MIDI question for Traktor

[nem0nic]

I'm giving this tks a look right now and without owning a VCI100, what pops out at me right now are several conflicts in the message mapping for the MIDI pages and feedback. It looks like you've got the MIDI pages function mapped to the looping section on the VCI, but you've got 5 messages associated to each page change, and 4 of those are output mesages. That can't be right.

It's not totally clear in the VCI documentation, but I'm assuming that the message to trigger the LED for each button is the same as the button's output. If so, then this is how I would guess it needs to be mapped...

Select MIDI page 1 - Global - Toggle - Note F-7 (ch1)
Select MIDI page 1 - Global - Output - Note F-7 (ch1)
Select MIDI page 2 - Global - Toggle - Note F#-7 (ch1)
Select MIDI page 2 - Global - Output - Note F#-7 (ch1)
Select MIDI page 3 - Global - Toggle - Note G-7 (ch1)
Select MIDI page 3 - Global - Output - Note G-7 (ch1)
Select MIDI page 4 - Global - Toggle - Note G#-7 (ch1)
Select MIDI page 4 - Global - Output - Note G#-7 (ch1)

This is assuming default mapping of the VCI (can you change it's output?). I'm not sure of what the LEDs in the VCI want to hear to activate, but I'll assume a 0 and 127 message. Some of your output messages are set to 0 and 0.

EDIT - I'm assuming that those extraneous output messages are clearing out old data. Try getting rid of all the feedback and JUST have the button mappings. Does that fix it?

[DvlsAdvct]

Yeah, I've tried taking them off and it still does the feedback loop. I ran MIDI-OX with just the toggle and no output. The Outputs were supposed to turn on the LEDs for the toggled MIDI page, and I had it set up at one point to also turn off all other lights when it's chosen, regardless of which page I was coming from.

[nem0nic]

Another idea would be to test to see if you encounter the same loop if you use keyboard mapping instead of MIDI data. Try it and see. If it works, you can use a program like MIDI Translator to turn the MIDI output of those 4 buttons into keystroke data.

Might be a workaround.

[DvlsAdvct]

Yeah, the keys worked. I set it to my f, g, h, j, keys and it worked perfectly. Had to set it to toggle in the tks, but once I did that it was fine.

so now onto keystroke data, right?

[nem0nic]

http://www.bome.com/midi/translator/

Grab that software and convert the F7, F#7, G7, and G#7 MIDI notes to keystrokes. Make sure they're keys that arent going to get in your way (maybe Insert, Home, Page Up, and Page Down - you get the idea). See if that works.

[DvlsAdvct]

would that be able to output LED messages too? If so then I'm set.

[nem0nic]

I would try just the page changing first, then add basic LED output messages for each page using the normal mapping in Traktor (like you had it), then build your tks further to add the messages you had to clear old data last.

If you run into a problem in that process, hook the VCI to the computer (but without running Traktor) and monitor the data you get from it using MIDIHack when pressing those buttons and see if it corresponds to the data you EXPECT to see. Might be a firmware bug or odd glitch. I wish I had one at my disposal so I could test this more thoroughly, but alas I don't.

Please let us all know if this solution works for you. MIDI Translator is an amazing program, and you can do alot of neat stuff with it (especially with the conditional statements in the Pro version). You might find many other uses for it as well.

[DvlsAdvct]

Yeah, that's what I figure I'll do, just step by step and see if/where the problems arise.

If this works this'll be the first place I go with it. And maybe I'll actually dig into MIDI translator and see what I can get out of it :-)

thanks a lot for the help, man, really.

[DvlsAdvct]

Alright, so here's an update.

I downloaded Bome's translator. I programmed it in so the down command of the black buttons = different mIDI pages.

No feedback on page four.

BUT

I lose the crossfader, and only the crossfader control, even though MIDI-OX is reading it as active. And the jog wheel for what should be deck B is controlling deck A. Also, oddly, I lose the toggle control for Key, Cue, etc.... it's weird.

[nem0nic]

This has to be a bug. Very strange. I'll send it to the beta group for further testing.