Need help with MIDI / FL Studio (regarding live performances)

[yoda24]

Hi, I am using FL studio 10 and two midi piano synthesizers which are the following :

-Roland E-35 Intelligent synthesizer (compatible MIDI controller)

-Panasonic SX-KC600 (also compatible MIDI controller)

Of course those are piano keyboards usable alone and are not meant to be mostly used as MIDI controllers (altough they are able to) such as controllers that are MIDI controller ONLY making the functions easier to use with software (kbobs and sliders etc.)

I am wondering if i can use one to play the melodies of the selected channel and the other to control stuff especially (choosing a channel, raising/lowring mixer channels volumes or master volume, playing specific tone of a sample with a one touch shot on a note of the "controller piano")

is it possible to put masking tapes on every single notes writing on them what the key does and what it is linked to?

and when i say link to stuff i mean (doing everything in FL)specific stuff such as muting/unmuting samples/effects/synth's or automation processes...

also i wanted to know if the buttons on the piano midi synthesizers like (tempo+ or tempo-) coulb be linked to parameters such as FL general project tempo.

be linked to glitch or grossbeat

everything

i would like to undersdtand all of that but i havn'T found tutorials other than setting it up, parameters, options, enable midi keyboards then recording piano rolls with them and stuff like that...

i am aware some pluggins control the midi stuff very deeply i would like to be introduced to such plugins making the live performances easier.

thank you for your precieous help/support.

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[Zephyr]

Hrmm, interesting. Yes I believe it's doable, though likely quite complicated. If I understand you correctly you're planning to use the keys of a piano keyboard (over MIDI) to alter parameters correct? I'm not sure how your keyboard is set up, but when I link parameters in FL Studio to the keyboard it does work (albeit a bit strangely). On mine it seems white notes toggle the controller between max and min values while the black keys work on a press/release system.

If I may recommend a separate approach, I'd either get a dedicated knob controller, (Korg NanoKontrol would do nicely for cheap ($60-$70 I think)

Alternatively, if you're set on this you could potentially run the keyboard into a layer channel, then run that layer channel out to trigger multiple "Fruity keyboard controller" plugins linked to different things. You could set the keyboard controllers to be active in different ranges so for instance keys C4-C5 will scale a channels volume, while C5-C6 will alter the tone of your piano sample.

At any rate, good luck with the complicated task you have ahead of you! You could always use the second keyboard as the "live mode" controller and with it trigger patterns with the proper parameters set as automation data too.

[Kanthos]

I'm not an FL Studio user, but it's possible to do most of what you want to do, if not all of it (the only concern being which things FL Studio will let you control via MIDI; virtually everything in most plugins should be MIDI-controllable).

The bigger problem is how you want to organize things. If you describe what you want to do in a bit more detail, I can help you out with this. I've used a laptop on-stage in my keyboard rig before, and I'm in the works of writing software that will let me use my laptop in even better ways, effectively turning it into both a stage piano (where it's easy to pick and sometimes tweak sounds to make a preset quickly on the fly) and workstation (where you've got great depth of control and choices, but doing things on the fly is cumbersome).

I've given the laptop-in-a-keyboard-rig thing a lot of thought over the last couple years, so tell me more about what you're doing and I'm sure I can point you in the right direction.

[yoda24]

Thank you both for your precious answers !

Unfortunately, buying a controller (even at those low prices) is unafordable for me at the moment. I'm kinda broke...

The first thing i want to control with one of my two MIDI piano synthesizers is the channel selection in step sequencer.

For example, could i write on a piece of masking tape : "piano" and then stick it to the C5 key and link the C5 key for a quick selection of channel "piano" in the step sequencer?

Then do the same for lets say 8 differant instruments (samples).

So then while playing a lead on the violin i can quickly hit the top piano's C5 key and play some more lead using the piano sound with the bottom one?

Another specific control that would reveal very handy would be the "execution of a specific sample on a preset note" linked to only one key on a controller that also controls multiple other things regardless of that sound.

Let me explain myself better (btw sorry i'm french my english is kinda bad i know)

For example, i would like a "seashore noise" sample to be played on note C4 upon hitting controller piano's C5 key.

IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND WELL : i dont't want key D5 or B5 playing seashore noises... others keys of that controller must all have their own controls assigned to them (volume controls, knob controls, channel selection in step sequencer etc.).

Only thing, hitting C5 (lets say) with a masking tape on it saying "seashore noise DO" would result in FL playing the requiered channel (seashore noises) on the requiered note. (that would be "DO" (C4))

thanks a whole bunch for your support.

also i have just read about MIDI mapping but not so sure to understrand too well if anybody could enlight me or refer me to a good tutorial...

THX !

keeep on mixxxingg

[Nabeel Ansari]

You can not use MIDI controls to select specific channels.

