FR: Any Use in a Virtual Midi Input/Output?

For discussion of the Voltage Modular synthesis ecosystem.
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robgray
Posts: 32
Joined: Wed May 06, 2020 2:06 pm

FR: Any Use in a Virtual Midi Input/Output?

Post by robgray »

I have found sequencing and creating interesting arpeggiators / generators in Cherry Audio to be a lot of fun.

Within a DAW it's fairly simple to utilize these as long as all sound generation is done within VM, but a lot of hosts have issues with routing MIDI from one track to another.

Have you all ever discussed adding a Virtual Midi Input / Output to the program? Right now I use the MIDI Input and Output modules plus the IAC Bus in Apple's MIDI Studio, so it's not like it's impossible to use right now, just has an extra layer to keep track of.

I don't know how much work that would be and I'm not sure how "on the edge" my use of VM is. There may be other use cases in live music I haven't considered. Just a suggestion, not a demand, love the software!
Steve W
Posts: 758
Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2020 5:55 pm

Re: FR: Any Use in a Virtual Midi Input/Output?

Post by Steve W »

robgray wrote: Fri Jun 18, 2021 11:22 pm Have you all ever discussed adding a Virtual Midi Input / Output to the program? Right now I use the MIDI Input and Output modules plus the IAC Bus in Apple's MIDI Studio, so it's not like it's impossible to use right now, just has an extra layer to keep track of.
This sounds very interesting as I do a lot with MIDI, but I have no knowledge of Apple's MIDI Studio or an IAC Bus. I have done things with the MIDI Input and MIDI Output modules and with the VST Hosts, but I am wondering what other stuff could be done with these Virtual ports. Thanks.
robgray
Posts: 32
Joined: Wed May 06, 2020 2:06 pm

Re: FR: Any Use in a Virtual Midi Input/Output?

Post by robgray »

Steve W wrote: Sat Jun 19, 2021 2:25 am This sounds very interesting as I do a lot with MIDI, but I have no knowledge of Apple's MIDI Studio or an IAC Bus. I have done things with the MIDI Input and MIDI Output modules and with the VST Hosts, but I am wondering what other stuff could be done with these Virtual ports. Thanks.
Sure. The benefit of doing this is being able to transfer the MIDI from Standalone straight to a DAW while bypassing all the quirks various hosts (and VST3 in general I think) have with track to track midi recording. The way that I use it currently is:

- Design a performative patch in Standalone sending to IAC Bus 1 with a Midi Output Module
- When I like the performance I've created, open up my DAW
- On the instrument I want to play, select IAC Bus 1 as a Midi Input

Now I can use Standalone to "play" an instrument in my DAW but get the benefit of having the notes recorded post-transformation. So instead of just holding down a note at a time and seeing that reflected in the recording, I hold down a note at a time and see all the resulting notes in the timeline.

Sync can be handled manually in a lot of different ways (set BPMs the same, eyeball it, or use the same MIDI note to Start transport in both DAWs, etc)

I personally made a custom module that allows you to sync to any Midi Clock from within Standalone.

You can read about setting up these buses here. I have two of them, one for DAW OUT and one for DAW IN to keep clock signals and the like separate: https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/artic ... l-MIDI-bus
Steve W
Posts: 758
Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2020 5:55 pm

Re: FR: Any Use in a Virtual Midi Input/Output?

Post by Steve W »

Thanks for the explanation and for the link! It makes sense. I have done standalone and DAW-hosted patch building, and last week I took a standalone VM patch and opened it in a DAW-hosted VM plug-in. So I just scratched the surface of those issues.

I am familiar with midi-ox, midi-yoke, and RTP MIDI (mentioned in the linked article). More recently I have used an iConnectMIDI to connect MIDI across a couple of different PCs. So, I will now have to explore what you have described. It might prove to be helpful with a performance/recording setup I have been working on for my personal use. Again, thanks.
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