Hello!
If I connect my Minilogue midi out to Pulsar 23 Midi in, I can easily map the Minilogue rotary knobs and switches to various Pulsar 23 parameters. For example, I can turn the filter cutoff on my Minilogue and have it change the tune of a Pulsar 23 bass drum oscillator. However, If I, instead, go Minilogue Midi out to Digitakt Midi in, and then Digitakt midi out (or midi through)to the Pulsar midi in, I cannot get the Digitakt to transmit midi data from the Minilogue’s knobs to the Pulsar 23. With this same midi config, I can however, easily get midi transmission from the keybed of the Minilogue through the digitakt and into the Pulsar. I just cant get the rotary knobs on my Minilogue to transmit midi to the Pulsar23 through the Digitakt! Any thoughts?
Thanks
EDIT:
Best guess as to what’s happening…
When I turn a knob on the Minilogue this sends cc data to affect and change Digitakt activity, but doesnt cause the Digitakt to actively send out another signal, so the signal doesn’t go past the Digitakt. If I go straight from Minilogue to Pulsar this sends cc directly to pulsar, and knobs have an effect.
The Digitakt “thru” midi port is an echo of what goes into the Digitakt. So if I route a midi cable from Digitakt thru midi port to the pulsar, the CC from Minilogue goes to Digitakt, and also echoes through the Digitakt to the Pulsar making a change. However, the Digitakt midi out (not the midi through) won’t automatically transmit the cc from the Minilogue to the pulsar, only the keystrokes to the Digitakt, where the Digitakt then activates the chosen midi trig, which then sends a message to the midi out.
The Pulsar only has one Midi in port, so I have to choose, do I want Digitakt out so I can send all sorts of interesting sequence data and Digitakt nuances(yes, I want this) or do I use the Midi through so that I can get CC from the Minilogue(I want this too, but I need an expander for the one Pulsar midi in so that it can listen to midi from multiple sources.
This is my best guess what is happening. If there is a way to make the Digitakt send out CC to pulsar in response to CC from Minilogue, this would be the fix without an adapter/expander
I think it has to do with your midi channel assignment on the minilogue - whatever the default setting is for digitakt and the minilogue , they are matching up on the cc chain of command, the keyboard is not by default attached to the cc values - but I don’t know enough about the mini machine to tell you how to do anything about it, maybe changing the channels digitakt receives cc values on is enough to send the command from minilogue through to pulsar.
what I mean is that the pulsar and the digitakt are both set to receive cc in the same way, it won’t pass through if the digitakt catches it first.
@sezare56 any help here?
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Huzzzah! I figured it out. The signal was getting caught in my Midi Solutions Quadra Through box ( which I for some reason left out of the signal path in my description). I went straight from the Digitakt through port to the Pulsar and it started working. Weird that it doesnt pass the quadra box though… Thanks!
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Awesome, glad you got it figured out.
incidentally, if the quadra through is getting enough voltage it shouldn’t have any problem passing cc info.
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Interesting…power comes from the cable…wonder if that midi cable is failing…
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if it’s a multi voltage unit then it doesn’t hurt to check the cable, especially if you have another you can try it with, I have a quadra and a regular through (2 outs) which are multi, but I also have an older through (with only 2 outs) that is before they became compatible with 3.3v midi protocol and if you have a 3.3v source and a box that wants 5v there’s an issue, but I’m 94 percent sure that quadra through units are all multivoltage.
Got it all workin! Just a bunch of little details I had to go back and sort out…Midi life…
Thanks
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was it the physical cable or adjusting the cc routing?
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CC routing. However, I don’t think I can achieve what I originally wanted without another midi splitter. When I play a key on Minilogue, this “plays/activates” a trig/key in the digitakt, the digitakt then sends midi data out in response to this activation into pulsar.
