New User -- problems with Trial version

Seems like decent software but not very intuitive for me.

I'm wanting to use a piece of music software with my MIDI device. Prior to finding BOME, I had mapped all the dials, sliders and buttons to mouse macros which worked but meant that I could only move one slider or dial at a time (which was no good for what I wanted). So far, BOME seems to pass the instructions instantly so it may be suited for task.

A few questions please....

1- How do I map dials and sliders to a mouse command? I want the dial on my MIDI controller to turn a dial on the software using mouse scrolls.

2- LED's: is it possible to map the LEDs so that they toggle on and off when pressed? So far 2 (out of 7) buttons light up momentarily when pressed and turn off when released. If so, how do I go about it?

The audio software I want to map is "d-lusion's Rubber Duck" and my MIDI conroller is a "DJ-Tech 101".

Thanks so much.

sorry to say this but i assume you haven’t used forums often, c’mon a title with just HELP? anyways i’ve seen a couple of similar Q&A’s that resemble your wishes… wouldn’t be a bad idea to browse this forum a bit (search or incl google)

Yep, have used plenty of forums before, checked google and the pages here. Thanks for the suggestion but zero help at all. Also the help file doesn’t work on the trial – says file not found! What’s the point of a specific support forum if I’m told to use google instead?

I had considered buying it, so glad I didn’t now. I’ve decided to find another option instead of BOME for 4 main reasons, 1- trial keeps crashing on start – have to re-install to fix, so makes me dubious to spend £30 for pro if stability is an issue. 2- It’s picking up a phantom MIDI input from somewhere which is causing issues with keypresses. 3- It’s not intuitive to use. 4- Your snide response to my initial question. “Use google”. Really? Thanks didn’t think of that.

BOME seems to fail on all counts where software is concerned: That’s 1- Stability, 2- Functionality, 3- Usability, 4- Support. So thanks, I’ll be using google to find an alternative.

Hi Peter,

I’m sorry to see you are having problems loading and testing the Bome MIDI Translator Pro software. As a user, I had it for years and not experienced any stability issues.  If you could provide more information with the operating system you are using, maybe we can figure out if there is something else going on.  I’m happy to help here if need be. Just let me know and I will chime in with answers to the questions you originally posted.

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

 

Here is a tutorial on how to map a knob to a mouse scroll wheel.

Toggling a button on/off is done with global variable. Here would be an example translator

Incoming: Raw MIDI 90 30 qq

Rules:

ga=ga^1

if ga==1 then qq=127

Outgoing: Raw MID  90 30 qq

 

In the example above, 90 is Note On MIDI CH1, Note number is 30H (48 decimal) and velocity qq (incoming doesn’t matter) and outgoing qq will be either 0 or 127 depending of the value of ga

ga=ga^1 toggles the value of ga between 0 and 1 for each keypress. ga is a global variable.

 

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

Oh and in the above you can direct the output back to your controller for LED control, this can be done at a project level and then overridden at either preset level or translator level.

Thanks, I’m using Windows 10 Home edition. The Bome trial I’m using is “MIDITranslatorPro1.8.3_Trial_892” it runs but after restarting a few times (20 minutes trial cut-off) it wont start after around 5 sessions – even if I restart the PC; it’s needs a fresh install of the trial to continue working otherwise it force-closes either immediately or as the nag-screen timer counts down. As for the phantom MIDI input, all other MIDI listeners detect input correctly from the device but for some reason, Bome is picking up sporadic/almost-constant jitter from the MIDI channel. If I was confident that I can get it to work with the dials and sliders (even if I can’t get the LEDs to work as intended), I’d definitely buy it but it just seems to be littered with issues for me. I’m currently toying with MIDI-2-key and trying to map it to macros again but it’s not as responsive as I’d hoped due to the macros sharing a single mouse-pointer instance. I tried reverse engineering the audio synth to map it directly yo MIDI but I could only successfully map 8 MIDI control commands – I need to map around 30 in total. Thanks for the feedback.

Thanks, I can’t follow it exactly but it gives me something to play with, looks like it’s incrementing the value to step through from 1(min) to 127(max), corresponding to the assigned input “qq”. There are two types of dials on the controller, 1 increments the output up/down as it turns, the other just continually outputs the same value in one direction and a different value in the other (pos/neg).

Hi, thanks for providing more information! I have not heard any reports of Windows 10 users having such problems. Could you tell me what other programs and devices that you are running that use Windows MIDI interface? Also, I assume you are not running MT Pro at privilege level and are running as a normal user. Finally please ensure that only one program at a given time is trying to access a given MIDI input or output. Windows does not share MIDI ports well. If you have any MIDI managers running, please try with them shut down. For instance, I installed CopperLan on my Windows PC and it broke most other MIDI applications as CopperLAN insisted on taking over al MIDI ports. If you are connecting to a DAW, please start Bome MIDI Translator first, then your application. Then make sure your application is not trying to access the same MIDI port as Bome MIDI Translator and use one of Bome MIDI Translator instead if you want a MIDI thru connection from your controller to your DAW. Are you running over any network MIDI ports. I ask this because that is usually the most likely cause of jitter especially if connected wirelessly.

I’m pretty sure we will be able to help you and that once we figure out the installation issue, you will be very happy with MT Pro. I discovered it about 6 years ago and never looked back. I even use Bome Network Pro to connect to my BomeBoxes’ and Mac and Windows PC.s

Maybe a snapshot of your task list would also be of help.

