Solved Multiple midi in channels on single track

[erich]

Hi all,

I am using S1 v6 Pro and I just purchased a yearly Musio subscription as I wanted to start with orchestral composition and this seems to be a good starting point.

In one single instance of Musio you can load a various number of 'instruments' or 'parts' and assign each of them to a specific midi channel (I guess this is the same in Kontakt for instance?). This is nice to avoid having 1 track and 1 Musio instance for each instrument.

The problem is that I understand in S1 you can only map 1 single midi in channel for each track and when I try to change the midi channel on my midi keyboard it is always playing the first instrument in the Musio instance.

I then tried Sound Variation where you can switch between different instruments in the same track based on keyswitches or midi channels but here again I can change intruments from my midi keyboard with keyswitches but not with midi channel change. I guess it works when you trigger a midi channel change from within S1 but not from an external midi controller (sounds logical as a S1 instrument track can only be mapped to 1 single midi channel)

Do you have an idea how this could be solved so that I can drive multiple instruments from one single track by sending midi channel change commands?

Thanks a lot!

 

[Lukas]

Hi and welcome to the forum,

The problem is that I understand in S1 you can only map 1 single midi in channel for each track

that's right, Studio One only allows one global MIDI channel per instrument track. The only way to change MIDI channels for notes on one track is via Sound Variations.

In one single instance of Musio you can load a various number of 'instruments' or 'parts' and assign each of them to a specific midi channel (I guess this is the same in Kontakt for instance?). This is nice to avoid having 1 track and 1 Musio instance for each instrument.

I find Musio's design of using MIDI channels for this a bit unfortunate, since every other sample library (player) uses keyswitches to switch articulations. I don't see any advantage in using MIDI channels for this. However, Sound Variations should solve this problem because you can define MIDI channel changes as an activation sequence for each Sound Variation.

Have you taken a look at my Sound Variation tutorials? There are quite a few already:

Sound Variation Tutorials | Studio One Toolbox

Studio One Toolbox - Free online tools and scripting add-ons for Studio One users. Our Tutorial Database includes more than 500 free Studio One video tutorials!

s1toolbox.com

I specifically show the channel change option in this video (first 3 minutes):

Sound Variations in Studio One 5.3: MIDI Channels, Musical Symbols & Global Track

In this video, I demonstrate the new Sound Variation features and improvements in the new Studio One version 5.3.Contrary to what's mentioned in the video, y...

www.youtube.com

I then tried Sound Variation where you can switch between different instruments in the same track based on keyswitches or midi channels but here again I can change intruments from my midi keyboard with keyswitches but not with midi channel change.

Yes. The idea of Sound Variations is that SVs cause MIDI channel changes (sent to the instrument), not that you can trigger Sound Variations by changing the MIDI channel. In other words, MIDI changes are a possible output, but not the input trigger.

So you would program your SVs with channel changes in the activation sequence:



Then use one of the supported methods to trigger the Sound Variations: Keyswitches or commands via Keyboard Shortcuts/MIDI controller buttons/Find Command.

I hope this helps!

 

[erich]

Hi Lukas,

First off thanks a lot for taking the time to answer my question in such a detailed way.

I did actually watch one of your videos about sound variations but not the one you mention above and now this is crystal clear to me

In fact Musio now has keyswitches instruments but (this is personal taste) when I am in my inspirational / exploration / composing phase, I don't really like using keyswitches because it is taking up space (keys) on my keyboard that I cannot use, I find it annoying to go back and forth with octave+- in order to reach the right keyswitch and at the same time play my melody which is high pitch and also I sometimes find it difficult to remember which keyswitch is assigned to which intrument. With midi switching I can use the full keybed and the midi channel does match the instrument in the stack so visually speaking it is easier for me to remember.
Of course during recording this is different because this is not really about live playing but rather about triggering automation from Studio one to change the sound variations.

Anyways now after watching your video I got the missing information I needed:
It is impossible in studio one to send midi IN messages on multiple midi channels in one single track (thanks for the confirmation)
and what I completely missed is that in sound variation the midi channel you assign is a midi out, nothing to do with the midi in from the midi keyboard. Then basically changing to another sound variation means playing the next instrument on a different midi channel...now I get it!

What I did not know either that I learned from your video is that with my midi keyboard I can assign buttons to navigate within the sound variations (previous/next) and this is exactly what I was trying to achieve by changing the input midi channel (which now I understand is not working/supported by S1)

Thanks a lot for your support!

 

[Lukas]

You're welcome. And yes, it's exactly as you say!

What I did not know either that I learned from your video is that with my midi keyboard I can assign buttons to navigate within the sound variations (previous/next) and this is exactly what I was trying to achieve by changing the input midi channel (which now I understand is not working/supported by S1)

Yes, you can do this if your keyboard buttons can send MIDI CCs (because assigning Studio One commands is only possible to MIDI CC messages). But I assume when your MIDI keyboard can change the MIDI channel, you can probably also configured it to send MIDI CCs from the buttons.

 

[erich]

Hi again Lukas, my midi keyboard is very cheap and basic (Samson Carbon 61). The midi channel buttons are in fact the 2 transpose buttons that you can reassign to send midi channel + and - but I tried and it looks like they do not actully send CCs.
I have found a quick and dirty workaround as this keyboard has a rotary (endless) knob (you can assign it to whatever CC you like), I have learned it in S1, changed it as a button in S1 and now I can scroll through my sound variations

All in all what I wanted to achieve by switching the midi channel I can now do it by turning this knob which is totally fine with me