When I turn a knob on the Minilogue this sends cc data to affect and change Digitakt activity, but doesnt cause the Digitakt to actively send out another signal, so the signal doesn’t go past the Digitakt. If I go straight from Minilogue to Pulsar this sends cc directly to pulsar, and knobs have an effect.
The Digitakt “thru” midi port is an echo of what goes into the Digitakt. So if I route a midi cable from Digitakt thru midi port to the pulsar, the CC from Minilogue goes to Digitakt, and also echoes through the Digitakt to the Pulsar making a change. However, the Digitakt midi out (not the midi through) won’t automatically transmit the cc from the Minilogue to the pulsar, only the keystrokes to the Digitakt, where the Digitakt then activates the chosen midi trig, which then sends a message to the midi out.
The Pulsar only has one Midi in port, so I have to choose, do I want Digitakt out so I can send all sorts of interesting sequence data and Digitakt nuances(yes, I want this) or do I use the Midi through so that I can get CC from the Minilogue(I want this too, but I need an expander for the one Pulsar midi in so that it can listen to midi from multiple sources.
This is my best guess what is happening. If there is a way to make the Digitakt send out CC to pulsar in response to CC from Minilogue, this would be the fix without an adapter/expander.
If you have thoughts I’m listening 
that helps understand the situation. you’re talking about a midi merger.
but that aside, did you go into minilogue and set the cc send channels from the setup menu?
you would need to program the minilogue cc send to match the pulsar receive, that would go through the digitakt. Digitakt needs to be manually set to unused channels I assume, so as not to catch the cc.
That’s what I think you need to nail down, the actual values match between korg send and pulsar receive.
like my keystep pro, if it has channels already assigned in the drum track, I can’t assign the same value to get my drums laid out on a custom map, I have to reassign unused values to the channels I want and then map the drums as I want them otherwise they’re all over the keyboard and not in a row how I need them to be. If that makes sense, you’re on the right track to understanding what you need to do.
in other words you have to clear the blockage from the path and make sure the path has a matching start and end. I think it will work and if it doesn’t then I’m probably out of good suggestions.
digitakt shouldn’t have to send cc, just pass it through.
Thanks for the info. The pulsar is awesome for midi, no menu diving, mostly just through “learn” buttons. Push the learn button as a midi signal comes in and it maps automatically. An led lights up to signal incoming midi, red for unmapped, green for mapped. The minilogue signal def gets to the digitakt, and all the way through to the pulsar if the pulsar gets midi from the digitakt thru port. Only the minilogue keystrokes get thru to the pulsar using the normal midi out of the digitakt. I think it should be possible… ill keep fiddling
Also, it does pass through, using the digitakt thru midi port, just not with the midi out port. I’ll get there
there is no config app for the pulsar to manually set it up on your computer or pad thing or whatever people use this year?
you throw enough darts eventually you hit something but if you know where the target is it speeds up the process making it happen.
does the minilogue not have a midi config onboard in the menu?
I literally googled “minilogue cc values” and this is the first thing that came up.
Map of MIDI CC Values for each knob – I hope this is helpful some other mini users! : minilogue (reddit.com)
page 63 of the minilogue user manual shows the midi implementation chart, it shows what channels cc are sent and received on, you are trying to send cc
minilogue Owner’s Manual (korg.com)
and digitakt manual relevant information starts on pg 69
Support & Downloads for Digitakt | Elektron
you will have to look into pulsar config but if it really just self learns like an auto channel, you just have to make sure midi is going through the digitakt and it is not responding to it. If pulsar has an app, configure it specifically to match the minilogue implementation chart.
Hah, Thanks for all this. I’ve definitely read through all the info. I’m gonna pick up the midi merger, and solve all the problems Also, no Pulsar is a very analogue instrument.
Cheers
I looked for a way around the merger. I don’t think it can be done, I think it’s just a device limitation for digitakt, it can send cc, or it can receive cc, and while cc can go through it it won’t middleman an operation like it does between the trig and the keys, you’re probably right, you’re going to have to buy something. sorry, I tried
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