MIDI for MILKDROP

[phunkyguy]

OK, so those of you that know how milkdrop works know that milkdrops runs off presets or scenes. Those scenes are standard windows text files (ascii i think, with line breaks) You can also set milkdrop to jump between presets once every tenth of a second or so. It automatically jumps between every preset in the folder, unless you tell it to look other places. If you only put ONE preset in the folder, it will reaed it every tenth of a second, and I'm trying to find a way to make a midi device WRITE values to that text file (*.milk) that are triggered by the device. This SHOULD change the preset in realtime, or something close. Unless someone else can think of a better way to do this...

EVan@thedigitalfire.com

[HuoLong]

this sounds an easy job for PD... if you want (and incase theres no "better" way) ; send me an e-mail with more info and i look what i can do...

btw. do you mean this : http://www.nullsoft.com/free/milkdrop/ ?

cheers
-huolong

[Rovastar]

Yeah I supose taht will work but you will always have that 0.1 sec delay and it ideal but probably one of teh best solutions if you want to do complex stuff.

I find if you have a line-in from you mix and play with teh volume levels you can also get some different results maybe with a tiggered changing coiunter.

None are ideal andhopefully one day there will be more updates with this but on nno-onepriorty list at the moment.

[phunkyguy]

Rovastar,
I emailed Geiss and offered to comission him to write midi implimentation for milkdrop, or some sort of API or source code or something, but alas, no response.

I still can't figure out how to get CC messages written to the hard drive many times a second, I hear that using a sysex file will be too slow for realtime. Let me know what you guys think, I REALLY need some help on this one. Peas.

Evan
www.thedigitalfire.com
AIM - Phunkyguy
evan@thedigitalfire.com

[phunkyguy]

Ok gang, i got it. I figured it out, I know how to get midi control going for milkdrop. Gotta reinstall WinBlows 2000 again tonight, was having usb driver problems installing midisport. Bottom line is this, using 2 programs, and the vj window of milkdrop, we can make it happen, without the 1/10th second delays, or so i hope.

Go get midi ox(good to have in general) and more importantly midi yoke. get yoke from

http://www.midiox.com/myoke.htm]this link[/URL]

Next you will need the secret ingredient. Bome's Midi Translator.
get it here
be sure to register it, all you have to do is send the writer a postcard, pretty simple request.

In the readme for Bome's there are detailed instructions on how to get a midi controller to output keystokes to another program when certain midi events occur. You can capture the events, or program in the code, any midi messages will work, either cc messages or sysex.

Now just set up bome to output a sequence of keys for each parameter you wanna move. This is where your imagination is set free, but i can give you and idea. When getting midi chan 1 note on msgs, send "M, right arrow, right arrow, down arrow, enter, page up, left arrow, left arrow" If you yourself go to milkdrop text I/O window and enter those keystrokes, you'll change the size of the waveform (lineart) up a notch, then return to original menu. It's important to make that return, because other wise you'll try to run the command again, and be in a different starting place. Once you get what you want plugged in, Bome sends those keystokes to whatever the active program is. Use keyboard to trigger pics and text, midi for all the visuals... I HAVE TRIUMPHED! I'll let you know how it goes, but in theory it should work great, if not, i'll try to send the keystokes to a text file, but that's plan B.

[idiot]

Interesting...........

[phunkyguy]

So we've found that an all together better interface for this is the $45 solution offered by griffin technologies. It's a giant aluminum knob programmable to send whatever you want. Drivers are much more friendly, much more stable, and midi has a little more latency, from what i understand. Check out the web page here

http://www.griffintechnology.com/pro...ate/index.html

We're gonna set up one knob to control the milkdrop menu, the other to control the parameters. Much easier than programming all the midi nonsense, much cheaper, less time consuming, more flexible, and just damn cool. So if you still wanna mess with the old method, Florian Bomer's over at www.bome.com is trying to make a program triggered by midi cc messages, versus midi note on messages. He asked me to give it a trial run when it's finished, and i'll let you all know how it goes. For now it's back to the powermate. Powermate is available at any mac store, or right on the website. Peas gang.


Evan
evan@thedigitalfire.com

[TechnoLust]

hmmmm, I thought the USB CommandPost by Focus Enhancements could also be programmed to do various things in any program? It has the jog/shuttle wheel, but it also has a take bar, a joystick, and 15 keys (and it was reviewed on VJCentral). I'm thinking of trying to rig this up to control Pilgrim. I'll have to get back to ya on how that goes...