03-11-2019, 10:39 AM
Hi Guys,
Very proud owner of a Kickstarter NDLR
I need a little clarification on how the midi input works as a chord "conductor" - and may have a feature request in conjunction with that.
I have a fairly extensive "improv" performance rig - and am very excited to integrate the NDLR into it! This setup includes Ableton, a large modular synth, and a whole host of midi/vst synths etc.
At the heart of all of this is a left hand single chromatic midi octave zone (from an SL mk3) that sends "conductor pitches" to Ableton and the modular; so say, if I trigger the keys of C MAJ, the various destinations receive those pitches and trigger the appropriate instruments and modular sequencers which are set to quantize all the notes into a given scale (in this case, C MAJ). On the right zone of the SL, I can simultaneously improv melodies to other destinations; as a keyboard player I'm simply playing with both hands in the key of C MAJ and the various pitch quantizers are doing the rest.
This is also true then if I play in, say, C MIN (in it's most basic form, the modular is particularly conducive to playing in scales and modes based on a C root). I simply set the pitch quantizers to include only the notes in C min, and I play the SLmk3 in C min - which of course includes Eb, Ab, and Bb. So I can play as a musician with both hands in any key (as normal) and the whole system "conducts" the various midi streams/instruments/CV etc. into the correct key. Clearly, this would be a perfect environment for a NDLR!
Now, here's my confusion. If I understand the manual correctly, the NDLR uses a sort of "modified" note input scheme, where the MAJ (white) notes of a C scale play the chord degrees (of any Root/scale set up in the NDLR), and black notes trigger chord qualities. This is cool, but the non-standard nature of it prevents me from integrating the NDLR into my setup in the same way as all the rest of my gear.
What I need is for the NDLR to "pre-quantize" an incoming midi note stream such that it would recognize that, as an example, if I set the NDLR internally to have a root note of C and a scale of Minor, it would recognize an incoming Ab as the root note of the six chord - and move to that scale degree accordingly. As it stands, right now I think I'd have to play an A natural in my left hand to trigger the NDLR's six chord; but that's a little hard when you're thinking and playing in the key of C minor with your RIGHT hand! Also, everything else in the rig is expecting an Ab from the left hand zone at that point; so an A will be bent into either an Ab or a Bb depending on the accuracy of the other quantizers in the moment.
The NDLR looking for the correct "root" pitches on the incoming midi side based on a chosen scale would in fact be a more traditional behavior as well - so I'd think in many case it would allow it to "play well with others" a lot more easily.
So, do I understand the current implementation in the NDLR and the limitation therein, or can I already do what I want? If not, as a feature request, even just having you guys include the programming in a new firmware for the ability for the NDLR to recognize either only the input notes of C MAJ (as now) AND C min as an option would be a huge help!!! This could be for just a single octave pf incoming input notes (you could move the optional chord qualities selection triggers to a second octave above that). And if you wanted to take it a step further, recognizing all the modes but still based on a root of C would be absolutely killer!!!
Thanks again for building an amazing piece of kit!
Cheers,
Chris
Very proud owner of a Kickstarter NDLR
I need a little clarification on how the midi input works as a chord "conductor" - and may have a feature request in conjunction with that.
I have a fairly extensive "improv" performance rig - and am very excited to integrate the NDLR into it! This setup includes Ableton, a large modular synth, and a whole host of midi/vst synths etc.
At the heart of all of this is a left hand single chromatic midi octave zone (from an SL mk3) that sends "conductor pitches" to Ableton and the modular; so say, if I trigger the keys of C MAJ, the various destinations receive those pitches and trigger the appropriate instruments and modular sequencers which are set to quantize all the notes into a given scale (in this case, C MAJ). On the right zone of the SL, I can simultaneously improv melodies to other destinations; as a keyboard player I'm simply playing with both hands in the key of C MAJ and the various pitch quantizers are doing the rest.
This is also true then if I play in, say, C MIN (in it's most basic form, the modular is particularly conducive to playing in scales and modes based on a C root). I simply set the pitch quantizers to include only the notes in C min, and I play the SLmk3 in C min - which of course includes Eb, Ab, and Bb. So I can play as a musician with both hands in any key (as normal) and the whole system "conducts" the various midi streams/instruments/CV etc. into the correct key. Clearly, this would be a perfect environment for a NDLR!
Now, here's my confusion. If I understand the manual correctly, the NDLR uses a sort of "modified" note input scheme, where the MAJ (white) notes of a C scale play the chord degrees (of any Root/scale set up in the NDLR), and black notes trigger chord qualities. This is cool, but the non-standard nature of it prevents me from integrating the NDLR into my setup in the same way as all the rest of my gear.
What I need is for the NDLR to "pre-quantize" an incoming midi note stream such that it would recognize that, as an example, if I set the NDLR internally to have a root note of C and a scale of Minor, it would recognize an incoming Ab as the root note of the six chord - and move to that scale degree accordingly. As it stands, right now I think I'd have to play an A natural in my left hand to trigger the NDLR's six chord; but that's a little hard when you're thinking and playing in the key of C minor with your RIGHT hand! Also, everything else in the rig is expecting an Ab from the left hand zone at that point; so an A will be bent into either an Ab or a Bb depending on the accuracy of the other quantizers in the moment.
The NDLR looking for the correct "root" pitches on the incoming midi side based on a chosen scale would in fact be a more traditional behavior as well - so I'd think in many case it would allow it to "play well with others" a lot more easily.
So, do I understand the current implementation in the NDLR and the limitation therein, or can I already do what I want? If not, as a feature request, even just having you guys include the programming in a new firmware for the ability for the NDLR to recognize either only the input notes of C MAJ (as now) AND C min as an option would be a huge help!!! This could be for just a single octave pf incoming input notes (you could move the optional chord qualities selection triggers to a second octave above that). And if you wanted to take it a step further, recognizing all the modes but still based on a root of C would be absolutely killer!!!
Thanks again for building an amazing piece of kit!
Cheers,
Chris