[Kanthos]

FL Studio probably can't handle any of what you're asking for, without some help. (Anyone who actually uses FL Studio, please correct me if I'm wrong on anything). Really, any standard DAW isn't built for this kind of thing, not even Ableton Live (which is only good at playing back pre-recorded MIDI or audio clips, not at being a good live host for a keyboard player). The one thing I can't help you with is figuring out which controls in FL Studio are MIDI-assignable and which aren't.

There are two ways you can go about doing this. The first way is to get some software that actually works well as a live host, and the second is to get some software that acts as a MIDI Mapper that sits in between your keyboards and FL Studio.

For the first way, there are two products I'd recommend on Windows: Cantabile and Forte. The basic idea here is that both products save their entire state as a preset. They can load all kinds of plugins (make sure that the instruments you want to use from FL Studio can be loaded by another program as VSTs - obviously any instruments that are FL Studio-only can't be loaded elsewhere) and each preset saves the exact state of all plugins. You can enable or disable individual plugins as part of the state. What you'd want to do is disable all plugins except for the ones you want playing at a certain time and save that as a preset. Once you've made all the presets you need, you can put them in order and use a single button or key to step through the presets in order; much easier than having to remember that, say, C5 turns on pianos, B4 turns on violins, Bb4 turns on a synth lead, etc.

You could instead use software like that strictly to process MIDI and route things into FL Studio the way you want. If you're interested, I've tried both and while I preferred Cantabile, I found Forte to be fine as well, and I'm selling my copy at half the asking price.

The alternative, using software to process MIDI, basically means getting Bome's MIDI Translator, and from what you're describing, you're going to want the Pro version, which isn't free. What you'd want to do in this case is something like this:

1) Load instruments into FL Studio, with each on a different channel. If you run out of channels, use a different MIDI Port (Bome's creates up to 5 virtual MIDI ports for you; you'd set Bome's to send output to Bome's MIDI Port 1 OUT and have FL Studio receive from Bome's MIDI Port 1 IN, and then any data you send from Bome's ends up in FL Studio). Bome's would of course get input from your MIDI keyboard.

2) Make a preset in Bome's that will send the right incoming MIDI data to a single channel. You'd have one for piano, one for violin, etc. They'd all be similar other than the MIDI channel you were sending to and the controllers (you might not want sustain pedal being sent to a synth lead sound or pitch bend on your piano). You'd have to map everything explicitly here; anything not mapped wouldn't get sent.

3) Make one other preset in Bome's, set to always be on, that does the switching between other presets. In other words, it will have a rule saying "When the note C5 is received on channel 1, activate the Piano preset and deactivate all other presets, except for those that are always on". (The Always On part is because you want your switching preset to always be active no matter which other preset is active).

4) Doing sampled sounds is somewhat similar too; in your example, you'd have a rule in your Piano preset that sends C4 somewhere else in FL Studio (eg. using a different channel) to trigger the seashore sound. Since that rule only exists in the piano preset, the piano preset must be active for this to work, which I think is exactly what you want.

So there are your choices. Sadly, none of them is free, but none of them are all that expensive either. I've played onstage at various times with all three choices, so read over what I've said here, ask any specific questions that you need to, give it some thought, and figure out which solution you want to go with, and I can help you get it up and running.

[Nabeel Ansari]

FL Studio probably can't handle any of what you're asking for, without some help. (Anyone who actually uses FL Studio, please correct me if I'm wrong on anything).

You are correct.

[yoda24]

Thank you man, very very much it is FSCKIN APPRECIATED !!!

I had been wandering around for a while in the forums and also looking for plugins that would control my midi on google and i guess bome's midi translator is just what i need !!!

Awesome post man and it will probably help those who read it too !

[yoda24]

Kanthos

I have just read that you actualy are in newmarket ... Kinda funny i was born there... Could i take your msn adress/facebook and bother you with some more questions anytime you have answered me very well and i beleive you could be of a great help to me sometimes when i have questions throughout my mixing sessions.

I am actually experiancing problems with my Asio4All and i was wondering if you could help me on that too?

(problem is if the setting - audio is set to "generic audio controller" everything goes fine in FL studio i mean in the continuity of the sound (the flow of the song) but when i want to put an input in the mixer for the microphone to be on or something like that it won't work with the "generic audio controller" so then i go to setting - audio change it to "Asio4All" only THEN i can use the microphone and the sound bugs and bugs and keeps bugging and glithing and each time i add another plugin it gets worst and worst anyways it didn'T do that before i formated my computer and reinstalled FL now it really sucks... )

anyways thanks alot !

[yoda24]

I have just looked at this video :

(KID BEYOND USING ABLETON)

this is awesome it is exactly the kind of control i am looking for and i want even more and now, i know it is possible thanks to you buddy but i still experiance quite alot of problems using bome's midi translator i'm not quite familiar with the midi language and abreviations and stuff... the usage of the program i am not sure to understand too well... anyways if u could give me a quick example it would be appreciated example for doing like kid beyond or just like procedure of changing the selected channel in fl studio or anything step by step with instructed using bome's midi translator that would be very appreciated thx!

