Select Drambo projects via Bank/Program Change messages

edited June 2022 in Feature Wish-lists

It would be awesome if you could select a Drambo project via midi. Generally this would allow folks to use Drambo easily in their hardware setups without having it be the brains.

My specific use case: use Drambo on a phone, running a single synth and sequenced via hardware. Using Drambo as an AUv3 in AUM on the iPhone is a poor user experience compared to running it standalone.

Being able to do this all in Drambo make it more competitive with hardware synths like the 1010 Fireball / Lemondrop.

Anyways, I know there are so many awesome things out there to work on, but I thought I'd capture some details on this.

Comments

  • edited June 2022

    p.s. Being able to buy an iPhone 6s for $50 USD is pretty wild. Still can run the latest OS and has a headphone jack. Such an awesome option for a portable synth.

  • Agreed and there still are enough parts to keep them going.

    The battery in my one became swollen so I got it repaired this afternoon.

    It also doubles up as an effects processor which is really handy.


    Being able to go through instrument/processor/midi rack presets using a midi controller would be cool.

    I'm not so sure about whole projects though.


    Still, dRambo is lightweight enough to hold quite a few synths

    in one project which could be used multi-trimbrally.

  • I think both selecting whole projects via midi and selecting rack presets via midi would be useful.

    Selecting whole projects make sense because that's how most hardware works, so it would situate Drambo better in the music hardware environment.

    I could work with both for this current setup since I'm not doing sequencing internally.

  • I'm thinking as a live performer, there's more to go wrong with midi switching

    whole projects than presets though I do agree both would advantageous.

  • Yea they can be a bit harrowing. I've had pretty good success doing program changes from one piece of gear to another, but I see why some folks just load presets manually.

    Projects-based program changes are more scary for me when creating patches. If you forget your setup, you can resend the program change and it'll wipe out your work. I think if Drambo did an auto-save before the program change it could even handle this.

  • When projects are honed to perfection then creating a dedicated performance folder

    could make the difference at the moment though I wouldn't risk whole projects.

    The feeling of something going wrong in front of thousands of people is not fun for the performer.

    I've been there.

  • so there is no way to switch presets using midi ??

    the racks are not responsive to PC ?

    bummer

  • MIDI controlled preset switching has been requested already and I'm sure it will be added in a future release.

  • 🤞yes :)

  • Another option would be to host Drambo in an environment like AUM or Camelot Pro and use one of those for preset switching.

  • @rs2000 Hope you're keeping well. Any news on this? For me lack project change via midi PC is the barrier preventing integration of Drambo into a live setup.

  • BTW, The PC receive implementation on the Virsyn Tera Pro running standalone is excellent: Prefix the preset names with #000 to #127 and voila.

  • I’m hosting Drambo in Loopy pro, which loads projects using PC messages coming from Circuit Tracks. It works well but of course this doesn’t allow for hosting plugins in Drambo.

  • Same request for me, for now I can't use Drambo in my live voice+guitar setup (I'm using a mix of physical midi pedals + my iPad) since Drambo is the one and only piece of gear I have that does not respond to midi program changes for switching presets live from a midi controller. In my specific situation I would then need full project change in Drambo so that I can press a button on my midi foot controller and switch to next song presets in both my physical midi pedals and Drambo.

    For now I could use AUM preset change with embedded Drambo as an AUv3 but then I can't use AUv3 instrument inside the Drambo instance, which is why I like Drambo (being able to create full instruments from different AUv3 and Drambo synths in a combined rack)

    This is a very blocking issue that makes me stay away from Drambo today but I may use Drambo as my central iPad app (standalone) once program change is implemented, soo really looking forward for that feature, hope it will arrive very soon.

  • I still need this in 2023. I'd love to be able to select Drambo presets with my Novation Launchpad Pro MkIII.

  • edited January 9

    +1 to this! being able to load/switch whole drambo projects via some kind of midi during a live performance (nobody really wants to watch us messing about with a screen on stage) would be ace!

  • ideal case would be to create something like "playlist" which will be able to hold list of project .. when you load playlist instead of single project (, first projects of playlist loads automatically, and there will be somewhere in top nav bar 2 arrows left / right (midi mappable) to navigate to previous and next project in playlist (plus some + icon to add another new project after the one currently active and - icpon to remove active project from playlist)

  • Perhaps the design of such a playlist idea could be aligned with a related design for AU plugin presets in AUv3 modules; have a list of selected presets defined, jump between them using left/right or some midi message (with p-lock support). I think ApeMatrix has something along these lines, where you define 4 presets for an AU and then you can morph between them using an XY pad.

  • I'm still desperately waiting for that midi preset switching feature for my live setup 😢

    My iPad lies on the ground next to midi footswitches controlling other gear but I still can't use Drambo since it will require me to get to the floor and switch Drambo preset by hand which does not make sense in a fully midi-controlled rig unfortunatelly. Drambo is the only software and gear I use that I can't control through midi PC which is very blocking to me 😕

  • edited January 16

    If you really need it so desperately @Darkmatther then you could give the iOS Accessibility Switch Control a try.

    It has been supporting MIDI messages since quite some time and it's often the only option to add MIDI control to any kind of iOS app.

    The idea:

    • You're using Instrument or Processor Racks that are always at the same screen position (you can still have track switches etc. of course)
    • You teach iOS Switch Control separate tap gestures for all preset up and down arrows in your racks
    • You map a MIDI message to each gesture
    • When done, sending a previously learned MIDI message to iOS will execute the respective tap for you
    • The gesture will always be executed exactly like you've recorded it, whatever content is shown on screen
    • This lets you automate all kinds of actions that are not covered by MIDI learn, given that you can rely on the same tap position on screen.

    I have posted a detailed tutorial a few years ago on forum.audiob.us, let me find it...

    OK, here it is:

    Note that this method also works with Bluetooth HID devices like BT keyboards, numpads, mice, BT pedal controllers etc.

  • edited February 5

    Hey, I'm starting to make a workaround for preset switching (no project switching, which I agree is not the safest option out there).

    -General idea :

    • Option 1

    Pressing a button on my controller activates the synth I want.

    • Option 2

    Automate the synth presets using clip rows. This one in inspired by the Tempo Automator made by @Johnisfaster (thank you btw, really neat idea).

    -Quick things :

    • On the same track, put all the synths racks you want (I use a Layers Adder for clarity)
    • All modules can be Enabled/disabled via midi (desactived racks don't use CPU)
    • The goal is to activate only one synth, and disable all the others with the same midi message
    • I midi map the synth rack 1 to CC1, synth 2 = CC2, ... in the Control Type "Button Momentary".

    From there, you can use streambyter (or anything treating midi messages) to send the correct CC message.

    -Idea for a streambyter script :

    If button 1 is pressed, send CC1 with the value 127, send CC2 00, send CC3 00...

    Else if button 2 is pressed, send CC2 00, send CC2 127, send CC3 00...

    And for the preset automation trick you can check the Tempo Automator on patchstorage.

    -Basically :

    • On the Main track : Knob -> midi CC generator -> Streambyter -> midi output module set to midi feedback -> Add automation track on one of the main clip row

    Sorry in advance if it's not clear 😁

  • some really cool ideas there @Etienne 👍

    I’m afraid I’m not at the level to help you there, but I’m really looking forward for the replies

    I bet with some logic/math you won’t even need streambyter

  • Thanks @pedro ! You're certainly right, although I haven't dived into the math thing yet.

    Here's a basic example for those who didn't get my meaning, preset switch + tempo change :

    • Showing the midi message
    • I click on the different layers so you see only one synth is activated


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