Unexpected behavior from external MIDI CC

Elektron Gear Digitone/Digitone Keys
#1

Has anyone experienced their Digitone responding unexpectedly (delayed notes, stuck notes, UI slow to respond, jumps in screens) when using overbridge and receiving external MIDI CC?

I have my Digitone receiving MIDI CC from Bitwig to control Track 4’s volume. In Bitwig the CC messages are being modulated by a LFO at a sixteenth notes rate. When I try to play a note sometimes there’s a second delay before the note comes on. The note stays on even when I let go of the note. I have to press the note again a few times before the note actually stops. If I try to change a setting on the Digitone, the UI won’t respond for a few seconds and sometimes jumps screens.

I’ve tried using the same MIDI CC sending setup on a Korg Monologue to see if the problem involves Bitwig but the Monologue responded fine. No issues.

I also tried searching the forum using “Digitone CC” as an umbrella term but didn’t find anything.

Here’s how the Digitone’s MIDI config is set (noting just what seems most relevant): - (Sync) receive clock, transport, and program change - (Port config) input/output from usb, receive cc/nrpn - (Channels) default - (USB config) only overbridge is checked

For what it’s worth, Digitone is on the latest OS version and Bitwig’s on version 3.3.11.

Could I have incorrect settings on the Digitone that’s resulting in this weird behavior? Or have other people had this problem too? The workaround I’m using now is using one of the Digitone’s MIDI tracks as an extra set of LFOs. I’d appreciate any ideas.

#2

You could try to disable midi out of the DN in order to check if it’s a midi loopback issue

#3

Thank you for the idea! I tried it but unfortunately no dice. I got this funky error message:

2022-08-29 22-04-35
2022-08-29 22-04-354032×3024 2.4 MB

Whatever it is, I think it has to do with the track params specifically. I just tried modulating other params on the DN with the same settings and the unit was able to handle it fine. The UI was slow to respond in the moment but the audio was fine.

I guess perhaps there’s more heavy lifting involved for manipulating track params than there is for synth params.

#4

Also, is one of your track using the lp4 filter ?

#5

Not when I first observe the unexpected behavior. I was only modulating the track volume then. When testing modulating non-track params I had the filter set to lp4 and was modulating the cutoff frequency relatively fine. The audio wasn’t delayed but the UI was delayed when messing around with other params on the DN.

#6

Ok so it seems this modulation is too much to handle for the DN. The CPU is a bit underpowered on the DN and I recalled Ess saying there are some safeguards like first it is the UI that will be slow before it is the audio. For instance the LP4 filter is always decreasing UI response time while using Over bridge.
Maybe you could try a workaround by modulating the modwheel or breath controller on which you affect the volume and check if it still happens. And you could also try decreasing the resolution of your LFO, so it have less values to send.