Pyramid midi routing

Pyramid
1

Hello,

I’ve just received my pyramid and I wanted to plug my 2 midi controllers in order to play some of my synths, and I just don’t understand, it seems that this is not something I can do.

I explain myself. Until now, I’m using the digitakt as my main midi processor/sequencer. In digitakt I can do:

  • MIDI Controller 1 -> control MIDI A track -> goes on channel 3
  • MIDI Controller 2 -> control MIDI B track -> goes on channel 4

And on each pattern I can configure differently which synth my MIDI controller does play.

I read and re-read the manual and I don’t see anyway to do this very basic MIDI organisation with the pyramid.

Am I wrong ? Or is it this device ?

Thank you very much for your help, I feel so sad at the moment I was expecting a lot with the pyramid, but now it cannot even integrate my setup …

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And how do you record 2 synth at the same time, with one hand on one controller and the other on the other one.

The only way seems to use multitracks Bank A in the Midi in settings and have my controllers on midi channel 1 and 2 for exemple, and then control my 2 synths.

But after I’m done, if I want to control another synth, I have to go in settings to do multitracks bank B, and I can control 2 new synths by switching to bank B

But this is horribly clumsy, I must be wrong !

I’d be very happy to have some light on those subjects, some help.

Thank you very much.

3

sorry, its a bit unclear to me precisely what you are trying to achieve…
(I dont know the digitakt so thats not helping … i have an octatrack :slight_smile: )

I get that you have 2 midi controllers… but what you do you want to do with them?

generally you are correct.
there are two ‘modes’ on the pyramid for input handled by OMNI mode

active track - so you can direct midi input to the active track
mulitrack - which means midi ch 1-> 16, goto (eg) track A1-A16

multitrack therefore allows you to control up to 16 devices.

why would you need to swtich to bank b?
track A1 = DIN A , midi channel 1
track A2 = DIN B , midi channel 1

the important point to note is its multiTRACK , and a tracks destination can be any din, cv, or usb output and channel combination.

the limitation is that indeed you are limited to 16 tracks for live input.
(of course you are free to use the other banks for other uses)

not sure if this is helpful or not.

if you have ideas for improvements then these are best submitted via the contact form

1 Like
4

Thank you very much for your quick answer. I didn’t have time earlier to digest what you were saying.

So I think I understand better how it works and why it’s a little bit hard with my workflow.

In one of my music band, there are several midi controllers where I can’t change MIDI channels. An old midi accordion, which can control 3 channels depending on where you play on the instrument (left-hand bass -> 1, left-hand chords -> 2 and right-hand melody -> 3)
A small xKey which is the only keyboard that fit perfectly on an old toy piano.
A Roli Seaboard.

Of course I can change the midi channel of the Roli and the xKey, but not on stage because I need a computer and it’s clumsy.

So when I was using the digitakt for midi sequencing and routing, per pattern I could choose Midi in channel per track, and Midi out Channel per track, so the possibilities where infinite.

Here with multitrack, it’s okay but it force my visual organisation with the midi channel of the controllers (for exemple the accordion HAVE TO BE on track 1, 2 and 3).

What worries me a little bit is that with the digitakt, and it was so easy to change pattern and have a totally new midi out routing organisation. So it was very easy to change totally the setup inside the same project. It doesn’t seem possible to do that with pyramid. But I have to study it more to be sure, and to understand how pattern works.

Thank you very much, I’ll post my progresses or my troubles !

5

yeah, the pyramid’s midi input is not that flexible… so unforuntately unless Squarp change it (raise a feature request!) then you’re going to have to work around it.

one thing you could do is use some kind of ‘intelligent’ midi router.
these allow you to overcome midi limitations with controllers etc.

e.g. something like the Blokas Midihub would allow you to re-map the midi channel of your accordian to any midi channel… it also has 8 presets, so you could reasonably easy change this during a performance.

6

Yes, I used heavily Bomebox and bomebox scripting, really heavily … with Steeve always helpfull on the forum to find solutions.

But it arrived at a point where I couldn’t understand what was going on in the bomebox.

That’s why I was happy to simplify my setup with the digitakt routing capabilities, and I thought the Pyramid could be my big MIDI Cervo Center that could do everything.

I’ll give a try to the pyramid, to see if I can bend the way I’m used to work into the machine’s worflow. My idea is to do a simpler setup with things more explicit and with less intermediate gadget (by the way, I was very disapointed when I realised that the pyramid couldn’t do midi hosting).

I’ve got the feeling that the pyramid could be perfect with just a few more features ! Maybe the next hardware version.

Thank you very much for your feedback, I’m going back to the manual !

7

Ok, another limitation that I see about not being able to choose the input channel on a track is that I can’t do layering of several machines in multitrack mode. For example:
Keystep on channel 1
Track 1, channel input 1, channel output 1
Track 2, channel input 1, channel output 2
Track 3, channel input 1, channel output 3

Like this I can control 3 synth with my midi controller. This is something I use for really heavy lead or with pads, or If I want a destroyed bass with some bottom (generally with only 2 machines though).

So I’m going to submit by the contact form because I think this is a very big limitation for something that seems quite simple to implement.

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