Unify Midi Problems.

@jumpercollins

Yes, there is a built-in MIDI Monitor. It's called "MIDI Monitor". You can load it in place of an instrument plug-in by clicking the ops icon (two concentric circles) and choosing Swap > Unify Standard > Special > MIDI Monitor.

It sounds like you're missing something quite simple in setting up MIDI effects and routing them to INST layers. The box to select the MIDI input stream for an INST layer is the top-left in the cluster of MIDI controls (see https://pluginguru.net/unify/manual/doku.php?id=layer-stack-view#midi_controls ); when set to MIDI layer 1 (for example), this should show "M1". If you don't see the "M", you might be trying to use the wrong control.

You might also find this page from the Unify manual useful: https://pluginguru.net/unify/manual/doku.php?id=midi-details

@getdunne Many thanks for getting back. I found out that I was on a old version of Unify now updated to 1.0.12!. The Blue ARP Seems to be working fully now tried all settings. I loaded up Scaler as a midi effect selected as you said see screenshot below. I then made sure Scaler was selected with a preset. Selected “A” for my midi keyboard to connect inside Scaler. Under the instrument I’m sending midi to inside Unify I selected M1 but not getting any triggering of the instrument. Also under Unify Standard I’m not seeing a “ Special” option what Software version is this. See screenshots. 

@getdunne second screenshot 

Ok so I found the midi monitor module under instruments, surprised it’s not classed as a midi effect but still hey ho! I assume you can put that anywhere and it shows midi coming in or not in my case ! I Tried Scaler again and the midi monitor shows no midi coming in so I’m scratching my head again to understand why! 

Sorry for misleading you. The "Special" category is part of some menu reorganization we're doing, which hasn't been released yet. I'm glad you found the MIDI Monitor. It's classified as an Instrument because built-in plug-ins don't support a "MIDI effects" category (one of many issues I have yet to fix) and it didn't make sense to make it an "audio effect".

I don't have Scaler myself so I can't advise you in detail, but from your screenshots it appears you've set up the MIDI routing correctly, so at this point if you're not seeing MIDI coming into your INST layer it may be because Scaler isn't outputting any. Have you successfully used Scaler in another host?

Windows user - Scaler okay

Posted by: @getdunne

Sorry for misleading you. The "Special" category is part of some menu reorganization we're doing, which hasn't been released yet. I'm glad you found the MIDI Monitor. It's classified as an Instrument because built-in plug-ins don't support a "MIDI effects" category (one of many issues I have yet to fix) and it didn't make sense to make it an "audio effect".

I don't have Scaler myself so I can't advise you in detail, but from your screenshots it appears you've set up the MIDI routing correctly, so at this point if you're not seeing MIDI coming into your INST layer it may be because Scaler isn't outputting any. Have you successfully used Scaler in another host?

Hi @getdunne yes I use Scaler all the time in all my DAWS with no problems. You do have to put it on a separate track in DAWs like Ableton, Bitwig etc and route the midi to the instrument you want. In Logic Pro you have the option to sticking it on the instrument track of choice which makes more sense and cuts down on track count. It’s good to see that’s the way Unify is going with midi effects with the up and coming update.

I also own MIDIQ by WA productions, which is a midi sequencer style plugin that requires the DAW playhead to be running to produce midi I tried that in Unify with the playhead running standalone again couldn’t get it to work. 

Will see if the new update fixes things for me. 

many thanks. 

Good day. The key I press is playing while I'm using MIDI effect's which are supposed to convert the note into a chord, melody, etc. I've tried it with the various MIDI plugins I own and they all seem to do this 🙁

I am using Cakewalk by Bandlab and can get the MIDI Effect plugins to work as intended in the DAW itself but want to use these effects inside of Unify. I looked through the MIDI info in the online manual and messed around with settings but cannot get it to ignore the note being played if the midi input of an instrument is set as the output of a midi effect. (Cakewalk by Bandlab is also routed in this manner when using plugins in the DAW, with ECHO on)

The MIDI effects I own are Harvest, Chord Prism, HatefishRhyGenerator, MidiQ, Phrasebox, Remidi, Ripchord (free) and Zenith (quite the midi fanatic... :-))

Is there anything you can think of that I can do to fix this? I know that there are not a lot of people using Cakewalk by Bandlab but I personally like it and don't intend changing to another DAW in the foreseeable future...

