Footswitch sustain via keyboard stroke? [solved]

Hi,

I would like to know if this device, which is designed for sending keystrokes, could be setup as a MIDI sustain/expression pedal via Bome:

http://www.airturn.com/bluetooth-pedals/ped

I guess it could be done by translating the keystrokes into sustain/expression MIDI messages, isn´t it?

Thank you in advance.

Absolutely! The key would be to first make sure the pedal is properly communicating with your computer, and since you say it sends key stroke commands, you could easily intercept that and use MT Pro to output the sustain pedal midi message.

Great!

I´ll try it when I will receive the product.


Thank you.

Hi again,

I have asked the manufacturer and they said:

"Regardless of the key message or translated MIDI, it is still a momentary switch so there is not a hold function like you need for expression and sustain."

Do you think it could be a limitation for this purpose?

Thank you again.

As a momentary switch, foot press will send 1 message, and foot release will send another. If you wanted it to 'latch', meaning 1st press and release sends a message, and another press/release will send a second message.... Either way can be done with MT Pro.

Hi,

Thank you for your faster support.

In that case, could you please give me an idea about what rules should I use?

And what MIDI Message should I select? I haven´t found in the MIDI Strokes list anything related with "Sustain" or "Hold Pedal".

PS: I ordered today this device and it was not shipped yet. I would like to test it with a regular keyboard and check its behavior. If it doesn´t work as expected I could cancel the order.

Thank you once again.

Here is an example emulating page Up and Down (mode 4) of the PED.
Page UP (left pedal) sends CC#64 sustain on/off
One press is ON ,the next is OFF and so on...
Page Down (right pedal) sends CC#11 expression 0 or 127 .Normally ,it would mute unmute a synth.

You can also use timers and send different midi CC depending how fast you click on a certain period of time.
(eg. double tap=solo)

Hi,

So making the "hold" behavior in a keystroke is not possible? You must press each time the pedal to toggle on/off?

And what are these rules for?
Thank you!

With "hold" you mean keep the pedal pressed ->make an action and when released make another one?
If so ,you can't do it with the PED ,because it doesn't send (as far I understand) separate messages when pressed/released.
It only sends once one message when pressed and none when released. (could be wrong)
You can do it with a wireless numeric or small keyboard (but with lot of diy...) because BMT understands key down AND up events.

With my set up ,it emulates the hold with the toggle workaround.

First rule is for counting the number of times the pedal is pressed.
Last rule resets the variable to zero if you hit the pedal more than 2 times. so "ga" gets 2 values : one and two.
fist hit : ga=ga+1 ->ga=0+1->ga=1
so pp=0 meaning in the first translator it will transmit an expression CC message with 0
second hit : ga=ga+1 ->ga=1+1->ga=2
so pp=127 meaning in the first translator it will transmit an expression CC message with 127
BUT now since the ga = 2 ,it triggers the "if" statement (the last rule) and sets ga back to zero.

Thank you so much for your clear explanations Sakis,

I don´t know if someone could tell us if after a while a keystroke is being pressed, it could send a message after releasing it to simulate the hold behavior.

If the AirTurn PED works like a regular computer keyboard, it should send continuous messages until it´s released. So maybe there´s some way to use it as a regular sustain pedal without pressing it twice.

I hope somebody knows how to do that, my AirTurn PED is on its way right now.

Thank you again.

It depends on the PED.
Post here your findings when PED arrives

I will!

FYI I have found this solution regarding the hold behavior on a keystroke, maybe you could try it too with your PED.

viewtopic.php?t=4977

I hope it works.

Hi Sakis,

I have found that with these simple settings the sustain key stroke works as expected (in hold mode) using the computer keyboard Shift key in this example.

It´s important to setup both states assigned to the same key stroke:

1. Key Down as CC64 with value 127, and
2. Key Up as CC64 with value 0

1. Sustain Hold ON

Incoming: Key DOWN: Shift
Outgoing: Control Change on ch. 1 with CC#:64 (0x40) and value:127 (0x7F), to port Bome Virtual Port 1

2. Sustain Hold OFF

Incoming: Key UP: Shift
Outgoing: Control Change on ch. 1 with CC#:64 (0x40) and value:0 (0x00)

(You can download the .bmtp attached file.)

Could you please try these settings to the AirTurn PED (Key Up OR Key Down I guess, instead Shift) and check if it works?

I don't have the PED

Ok Sakis,

In that case I´ll wait to receive the PED and try this solution.

Thank you!

Here you have the results:

https://youtu.be/eNvzZYZ92bQ

So ,the PED does send key up and down events. That's great!
Thanks for sharing

nice one!
Pablo, maybe post the link to this forum topic in the video description?
Thanks!
Florian

Hi Florian,

It´s done!

great, thanks. I have get to know someone from AirTurn at NAMM, I've contacted him with this.
Florian