems) so I'm guessing I would either need to use OSC or code or something else with that to make it happen unless there's a feature I'm over looking in sound flow.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2023-12-27 10:29:23.734ZHi Sam,
Yes, you should be able to use a MIDI Trigger in the SoundFlow macro you're building.
You may need to route the MIDI through the MIDI IAC-bus on your Mac.- In Ableton, set the track in question to send MIDI to the IAC-bus.
- In SoundFlow, construct the Macro you want and make sure to test it works (by clicking Run Macro for example)
- In SoundFlow, add a MIDI trigger (click Add Trigger and choose MIDI Trigger), and configure it to listen for the specific MIDI Event you want from the IAC-bus.
Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2023-12-27 10:30:17.355ZNote that if the SF macro should fire based on an external, physical MIDI device, the IAC step is not required. That's only used to route MIDI between different software's virtual MIDI ports.
- SIn reply toSam_Fisher⬆:Sam Fisher @Sam_Fisher
Great news! Thanks so much for such a speedy reply.
I guess the one thing I am still a little stuck on is figuring out how to assign said midi note to each square. Is that the channel assignment part when setting up a new trigger or is there a way to assign the different triggers you've set up to each button?
Thanks!
Chad Wahlbrink @Chad2023-12-29 16:02:20.605ZHey @Sam_Fisher,
To clarify a bit, you'd like a MIDI event from Ableton to trigger a macro or script in SoundFlow? In order to assign MIDI triggers to macros and scripts, you can use the "New Trigger" button at the top of each Macro and Script in the SoundFlow Editor.
From there, you can select MIDI trigger and assign MIDI device, MIDI channel, and MIDI event information to your desired MIDI event trigger for that macro or script.
Let me know if that helps or if you need more clarification. I am assuming that when you say the word "button" you are meaning a macro or script that you would normally have on a stream deck button, but if I'm misunderstanding, please let me know!
Best,
Chad- SSam Fisher @Sam_Fisher
got it doing exactly what i was hoping. thank you so much for all your help! do you know if there’s a way i can control faders as well? just have predetermined fader values and have it jump to those values?
- Chad Wahlbrink @Chad2024-01-03 16:22:03.535Z
Hey @Sam_Fisher,
It is possible to send MIDI from SoundFlow to Ableton to control parameters. You can utilize the "MIDI" mapping function in Ableton to do this.
First in SoundFlow, create a macro that sends a MIDI CC from Output 1, MIDI Channel 1, MIDI CC 33 (or any open CC), Value of 127.
In Ableton, ensure that Ableton is listening to the "SoundFlow Custom Midi Output 1" and that "Remote" is checked.
Enter MIDI Map mode:
Select a fader and fire the macro you made in SoundFlow via a key command, stream deck button, or other trigger. This should capture the MIDI mapping.
Finally, set the Min and Max values to the same level if you want the command to set to a pre-defined level.
Exit MIDI Map mode and then you should be able to set the fader to the pre-defined value via SoundFlow.
I believe MIDI mappings are session dependent in Ableton, so you'd likely want to set this up as part of a templated workflow if you find it useful.
- SSam Fisher @Sam_Fisher
Thanks so much for all your help. Been super helpful. Got everything working exactly how I want and was able to test at rehearsal tonight so super happy about that. I only have one more little thing I would like to do that I haven't quite figured out yet if maybe you can direct me to the right place. Is it possible to mute tracks in ProTools with a CC Midi command? I would love to be able to send a note to mute some FX channels at certain times. Not sure if there's an easy "toggle" option I could just have set up for Mute and Unmute and just send a note to trigger. Thanks so much!
- Chad Wahlbrink @Chad2024-01-05 22:08:12.660Z
Hey @Sam_Fisher!
Yes, muting/unmuting in Pro Tools is easily accomplished with the Pro Tools integration.- Create a new macro
- Add a "mute/unmute track" action
- Set it to the first selected track or a named track.
- Set the target value to "toggle" to toggle the mute status.
Then add a MIDI trigger by clicking "New Trigger" and set that up according to your desired MIDI source.
- SSam Fisher @Sam_Fisher
got it! thank you so much!
- In reply toChad⬆:SSam Fisher @Sam_Fisher
another question for you. i used this set up today for the first sunday and mostly everything worked great. however i did have one “problem” i noticed some inconsistencies with it actually firing the buttons. if i do every song individually (start / stop) to check, everything works correctly but in context of a full service with it running through the whole session, it triggered most of the cues but some just didn’t fire at all and we had to manually fire them. it was also not consistent to a certain song or midi note. one service it did this for the second song only. second service it did this for the 3rd and last song (as in not firing the cue) but fired everything else correctly. was just wondering if you’ve encountered this issue or something i could be doing to confuse it or make it where it sometimes recognizes it and sometimes doesn’t. if i manually fire i don’t have the issue. just with midi firing it. hopefully this makes sense. thanks for your help.
- Chad Wahlbrink @Chad2024-01-09 23:43:05.120Z
@Sam_Fisher - Thanks for the follow-up! I would need some clarification on what commands are failing and which software is being triggered (Ableton, Pro Tools, etc.) to be able to advise on any solutions.
If you encounter the issue in the future, it'd be great if you could file a "help issue" via this workflow: https://soundflow.org/docs/help#help-issue
The "help issue" workflow will create a new forum post with encrypted log files so the SoundFlow Team can take a closer look. With the details provided by a help issue, diagnosing if errors are being thrown or where miscommunication may occur will be easier.- SSam Fisher @Sam_Fisher
awesome, thanks man. will do. i THINK what was happening was it was set to receive from pro tools and its actually sending the trigger from abelton so as soon as i removed that it was working great. well see in context this sunday but i tried "breaking it" and it held up so i think that's what was confusing it.
- Chad Wahlbrink @Chad2024-01-10 01:12:48.553Z
Ah, yeah! That would make sense. It can get a bit confusing dealing with inter-app MIDI between all the different sources. I hope it all works great from here!