controling Transpose from within DAW via midi keyboard

[turbo_kev]

Another question

when controlling transpose inside my daw via my midi keyboard. it all works fine
but there does not seem a way to make it latch. am I missing something or will this be a new feature soon ?

cheers
kev

[an3]

yeah would be nice if u can control transpose in the beatstep in ctlr mode

[KRS]

How do you transpose it with your DAW. I try to achieve this with ableton, but it doesn't work.

The signal passes through the beatstep and I can play the synth I'm controlling with it, but it doesn't affect the pitch of the sequence.

[turbo_kev]

I use Cubase, I just make a new empty midi track  with the input set to my axiom pro keyboard, and the output of the track to Beatstep.  and that's it

hope that helps a little

[KRS]

Well, that's actually the way i did it.
Found out, the only problem was I had to hold down the key while I expected it to latch 

[turbo_kev]

Yep that's why in my first day posting on here I asked if they would include in a new firmwear to have a latch function
and also a ratchet function so you can do tangerine dream effects

Fingers crossed

[KRS]

An addition:
Transpose via midi keyboard ONLY works when you have connected the beatstep via usb to your pc to control softsynth.
When you control a hardware synth via MIDI or CV/Gate, the note you want the sequence to be transposed to, passes through the beatstep and is heard in between the notes of the sequence!

A BIG problem in my opinion!

[duibhir]

Does anybody know how to do this in Logic pro x?

[mantrak]

An addition:
Transpose via midi keyboard ONLY works when you have connected the beatstep via usb to your pc to control softsynth.
When you control a hardware synth via MIDI or CV/Gate, the note you want the sequence to be transposed to, passes through the beatstep and is heard in between the notes of the sequence!

A BIG problem in my opinion!

This is really strange. The most obvious way to use step sequencer is to transpose the sequence using a keyboard. Latched, of course. This is how classic analog stuff work (CV sequencers, CV synth). I don't care how cheap BeatStep is, without proper key transpose it is hardly of any use.

Not to mention lack of XOX style accent and slur (legato).

I am using Logic and bunch of analog synths and I cannot get even this non-latched key transpose. Really frustrated. Has anyone cracked it with real hardware synths (over midi)? 

I am wondering does BeatStep in fact receive any midi (does it process any midi input except for CV conversion?).

How come nobody is freaking out over this? Is it just me?

I thought Arturia really nailed it with BeatStep. Not so sure anymore.

[mantrak]

Now, this is from the user manual, page 30:

6.2.3 How the root note of a sequence is determined
The actual note sent by a BeatStep sequence at any given moment is the sum of three parts:
1. The note that was selected for the current sequencer step
2. The setting of the Overall Transpose parameter, which may be changed either by editing the value in the MIDI Control Center or by simply turning the big encoder while holding the SHIFT button
3. The lowest incoming USB MIDI note currently playing in the DAW track that matches the Sequencer Channel. This note will transpose the sequence based on its relationship to middle C (C3). For example, an incoming C3 won't transpose the sequence, but an incoming D3 will transpose the sequence +2, etc.

I am trying to understand the last point. This sounds like the way it should work, just like classic CV sequencing where CV voltages are being added (with latch). But why DAW? In principle anything can be done without DAW, just by playing notes on the right channels. So why DAW? Can anybody explain how Beatstep behaves and not what needs to be done in a DAW? I am using Logic and could not get any results.

Anyone from Arturia? This is being asked over and over in several places on the forum... THANX!

[synthmind]

Amazing.  It's been a month since the last post on this discussion and even longer for the previous discussion I was involved in over the summer and still no response from anyone at Arturia.  Why can't you program using the actual notes with the encoders.  I don't want to have to transpose anything!

[shabbyroad]

I'm a new Beatstep user and struggling to get this to work.

I suspect I need to setup something in Logic's environment but haven't cracked it yet.

