MIDI Controllers & BPM need improvement

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FOURTY
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Mar 02, 2009 6:27 am
Primary DAW OS: Unspecified

MIDI Controllers & BPM need improvement

Post by FOURTY »

I'm hoping one of the developers of BPM reads this....

The way BPM is set-up to recieve MIDI controllers is very poor. I don't know about other users but I find it very disapointing....

Although I have a reasonable amount of controllers, I don't I want to assign the same thing for every single pad. That's just not practical. If I want to assign the decay filter for example to each sound on a pad, that's 16 controllers just for this 1 control and using only 1 bank!

Not only that, BPM can't memorise controller templates. I found this out the hardway by assigning 16 controllers only to realise that the settings only save when you save a kit. Not clever...!

Also, some settings like filter cut-off, (which is one of the main things to control hence the huge size!) need a filter to be activated 1st ie LPF etc. Great! So even if I assign a controller to cut-off, it doesn't work unless I choose a filter type (in fact it's not even possible). Basically, the controller has to be re-linked every single time I activate the filter type from an off position.

And in closing, could it be made possible to have 99% of things MIDI controller assignable? Right now it's very selective. For example I was hoping I could adjust sample start and end points using MIDI knobs and assign commands like normalize, trim & crop to MIDI controller buttons. As of yet, it's not possible and slows down workflow compared to units like the MPC.
VST instruments these days should work in complete harmony with MIDI hardware controllers as they (developers) have had long enough to adjust to the mentality. BPM is marketed as bridging the gap between software functionality & hardware features. It won't succeed until they realise that people don't want to use the mouse to control almost the entire UI interface. That's kinda why people opt for hardware in the first place...

I like BPM at the moment but that's only because I'm hoping they will fix alot of bugs I've come across aswell as include some of the functionality mentioned in this post. It's only just been released so I'm waiting to see how they respond to user feedback which so far has been pretty good.

Aplogies for the long post but it's really aimed at one of BPM's devevelopers/programmers who cruise the site from time to time.
Thnaks
40
Cairns
Posts: 45
Joined: Sun Apr 27, 2008 8:28 am
Primary DAW OS: Unspecified

Re: MIDI Controllers & BPM need improvement

Post by Cairns »

I agree with you 100%
Music is a moral law,
it gives wings to the mind,
a soul to the universe,
flight to the imagination,
a charm to sadness,
a life to everything,
Plato 400 B.C.
Red_Camel
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Feb 14, 2009 8:45 am
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Toronto

Re: MIDI Controllers & BPM need improvement

Post by Red_Camel »

let's raise that agreement bar to 110% . Am with you
AMD 9850 QuadCore - Vista 64 Ultimate/WINXP SP3 Dual-Boot, 8gb RAM - 2xNvidia 1GB 8800GT SLI - Reaper 3.x-current,Propellerhead Record+Reason 4, Battery 3, BPM v1.0.x-current, MachFive 2, NI Intakt v1.03,other assorted plugz.
=================================================
Edirol M-16DX Digital Mixer, JoeMeek TwinQ Pre, Audio Technica AT4047, Sure SM57, M-Audio LightBridge ProFire & Delta 1010 PCI, ClearSonic Isopac-E Vocal Booth, a whole sea of love for recording and music making process.
b-righteous
Posts: 201
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 12:40 am
Primary DAW OS: Unspecified

Re: MIDI Controllers & BPM need improvement

Post by b-righteous »

Hi, I am new here. Signed up because there seems no way to get in touch with MOTU for more details for pre-sales questions other than a Pro Tools forum :roll:

I was going to pull the trigger and I am glad I came across this forum. The issues you described plus the lack of VST and standalone MIDI out are the big reasons I will not buy. I was going to buy Maschine just as a controller for BPM but it seems that certain functions are not assignable like sample start and end. Plus it does not remember assignments. Thats crazy.

Regarding the filter control:

Does it have a default assignment? Meaning, if you instead make the assignment on your controller verses doing the MIDI learn in BPM, could that control work for cutoff regardless of what filter type is selected?
1nput0utput
Posts: 1477
Joined: Thu Aug 02, 2007 4:21 am
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: USA

Re: MIDI Controllers & BPM need improvement

Post by 1nput0utput »

b-righteous wrote:… there seems no way to get in touch with MOTU for more details for pre-sales questions other than a Pro Tools forum
Have you tried calling them or sending them e-mail? I know it sounds crazy, but just trust me…

http://www.motu.com/other/feedback
http://www.motu.com/other/feedback/cont ... er_service
sales@motu.com
617 576 2760
The leading cause of wrong answers is asking the wrong questions.
b-righteous
Posts: 201
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 12:40 am
Primary DAW OS: Unspecified

Re: MIDI Controllers & BPM need improvement

Post by b-righteous »

Tried the number on the site several times was busy.
Need a registered product to get access to email.
I'll try your link.
b-righteous
Posts: 201
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 12:40 am
Primary DAW OS: Unspecified

Re: MIDI Controllers & BPM need improvement

Post by b-righteous »

Thanks for thephone # and trying to help.
Just called and the guy I spoke with was totally clueless just as I suspected. I never liked MOTU or purchased any of their products for this reason. How stupid to alienate potential customers like this. Don't MOTU like money?

Competing products from other software developers have active and knowledgeable staff on dedicated forums to answer technical questions. What a joke. It's like you need a secrete handshake to get basic info. What a turn off.
bobbybland

Re: MIDI Controllers & BPM need improvement

Post by bobbybland »

I agree Bpm needs some workflow updates,many I've read throughout the forum would help it a bunch.
b-righteous
Posts: 201
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 12:40 am
Primary DAW OS: Unspecified

Re: MIDI Controllers & BPM need improvement

Post by b-righteous »

Bobbybland, I notice you have a Novation Remote SL. How is automap working for you? I was thinking that auto mapping BPM would give better access to editing from an SL.

How do you like BPM compared to GURU?
bobbybland

Re: MIDI Controllers & BPM need improvement

Post by bobbybland »

A.1Automap is also a great thing,I don't find myself using BPM with the SL though,I'd rather use it for the mpd32.
A2.I love Guru,I've had Guru for ages,it's low cpu,quick as lighting,but content/sound engine is imo a bit lackluster vs. bpm..Bpm would become my go to,if/when they fix the things that are wrong with it.
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