Aeros MIDI Commands

Can we have a Midi command that emulate the scrollwheel (no matter what page or state the Aeros is in). This is similar to the request to emulate the buttons.

It would work when the Aeros is in the mixer, song selection, scrolling text, or whatever features that ever use the scrollwheel.

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id love the ability to add hold functions to the midi maestro.
id also love the following CC’s
select track 1-6 midi CC
delete track 1-6
delete selected track
delete selected part
delete all
play selected part
Id love an addition in the app to add redirect page to extension pedal. There doesn’t even seem to be a way of assigning midi data to the extension and expression pedal?

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Hey all, we need your input ASAP, the sooner we know the sooner we can continue working on getting the behavior you need from MIDI. Please respond to this poll that will decide how Aeros will be mapped.

Thanks!

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on top of everything else we need start, stop, continue messages from external sources. ( MIDI System Real Time Messages). and nice would be Ableton Link…(my dreams???).

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I was really hoping to use my Octatrack to automate the Aeros, and with so many CC messages that’s going to make it difficult. I was hoping there might be an implementation that uses NOTES for DISCRETE actions, like play, stop, mute, etc for each track and then CC messages for operations that have a value range, like volume, etc.

I mentioned this before, but I believe Elektron’s implementation is very good and friendly to MIDI controllers of all types.

Having operations on notes would make automating the Aeros very simple. Using CCs will make it a bit of a nightmare, I fear. Plus there is a limit to how many CC messages you can send per MIDI track on the Octatrack (10 max), so if there are a bunch of CCs, it will simply not be possible, depending on how they are distributed out.

Using notes would also allow users to use keyboard controllers to control the Aeros instead of fancy MIDI controllers that require configuration software.

So my vote is as few CCs as possible, but really would rather (or in addition) have MIDI notes control discrete operations and CCs for things that have value ranges. I don’t really understand the idea of sending a CC of X to initiate a function when a controller might have to sweep to that value - that would be a mess in practice. You’d have to date enter the correct value to avoid putting the Aeros into all kinds of random states. It will be very hard to use with non-specialized MIDI equipment.

The CC-only approach feels like a “programmery” implementation, I would challenge the Aeros team to strive to make it possible to control from any reasonable keyboard or controller without programming.

Please consider this!

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Would you mind forwarding (or copy and paste) that response here please, it’s more useful in that thread, thanks!

Hi - I did, and hopefully phrased it a little better this time too. :slight_smile:

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I am back to Infinity. Bought two Infinity 3 loopers that I run in series so that I have four loops. An expensive solution, but after looking over documentation for the Looperlative, I decided to go with a product that I was already familiar with that I knew could provide a workable live looper operated by MIDI commands. When I saw that they had released a new model, I jumped on it. Interestingly, I’m hard pressed to understand what they changed from the original Infinity. Different casing and buttons are different, but I think it’s basically the same looper. It also seems to have some of the issues that I encountered with the original Infinity, including a tendency to freeze up if it receives a program change command to switch presets without erasing or saving the loops. This is annoying, but with my setup I can avoid it by including erase commands at the end of every MIDI file for a song. It does not seem to happen if you change the preset manually on the looper itself, but I have seen it seem to freeze up occasionally after sitting for a while. Overall however, freezes seem to be minimal and avoidable if you erase or save loops as described above.

I have already discovered that some of the issues that I had with the original Infinity probably came down to not understanding Some of its quirks. I was having an issue where loops would record and then play back at a different speed as if the varispeed was enabled. Having worked with it over this past weekend, I now understand that loops that are closed with a stop command using the trails setting will indeed do this, probably only avoiding it if the stop command is perfectly timed. Setting the stop mode to full avoids this, or alternatively, in trails, closing the loop with a loop switch command followed quickly by a stop command can work. Anyway, this seems to be a quirk more than a malfunction, and was one of the reasons I dropped the infinity looper before. I don’t know why they would build this behavior in, as I cannot see an advantage of routinely having a loop change speed and pitch because of a poorly timed stop command, but whatever. Now that I know how to work with it I’m realizing that it is probably the best MIDI looper available for full functioning MIDI.

They have not changed the MIDI implementation chart from the original Infinity, including the scope of MIDI implementation. There is a lot of room here, and I am hoping with this new product they will expand MIDI function with firmware upgrades in the future. I am not sure some of the MIDI commands are working as intended, and am giving them feedback. For example, I programmed in the “one-shot” command And it didn’t seem to do anything. My expectation for that command was that it would play a prerecorded loop once and then stop it.

I initially had some issues getting it to work with the PC application that the old Infinity utilized for backing up presets and more rapid creation of presets, as well as some functions like the time signature setting, which cannot be controlled on the looper itself. This was about to be a deal breaker until I went through some old email notes about the original Infinity, and remember that selecting “run as administrator” Is necessary on newer PCs. Now it is working fine.

