primemover

I had a wild idea, but I have no idea what would be the best way of approaching it.

I use my laptop and 88-key keyboard (Alesis QS8) for live use now, through a Mac VI host called Jambalaya. I wrote a little Max app to be able to route incoming midi to different channels in Jambalaya, and then I use Jambalaya for keyboard splitting and whatnot. Now I can setup different keyboard splits and patches that can change on the click of a pedal, or press of a patch change button.

But I have no visual representation of these regions on my keyboard, and I'm often getting mixed up and going over the split while improvising. So my idea is to build some sort of lighting unit that will light up various regions above the keys on the keyboard.

This will require a bunch of different steps:

1) Max inter-communication with Jambalaya. I know the guy who wrote Jambalaya, and maybe he could write a routine to send me the messaging I need, but I know nothing about inter-application messaging, and how MAX would be able to retrieve that. It would have to be more than midi, maybe a string in the Copy buffer, or some kind of OSX memory storage location.

2) Some sort of USB controlled light strand, ~56 lights (one light for every white key, at least). I see TONS of USB "powered" light strands, but nothing that can be programmed. Originally I was thinking it would be nice to have LEDs that could be programmed to any color, and reflect the same colors that Jambalaya uses per channel, but even if it's just simply "on/off", then I can simply have each region alternate states.

I'm pretty good with basic electronics, know some programming, have quite a few years of experience with Max (mostly Max4, only just recently upgraded). But I'm a little perplexed as to how to approach this, and weather it's financially feasible (ungodly expensive), and what my options are.

keyboard-lighting-system

Use an arduino with maxuino... It's easy..

I combined a bunch of patches in this video to make the lights respond to audio, but you can trigger them with anything.

The patch is rad, it takes audio and converts to midi, which I program to light a led up for every key in the chromatic scale, then it takes in audio and measures the amplitude of the signal and sets scenes for three ranges, and it has a tap tempo controlled step sequencer that can control scenes. I'm still working on refining it, and then I need to figure out how to make more controllable outputs with ic chips but check it out and let me know what you think, message me for the code, I'll try and figure out how to get all the files and subpatches together for you, I am a total beginner when it comes to max msp, I'm learning quick though.

The patch is rad, it takes audio and converts to midi, which I program to light a led up for every key in the chromatic scale, then it takes in audio and measures the amplitude of the signal and sets scenes for three ranges, and it has a tap tempo controlled step sequencer that can control scenes.  I'm still working on refining it, and then I need to figure out how to make more controllable outputs with ic chips but check it out and let me know what you think, message me for the code, I'll try and figure out how to get all the files and subpatches together for you, I am a total beginner when it comes to max msp, I'm learning quick though.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90QOj6gVHPo

I meant to attach that to the last one, check it out. The song was good for demonstrating the tap tempo, you'll notice the blue light following the snare a little into the video, but other songs with more more changes are even cooler.

I meant to attach that to the last one, check it out.  The song was good for demonstrating the tap tempo, you'll notice the blue light following the snare a little into the video, but other songs with more more changes are even cooler.


On my YouTube pages are some incredibly professional instructional video on how to set the arduino up with max msp..

Hmmm, I bought a license for Jambalaya to investigate it as a possible replacement for MainStage but it just didn't have the midi flexibility that was avaialble in MainStage. Ultimately (quite recently) I gave up on MainStage and ended up implementing much of what MainStage does directly with Max, including the ability to do splits and layering.

I've already got stuff in it to show knob and slider positions of external keyboards but next on my list is to implement on-screen visualization of the "current" splits and layers.....I haven't quite figured out the best way to display the info as it needs to show splits and layers for 7 keyboards.

I'm happy to share what I've created so far if anyone wants to enhance it themselves.

See http://deskew.com/blog.html for more info about it.


Actually, I've come up with a beautiful way of managing midi to my liking with a combination of Jambalaya and a custom max patch called "Channel Cycler". Now, I seem to have a much smaller rig than you (I like to keep it to one board), so it might not be ideal for multi-board players. I also like to travel light: a 88key controller, a 13" MacBook Pro, an amp, and a keyboard stand with laptop holder. I'm often playing with acoustic musicians, so I want to have as little physical intrusion as possible. My pedal array consists of a sustain, an expression, and a incidental footswitch.

But what I like is the ability to switch keyboard setups instantaneously on the fly. Jambalaya has a great interface for managing regions, but there's no way to cycle through various groups of patches, mid-song. So instead of feeding midi directly to Jambalaya, it first is routed to Channel Cycler, which then allows me to cycle through midi channels via a footswitch, then send it on to Jambalaya through the IAC bus. Then in Jambalaya, I just setup the track groups by what midi channel I want to receive on. So if I have a bass/piano split for the verses, and pads/leads for the choruses, I put the bass and piano on channel 1, and pad and lead on channel 2. I hit the pedal, and everything switches.

The best part is that the patch keeps track of which notes are being played through which channels, so that even after a channel switch, note offs will go to their correct channels and avoid infinite stuck notes. I was able to use the "offer" object in an unconventional way to keep track of channel assignments, instead of the intended velocities.

The interface display is tiny, and fits into a small rectangle that hovers (on top) of the Jambalaya window in an empty space off to the side. But I've set it up for the entire background to change colors as it cycles through the available channels (set up by a "max" setting). It's all very simple, snazzy, and does it what I need it to do. One could easily just open up multiple instances for multiple boards.

I've never used mainstage, being a Digital Performer user and not owning Logic, but I've heard MS is very unreliable. Jambalaya is quite reliable, and with this little addition, turns it into a complete live performance powerhouse, and keeps the great (though gaudy) visual interface that Jambalaya has.

However, this may all be moot here very soon. I've been talking with the creator of Jambalaya, and he has a huge update only weeks away that will add signal routing macros among other things.

Keyboard lighting system