Midi in Problem: Launchpad Pro to Ot mkii

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

I have no idea what’s going on here.

My Octatrack will not recognize any midi in signal whatsoeverfrom the Launchpad Pro, but it will accept midi in from my Fates (norns clone) on the same midi channel.

My regular midi setup is:

-Launchpad Pro din midi OUT to Octatrack Midi IN
-Ot midi OUT to Medsua Midi IN
-Medusa Midi THRU to Circuit Mono Station Midi IN
-Circuit Mono Station THRU to Model:Cycles Midi IN

And i alternate between that and this setup by swapping out midi in from Norns/Fates Midi OUT Cable to Launchpad Midi OUT Cable

-Norns/Fates usb midi OUT to Octatrack Midi IN
-Ot midi OUT to Medsua Midi IN
-Medusa Midi THRU to Circuit Mono Station Midi IN
-Circuit Mono Station THRU to Model:Cycles Midi IN

i have 4 thru tracks for audio (which is irrelevant) and i use Midi Tracks 1, 2, & 3 for:
-Medusa Midi Ch 16
-Mono Station Osc A & Osc B: Ch. 14 & 15 respectively
-and recently, for the Model:Cycles, i set the main midi in to ch.13
I also experimented with routing the Orca script in Norns through the Octatrack and into 6 separate midi tracks on the Model:Cycles, so i could control each of the 6 machines/tracks on the device with a separate midi channel in Orca, each set to midi channels 9 - 14, which may be the problem here, although i set everything back to where it was before

So i normally just have Octatrack “AUTO Ch” set to “1” and either the LPP or the Norns is set to send midi notes out to Ch.1, then i route that midi to whichever midi track i want to control according to which midi ch. out/synth i want it to go to. The trig channels are always set to “OFF” (except for when i tried that Orca to 6 separate channels on Model:Cycles, which worked fine)

Now, the Octatrack refuses to recognize midi in from the Launchpad Pro. It’s weird because it still accepts midi in from the Norns/Fates (ch.1). AND, the launchpad properly sends midi out to my other devices if i connect them directly via midi cable. So the problem isn’t with the launchpad when used with other devices, and it’s not with the Octatrack when used with other devices. it’s only with these two devices together.

I use the Usb20Midi cable to run Norns usb midi to the Ot, which works perfectly, and a regular midi cable with a dongle for the LPP to OT.

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I tried different midi channels, different cables, different dongles, connecting to all my synths directly, which worked. And if the Norns is still recognized on midi channel 1 incoming midi, why wouldn’t the exact same settings be applicable to the LPP on midi channel 1 Incoming midi like it always did before?

I’m pretty sure I didn’t mess with any other midi settings, but it seems like that wouldn’t matter anyway, because i know that the OT is still receiving midi in from my other sequencer (the norns/fates) on the same channel. Did I break something? I have no idea what this could be. Any help would be greatly appreciated

Current Settings:

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#2

Try it with a new project and see if the issue persists. Maybe something was inadvertently changed. Best to spin up a test project where the MIDI settings are known to be working.

1 Like
#3

i did actually try this. didn’t work. thanks though

#4

Welcome.

Could you use a midi monitor to check what is sent from the LPP, and from the Norns?

So OT audio tracks channels (Trig Ch) are disabled, and you want to record midi with midi tracks?

#5

im not sure how to midi monitor. never did that before. you want me to run the norns midi into my pc to see what kind of midi is coming out? is there an easy piece of software i can do that with? anything you recommend?

i have the audio channels /trig channels set to “off” and im just taking whichever midi i want to send to my synths from either the norns or the launchpad, and either record it to a midi track, or just send it straight through to the synths via my custom midi setups

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I want to be able to switch between controlling my medusa to controlling my bass synth with the same launchpad plugged in. same with the norns/sequencer scripts. I’m not sure if i had this setup the proper way to begin with but it worked up until now

#6

On a pc I know Miditest, MidiOx, don’t know for other systems. Very usefull to decipher midi problems. Your setup doesn’t seem simple.

You apparently already have a midi interface.

