Program/plugin that can control external devices via midi??

[Walnutcracker]

I have a few pieces of hardware that can be controlled via midi and i'm wondering if i could control these easily with a program, or ideally a plugin. Does something like this exist? The following is what i would ideally like to be able to do. Say if i want to be able to control 3 or 4 parameters on a unit and i know what signals to send to control them, it would be really cool if a program could allow me to make sliders or controls to control these parameters. Does anything like this currently exist?

[m2v2]

You could have a look at vmpk. It's a virtual keyboard, with some controllers. Most interesting for your purpose : you can add new controllers, with no limit.
They can be switches, knobs, sliders, spinboxes... You can even send sysex to your devices.
Maybe that's what you're looking for !

[tux99]

I have a few pieces of hardware that can be controlled via midi and i'm wondering if i could control these easily with a program, or ideally a plugin. Does something like this exist? The following is what i would ideally like to be able to do. Say if i want to be able to control 3 or 4 parameters on a unit and i know what signals to send to control them, it would be really cool if a program could allow me to make sliders or controls to control these parameters. Does anything like this currently exist?

What hardware are you talking about, synths or other outboard gear?

For synths you can find editors and there is controller software for some other gear too but you need to specify what exactly you have otherwise we can't make suggestions.

I find writing controller software is fairly easy in Perl using the MIDI::ALSA Perl plugin (but you need some programming/scripting experience), I wrote a complete editor for the Yamaha RM50 and started writing another one for the Korg X5 series and more recently the Oberheim Matrix 1000.

[tux99]

Or you could get a Behringer BCR2000:
http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/BCR2000.aspx

[Walnutcracker]

Thanks for the replies. I didn't know that VMPK was so flexible. I'm interested in checking it out to it's full potential now

I have a few devices that i would like to be able to control but my main aim with this is to control my Lexicon MX400. You can only access 3 parameters at a time from the unit. There is a VST plugin that allows you very flexible control but I haven't had any success running it in Linux. I would like to be able to have something that would mimic what the VST plugin could do. I did come across something else interesting - http://sourceforge.net/projects/midicontrol/

Any other ideas on how i could best achive this would be appreciated though. I have no programming experience It's very easy to achieve changing static controls but changing through reverb types on the unit, this won't work as the parameters are different for each one. Is there a way to deal with this?

[DepreTux]

You could easily achieve this on puredata (that's how I would do it anyway).

Probably a little less direct than using a baked solution, but would give you more options to automate the thing.

Cheers.

[tux99]

I have a few devices that i would like to be able to control but my main aim with this is to control my Lexicon MX400. You can only access 3 parameters at a time from the unit. There is a VST plugin that allows you very flexible control but I haven't had any success running it in Linux. I would like to be able to have something that would mimic what the VST plugin could do.

Unfortunately I don't know of any Linux software for the MX400, but this is something that could easily be written in a few days in Perl using the MIDI::ALSA module as I mentioned earlier.
I tell you what, If you buy me a MX400 I can write a dedicated Linux MX400 controller software for you!
Just to give you an example what can be done with Perl and the MIDI::ALSA module, here is a screen shot of the Oberheim Matrix-1000 editor that I have been writing recently: http://pkgrepo.linuxtech.net/files/m1000_manager.png
(this only took me a few days to write, Perl is much easier than writing software in 'C' or C++')

[bazsound]

sorry this is not really ontopic,

but personally I think the Lexicon MX400 is horrible. Didnt know it cost over £200. I spent ages going through all the reverbs and none of them sounded even close to what id expect reverbs to sound like.

Is there some kind of trick to getting this unit to sound nice?

1 of the venues i dont work in very often has one, and i was not impressed.

anyway, as others have said it shoudnt be too difficult to write some kind of controller app that woud be customised specifically for the mx400. If you can get the midi specs for it . There isnt much to midi,

[Walnutcracker]

Didnt know it cost over £200

Closer to £400. Are you thinking of the same unit? The MX200 is around the £200 mark I think.

Is there some kind of trick to getting this unit to sound nice?

I don't think it sounds bad at all. It is useful to have access to all the parameters though, which is why i would like an easy solution in Linux for that purpose. I have set up a few presets while hooking it up to a windows laptop, but i don't always have access to that. By default, the 3 controls knobs are fixed to certain parameters. This can make it narrower in scope and if you want to change the defaults, you have to go through menus. Then if you want to change another parameter, you have to go back into that menu to assign a knob to it again. That part of it can be frustrating but in itself, it's plenty capable of good sounds. You really do need to get to those parameters though. The ones that the knobs are set to as defaults only cover the most basic controls of the reverbs. I certainly wouldn't call it a horrible reverb unit.

[GMaq]

Hi,

What about this? http://leevi.sourceforge.net/

I also have an MX300 (I'm not sure if the MX400 is supported or not) and have successfully built Leevi, however I haven't had time to test it since my MX300 is in a road case that travels a lot.

I built a deb for it for AV Linux (32bit only) but since it is so niche I didn't upload it yet however I can if it would be useful..

[varpa]

Check out http://ctrlr.org/. Have not used it myself but it looks like exactly what you want.

[bazsound]

tat would explain it. I'll need to get the manual.

I've only uses it a couple of times as a venue I've only workers in a few times has it and not had time to play with it.

[Walnutcracker]

Thanks for the tips. I have tried out leevi but unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work with the 400. The screen opens up with no knobs or controls and no matter how long i wait, it doesn't appear to recognise the device. I will try out ctrlr and see if i have any better luck with that. Cheers