Editing midi commands to fx…help

Kevtyler

Hi guys

Following suggestions on here,

I’ve got a decent Bluetooth mouse, I’ve connected it to my pad and I’m trying to make editing the midi commands easier.

So my scroll wheel sends st4 text in the opposite direction than normal but I can live with that, but when I try to edit the time on my commands, I just can’t get the cursor where I want it and have reverted to using my finger.

This is my process, I add a couple of ** to the text on separate lines and in the edit window I moved the cursor to the first asterisk, press play and press the clock where I think the fx fader on x air should rise and then fall. I then paste the 2 midi commands that rise and lower the fader just under the lyric line, and then manualy replace the time data with that relating to the asterisk, it’s really tedious and if you look at the video, it’s completely hit and miss.

Guys if you have any suggestions as to what I’m doing wrong, please let me know. Surely there’s an easier way of doing this. I’ve got no daw, no mac just a pad.

https://youtube.com/shorts/NfWBnl-dxDU?is=8_muFI6IQttXotEF

Many thanks

peter

You can reverse the wheel direction here: iOS Settings > General > Trackpad & Mouse and toggle Natural Scrolling

And judging from your video you seem to press the right mouse button. Not the left. Right is always the context menu.

Kevtyler

Hi Peter

It’s a Logitech mouse, with 3 profiles. So I can change the buttons on the software.

I was actually pressing the left mouse key, when I pressed the right button I get this menu..

When I click left I get this menu,

Ok so today’s a new day and now I realise that you have to keep the left button depressed and slide left or right to get the cursor where you want it. Is this an apple thing, I’m used to just being able to point and click.

Ok so I’m a bit further on, but I’m still wondering is there an easier way to do this, it’s painfully slow and difficult when you have mr magoo syndrome.

Many thanks

Kev

peter

I don't have these issues with my (Logitech) mouse. Cursor placement is just a single click with the mouse. There is no popup menu displayed like in your screenshots. Only the regular popup on right click. Something is amiss with your mouse settings.

Kevtyler

peter

Thanks Peter

The 3 profiles are just standard windows out of the box settings.

I’ve decided not to bother with echo any more, I’ll just back off the mic and repeat the line myself.

Many thanks

Kev

AnthonyB

Not a solution, just an observation.

I have programmed a lot of specialised time/context specific vocal effects for my setup (automating a Behringer X32) and I don't know how people program it on the iPad vs. using a DAW. It's not just the clicking to insert the events, but then going back and nudging timing around relative to the source content, to get the timing precise. Especially when you are automating both the FX Bus Send and the Return independently. Even with a keyboard and mouse connected to the iPad, I feel like I'm using a chainsaw instead of a scalpel. But for those that can do all that programming and editing on an iPad, I tip my hat to you.

Just this week I had a song where I had to program 7 instances of a vocal delay designed to catch just the last word of a phrase, and delay it.
I find it so much easier in a DAW on a computer, with mouse and keyboard, big screen, zoom in as much as I want, nudge the events around by milliseconds if needed, until I get the result I'm happy with. Then I can just use the event timing in a ST4 lyric sheet to replicate the outcome.

The other reason I prefer using DAW, and then transferring results into ST on iPad, is that the DAW remains my independent source of truth. In the event ST blew up or I lost ALL our iPads and backups on the way to a gig (yeah, far-fetched), I could actually just bring my DAW on a laptop and an audio interface, and the show could go on.

Kevtyler

Hi Anthony

I totally get you, when I went down the digital route, I bought x air, and a program called show magic, that ran audio, dmx, and midi. I originally did the midi for a few songs in a really easy way, press record, you hear the track, and every time you want to add a midi event, you hit space bar. So you go in to the list of timed events and drag the midi commands on to the blank events, then right click on the digits to inc or dec them. What I found was that the audio engine dealt with mp3 and wav differently, so with a wav, on a 7 minute song, you could zoom to the end of a song, check your audience blinding flash or midi or what have you and everything was in sync, now if I swapped the wav for its identical mp3 version, there was a degree of inaccuracy of the timed events.like you suggested, I did use to write down the timing of the events and manually enter and edit them in st3 or 4, but it is a ball ache and that’s why I’ve requested for a way to move all timed events in the lyric editor forward or backward in the timeline by dragging it left or right, . I’d also love to have a midi button which you could press instead of the clock icon to place a bracketed and timed [midi at xx, xx] midi command on the timeline. I don’t think anyone other than me and my mum voted for that.

Thanks for your advice

Kev