Configuring Axiom pressure pads to replace d-beams

[Dan Tyrant]

Right, so the new m-audio axiom controllers have pressure sensitive trigger pads, and given that the axiom25 is parked right in front of my xt, I'm going to dedicate two of its pads to the XT. Having two pressure pads side-by-side should be a decent replacement for the dual d-beams...

Now, I've read through the FAQ and found that one of the d-beams sends on CC#02 by default... great, halfway there.

I've tried searching through the forum- one guy said he was gonna check and report back about the 2nd CC#, but that was in May 2005 so i'm guessing he's never, ever going to reveal his secrets.

In any case, I'd really appreciate it if someone could please check what the other CC# that is sent by the D-Beams on the keyboard V-synth and let us know.

-Dan

[Artemiy]

It's the Fantom's D-beam that sends CC#02. On the V there are two of them and I never checked what they send, there must be two CCs in any case.

Anyway, the Axiom's pads must be sending polyphonic aftertouch, or CC messages. Check out the V-Synth FAQ to see how the V can be made to respond to external MIDI CC messages.

[Dan Tyrant]

Thanks for the reply Artemio.

Programming the axiom is not the issue and neither is configuring the v-synth. I have a lot of modified presets such as those from the factory bank which have d-beams assigned in the matrix control, and i'd like to be able to use the modulation source assigned without changing every patch manually to some new pair of midi cc's.

Really all I need is for someone to wave their hand across the d-beam and read the midi message that comes out. I'd suggest adding this information to the FAQ too, as many of us XT users have posted asking about how to effectively replace the d-beams functionality.

[Kneel]

Well looking in the MIDI implementation chart I saw that CC 16-19 are assigned to the two d beam controllers on the V. If you configure you Axiom to send these messages to the v-synth I see no reason why it wont respond. Remember these CC messages will be sent to the control matrix and then affect the parameter assigned to. I.e Your Axiom sends CC 16 out,the V picks this up and then applies it according to the control matrix.

If you want to see the actuall MIDI messages that is sent from any device I would strongly suggest getting MIDI OX.It is a great little program and free for non commercial use. The application has a MIDI monitor which will show you raw MIDI data in the hex format.

PS I dont use the XT thekeyboard version hope this info helps.

[Dan Tyrant]

Kneel - Thanks! I'll try plugging those CC#s in and see what happens. In any case, CC02's doing something funky on most of the factory patches!

I understand how contollers are mapped perfectly fine, but those two numbers 16 and 19 aren't mentioned in the V-synth XT manual, even though the D-beams are. Just a pretty striking omission IMO.

Re: MIDI Ox, will this tell me any information I wouldn't get by using a midi monitor object in Logic's environment? I definitely like the price

D

[Kneel]

Hey Dan

Well controller 16 through to 19 are mapped as CC numbers for the dbeam on the keyboard version. On your midi implementation chart for the XT they should list the appropraite controller numbers for the D-Beam. As a matter of fact let me download the MIDI chart for the XT and have a look for you.....downloads..... OK Well I am a bit concerned here I cannot find the DBeam listed here. CC 16-19 are mapped to Knob e1 -e4. Kneel does more research.... right from I can understand (speaking under correction here) The E1-E8 controllers are there basically to simulate the dbeam functionallity. They have same controller numbers as the Dbeam on the keyboard version. Oh yes I have found more CC numbers for the Dbeam they are 16,17,18,19 (for the left d-beam ) and CC numbers 48,49,50,51 (for the righ dbeam controller) so if that Axiom pad can send these CC's then you should be able to simulate the DBeam or this is the general theory. I assume the four numbers per Dbeam would be to capture the 4 axis movement (up,down,left,right).

About MIDI OX. Download the app install it and use it. This program is amazing. You can even map CC messages to other destinations such as NRPN and RPN. Like I said it is freeware if you not using it commercially. Once you use it commercially buy it. Basically it will allow you too peek into the wonderfull world of MIDI messaging. For example trying to figure out what CC a control send, you can run MIDI OX twiddle the control and see the message. Should help you a lot!

Hope this helps a bit more. I have never seen a XT in real life so making educated guesses here. Well I hope they are educated.

[Dan Tyrant]

Well, AFAIK, the D-Beam is a one-dimensional sensor... Even though there's two of them, they're aligned in parallel so it couldn't possibly get any real spacial information... so no need for more than one MIDI CC per beam.

You're right that the E1-E8 knobs are there to make up for the loss of the d-beams, but they serve a dual role as well: On the keyboard V-Synth, there's hardware knobs and sliders for quick access to important parameters, and on the XT those 8 knobs are mapped to different parameters on the current display screen. So, for example, on the patch peformance screen you'd have a knob assigned to COSM 1/2 parameter 1/2, etc. The point is, these knobs change their function depending what screen you're editing in. You can turn off the knobs from the software and use the unit as a midi controller, but i'm not about to do that. Also, using knobs to replace a d-beam could be problematic - eventually, when you stop waving in front of the beam, the controller value will become 0, whereas knobs don't return to 0 when you take your hand off them. This is why I think the pressure pads are a natural replacement for the d-beams.

In any case, that's a smaller list of possible MIDI CC#s than I had, so I'll try those in a bit and see what happens! Will report back...

Gonna go have a look for an OS X version of MIDI Ox now....

D