Multiple Windows

Is it possible to have multiple windows of different Midi translator projects opened at once?

Yes, but be careful. Sometimes you might get some crosstalk between the multiple instances.

With that said, I don’t remember experiencing any problems.

I do it quite often though when I need to emulate a controller function in one instance and test in another. You will need to go to options and make sure that you allow for multiple instances.

Steve Caldwell
Bome Q and A Moderator and
Independent Bome Consultant/Specialist
bome@sniz.biz

 

Thanks could please clarify where the option is for me? In the screenshot i show the only option that seems remotely close to it, but im sure this isnt it.

That is it. Leave it unchecked and you can open up a new instance of MT Pro. It will open up to the last project used so once it opens, you will see another error message (multiple instances trying to access the same MIDI ports). Then you can either create a new project or open up another existing project.

Steve

Ok. So when i do that im expecting i should be able to have 2 separate screens of midi translator of 2 separate projects. Im not seeing that.

If i have a blank MT open and i want to open another project in this case say one i want to copy something from to the blank file. The blank MT project will take on the project i wish to copy from. If i hit new from that point which i feel again a new separate window should open it just resets the screen. Please correct me where im misunderstanding.

OK, I’m on Windows platform so the way you open the second project may be different for you. You may want to just open the application again inside of chooser instead of doing file open. For Windows. I go to my taskbar and then right click on the MT Pro icon (no with a project name), or I go to my desktop and click on the application there.

Ok ill keep playing around with it. Is there anyone that can verify that its possible on osx?

OK, here are a few clarifications:

1) The setting “only allow one instance”
This setting controls if MIDI Translator checks at start-up if there is already another instance (window) running. If yes, it brings that instance to front and quits the second instance.
Turning it off works fine on Windows, however on Mac, the Finder has its own way of preventing multiple instances, so disabling this option has no effect on Mac. If you’re not using the Finder, but launch MT Pro from a command line, you could create 2 or more instances when this setting is turned off.

2) Using the command line / Terminal
On Mac, you can launch an application like this from the Terminal:
open -a "/Applications/Bome MIDI Translator Pro.app"
However, this will, again, use Finder’s instance detection and merely activate an already running instance. Now you can use the option -n to prevent Finder from doing this:
open -n -a "/Applications/Bome MIDI Translator Pro.app"
Now, if the “allow multiple instances” is unchecked in MIDI Translator Pro, you’ll be able to run the same instance multiple times.
Instead of unchecking the option in the settings, you can also override it from the command line:
open -n -a "/Applications/Bome MIDI Translator Pro.app" --args -noop -multiinstance
Note: there is a bug in MT Pro 1.8.3 so that the “-multiinstance” parameter is ignored if given as first parameter. Therefore, I’ve inserted the “-noop” parameter (which is a “no operation”) so that -multiinstance will work.

Now these ways to open a new window have one caveat: they use the same settings and if you load different project files, only the last one will be reopened when restarting the different instances.

Here is the third, most practical option:

3) Creating renamed copies of the application
Use the finder to go to /Applications, copy “Bome MIDI Translator Pro” and select Paste in the same folder. The finder will create “Bome MIDI Translator Pro copy”. Now rename it to, e.g. “Bome MIDI Translator Pro 2” or what you like. These 2 renamed copies of the application will behave as 2 different programs: each copy uses its own set of settings, remembers individually which project file was open, and Finder will not prevent them to run simultaneously.

Still, this option is somewhat shaky, e.g. the virtual MIDI ports can cause conflicts or using keystroke INPUT in both instances. So in general, we recommend to put everything into one project file, if possible, and only run one instance of MT Pro.

Hope that helps!
Florian