MIDI command for direct song selection

Aeros Loop Studio Feature Requests
#1

Please provide a midi command to directly load a specific song. It could be a midi PC message like the Beat Buddy or midi SongSelect message like the Infinity looper.

That would imply that a useable song ID is visible.

As I understand from the known plans for the Aeros MIDI implementation, to load a song remotely I should send:

  • CC35-0 to go to the saved songs screen,
  • then send a number of CC36-0 to scroll to the wanted song (given that the order is fixed like with the BeatBuddy)
  • CC36-2 to select the song
  • CC35-1 to jump to the looper screen

I guess I will be able to program all that into OnSong or Bandhelper, but a simple PC or SongSelect message would make life much easier.

Not all of my songs involve prerecorded tracks, but I do often use a premade structure with a few sounds as a rack to work on, so that I would not have to take care of part lengths during performing.

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#2

I couldn’t agree more! I ordered the Aeros last week (have not yet received it) but I’ve been reading up on this forum since my purchase and CANNOT BELIEVE that it doesn’t support pc messages. This is going to hamper my plans and experience with the loop studio tremendously! Every device (with midi) i’ve had/have supports pc changes. This should always be a given with any midi enabled device. I hope this gets resolved quickly. And without having to send 4 midi commands to the aeros to get to 1 song for those of us not using onsong or band helper!

Program Change commands in Aeros
#3

Idea: Add a MIDI PC number field to each song which is a number between 0-127. Handle PC commands based upon this user assignment. Bonus points for sending PC change messages.

Would need to prevent two songs from having the same PC. There be dragons here when you have insertable media like an SD card. Could be a warning upon SD card insertion, some arbitrary resolution rule to prefer SD over internal, and a constraint when changing any PC.

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#4

Songs should have a number in front of the name so they can be called with midi messages. It is essential as a midi function to be able to call a song with a midi message.
@DavidPackouz, is this planned in the midi implementation?

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Aeros firmware 3.1.x
#5

I think an assignable PC number to a song makes sense. We’ll have to build in some safeguard to make sure that PC numbers aren’t duplicated with the SD card.

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#6

That safeguard might be going down the rabbit hole to cover various edge cases, some of which you may not think about. Ultimately you’re going to block the user from doing something they want or ask them to resolve that conflict (or leave them with an SD card that is broken or has issues.

You could implement some simple conflict resolution strategy: “I’m sorry Dave, the inserted SD card duplicates midi PC numbers. Unless you eject and open the pod bay doors, I’m going to prefer the PC numbers on the SD card over the ones on the internal storage”. If you do thism you avoid the need to go down the rabbit hole.

It’s a simple preference that most users won’t care about, but will give those affected a guaranteed way of
working with this. Bonus points for letting hr user choose the precedence of SD over Internal (or vice versa), but that might be one preference too many.

I can see some benefits to this approach as well. I can have multiple versions of a song that responds to midi PC depending upon the SD card being inserted or not. Lots of possible uses for this. Of course it’s not much different than having multiple SD cards.

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#7

When the PC is preceded by a bank select CC32, like in may other equipment including the Beatbuddy, there will be no conflict between internal memory songs and SD card songs. The first could be bank 0 en the second bank 1.

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#8

This would be a hugely useful feature for multiple reasons, I really hope this can be implemented as part of the next beta release.

#9

Is this planned as part of midi implementation in next release or will we have to wait for several updates?

#10

I did not see any command covering song selection in the new MIDI implementation firmware. Can you at least be so kind as to inform us where in your planning did you fit implementation of this command?

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#11

Hey there, this is technically med-long-term, because it will most likely be in a release after Auto quantize is implemented, that is when we are planning to release an update with more MIDI commands. That being said, there has been a lot of interest in this command so we may reconsider that timeline.

However, because of the fluid nature of SD card usage, a system may not be so simple to implement, along with an adequate UX. Currently, we are more focused on standalone capabilities like Locking tracks and Auto Quantize, as well as a simple hands-free enhancement. Not to mention finishing up the current in progress release! We understand you and other users really want this feature, but we can only do so much at once.

On another note, I’d like to reference here that this update to the Aeros for song selection will most likely incorporate this closely related request for the BeatBuddy to open a specific song on the Aeros. Stay tuned.

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#12

it’s a shame that it’s not a priority. It was asked a long time ago. Which midi device with backups does not have this functionality? If in a live we have to manually change the sets of each devices it becomes very complicated.

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#13

Could not agree more with that. I hope to see this basic functionnality to be added in a upcoming release (soon). My intend is to use the aero in live situation along with the beatbuddy and having to bent down to manually select the song on the aero is a non sense. l am using setlist maker to select the songs on my beatbuddy and would like to do the same with the Aero.

#14

I am afraid this improvement is pushed to the long term, forcing me to re install an Infinity looper in my live rig. Aeros stays in the studio for now.

#15

Got to join the chorus here, I currently use the infinity looper which is so limited in its UX and would love to upgrade to the Aeros but I use Midi PC extensively for live selection of my loops. Please prioritize this as without it using the Aeros live and in the studio would drive me loopy (sorry) :slight_smile:

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#16

Just another vote - whether it’s PC or bank/song select this should really exist! Replied in order to follow.

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#17

This is a must have feature for live performance.

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#18

I’d say just (“just”, I know) load the song if only 1 is found with that assignment, otherwise display a list of all songs with the same number and then make the user pick which one to load. If they want to resolve the conflict, they can do that themselves since now they know which songs all have the same number.

Don’t try to hold anyone’s hand too much for things like this. There is no UI that can easily solve it, and the developer will be driven nuts trying to figure out all the edge cases and responding to bug reports.

This is a numbering pattern the user needs to be responsible for managing and to correct when it doesn’t turn out perfect. Just show them what they’ve done.

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#19

Helix has a similar difficulty when it comes to IR numbers.

They started out just using an index into a table. That had so many problem cases that they’ve changed it to, I think, the best method. There are names for IR files in the list, but their position is now only an arbitrary assignment. I believe internally they use some form of hash for linking the IR to the preset, the the UI simply shows it’s current index. That means the user never sees the difficult numbers but there is an absolute identifier to make everything stable even when the IR table is altered or the preset is passed between different users.

Something similar should be possible with aeros songs. I hesitate to suggest more detail than that unless asked.

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#20

I echo much of what has been said above, although I’m slightly confused why this hasn’t been an option from the beginning with the Aeros. This would hamper any proper use in a gig environment.

Ideally I would want to select the song I am about to perform from OnSong app, and have my midi linked Beatbuddy and Aeros Loop Studio both select that song automatically.

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