I see they have closed the thread on MIDI Implementation Scope that was started, but my impression here is that we are months away from an update that provides full MIDI function. If I could have a do-over I would not have bought the Aeros before this was completed and seeing some feedback, but I was very excited about this product, and misunderstood how long of a process this would be when I first came across this MIDI implementation thread. Painful, but I guess my Aeros will sit in a box and wait for full MIDI implementation to come out. Once they get that going I certainly will try it, and compare how well it works to what I’m getting out of the Infinity 3. I’m not sure that I will end up keeping it, it kind of depends on how much better it works. With live looping, for my purposes, it might be pretty unusual to need more than four loops, and I don’t truly need all the “studio in a box” frills. I’m sure all of that and the touchscreen are useful for those who are creating loops at home that they later use live, but for pure live looping you just need a reliable way to record, stop, and replay loops in a set it and forget it type fashion.

I will likely keep my Maestro either way. I don’t generally do live looping that involves use of the foot switches, since I discovered running the looping in my entire board with a MIDI file running parallel to either click tracks (with a drummer ) or a backing track if I am playing solo. But it is still nice to be able to do that, and I do like the Maestro set up and size. Even if I sell the Aeros I can use it to expand infinity functions.

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Hi there!

A question as a musician and a programmer by trade: Is there a way for me to get involved in programming for the Aeros Loop Studio? Purely as a passion and hobby project. For instance, i would love to work on expanding the amount of midi commands on a rainy sunday like today. I would love to get some more knowledge of programming for a stand alone machine (I’m mostly programming for games and websites now) and especially one that I love to use as a musician!

Cheers,
Tony

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That would be awesome :slight_smile: I’ll send you a private message

cough open source the firmware cough

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I just joined the forum to find this type of info, as I need to put a “Mute All” into my setup to prevent the loop from briefly playing while I erase the current loop before I can use the Aeros to replace the Boomerang III’s I’ve been using for years.

It will be very useful as well to have an up-to-date midi command catalogue either pinned to the top of this forum, or a PDF cheat sheet in the Downloads. While I’ll likely be adding the Midi Maestro soon, in the interim it will be nice to program a couple pads on my keyboard controller to “Mute All” and “Erase Current Loop” so I can quickly take care of “housekeeping” before moving onto the next song.

I already love the Color Display with the easy to see end of loop markers… even though I’m using the Aeros in Freeform time, I can see the length of my initial rhythm loop which makes it much easier to lay down loop 2 as a multiple. I also really dig being able to tap the “Next Part” and have it transition automatically at the end of the bar… giving me time to get ready to make the audio change on the Kemper right when it switches from verse to bridge or solo. :+1:

In case you are deleting all the tracks via holding the stop button, change it to “on release” in the global settings to get rid of that brief sound. Obvious huh.

Interesting. I will try that tonight and see if it affects anything else in the work flow… as I often stop and restart the entire loop during the performance. It’s just when I stop the entire performance at the end of the song, then hold the stop down to erase, it plays a few notes as I go over to confirm the delete.

Yup, changing the play/stop button to “on release” will fix the annoying sound played when erasing.

Only downside is a very slight difference in the timing of the Play button (from press to the release). IMHO the annoying sound is the wrong default setting. It affects so many people (like you) who just accept it and will never realize the the button setting will fix the errant sound and have no goodway to adapt to it (The reverse is not true. Most people who can’t adjust to the on-release timing will likely realize the global setting will fix it for them).

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@Quad well, that worked, and since it only seems to affect the stop command, not the loop punch ins, then it doesn’t really affect my loop process that much. I can still tap it once to stop at the end of the measure, or double tap to stop immediately… but when I hold down the button to Erase, I don’'t hear the loop start up for a moment anymore, and can then choose the erase button. :love_you_gesture:

It’s also nice that they allow when you are recording the first loop, if you make a mistake (like a hiccup when closing the first loop) you can immediately hold the button down for Undo, and re-record the first loop without penalizing the start/stop/length of that first loop.

I also tested the double taps on the other buttons and was happy to see a default setting of mute loop one or mute loop two with a double tap. That immediately makes the 4 button layout more useful in a live setting. I still requires looking down to ensure the loop muted properly, but having the option of either undoing-redoing a loop or muting it entirely (in cases of it being built from multiple overdubs) is pretty cool.

Again the visual representation of the loop is quite the game changer for me when I was used to only seeing when the loop was back around again with a quick blip of the LED on that channel.

Have you seen our official commands Google sheet?

Hey all, a new post relevant to MIDI is up!

Looks like we cannot comment on that post, so posting here.

Will there be variants of these commands than override the device settings? Sometimes I want to mute and end of the loop … other times it’s immediate.

Will these overrides abe available for other types of queueable commands?

Yep that is planned!

Not currently, with the exception of a command that can commit a recording without meeting sync rules/quantization and insert silence to avoid breaking sync.

There are not many other pre-settable commands other than stop, was there another set of commands you had in mind?

Let me know, thanks!