MIDI Mapping

[Zorba the Geek]

Hi guys,

Haven't checked in for a while, but I had a little play with Midi mapping a while back and can share my experiences. (I wrote those original long posts about my setup and experiences in Cubase and the weird level mismatches over in the old forum. These are now referenced in the database on both forums).

Based on my research and usage at the time, HUI and Midi-mapping are not mutually exclusive. They can be used simultaneously/together. I had HUI enabled and used it primarily to control all transport functions, in addition to also simultaneously midi-mapping two banks worth of control surface buttons (Input & Tape layers). The use of HUI was necessary partly due to a bug in Cubase/Nuendo involving their misinterpretation of FF and REW commands when in play etc... So I used HUI to control the transport and set-up midi-maps for all other functions. Another forum member (FrankH) was the one who pointed out the Cubase/Nuendo midi bugs to me. I believe he is on top of these midi aspects of combined d8b-DAW use.

Anyway, both HUI and midi-maps worked absolutely fine at the same time (with the obvious exception of the level/calibration mismatches as mentioned before). I however, never used the actual HUI layer on the d8b, as the whole point of setting up midi-mapping was to control more than 8 channels at a time. I simply used the input layer to control the inputs into Cubase, and the tape layer to control the DAW returns and was therefore able to mix within Cubase, via the d8b as a control surface. Also this midi communication was bi-directional, so that moving a fader on the d8b moved the fader in Cubase, and vice versa. I didn't however want this at certain times, so toggled this at different stages, via Cubase's generic remote setup section.

As regards which buttons are assignable, there are a number of "ASSIGN" buttons on the d8b control surface. There are the individual "ASSIGN" buttons which act in combination with the "ASSIGN" buttons in the ASSIGNMENT SECTION. This section is obviously used to assign channels to: Busses 1-8/the L-R main stereo mix/route to tape etc. Then there are the individual channel "SELECT" buttons, which draw focus to that particular channel for changing the EQ, Fat-channel parameters etc... I never midi-mapped these buttons, and as Peter mentions, they may not actually be midi assignable, I'm not sure. I simply wanted basic fader-level and panning control at the time, in addition to solid transport control. This was all possible, and were it not for the level mismatches and calibration issues, I would have stuck with it, but have now largely moved away from the d8b. If Marc's heroic reverse-engineering and hacking efforts work out, I will definitely be moving back to the d8b, in preference to my current MCU and extenders setup. Anyway hope this has helped out and cleared up the fact that it is possible to use both protocols simultaneously.

The problems you are having may be due to many things, possibly a bug in Logic (as you imply in regards to meters in HUI mode disappearing after a Logic update), or your midi-interface may block certain midi and MMC commands (not all midi-interfaces do this elegantly and without problems), the Midi channels may be a problem (I seem to remember that HUI likes to take over channel 1 IIRC) etc... Hope you sort it out.

Kind regards,
George

[anyhorizon]

Ok. Thanks for setting me straight, Zorba. I was referring to long ago posts. If they both work together, great!

Peter

[NigelC]

Well I have given up on Midi Mapping as I just cannot get it to work bidirectionally at the same time in Logic as HUI, no matter what version of Logic I use (even the one that showed meter LED activity). Also I had to use an emulation software to get feedback to Logic it did not seem to work out of the box, from various research seems many have this problem and it may be to do with how Logic's mixer environment works as Logic handles MIDI differently to Cubase (eg you cannot transmit MIDI out of a plugin instrument in Logic). I suspect HUI mode works because its talking to a plugin configured to work within Logic.

Anyway for me MIDI Mapping is useless on its own, I wanted to combine it with HUI as the layer I wanted to MIDI Map was the Master layer which has very limited mappable controls (only Fader and Mutes).