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Keystage ignores Section 2

FRANCOFRANCO
edited March 2023 in General App Discussion

Hi everyone, I've just started working on the Ipad with keystage for playing live. Really thanks and congratulations to its author for this beautiful and useful app. Unfortunately I immediately ran into a problem that I can't solve. I have a song with three progressive sections that I trigger with a control change from my keyboard. As long as there were only two sections everything was always fine, as I could switch from one section to another using my midi control without problems. But after creating the third Section I don't know why keystage skips Section 2, I mean that I start from section 1 by default but when I activate my midi control it goes to Section 3 instead of 2. I apologize if the topic has already been covered, honestly I have not found anything about it. Any help will be appreciated.

Comments

  • uncledaveuncledave

    Hi. Are you sending a MIDI CC for this control? Is it maybe using the value of the CC to select the section? Like 0 for first, 64 for second, 127 for last? That could explain why you can only select the first and last sections. You might be able to change the way this works in either the app, or in the keyboard controller. Are you familiar with MIDI CC terms like toggle and momentary? Do you know what the controller is sending? You can check this with a MIDI monitor app like mfxMonitor.

  • FRANCOFRANCO
    edited March 2023

    Hi, thanks for replying. All these values you mention are set by Keystage, there is an area called "External Midi Control" which asks me to send a midi cc to activate the Next Section. Keystage establishes a number for the signal I send it and from that moment that control will be the command to pass to the Next Section. Same thing happens with another control that sends you to the Previous Section, but even with that midi control when I am on Section 3 it moves me to Section 1 and not to Section 2 as it should. Toggle or momentary I don't know, it's a simple alternated command on/off like a sustain pedal.

  • McDMcD

    There’s a free app called StreamByter that can capture your midi events and display these events in its “magnifying glass” display option. It’s ok to route midi to it and keystage.

    It will show the CC values that might explain why keystage advances from 1 to 3 and seems to skip 2. Maybe little bursts of CC are going out and 2 gets triggered faster than it can display.

  • uncledaveuncledave

    OK. A MIDI CC message has 2 bytes of data. One is the CC Number, and as you say, you tell KeyStage which CC number to listen for. The other byte contains a value. When you use a knob to adjust a parameter, the controller sends a CC message each time the knob moves enough to change the CC value.

    Now, if you're using a button on your MIDI controller, it can work one of two ways:

    • Momentary, like a sustain pedal. It sends a message with value 127 on press, another message with value 0 on release.
    • Toggle, like a push-push power switch. First press sends value 127, release sends nothing. Next press sends value 0, release sends nothing.

    Given this, can you find out exactly what your controller is sending? And do you know if Keystage advances by one section on every CC message, or if it responds only to messages with value 127?

    If Keystage advances by one section for each CC message, and your controller is momentary, the controller will be sending pairs of messages, and Keystage will be double-stepping. You could confirm this by holding the button and seeing if Keystage advances correctly to Section 2.

    So, you see, it's not as simple as you describe. It may be possible to configure Keystage (or MIDI Learn it) to behave correctly with your controller.

  • McDMcD

    Why not try trigger each section with a unique musical note from your keyboard (assuming there’s a midi keyboard in play). Use MIDI learn for 3 notes you would not play typically like the topmost or bottom most keys or 3 high or low black keys since they have a little space between them.

  • uncledaveuncledave

    OK. I downloaded the Lite version of KeyStage and enabled the 2-hour trial mode. After some not-inconsiderable confusion on my part, I was able to get it to work, and it works correctly. I used momentary buttons in LK running inside of AUM, connected to KS. (Should be the same with a hardware MIDI controller.) I configured the section up and down actions using MIDI Learn (the 5-pin icon next to the CC number). These buttons send 127 on press and 0 on release, but they only move KS by one section on each press. The pic shows the configuration.

  • uncledaveuncledave

    Is it possible that KS is receiving messages from your controller by 2 different paths? In my test I explicitly selected the AUM source port. Have you explicitly selected one port from your controller? (Some MIDI controllers transmit on two different ports.)

  • FRANCOFRANCO

    Thanks uncledave, you gave me a lot to study :D . I didn't think there were still such nice people around. I was just trying to follow your instructions and so I tried resetting the External Midi Control on the KS. I put the initial settings again because I think they are correct and ... miracle, everything works perfectly! I don't know what happened, maybe there was an overload of information on KC before, but now it's okay. Thanks also to McD for his interesting suggestions, I'll keep them in mind for other situations.

  • [Deleted User][Deleted User]

    @FRANCO said:
    Hi everyone, I've just started working on the Ipad with keystage for playing live. Really thanks and congratulations to its author for this beautiful and useful app. Unfortunately I immediately ran into a problem that I can't solve. I have a song with three progressive sections that I trigger with a control change from my keyboard. As long as there were only two sections everything was always fine, as I could switch from one section to another using my midi control without problems. But after creating the third Section I don't know why keystage skips Section 2, I mean that I start from section 1 by default but when I activate my midi control it goes to Section 3 instead of 2. I apologize if the topic has already been covered, honestly I have not found anything about it. Any help will be appreciated.

    I agree, and if Im correct the dev is a one man team. It’s a beautiful, amazing, and deeply thorough app and is extremely powerful for live Keyboard/multi MIDI controller situations. I am not as advanced as many of you, but I have a controller and an appreciation for those who can use multi/MIDI controllers, especially with some of the stuff I’ve seen with Drambo (which I’m admittedly partial to). I was totally amazed with the amount of control you have over nearly every aspect of your MIDI musical environment. If people are performing live with midi keyboard controllers, it would seem this app is perfect, def worth a 2 hour free trial at least.

    Anyway I had a similar problem until I realized that I changed the MIDI settings when I thought I duplicated a track. Maybe there was a swap somewhere with the drag and drop that slipped notice? Looks like it all worked out, but Im curious if anyone uses this with Drambo lol

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