Single MIDI Controller Button Controlling MOX and Voicemeeter?

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WB4AIO Kevin
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Single MIDI Controller Button Controlling MOX and Voicemeeter?

Postby WB4AIO Kevin » Wed Jun 12, 2019 2:17 am

I have watched the video tutorials and read or scanned every post in this section, but I know very little about MIDI.

Here's what I am trying to accomplish:

1. Energize MOX on my Anan-10 (OpenHPSDR 3.4.9) without having to have OpenHPSDR in focus.

and

2. Change a couple of routing parameters automatically on Voicemeeter Potato every time I switch to transmit.

Can I accomplish these goals with a MIDI controller, using one of the controller's buttons to invoke MOX and change the Voicemeeter routing with one keypress?

I believe that MOX on the Anan can be mapped to a MIDI controller, and I know that Voicemeeter can accept MIDI commands (through Voicemeeter Remote Macro Buttons), but I don't know if the same button on the controller can simultaneously send a signal to both the Anan and to Voicemeeter.

Thanks for this excellent forum!
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Re: Single MIDI Controller Button Controlling MOX and Voicemeeter?

Postby w-u-2-o » Wed Jun 12, 2019 9:04 pm

First the easy part: there is a MOX command called MOX On Off. It is a button-assignable command. It is a toggle, not a push-to-talk, control.

Second part, splitting a MIDI controller across two applications: you can do this. It requires using "virtual MIDI software", much the same as using virtual serial cable software or virtual audio cable software.

The reason that this is so is because a USB-based MIDI controller will generally only connect to a single software application at a time. Once that application has it no other application can touch it. A lot of guys running DAW software often ran into this problem: if they started the DAW first it would grab the MIDI controller and then PowerSDR couldn't get at it.

I think the software you want is this:

https://www.bome.com/products/miditranslator

You would attach the MIDI controller to it, program it to forward the MIDI commands to two virtual MIDI ports, then attach PowerSDR and VMP to the virtual ports.

That's as much as I can tell you. I've never actually done it myself.

However, I have to ask: why do you want VMP routes to change when MOX is active? I'm having trouble understanding what you intend to achieve and I'm wondering if there isn't a better solution?

73,

Scott
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Re: Single MIDI Controller Button Controlling MOX and Voicemeeter?

Postby WB4AIO Kevin » Wed Jun 12, 2019 9:43 pm

w-u-2-o wrote:However, I have to ask: why do you want VMP routes to change when MOX is active? I'm having trouble understanding what you intend to achieve and I'm wondering if there isn't a better solution?



Thank you very much, Scott. You have likely saved me days of frustration!

Here's more detail on what I'm trying to do:

My Anan uses Ethernet and VAC; no audio ins and outs are being used.

I record a net a couple of times a week. When I participate in it, I want to have my voice (and any guest I might have on my Skype patch) come onto the same recording as my receive audio when, and only when, I am transmitting -- and I don't want to have any post-recording editing to do.

I suppose I could do this by having my MON switched on and recording the main VAC output, but that comes with its own set of difficulties (like hearing myself with annoying latency -- which I find intolerable) and the quality is somewhat degraded compared to a pristine pre-transmitter audio feed. I could also record myself and guests on one track, and the receive audio on another, and edit out my backchannel noises and remarks made while receiving (though some of them are pretty funny!) later, and then combine the tracks, but that's exactly what I want to avoid doing.

Let's say I use the B1 bus in Voicemeeter to feed Audacity. PowerSDR's VAC1 would feed B1 all the time (it sends nothing during transmit so no problem leaving it connected). So, as I visualize it, my combined Mic and Guest feed would feed B1 [i]only when triggered by the MIDI event that also triggers MOX[/i}. When transmit ends, MIDI would tell Voicemeeter to stop sending my Mic and Guest feed to B1, and receive audio would resume on the bus. Perfect.

73,

Kevin.
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Re: Single MIDI Controller Button Controlling MOX and Voicemeeter?

Postby w-u-2-o » Thu Jun 13, 2019 12:51 am

OK, that makes sense.

You could also do it with hardware by using a DPDT switch for PTT and mic audio. One side of the switch to key the radio (either directly into the radio hardware or via a serial port on the PC), the other side to alternately connect or ground the mic input to your sound interface (unless you are using a USB microphone).
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Re: Single MIDI Controller Button Controlling MOX and Voicemeeter?

Postby WB4AIO Kevin » Fri Jun 21, 2019 12:53 am

w-u-2-o wrote:First the easy part: there is a MOX command called MOX On Off. It is a button-assignable command. It is a toggle, not a push-to-talk, control.

Second part, splitting a MIDI controller across two applications: you can do this. It requires using "virtual MIDI software", much the same as using virtual serial cable software or virtual audio cable software.

The reason that this is so is because a USB-based MIDI controller will generally only connect to a single software application at a time. Once that application has it no other application can touch it. A lot of guys running DAW software often ran into this problem: if they started the DAW first it would grab the MIDI controller and then PowerSDR couldn't get at it.

I think the software you want is this:

https://www.bome.com/products/miditranslator

You would attach the MIDI controller to it, program it to forward the MIDI commands to two virtual MIDI ports, then attach PowerSDR and VMP to the virtual ports.

That's as much as I can tell you. I've never actually done it myself.



To any who might be able to help me:

I installed a Stanton MIDI controller. It controlled the Anan-10 via PowerSDR 3.4.9 perfectly by itself.

Then I installed Bome MIDI translator Pro. Through it and its virtual MIDI port I can control Voicemeeter without problems.

Bome also controls another virtual MIDI port, LoopBe1, in order to have a different MIDI output port to control PowerSDR.

PowerSDR sees the commands coming through this system just fine, and is able to map them. However, nothing happens after they are mapped and the controller button is pressed. There are no error messages in the Diagnostics section. Trying again after a database reset gives the same result.

Now here's the strange part. After trying all this and being very frustrated. I decided to start fresh. I uninstalled all the MIDI programs and drivers and started again with just the Stanton controller and PowerSDR. Now it, by itself, has the same problem -- I can map it, but it controls nothing in PowerSDR. It's as if something has changed in PowerSDR that is causing this behavior.

I feel certain that I have made a mistake but need help figuring out what it might be.

Thanks,

Kevin.
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WB4AIO Kevin
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Re: Single MIDI Controller Button Controlling MOX and Voicemeeter?

Postby WB4AIO Kevin » Fri Jun 21, 2019 2:27 am

Okay, I believe I may have solved my own problem with the Stanton controller and PowerSDR. The Stanton MIDI controller insists that I feed its output to the bundled Stanton router, which they call rather inelegantly "DaRouter," and NOT directly to the Bome MIDI router that Scott recommended to me.

If I put DaRouter in between the controller and the Bome MIDI router, then the controller can talk to both PowerSDR and Voicemeeter. If I leave DaRouter out of the equation, then the controller can only talk to Voicemeeter.

I thought I had tried everything, but after hours of work, I discovered that both routers had to be in series. I still don't know why this is the case -- but it is working!

Thanks to Scott who got me pointed in the right direction.

73,

Kevin.
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Re: Single MIDI Controller Button Controlling MOX and Voicemeeter?

Postby w-u-2-o » Fri Jun 21, 2019 1:12 pm

Glad it worked out, Kevin. You win the award for the most complex MIDI setup!

One thing I've been thinking of lately is doing macro buttons in VMP for different modes and mics.

Also, a new version of VMP was just released that fixes some bugs.

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