Akai Fire exclusively mapped?

The Akai Fire midi controller has a custom "User" row that is used in conjunction with the encoders. I want to map an encoder to perform a mouse click. However, FL Studio needs to connect directly to the Akai Fire in order to enable all its functionality (see attached pic) - it actually sends input and output continuously back and forth to the device in order to light it up, etc.

 

The only way I can create a translation from Akai Fire -> Bome Midi Translator 1 Virtual Out is by disabling the device in FL Studio otherwise I get the error "MIDI INPUT 'FL STUDIO FIRE' cannot be opened (maybe in use by another program?). It is set to 'pending'."

Is what I'm doing not possible? Do I need to tell FL Studio that "Bome Midi Translator 1" is a Akai Fire device?

Yes, you can attach your Akai Pro Fire input and output ports to MT Pro.  Use Bome MIDI Translator Virtual 1 In for input from FL Studio an Bome MIDI Translator Virtual 1 out to FL Studio. These may be shown as "BMT 1" in FL studio if you have MT Pro configured to expose short names.

 

Then in MT Pro, you can draw lines to make MIDI Thru paths.

One line between you Akai Fire input to Bome MIDI Translato Pro Vitrual Port 1 output.

The other line betwe Bome MIDI Translator Pro input and you Akai fire output. See attached illustration.

Then you write translators for the extra knobs you want that are otherwise not used to handle you mouse actions. 

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

The issue is Windows does not allowed shared MIDI ports, so we use the MIDI router to catch and pass through MIDI messages to a different port.

EDIT: I didn\'t realize it but somehow the preset itself had been marked inactive so this is a non-issue. Thanks again for your  assistance!

 

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your response. I\'ve got it mapped like you\'ve said but I can\'t seem to get translators to properly activate. I can see in Event Monitor that the Midi In and Router Out light up when i press a note so I used \"Capture Midi\" to create a simple outgoing Mouse left-click rule on any velocity but it doesn\'t seem to activate. Is there some way to make sure that the rule is being trigger? At this point I\'m not sure if the action is the problem or the rule.

What's the difference between "Bome MIDI Translator 1 Virtual In" and "Bome Virtual Port 1"?

Bome Virtual Port 1 is is just an auto alias that point to the true port of Bome MIDI Translator Virtual Out. I think this auto alias was created to ensure backwards compatibility with older version of MT Pro. You can use one or the other but don't use both as you will get duplicate output to the same port.

By default, mouse messages are blocked if MT Pro is the focused app. You can turn this of in setting or simply move your mouse outside of MT Pro. If you open the log file and check "Outgoing", you should see the mouse click action logged. If you check "Incoming" you will see if your incoming trigger matched. So if you see "MIDI IN" but not "Incoming" it generally means your translator incoming trigger is not correct. As far as I can tell you have everything set correctly so in a nutshell 1) open the logging feature 2) check outgoing 3) move your mouse outside of MT pro, 4) push your knob.

I'm interested to know what you are doing with those knobs.

Also, isn't it supposed to be a CC message, not a note message?  When you get it working, isn't it triggering notes

to be played in the piano roll when you move the knob?

Oh, so I've basically got a "audition knob" setup for my Kontakt libs so that I can use an infinity-scrolling knob to advance to the next patch and emit a short-delayed note. Saves me a ton of time when I'm trying to find the right sound for something. Works great and I can technically use it with any of my other VSTs.

Oh, fantastic. I like setting up things like that too, and I have an Akai Fire. Interesting use of the knob.

yeah, it's a shame that something this common isn't easier to do. Seems like every VST I've got always comes with a bazillion patches and no easy way to preview them. How do you like your Fire btw? I'm enjoying it but its got some irritating limitations, like only a single-undo (BOME to the rescue I've got it mapped to a knob from 1 to 127 for undo/redo respectively).

Check out Air Music Tech's VIP 3.1 plugin. It's a fantastic preset manager. I love the Fire. It's the centerpiece of my studio. I built a wooden crib for it, and it's perched behind my qwerty keyboard. I've had a lot of discussion with IL devs over its issues, so they are (at least) aware of them. A single undo? Ya, it doesn't have the 'eternal' undo, like within FL Studio. (Alt+Ctrl+Z). Undo/Redo has the advantage of being an A/B compare function, anytime you need it. I have Ctrl+Z assigned to my left-hand windows key, through iCue. And colored red. So it's a one button shortcut. You might be interested in the work I've done. When I'm done making some youtube vids, I'll link them here.