jj0b

I am new to MaxMSP. I want to create a patch that will take a serial stream of MIDI CC messages from my serial port and then parse those messages to the midiout object.

The serial stream of MIDI CC data will be coming from an arduino. I will set the midiout to go to the IAC MIDI Driver in OSX so that I can then accept that MIDI data in Ableton Live and Logic.

I understand how to use the serial object and the midiout object but I am a little fuzzy about what to do between.

Does anyone have any suggestions of how I should proceed?

I am new to MaxMSP. I want to create a patch that will take a serial stream of MIDI CC messages from my serial port and then parse those messages to the midiout object. 

serial-to-midiout-patch

> The serial stream of MIDI CC data will be coming from an arduino. I 

> will set the midiout to go to the IAC MIDI Driver in OSX so that I 

> can then accept that MIDI data in Ableton Live and Logic.

> I understand how to use the serial object and the midiout object but 

> Does anyone have any suggestions of how I should proceed?

There are interesting thingd to explore here: 

http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Interfacing/MaxMSP

Depending on what you're after, another option is to send MIDI from 

the arduino directly to Live. It is quite easy to build a MIDIout 

interface for the arduino and to code the arduino. There are numerous 

example on the web, and especially on arduino.cc

Centre de Recherches et de Formation Musicales de Wallonie asbl

> The serial stream of MIDI CC data will be coming from an arduino. I  
> will set the midiout to go to the IAC MIDI Driver in OSX so that I  
> can then accept that MIDI data in Ableton Live and Logic.
>
> I understand how to use the serial object and the midiout object but  
> I am a little fuzzy a
> bout what to do between.
>
> Does anyone have any suggestions of how I should proceed?

There are interesting thingd to explore  here: http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Interfacing/MaxMSP

Depending on what you're after, another option is to send MIDI from  
the arduino directly to Live. It is quite easy to build a MIDIout  
interface for the arduino and to code the arduino. There are numerous  
example on the web, and especially on arduino.cc

_____________________________
Patrick Delges

Centre de Recherches et de Formation Musicales de Wallonie asbl
http://www.crfmw.be/max


I have read through the stuff on the arduino playground but there is nothing there on parsing data from the serial object to the midiout object in MaxMSP.

Creating the code for MIDI output in arduino is easy. I realize that I could just use a MIDI cable to a MIDI-USB interface but I REALLY want to be able to build devices that are USB bus powered and only connect to the computer over a single USB cable.

This is why I am interested in a patch that can parse data from the serial object to the midiout object. I am sure it must be possible I just don't know where to begin.

I use Arduino too, and have had problems parsing the data: it comes in small packets which can get their order scrambled. Probably I wasn't sending them correctly from the Arduino itself. If you can get this rolling you should be set---that is, you'll be able to reliably read indexed lists of multiple streams of information, then mangle at will and send to midiout.

If it's only CC data, then possibly you'd only need one stream at any one time, so the CC index would be your identifier. Use the route object to deal with indexed lists if needed. Also you may run into getting line feed/carriage return codes (10 and 13), which need to be filtered out (sel 10 13, then use the rightmost outlet).

> I have read through the stuff on the arduino playground but there is 

> nothing there on parsing data from the serial object to the midiout 

Well, it depends on what you're after, and on the code you use on the 

You'll find at the bottom of this mail a small patch (untested as I 

don't have an arduino at hand) that may help you.

And here is a small function for the arduino (also untested) to send 

your values to Max the way the patch expect them.

Be carefull and don't send datas to the serial port at every iteration 

of the main loop. You can send datas every 50ms using a static variable 

>
> I have read through the stuff on the arduino playground but there is 
> nothing there on parsing data from the serial object to the midiout 
> object in MaxMSP.

Well, it depends on what you're after, and on the code you use on the 
arduino.
You'll find at the bottom of this mail a small patch (untested as I 
don't have an arduino at hand) that may help you.
And here is a small function for the arduino (also untested) to send 
your values to Max the way the patch expect them.

void serialNow (int stream, int value)
{
     Serial.print(stream);
     Serial.print("_");
     Serial.print(value);
     Serial.println();
  }

Be carefull and don't send datas to the serial port at every iteration 
of the main loop. You can send datas every 50ms using a static variable 
and the millis() function, like this:

void serial50 (int stream, int value)
{
   static unsigned long currentTime = 0;

   if (abs (millis() - currentTime) > 50)
   {
     Serial.print(stream);
     Serial.print("_");
     Serial.print(stream);
     Serial.println();
     currentTime = millis();
   }
}

Thanks everyone. I will hopefully have time to give this all a try this weekend.

I should have mentioned that I am sending the data out of the arduino in the following format 3 byte format (I just want CC messages):

byte1: controller channel eg: 0xB0 (channel 1 control change)

byte2: controller number eg: 0x4A (controller 74 in decimal)

byte3: controller value eg: 0x56 (value of 86 in decimal)

I don't send any carraige returns or line feeds so I shouldn't have to filter anything.

So I think I just need to read these three bytes in every time they are sent from the arduino and then use that to transmit the same message out the midiout object.

I'm excited to get home and work on this!

Thanks everyone. I will hopefully have time to give this all a try this weekend. 

byte1: controller channel eg: 0xB0 (channel 1 control change)
byte2: controller number  eg: 0x4A (controller 74 in decimal)
byte3: controller value   eg: 0x56 (value of 86 in decimal)

I'm excited to get home and work on this!


sounds good, but you might need a "data end" byte after each set of 3. The problem is that the serial spits out bytes unless you use the "chunk" command for it (in this case, chunk 3) so that it collects 3, then outputs them into the patch. If the chunks get offset, your data lists will be scrambled. With a "end" byte and some logic on the Max side you can ensure the lists are correct. Also zl group 3 could help with this, but again, it may collect 3 items in the wrong order.

If this is a problem you might try a serial.println so that it sends all 3 bytes at once. Then (I think) the serial object will only output as a list, correctly formatted. Use unpack to get only the first 3 bytes, as println will put the CR/LF in there.

Good advice. I think sending as one line and filtering the CR/LF will probably be the most robust solution. I will give it a try.

I got it working. It was much simpler than I thought it would be.

serial to midiout patch?