AFAIK there is no reason why OT would accept the same midi messages, same channel from Lpp and not from Norns.

#7

yeah really weird. does it make sense to you, my midi routing? maybe i’m convoluting it but this is the way that worked for me. im just using the octatrack as like a switch. and sometimes to grab incoming midi sequences to use for later. so theres incoming midi from one source at a time, coming in from channel 1 to channel 1 and i select which piece of gear it goes to by selecting the midi track that corresponds to the midi channel out from ot. if there’s an easier way, i could try that too

#8

Can you see the OT midi in activity? (little dot on the left above tempo).

Concerning midi routing, I’d make it the simplest for tests. Eventually just midi in, even if midi out shouldn’t be related…

#9

not with the lpp, no.

im not getting any response from Midiox with the Lpp. it recognizes the Norns right away though.

so i guess its just the launchpad. i also had problems just now trying to control my synths with it. i finally got it playing the cycles when i connected it directly for a third time, after unsuccessfully trying once, and also trying the medusa twice. Then once i got the midi signal going into the cycles, i tried connecting it to my interface right away for Midiox but it still wasn’t showing any signal.

Tried different cables again, a few different channels. Must be something weird with the Lpp or maybe the midi out port. It’s weird though because it does work sometimes with my synths directly connected via midi

#10

ok, after messing with the cable a little bit, i got the midi input signal on the top left corner of the screen when i press a pad on the Launchpad, but no midi gets passed on to the synths.

i’m not sure what the difference is between the left corner signal and both corners, but this just keeps showing top left:
1

#11

working now. i dont know what the hell. sorry for this mess of a thread. thanks for the help @sezare56

2 Likes
#12

I hope it will continue to work ! On the right it’s midi out activity.

1 Like
#13

Two pixels in the upper left corner of the screen indicates MIDI port activity. The left pixel blinks when MIDI data is received, the right pixel blinks when MIDI data is being sent out.

@sezare56 … photo finish … just a blink of an eye faster :smiley:

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#14

It’s a good idea to avoid this, or at least know about the headaches it can cause, especially with Midi Ch 1 being a headache for most OT users. Stick to the default auto channel and keep channels well organised around that

#15

Only for OT users leaving Channel 1 for Audio Track 1 ! (default)

If a midi channel is shared between AUDIO and MIDI tracks, AUDIO tracks can’t SEND midi, and MIDI tracks can’t RECEIVE midi on that channel.

#16

good advice. it was the easiest way in the past because i dont have to change every norns sequencer script’s midi out channel and the lpp was auto set to 1, but thats obviously just laziness.

should i keep it above 8 then? i dont remember what the auto ch was by default

#17

you can obviously work around it, but if the concept of the Auto Channel isn’t fully understood it can be tempting for folk to fire out Midi Track sequences on Channel 1 too and with teh Audio Tracks sharing that assignment it can get messy - easy to work around, but some external gear may be fixed assignment, so working Auto Channel as 1 wouldn’t be my preferred workflow, but essentially if you are organised and aware of the potential sources of conflict then go ahead

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#18

Defaut is 11. I also used 9. I normally keep channels 1-8 for audio tracks.

I think you can use any channel as long as it is not shared between a midi track and an audio track. Btw that shared channel limitation is usefull if you use midi loopback (midi connection between OT in / out, in order to control audio tracks with midi tracks). It avoids midi feedback.

If you set all audio tracks channels to off, you can’t control the crossfader nor scenes, and you can’t send midi data with them.

1 Like
#19

What do you mean by sending midi with audio tracks? I think I’ve been missing something this whole time I’ve had this thing.

I have tried midi loop back attempting to duplicate a max marco video but gave up because it didn’t work. I now know why. I don’t know anything about controlling faders or scenes with midi either. I thought I knew almost all there was to know about the ot, but I guess I wasn’t even close.

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#20

It’s the manual controls on the device (encoders/[TRIG] keys) which may send MIDI data on the MIDI channels of the audio tracks.

AUDIO CC OUT: controls if encoders send MIDI CCs when turning them
AUDIO NOTE OUT: controls if [TRIG] keys send MIDI notes when pressed

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