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IDProjectCategoryView StatusLast Update
0006290ardourfeaturespublic2016-02-11 09:17
Reporterunfa Assigned To 
PrioritynormalSeverityfeatureReproducibilityN/A
Status newResolutionopen 
Summary0006290: Allow value mapping for MIDI learn / CC controls
DescriptionA great addition to Ardour's MIDI learn functionality would be a way to manipulate input values.

For example I'm assigning a filter cutoff to a MIDI controller's knob.

I have values in range 0..127 on the input.
By default it's mapped to the whole range of any controller.
It'd be nice however to change the mapping of minimum and maximum values to cover a "sweet spot" and get higher precision there. I can map the values within my MIDI controller, but this will mean I don't have 128 possible values, but less - decreasing my precision, which is opposite of what I want.

When mapping the input values within Ardour, I remain my 7 bits of dynamic range for the control, regardless of what range of values I can reach on the output.

Say I want my filter cutoff to be mapped 2000..8000 Hz (instead of 0..20000 Hz).
That's a significant difference and a big precision boost.

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BigstevE

2015-05-31 19:39

reporter   ~0016760

Last edited: 2015-05-31 21:57

This issue is also very important to me. Customizable and fine-grained parameter adjustment with MIDI controllers. Who woulda thought. Based on my correspondence with the devs at Harrison Mixbus (which supports knob and fader adjustments to a somewhat finer grain of precision, albeit only with the mouse, and without the 'latch' mode for MIDI controllers that was introduced in A3), I suspect that the handling of 14-bit MIDI controller values may not be truly necessary for achieving this purpose. Nice as the potential use for it may be, even a controller's 0-127 value range may be a moot point when you consider that all you need for the adequate adjustment of a DAW's user-adjustable/programmable/configurable value mapped MIDI control parameter is for such a thing to exist.* And after that, just any knob or slider set to operate in an incremental-decremental +1 -1 rotary style mode would do. Nothing motorized is needed. Non-endless knobs and even faders/sliders could take advantage of Ardour's 'latch' mode and remember the direction a fine (extra-fine, user-customized) adjustment was being made while such an adjustment was initiated (thus operating as a momentary switch, allowing only uni-directional +1 or -1 values to be received while the modifier keys are being held down. In this way multiple 'throws' of the fader or knob could be used to fine-tune a parameter in a specific direction with truly professional control).

Consider the keyboard modifiers Ardour/Mixbus utilize for increasingly finer adjustments as more of them are used with the mouse. Your example of having a filter cutoff to be re-mapped to 2-8kHz is a great one. But it's plugin specific, and mapping the values from 'within' your MIDI controller's 0-128 range to achieve this, I'm not sure is the best solution. Different plugins have different built-in resolutions. There's too many variables, and plugins. The DAW itself does internal translation of GUI input and converts the static range of an HID device's input to it's own dynamic range (e.g. the sensitivity of the notch on a mouse wheel never changes, only the software's interpretation of it). Though Ardour's fine-mode parameter control works in the same general manner, what few 'native' mixer or 'console' elements it has are still more coarse than in Mixbus, and neither program allows for the adjustment of value mapping, let alone for MIDI learn.

Changing the 0-127 range of a specific controller, could, or at least should be able to be, configured from the controller itself prior to use. Still, it's up to the DAW to interpret, define and process whatever MIDI input it receives. I see no reason why a PC's keyboard's modifier keys cannot be used in conjuction with a MIDI controller's output to toggle fine and extra-fine modes, even if intermediary patch manager/translation software has to be used (along with the binding maps) to compensate for a controller's limitations.

What I was trying to assert throughout all this is that in a way such a thing as value mapping does already exist*, internally, except it's not user-adjustable, nor is it user-programmable, nor is it user-configurable, nor is it compatible with MIDI controllers, let alone MIDI learn. (But hey, it works with the mouse).

I would check out issue 6310 (esp. the included patch) and other reports by ovenwerks, who is contributing a lot of important and relevant patchwork with respect to MIDI controllers.

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
2015-04-28 20:25 unfa New Issue
2015-05-31 19:39 BigstevE Note Added: 0016760
2015-05-31 21:57 BigstevE Note Edited: 0016760