2 finger metronome set up

schamass · December 28, 2022, 1:36pm

OK… here we go!
Since this rackspace still was in an experimental phase i had to do some “cleanup” first, so it took a bit longer…

This rackspace will do the following things:

load a specified midi file (has to be done in the script!)
do a remapping of particular midi tracks to a specified midi channel (has to be done in the script!)
step sequentially through the midi events of that file according to the quantization setting using two diffrent trigger controls

You can

set the quantization value with a knob widget
see the current position of the midi sequence
set the used note/key pair as stepping triggers or
use a pad widget as a stepping trigger (could be midi-mapped to a pedal or whatever)
use a pad widget to reset the sequence to start (could be midi mapped to a certain note or midi controller)
use a widget as “panic-button” (sends all notes off & resets midi)

This is the code of the script:

Var
MidiStepIn : MidiInBlock

cs : MidiSequence
trackCount, quantization, UStepKey : integer
   
padStep, padReset, lblPosition, knbQuant, btnPanic, knbUStepKey : widget


//user function to calculate the quantization from the knob widget's value
function SetQuantization(kVal : double) returns integer
var
exponent, quantValue : double
    exponent = ScaleRange(kVal, 0.0, 4.0)
    quantValue = Power (2.0 , exponent)
result = Round(quantValue)
SetWidgetLabel(knbQuant, result)
End
   
//user function to handle the MIDI-Stepping
function MidiStep()
var
notes : MidiMessage Array
aNote : MidiMessage
index : integer
trackIndex : integer
bar, beat, tick : integer

    bar = MidiSequence_GetCurrentBar(cs)
    beat = MidiSequence_GetCurrentBeat(cs)
    tick = MidiSequence_GetCurrentTick(cs)
    
    if MidiSequence_EndOfSong(cs) then
        MidiSequence_ResetToStart(cs)
    end
        
    SetWidgetLabel (lblPosition, "Pos: " + bar + " / " + beat + " / " + tick)
        
    MidiSequence_CollectEventsNow(cs); //fetch all events from current position

    notes = MidiSequence_GetCurrentEvents(cs, 3) // Get current events from track #3

    for index = 0; index < Size(notes); index = index + 1 do
        aNote = notes[index]
        SendNow(MidiStepIn, aNote)
    end                                  
End

initialization
    //load the midi file (!!! use a a"/" instead of "\" for path separator !!!)
   MidiSequence_LoadStandardMidiFile(cs, "D:/MIDI-files/The-Model.mid")
   
   trackCount = MidiSequence_GetTrackCount(cs) //get number of tracks of midi file
   Print(trackCount)
   quantization = SetQuantization (GetWidgetValue (knbQuant)) //get quantization value from widget
   MidiSequence_Quantize(cs, quantization ) // Quantization may be 1/2/4/8/16
   
   //map events coming from track 2 & 3 both to MIDI channel 1
   //change remapping to your needs -> add/remove according code lines
   MidiSequence_MapOutputChannel(cs, 2, 1)
   MidiSequence_MapOutputChannel(cs, 3, 1)
   UStepKey = ParamToMidi(GetWidgetValue (knbUStepKey))
end


// Use this as a finger clock -- pressing the trigger control (widget or two notes) behaves 
//like a manual clock to sequence through the MIDI events of the loaded file

//use pad widget as a trigger to step through the MIDI file
On WidgetValueChanged (pVal : double) from padStep
    if pVal > 0.6 then
        MidiStep()
    end            
End

//use the two trigger notes to step through the MIDI file (use knob widget to set the according notes)
On NoteEvent(m : NoteMessage) from MidiStepIn
    //if the note event is a trigger note, step forward
    if GetNoteNumber(m) == UStepKey or GetNoteNumber(m) == UStepKey-2 then
        if IsNoteOn(m) then
            MidiStep()
        end
    else //all other note will be played
        SendNow(MidiStepIn, m) //just send out note event
    end
End

//reset the midi sequence to start
On WidgetValueChanged (pVal : double) from padReset
var
bar, beat, tick : integer
    AllNotesOff(MidiStepIn)
    MidiSequence_ResetToStart(cs)
    
    bar = MidiSequence_GetCurrentBar(cs)
    beat = MidiSequence_GetCurrentBeat(cs)
    tick = MidiSequence_GetCurrentTick(cs)
        
    SetWidgetLabel (lblPosition, "Pos: " + bar + " / " + beat + " / " + tick)
End

//Panic button = all notes off & back to start
On WidgetValueChanged (pVal : double) from btnPanic
    if pVal > 0.6 then
        MidiSequence_ResetToStart(cs)
        Panic() // Stop any sounds that were being held
        AllNotesOff(MidiStepIn)
    end
End

//use knob to set quantization for sequence stepping
On WidgetValueChanged (kVal : double) from knbQuant
    quantization = SetQuantization (kVal)
    MidiSequence_Quantize(cs, quantization )
End

//use knob widget to set the Upper note/key used to step forward
On WidgetValueChanged (kVal : double) from knbUStepKey
    UStepKey = ParamToMidi(kVal)
    SetWidgetLabel (knbUStepKey, "" + NoteNumberToNoteName(ParamToMidi(kVal)-2) + "/" + NoteNumberToNoteName(ParamToMidi(kVal)))
End

And here is the gigfile for download:
midistepper.gig (115.8 KB)

I hope this helps somehow…
…and maybe, some day in the future, we might have some better options to do such things?!
However, have fun with it! May it be useful!
Cheers, Erik