[Terrym]

Hi every one .ok i had a look at this today and in cubase i can get the transpose to work via midi not had time to work out it in logic .but it should be the same .
1. setup a instrument channel you want beatstep to control  then midi in should be beatstep and out instrument .check beastep is play the instrument.
2. add a midi channel then set your midi keyboard to in and beatstep to out .make sure the midi channel are the same as instrument .

now play beast step seq and play a note on your keyboard . you should now be able to transpose.

Please see screenshot
hope this resolves this problem

regards

terrym

[shabbyroad]

Thanks for looking into this.

In Logic Pro I had to do some digging

The method you've described above doesn't seem to work within LogicPro because of the way LogicPro implements MIDI tracks.

I tried this:

I have setup one track (using softsynth plugin MiniV).
This track is set to MIDI channel 16 in Logic Pro. The MiniV plug-in is also set to channel 16.
In MIDIControlCenter I have set the Global Channel on the BeatStep to 1
I have set the Sequencer Channel to 2
When I play the Logic session the BeatStep triggers the sound from the MiniV so long as the Track is selected in the arrange window. If I select another track while the session is playing then the MiniV no longer sounds
If I change the MIDI channels on the BeatStep it doesn't make any difference: so long as the MiniV track is selected in Logic Pro it will receive a trigger from the BeatStep.

In LogicPro recording settings I have selected "MIDI auto demix by channel..."

On a second track in LogicPro I have created an External MIDI instrument.
I set the Port (the output port) to Arturia BestStep
I set the MIDI channel to any channel at all.
When I hit play  the MiniV does not make any sound (although I can see the incoming MIDI notes from the BeatStep in the transport window)


I tried looking into the LogicPro environment and made some headway:

I created an instrument in the Clicks & Ports player and set the port for that instrument to the BeatStep.
I then "cabled" from my USB keyboard (Arturia The Laboratory 61) directly to the BeatStep within the environment.

Now when I play a note on my USB keyboard it will transpose !
However... the sequence from the Beatstep goes incredibly out of time as if I'm creating a bottleneck on the input to the BeatStep. This happens within 2-3 beats from when I press a key on the USB keyboard.  When I lift the note on the keyboard the sequence on the BeatStep is no longer latched to that root note and it goes back to playing whatever sequence was programmed and it goes back in time with itself... but it stays completely out of time with the session and doesn't "catch up". Within about 3-4 bars at 120bpm the BeatStep is about a measure out of sync and stays out of sync until you restart playing the session.

Thinking this might be a USB problem I removed all my USB hardware and disconnected the BeatStep and Laboratory from the powered USB hub.
I now have only 3 devices on USB:  the BeatStep, Laboratory and my wireless mouse receiver.

I created a session with only a simple synth on one track and I setup the environment as described above:  virtually connect the Laboratory USB keyboard to the BeatStep.

The same sync and timing problem occurs when I transpose the sequence that plays out of the BeatStep so this is not a USB issue.

Looking further into this I noticed that there were Channel Pressure messages coming through from the Laboratory keyboard (I used MIDI Monitor).
If I played a simple note with no aftertouch (and therefore no Channel Pressure messages) the timing was no longer an issue - or appears to be the case. This was a little guesswork on my part as it was difficult not to press too hard on the note while holding it down.


So my conclusions?
- in Logic you will need to use the Environment to control transpose from an external keyboard
- you cannot have any other data going to then BeatStep from the keyboard apart from Note On and Note Off


Any suggestions on a more simple and straightforward fix?   I'm tempted to dig out my old Edirol PCM mini keyboard (or buy a cheap NanoKeys) to do this so that I can leave it permanently setup just to control the BeatStep transposition.

[shabbyroad]

I bought a used Nanokey and it works fine with the Beatstep as it doesn't send additional MIDI data such as aftertouch. Aa far as I can tell the Beatstep now stays in time. In the Logic environment I make a direct connection to the Beatstep from the Nanokey.

Now if only there was a Hold function.