Any input/suggestions will be much appreciated. I want to use Unify as an all-in-one host.

@jason_za  Not sure I have anything that can help you, but I use Sonar (Cakewalk by BandLab) with Unify. I also use Reaper and Studio One. However all the midi effects I have work perfectly with Unify. Of those you list, I have Harvest and Ripchord and they work as I expect. Are you saying that when you hit the trigger key and expect a chord, you are not getting a chord - or - are you saying that you are getting the chord, but also the note for the trigger key?

I just tried Harvest with Cakewalk and it played the pattern perfectly. So in the case of Harvest, you setup a pattern and run the pattern. If you hit a key, the pattern will play and also the note you hit to initiate the pattern will play. You are not supposed to hit a key to play harvest. You run it by hitting the Play key in Cakewalk.

I do seem to have your problem in Ripchord. When I tried it in Unify, it not only played the chord notes, but also the trigger note. In the DAW, Ripchord only plays the chord. I guess I never noticed this because for all my chord patterns, I always hit one of the notes that will be in the chord. I did also notice problem in ReMidi, InstaScale, Obelisk and Instachord.

Similar midi effects (those that play something that excludes the key you hit) did work in Unify. These were Cthulhu and Scale Player. Weird because Scale Player uses a very similar scheme as InstaScale.

Many midi effects rely on the notes and the chords you play to enhance what you play and therefore there is not problem with the initiating notes because they are used in the patterns always … Such as Blue Arp, ChordPotion,Cream etc ...

I would say you have identified a problem. I could see a way around this if Unify had a means to pass silent notes to a midi effect and then let the midi effect play the instrument layer. Something of this nature must be going on when these are used in a DAW, but this is not surprising. In the DAW, the vst only interprets a key hit and uses it to configure a number of midi notes to pass to the connected vst instrument. Unify seems to pass both the midi effect notes and the original note to the instrument layer.

@jason_za

Thank you for reporting this. I've done some tests, and this problem (input MIDI notes always pass through MIDI effects) appears to be an issue with VST3 plug-ins, which does not occur with VST2 plug-ins. I will look into it.

Hi Larry. Thanks so much for your prompt response. I will run the VST2 versions of my Midi Effects in the meantime, where available. Midi chord effects, together with Blue Arp will be a total game changer, especially with the ease of use for split keyboards and being able to control multiple instruments with multiple Midi effects. This configuration will also be a real hit for people not too familiar with music theory (like myself, although I'm slowly learning it) and for live performances. I am really excited to see how things will work once this issue is resolved and really looking forward to the future of this truly awesome product. Keep up the great work @teampluginguru!!!

Hi @getdunne.

Thanks a lot for your prompt response and for looking into it. Really hoping a solution can be found. Larry mentioned that this issue does not occur in Cthulhu and Scale Player, but I'm guessing that these must be VST2 plugins, based on your response, as I cannot see how come one MIDI effect would have this issue and not another.

Posted by: @getdunne

@jason_za

Thank you for reporting this. I've done some tests, and this problem (input MIDI notes always pass through MIDI effects) appears to be an issue with VST3 plug-ins, which does not occur with VST2 plug-ins. I will look into it.

Aha .... correct I tested this with Instachord. I have both the vst2 and vst3 versions in Unify. With the VST3 I have the problem, with the VST2 version no problem at all. Nice catch there.

Now I can see why my testing revealed that Scale Player (vst2) worked, while Instascale (vst3) did not work although that are obviously using the exact  same form of interface.

I have now switched from vst3 versions to vst2 where I had to make the swap. Oddly enough, the latest version of RipChord 2.1.1 is only delivered as Vst3 and will not work properly in Unify.

I have a solution, which will be included in the next Unify update.

@getdunne Cheering from the Peanut Gallery ...