[yoda24]

Hi, it is me qgain, on my own post lol i'm such a lamer... anyways...

Using midi OX and midi Yoke and bome's midi translator classic now i can do lots of cool stuff in windows...

Only question now...

Is there a way to assign or make some new keyboard shortcuts in FL stdio?

i mean create them like lets say ctrl + alt + T for doing this or ctrl + J for some other thing? (without having to code c++ or

going though such a hassle?

thanks for any answer on that one !

[Kanthos]

the usage of the program i am not sure to understand too well... anyways if u could give me a quick example it would be appreciated example for doing like kid beyond or just like procedure of changing the selected channel in fl studio or anything step by step with instructed using bome's midi translator that would be very appreciated

MIDI is really simple. Ignoring things that complicate it slightly, MIDI messages are usually 3 bytes. The first byte gives the message type and the channel, and the second (and, if needed) third bytes make up the rest of the message. As an example, a Note On message might look like 92 40 7F.

This is in hexadecimal notation; if you don't know what it means, google it, but basically, each 'decimal place' goes from 0-9 and then A-F (so A = 10, B = 11, C = 12, D = 13, E = 14, F = 15).

The Note On message above works as follows: the 9 means note on, and 2 is the MIDI channel, starting from 0 (so 0 = channel 1, 1 = channel 2, and 2 = channel 3). 40 is the note number, again in hex (everything is in hex, and Bome's works that way too, so you'll want to make sure you understand this). Off the top of my head, I think 40 is note E4. Lastly, 7F is the note's velocity, from 0 to 127; 7F in hex is 127 in decimal.

Altogether, that MIDI message coresponds to note E4 being played on channel 3, with velocity 127.

You can google to find a list of all the MIDI messages and what byte means what in the message. Even though Bome's has an option to display the message in a readable format (eg. C0 40 7F would be displayed something like "Ch. 1 Sustain Pedal, Value 127"), you'll still have to enter the data in hex.

Now, for a real example. Bome's is made up of presets and translators; a preset can contain a number of translators. Here's a rough outline as to how you'd do the 'channel-switching' thing you want. Keeping it simple, let's say you've got a piano instrument in FL Studio on channel 1 and strings on channel 2. Both are set to receive MIDI input at the same time.

1) Make a preset called "Master Channel Switcher". Right-click it and make sure "Always On" or whatever it's called is checked off.

2) Within that preset, make a translator called "Piano On". It'll be the following: "When the MIDI message 90 48 xx is received, turn on preset "Piano" and deactivate all other presets except those marked as always on, and stop processing". The 'xx' means that instead of specifying an exact value, this will match any value and store it in a variable called xx; the variable can be used elsewhere in the same translator only. In this translator, the value doesn't matter.

What this means is that a) the translator is only processed when a MIDI event 90 48 xx is received - 9 is note on, 0 is channel 1, 48 should be C5 if my math is right, and xx means any value for the note's velocity is fine. If note C5 on channel 1 is received, we're going to turn on a preset named "Piano". We haven't created it yet, but we will. c) We also turn off any other presets (eg. the upcoming "Strings" preset) d) we don't turn off any presets that are marked 'always on' - in other words, we can't deactivate the "Master Channel Switcher" preset that is needed to switch between the other presets, and e) Stop processing; no other translators are processed, to the C5 note we received doesn't sound.

3) Do the same thing, except maybe use 90 49 xx (C#5) activates the "Strings" preset.

4) Make a "Piano" preset. It'll have several translators, something like this:

80 xx yy becomes 80 xx yy

90 xx yy becomes 90 xx yy

C0 xx yy becomes C0 xx yy

and so on.

Looking this up in the MIDI chart, the three rules I gave you are that any note off messages, note on messages, and control change messages on channel 1 are sent to FL Studio on channel 1.

5) Make a "Strings" preset. Uncheck it so that only the piano preset is on by default. The Strings preset will have similar rules, but you'll want to change the channel of the outgoing message, since in FL studio, your strings are on channel 2.

eg. 80 xx yy becomes 81 xx yy.

I am actually experiancing problems with my Asio4All and i was wondering if you could help me on that too?

I've never used ASIO4ALL, and I haven't used FL Studio in 5 years. I'd start a new thread for that.

Is there a way to assign or make some new keyboard shortcuts in FL stdio?

i mean create them like lets say ctrl + alt + T for doing this or ctrl + J for some other thing?

That depends. Bome's will let you turn a keystroke combination into MIDI, so if you're trying to use your computer keyboard to control something that's MIDI-assignable in FL Studio, then yes, you can do this.