Also, if you share your project file, maybe I could provide a few tips.

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

Hi Peter when we get your installation stable, this other post might also help.

https://www.bomeloft.com/support/kb/premiere-pro-jog-wheel

Yes a 0-127 is an absolute controller and a relative encoder which generally either outputs 127 for left and 1 for right or 63 for left and 65 for right.

Some relative encoders will also send 126 for 2 left 125 for 3 left 2 for 2 right and 3 for 3 left.

Or for the other example 61 for 2 left and 67 for 2 right etc.

Another note about the initial comment. It was from another user and as Moderator I’m here to help. We can always change the initial Subject later to better match the issue.

For me Bome is rock solid and when we ever see any stability issues, it is our number one priority to address. I have yet to have not solved one and it is usually tied to some of the suggestions I have provided. Occasionally we run into a “surprise” and it take a little more time but again, never have we not been able to get it resolved.

I’ve informed the development team to see if there are any other things I have not yet addressed in my initial comments.

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

Hi, I’m now running Pro and those crashing issues have gone. It seems to have been related to the countdown timer on the trial version as the crash would always occur during that particular stage of launching the software. It required a re-install of the trial before I could get past the nag-screen’s countdown.

As for the other issue [now also solved] it is the only MIDI software running (other than the software synth I’m trying to pass the instructions to. I was running it as administrator (presumably with the associated privileges). Still getting a phantom signal through MIDI (90 0E 00) – seems to be a constant output, this doesn’t happen with other MIDI listeners however. Not connected wirelessly, have tried different USB ports, it’s set to MIDI Channel 1 but no DAW running. Happens if I run just BOME or BOME with the synth (although the synth isn’t accepting the MIDI instructions – just mouse-clicks so far).

*[SOLVED] just set it to channel 2 and the jitter seems to be gone -AND all the LEDs are now working when I press the buttons!

Thanks so much for all the positive feedback. This is a great community and I appreciate all the replies. All the initial issues seem now to be resolved. I purchased the full version and can confirm that the software now has rock-solid stability. Have tried some of the Rules people offered but after playing around with it all day and reading and watching tutorials, unfortunately I can’t seem to get my head round it; it’s definitely way too complicated for me (probably MIDI in general, not necessarily BOME), I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to get it to do what I want (just wanted it to move sliders and dials and press buttons on a software MIDI synth from a hardware MIDI controller input). I appreciate not much can be done if I don’t understand it so I’ll keep reading the tutorials and dipping back into it here and there to see if I can get it up and running. Had initially got it all up and running with mouse macro software and was hoping for something similar with MIDI. Can get BOME to press buttons when I press the MIDI controller but can’t get it to output MIDI signals for sliders and dials from playing around but can’t follow the manual or tutorials or work it out for myself. Too many different things going on at once at once between the Controller, BOME and the synth for me to narrow down what’s happening. Looks like it’s really decent software though and probably could do what I want. The only way I can think to get it to work is if I map every controller position to a dedicated mouse click on-screen, but that’s obviously not the correct way to do it, it will take forever to map and would not be latency-efficient.

Hi Peter,

Bome MIDI Translator Pro, being a very powerful tool, can be a bit in intimidating at times and as such, can take some time to get your head around it. That is why I’m here. I can help you with specific questions as they come up here on the forum (for free) and as you have seen there are a lot of tutorials and other users that have posted questions that can help.

If you just want a total solution built for you, I do this type of thing for a fee as an independent consultant/programmer. If you can articulate your requirements, I can provide a quote if you would rather have someone else do it for you. Just drop me an email at the address below.

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

Really appreciate that. Fantastic support and service by the way. I’ve managed to get a fair bit done now as I figured out was was causing all the problems (a rogue keypress call I had set in one of the translators that was doing all kinds of crazy things – I deleted it and everything started behaving as expected). I’ll hit the forum for some ideas to get the rest of the project nailed – BOME’s added functionality to the music-synth I’m working on that wasn’t previously possible. One of the main issues I face personally is that it’s largely number driven and on flat grey. I have dyscalculia so I struggle to recall or differentiate the numerical data and functions as I scroll through. That’s obviously a specific problem to me though, not the software – so it’s great to have the option to commission your help to code it for me.

Hi, Peter. Thanks for the kind words!

This may not help with dyslexia but there are two high contrast options you can set in view settings for people that need easier readability. High Contract and Hight Contrast Inverted. You might want to give them a try and let us know if it improves readability for you.

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

Thanks, the High contrast mode didn’t help me specifically but appreciate the tip 🙂 I can see the numbers, I just see different numbers to what’s actually there, lol. 677543 to me may look like 577563 one minute and 644543 the next. With care/luck it may look like 677543 but I have no real way to test if I’m correct or not, so copy and paste is my best friend. Even if I read them aloud, there’s no guarantee that what I’m reading is correct, even if I remember my voice-pattern afterwards to recollect the numbers. It’s a weird disorder which wreaked havok with my Aeronautical Engineering :'( Seems to have got progressively worse but makes everything interesting and 5 times more difficult than necessary but it always makes sure I delve into things far deeper than I would otherwise have to, in order to translate things to my own way of thinking.

It may or may not help to turn on speaking capability on your computer. Dyslexia is difficult to handle even with all of the accessibility options that are available today.