Posted by: @jumpercollins

Posted by: @getdunne

Sorry for misleading you. The "Special" category is part of some menu reorganization we're doing, which hasn't been released yet. I'm glad you found the MIDI Monitor. It's classified as an Instrument because built-in plug-ins don't support a "MIDI effects" category (one of many issues I have yet to fix) and it didn't make sense to make it an "audio effect".

I don't have Scaler myself so I can't advise you in detail, but from your screenshots it appears you've set up the MIDI routing correctly, so at this point if you're not seeing MIDI coming into your INST layer it may be because Scaler isn't outputting any. Have you successfully used Scaler in another host?

Hi @getdunne yes I use Scaler all the time in all my DAWS with no problems. You do have to put it on a separate track in DAWs like Ableton, Bitwig etc and route the midi to the instrument you want. In Logic Pro you have the option to sticking it on the instrument track of choice which makes more sense and cuts down on track count. It’s good to see that’s the way Unify is going with midi effects with the up and coming update.

 

I also own MIDIQ by WA productions, which is a midi sequencer style plugin that requires the DAW playhead to be running to produce midi I tried that in Unify with the playhead running standalone again couldn’t get it to work. 

Will see if the new update fixes things for me. 

many thanks. 

 

Hi, did you manage to get your issue sorted? I'm running the latest Unify and Scaler 2 on a Mac but having no luck. Xfer Cthulhu is working fine as is the built in MIDI effects but not Scaler 2.

If there's anyone else on here with Scaler 2 working in Unify on a Mac, let me know 🙂

@1001Hi no I still cannot get Scaler 2 to work inside the standalone version of Unify the only way around it is inside Logic to use Scaler as a midi effect outside of Unify.

@jumpercollins

I tested the Demo version of Scaler 2 for Mac. The Audio Unit plug-ins include an instrument version called "Scaler2", an audio-effect version called "ScalerAudio2", and a MIDI-effect version called "ScalerControl2". The MIDI-effect loads correctly into a Unify MIDI-effect slot, but doesn't seem to receive MIDI -- I don't know why, but I will investigate.

However, you can use the regular "Scaler2" plug-in [Audio Unit, VST (recommended), or VST3] in a Unify MIDI-effect slot if you first add it to a MIDI plug-in subset. See https://pluginguru.net/unify/manual/doku.php?id=plugin-subsets. This works fine on both Mac and Windows.

• Click the list icon to open the Plug-In Subsets view
• Change the menu at top left from "Instruments" to "MIDI Effects"
• If no subsets are listed (the default), click the "New Subset" button, then click the newly-created subset (called "newSubset.xml") to select it, click "Rename Subset" and give it a new name, and hit ENTER.
• With your subset selected in the left column, locate one of the "Scaler2" plug-ins in the middle column. Click to select it and click the "Add Selected" button at the bottom.
• IMPORTANT: Click the "Save" button at top right (beside the name of your subset above the rightmost column), to update the preset.
• Return to the layer-stack view, and add the "Scaler2" preset into a MIDI-effect slot, using the sub-menu for your subset.

@getdunne

Shane,

Just tried your plugin subset fix for Scaler 2 VST and I can confirm that it works properly. I had been trying to get Scaler to work inside Unify as well with no luck until this fix, so thanks!

@getdunne 

that worked a treat, thanks!

Posted by: @getdunne

@jumpercollins

The MIDI-effect loads correctly into a Unify MIDI-effect slot, but doesn't seem to receive MIDI -- I don't know why, but I will investigate.

@getdunne, out of interest, did you manage to have a look at the MIDI issue you mentioned above? I tried using Five12's Numerology (Mac) and as with Scaler it loads but does not seem to receive MIDI. I also tried the work around you mentioned for Scaler but this does not seem to work for Numerology.

As a side-note, I did notice that Numerology was installed on John's copy of Unify during a recent livestream, so maybe it is working for him?

@1001

I've tried the Numerology demo on both MacOS 10.13.6 (High Sierra) and 10.15.6 (Catalina). It mostly works on High Sierra, but graphic/layout issues may it extremely hard to use. I haven't been able to get it to work yet on Catalina at all. I will try to get in touch with the developers to resolve the issues, but it's likely to take a while.