I'd like to use a pair of Korg NanoKontrol units with Mulch, but if I quick-map the assignations what will then happen if I connect them again at a later date? Will Mulch see them in their original configurations or will it just think I've connected one and give me two controllers which work on half my chosen assignations? In other words, might Mulch just see them as one controller? Or what if I just connected one at a later date to delberately control only half of my chosen assignations - say the most important ones, using a mouse for the others - how would Mulch know which of the two I was using i.e which set of assignations I wanted to control? Conjecture: might it go by my chosen USB ports? In which case what if I used a hub?
Sorry if this sounds dumb - I just can't get my head around it and don't want to buy another NanoKontrol (cheap as they are) without knowing if this will work. Any advice greatly appreciated!
It's a good question. AM definitely supports multiple devices of the same type. We put quite a bit of work into that. Here's how AM is supposed to work. I have never tested with two NanoKnotrols so please let me know if you observe any differences:
MIDI devices are managed and identified by name.
When one device is connected it is (obviously) the first device with that name. Although AM doesn't explicitly label it (1) it is still considered the first device with that name.
When two or more devices with the same name are connected they are distinguished as the first (1) and second (2) devices, etc.
So when you set up MIDI mappings for two NanoKontrols you will have NanoKontrol (1) and NanoKontrol (2). These mappings will always be remembered as applying to the first and second NanoKontrol, even if only one is connected (or if none are connected or three are connected etc).
One weakness of this approach is that when you plug in two NanoKontrols, AM may not know which is which unless the OS reports them in the same order (I think using a USB hub may force a specific ordering, but I'm not 100% sure on that). But if you're comfortable working out which is which once they've been plugged in then there is no problem.
So in general, if only one NanoKontrol is connected it will be NanoKontrol (1). I havn't extensively tested to see how this behaves if you connect both, set up some mappings, and then disconnect device (1). You may find that until you disconnect both that AM continues to treat the connected device as NanoKontrol (2).
If you do get a chance to try this please let us know how you go.
Thanks
Ross
Thanks for this, Ross - I'm glad it wasn't just me! Sadly it'll be left to others to discover this, as instead I bought an Icon IControls controller which is only fractionally larger than the little Korg jobbies but has more knobs and sliders plus a built-in joystick mouse. I'm using this in conjunction with the NanoKontrol I already own, and of course AM sees them as the distinct units they are.
Interestingly, the Icon controller has a second USB socket for the express purpose of cascading multiple units. Highly recommended as a controller if portability is a must, as it is for me (I run AM on an EEEPC netbook!).
While I'm here I'll post a video on the relevant forum of the BEAM Festival here in the UK, in which I use AM to provide audio input for SARAH (Semi-Autonomous Reactive Accompanist Hardware), an improvisation system of my own devising.
hi Zax
(Jumping in here)
Interested in your SARAH system. Is this it described here?
http://roger-thomas.webs.com/musicsarah.htm
Does it consist of custom hardware?
Hi Brendon,
That's SARAH exactly, although the page/site needs some updates. I've replied to this in the 'Music made with AudioMulch' section to keep things on-topic. Thanks for your interest!
Hi, going back to the two controllers question - I recently tried two Akai LPD8's (small midi controllers similar to the Korg Nano series).
The first time I wasn't really paying much attention to the potential issue - I mapped the setup I wanted with each controller, but once I unplugged them and restarted + re-plugged, one of them seemed to have 'lost' the settings while the other hadn't.
As I say, I hadn't been careful about numbering and plugging the controllers in any particular order, although I had assumed that both would retain settings and I'd simply have to switch them over in the Settings, or switch ports.
Second try, I labelled each controller and the two usb ports, made sure I connected '1' first, then '2', checked Midi Input and Control in Settings to see that they were in the order I wanted and then remapped the one which had 'lost' settings. This time after restart and re-plug everything was fine - which was good news for my gig later that evening!
So it seems that keeping track of the order/number of your devices is the way to go in this situation - although I can't rule out mistakes on my part for the first try as the controller I'd intended to use had just broken and I was hurriedly trying to set up the two Akai pads as replacements!
I like Ross's suggestion of using a hub to force an order - I'll aim to try this out soon and report back.
Useful to know - thanks for doing the research that I ended up not doing. : ) Of course, what we all really need is for Korg or Akai or Icon to come up with a mini-controller that's just double the size front-to-back. Now that would be handy...
> one of them seemed to have 'lost' the settings while the other hadn't.
I'm not really sure what that means. Do you mean the actual mappings in the Parameter Control window had been reset? These should be independent of whatever devices you have plugged in and should not change unless you edit them.
When I restarted the computer and the patch, one controller had the setting mapped but the other didn't seem to respond - however I was in a bit of a rush/panic and didn't check Parameter Control, and the more I think about it, was probably user error such as being on the wrong preset on the controller.
I haven't used two of the same controller since, but I will be soon, so I'll try and recreate the problem - but as I say, I think the problem was me, so sorry for casting aspersions. Good to know that the Parameter Control window setting are saved independently, I should have checked it. Will report back if I do discover a problem. Thanks.