Hello, I'm a little confused by Bome MIDI Translator aliases and how to use them correctly.
For instance; I have 1x ROLI Seaboard and 2x ROLI Lightpads.
Should I create,
3 separate aliases for each device or
2 aliases (1 for each device type) or
1 alias that points to all 3 ROLI inputs?
I thought I could create 1 alias which contains all ROLI inputs.. and sometimes this works (for some devices) and other times I receive a message saying,
"An alias of this name already exists. Please type a different MIDI port alias name."
So it looks like I need to create an individual alias for each device? I have a lot of devices and I'm trying to group them by manufacturer, eg. ROLI, AKAI, KMI, KORG etc. to keep it simple. But the downside of creating individual aliases is that the 'MIDI Router' box is completely cluttered with inputs and outputs and I'm getting lost in my own web.
Is there a way to hide real ports and show only aliases? Or maybe colour the text/icon?
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The other issue I have is that I'm not entirely clear how to utilise the Output port.
Do I send ALL my devices to the 'Bome Virtual Port 1' alias? Or do I create individual out aliases for each device and install more ports on my system?
Are there any downsides to using BMT1 in applications for all MIDI devices..? Or should I be creating more ports for some reason?
Aliases are indeed ways to give your own given name to an existing MIDI port. The original port will still be shown and cannot be hidden. The main reason aliases exist is so that if you move your project to a different system (or BomeBox), where the real names are different, you can then just re-assign them to the aliases that you created in one place instead of going through the entire project preset and translator and re-map them to the proper name.
An alias can only be assigned to one port, however you can define default input ports and output ports at the project level (preferably using aliases), then override these on a preset or translator basis for just the ports you want for that preset or translator. Preset default ports override project default ports. Translator defined ports, override project and preset ports.
I suggest you, in most cases, group your ports (aliases) at preset levels based on functionality you want for the translators under that preset. For instance, you might want a preset that takes input from all controllers and passes output to Bome MIDI Translator 1 Virtual Port. Then have your application monitor “BMT 1” (if using short names). If you want LED feedback for a given controller but not send that information to your application, you would create a preset with input from your controller (alias) and then output back to the same controller.
You can use default MIDI routes and then anything that is not executed by a translator will follow these (thru) routes. As a matter of preference, however I usually don’t do this and like to have total control of input and output via the translators within the presets. Without doing this, I often forget about the defined through paths and end up tripping myself up.
I seee! Thank you for both the clear explanation and the quick response! I was completely unaware that there was a hierarchy going at all three levels, this makes so much more sense using the aliases in presets now 🙂
Thanks again!!