I’ve added a new 1RU Panel to the bottom of my Global Rackspace that can be helpful during setup - a MIDI Sanity Checker.
It’s very simple. For each unique input device, I have an LED. It indicates when I use the device. My setup includes the following:
- A bottom, 88 key controller
- A top, 61 key controller
- A Zendrum
- A Breath controller
- A piano pedal unit (3 pedals)
- Two expression pedals (CC#11, CC#12)
- A Hi Hat pedal
Yes, I can just look at the green MIDI indicator to get indication of life, but that wouldn’t confirm that nothing is cross-wired with a pedal plugged into the wrong jack, or a Rig Manager setup that flips something.
For each device listed above, I add an LED Widget. For the pedals with CC values, this is easy. Learn the message into the Widget and it just works.
Displaying the notes is a bit interesting. I only check middle-C for the two keyboards. If I have a dead key, that’s a bigger problem, and I’ll open up the Global MIDI Monitor to see what’s what. I chose to do this without scripting. The trick is to use a Radio group. One Widget LED is for Note On. Another is for Note Off, and I hide it. Put them in the same Radio Group and it shows exactly when I’m holding the note,
The Zendrum sends a Note Off about 10ms after each Note On. The Radio Button trick doesn’t quite work, since the flash is so brief. Sometimes you see it; sometimes you don’t. I control the Widget with a Note On from a central pad and enable Momentary to Latching. I hit the trigger twice to turn the LED On and Off.
This is all simple Widget work in Gig Performer. It’s a nice utility for use after teardown and setup to confirm that everything is plugged in correctly. No sounds need be generated. And you don’t have to go to different songs that use the the various input devices to check that they work. It avoids the problem of playing music and hitting that next section only to find out that your hardware isn’t working right. Even when practicing, it’s frustrating when that happens, as it disrupts the flow, as you fix the problem and play the song again from the beginning of the sequence.
For audio Inputs, I just look at the indicators in the bottom left of the Gig Performer window to see that I have signal. I have some meter widgets in my mixer, so this was already well covered.
Anyway, this is a nice little, one-stop-shop utility. It now takes me less than 20 seconds to check that each piece of gear is connected. Best of all, it’s customized to reflect my exact setup. There’s no clutter and nothing is missing.
Does anybody else here use simple setup utilities like this?
