Topic: MIDI control mappings for TotalMix
Hi there,
My Behringer X-Touch Mini arrived today and I was baffled to realize I couldn't control my RME Fireface UCX with it - well, at least not the way I wanted to. Let me just start by saying I truly HATE Mackie Control protocol, I think it's stupid, unflexible and even for "midiots" it's a total disservice because it's supposed to be "plug and play" but has near zero customization options.
Here's what I initially wanted to do:
- Map the 3 first encoders to AS 1/2, AN 7/8 and AN3 hardware outputs faders;
- Map the 3 buttons right below those encoders to mute/unmute those 3 hardware outputs.
Seems simple enough, huh? After all, any studio worth its salt has multiple monitoring options that we want to be able to switch for mixing and mastering, it doesn't get more basic, useful and essential than this.
But as far as MC I couldn't come up with a solution to implement what I wanted. Even in standard mode it's not an easy task, but after a lot of tweaking and hacking I've finally come up with a solution that works and am going to share it with you guys.
So for that particular example, here's what can be done:
Instead of mapping mute buttons, which is complicated because the same MIDI channel (1) and CC messages are used for either HW Inputs, Playback and HW Outputs depending on cycling through those 3 channel groups using another MIDI CC message, what I did was store 3 snapshot mixes, each one of them with one of the 3 HW outputs unmuted, because those are directly assignable so the 3 buttons can be used as "click to select output" which is actually kinda nice.
Mix 1 (main monitors): AS 1/2 unmuted, AN 7/8 muted, AN 3 muted
Mix 2 (headphones): AS 1/2 muted, AN 7/8 unmuted, AN 3 muted
Mix 3 (Auratone): AS 1/2 muted, AN 7/8 muted, AN 3 unmuted
After storing your desired Mix Snapshots, fire up the Behringer X-Touch (note you can't open the X-Touch for programming if it's assigned to TotalMix, you need to either unassign it first or disable MIDI Control under Options).
Go to the "ENCODERS" tab, and enter the following values:
1) PUSH
- EN1: Channel 1, Type Note, F#2, 0, 127
- EN2: Channel 1, Type Note, G2, 0, 127
- EN3: Channel 1, Type Note, G#2, 0, 127
2) TURN
- EN1: Channel 9, Type CC, CC112, 0, 127
- EN1: Channel 9, Type CC, CC108, 0, 127
- EN1: Channel 9, Type CC, CC104, 0, 127
Go back to the "GLOBAL" tab, select "TO HARDWARE - Dump A".
Open TotalMix and under Options -> Settings set MIDI In to "X-TOUCH MINI". Leave "Enable Protocol Support" checked under "Mackie Control Options"
Make sure that "Enable MIDI Control" is turned on in the Options menu.
Done, you can now push an encoder to select an output and turn it to set the volume for that channel!
). Big Respect to Doepfer at this point!
)