As we all know samplers are built for keyboard players and they usually come with key switches for articulations. A keyboard player that plays flute with the right hand will have a free left hand to push on these key switches but us guitar players don’t have a free hand.
So we have to use our feet, I found that the excellent MorningStar foot controllers are very easy to program to send midi notes (NoteOn for press, NoteOff for release) and it enables me to control the key switches with my foot but it’s a relatively complex routing of audio and midi from MG3 and the foot pedal into a third track where the actual VSTi is located. This also prevents easy switching between MG3 presets without changing other items in the DAW.
My Feature Request is very simple, please allow any incoming midi notes to be mixed in with the internally generated midi notes to be pass on to the instrument loaded in MG3.
If this is not possible for any reason what can be done instead?
We have a system to use external CC’s what can we do to use external pedals that will activate key switches?
This is such a “bread and butter” problem I feel it has to be addressed.
So, I guess your request is related to MG3 standalone? Even so, I thought MIDI note data could be merged now via the native MIDI Input module. I may be wrong…
Yes I can do it in a DAW but only if the instrument sits on a seperate track, this prevents me to save everything as a preset inside MG3 (I don’t use the standalone).
As far as I understand the MIDI IN module can only route CCs that you will connect with wires to controllers.
May I ask which DAW you’re using? And does the DAW project file not register/save all that data? I understand it’s not ideal for you.
I’m not 100% sure about the note pass thru to chains, but I seem to recall it being mentioned in another post talking about modifying MG3’s MIDI output with a third-party application and returning it to MG3. Again, I could be wrong…
I’m all about optimizing the use of MG3 and find some situations where standalone works best and others where I have to use the various plugins. For example, Bitwig 5 just can’t play nice with MG3 VST2/3 (due to its quirky MPE implementation) so MG3 standalone is the only legitimate option.
In the standalone version the “MDI Device” module reacts also on notes that are send. I just checked it out sending note 40 via the BT M-Vave chocolate and LoopMidi, however that note is audible.
Unfortunately with the latest plugin update the patchbay (and MIDI Device) doesn’t work anymore in Cubase 14 (it was working in the past). So I can’t tell whether or not a note could be received there too.
I use Reaper and yes it will save data.
I can even save track(s) presets of different setups… but the idea of having everything saved inside MG3 is very attractive to me and I believe it was designed with that in mind.
We are beta testing so I am sharing my wishes in hope of it being implemented one day.
Please don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to tell anybody what to wish for or request. I just like to raise solutions/workarounds that will get users achieving their aims with the MG3 version at hand!
This is a good suggestion. Lets add something into MG for easy key switching. Anybody have good ideas of what it should look like? A module in which you can select a midi controller and define a which keys to send?
One option would be to add the category “Note” to the existing patchbay menu. By selecting “Note” as output command a range of low notes could be displayed or a field to enter the desired note.
To be inclusive for all possible needs not just mine I would suggest 3 changes:
1 - For those who would like to use an expression pedal to send key changes: Open the CC curve page and have an option to send NoteOn and NoteOff by selecting a note you need. Obviously when the CC passes the half point the ON is triggered, below the half point OFF is triggered. The curve function should stay so you can set up a log curve aka you barely touch the pedal and the note triggers (no need for full travel of the pedal for just a quick on off function)
2 - Have some kind of “midi in port” that will allow foot piano or foot switches that are already setup to send notes to simply mix in with the internally generated notes. A BIG plus would be to have a transpose feature that allows you to change the note coming in. This way I can set up my foot switch to send let’s say a D1 note that I need for one instrument but on other instrument where I need an E1 I can use use the transpose feature to adjust the incoming note… and this will be saved in the patch. So my pedal always sends the same note but depending on the patch the note is adjusted to your needs.
3 - This one is for Daw users, there is always this battle who owns the midi port MG3 or your DAW. If you use your pedals for more then just MG3 you want the pedals to be enabled in the DAW and not in MG3. When you want to route the pedal to MG3 you simply routed to the track that MG3 sits on. In Reaper this already works with CC’s but not with notes. So borrowing from point #2 the “midi port” should have an option to “receive midi from the track”. Important, this should receive notes only, it should NOT pass on CCs because those will be routed to the CC curve module.
