Adding LED Lights To The Shift Mode Of Novation Dicers

Hello, ive been sent here from Serato.com i was told that using the Bome Midi Translator software, i could turn on the led lights on my Novation Dicers for when im using the shift mode that you can map buttons to. Is that correct?

When you map buttons from Serato DJ to the spare banks on the Dicers the buttons are blank, they dont light up.
I just want add the led lights for when i trigger samples/effects.

Has anyone done it to the dicers or is it even possible, if it is could i get some help doing it.

Hi blow

You should totally be able to do this, pending the Dicers can be connected to multiple apps at once, so you don't lose the integration provided from Serato. They can be... difficult with virtual MIDI ports, but I haven't tried this in a while.

The short answer is definitely, the longer answer is it might get a little complicated as you try. I can give this a shot tomorrow.

J

Hi DvlsAdvct thanks for your reply, & offer to take a look at this for me.

I think you can connect them to multiple apps at once. I was using a little program called Dicetools to sort of achieve this, but it's very bugy. The leds didnt save ect... I was told to come here & using your software the dicers could be "hard coded" to display the leds.

I've got to be honest i havent even downloaded the software, and tried to do this myself. Im thinking that it's going to be very hard for a beginner to do it...

Do you have a set of dicers m8?

If not & you need me to connect them to the software, just let me know.

Thanks again m8

Hi m8, any news on this?

Hi blow, sorry for the delay, the holidays hit like a ton of bricks.

We need to confirm that the Dicers can be connected to both applications at the same time, but this shouldn't be terribly hard. Open up Serato and make sure the Dicers work. Then open up MT (download the free trial) and connect the Input and Output ports of the Dicers. If you receive any errors then this gets a little more complicated but is still usable. If you don't then we are free to move forward.

I'm going to give you a quick crash course in how MIDI Translator saves and recalls values for LEDs, as well as how to enter that information.

Global Variables
MIDI Translator uses what's called Global Variables to store values across a project. Some common uses for them include using Presets for layers of controllers, storing LED values when switching presets and having buttons light up different colors if a pad is hit at a certain velocity. Global variables are represented in MIDI Translator by using values similar to g0, h5 or iq. There are approximately 286 global variables:

ga, gb, gc...gz, g1, g2, g3...g0
ha, hb, hc...hz, h1, h2, h3...h0
...
na, nb, nc...n0

I hope that makes sense so far. When you store a global variable with a specific value, for example ga=16, then that value can be recalled across the entire project. So, if you press a button on your Dicer that has the value ga=16, you can have a second button that is dependent on the value of ga. For example, you can have a button that sends one of three messages based on what the value of ga is. If ga=16 then that button triggers a cue point, but if ga=17 then that button activates a loop. Once we start seeing this in action then it will start becoming very clear.

So we want to focus on LEDs, right? Since this is just going to be related to the Shift button changing the colors of the buttons we are going to start simple. There are more efficient ways to handle this problem, but if I jump right to those you aren't going to be able to understand what's happening as well, and we are all about learning here.

First you need to set your Default MIDI Ports. All we are using is the Dicer for Incoming and Outgoing, so it should be pretty simple. But now I have to ask you a question on integration, since I can't remember how the Dicers handle LEDs. The core layer, does it light up when you press a hotcue, or a when a hotcue is assigned? How does it work out of the box?

Thanks
J

Hi m8, thanks a lot for helping with this.

I've opened Serato & MT & when i go to connect the Input and Output ports of the Dicers, like you said there was a error: **EDIT** When i close Serato, but keep the dicers plugged in. It'll then let me connect the Input and Output ports of the Dicers.


This is how the leds are out of the box:
The hot cue's (Red Leds):
The buttons are blank when no cues are set for the track. They then light up when a cue point is assinged & when you trigger them they stay lit.

The Loop Roll (Green Leds):
The buttons are half lit & when you trigger the button they light up fully.

The Loops (Orange Leds):
Same as the loop rolls, the buttons are half lit & when you trigger the button they light up fully.

I want to keep those 3 pages as they are, but the 2 mappable pages they give you (Hold the shift key & green, and hold the shift key and orange) i just want to add the leds to those 2 pages.

Do you think they could light up like the loop roll & loops? Like when the shifted green page is selected, the buttons are half lit & light up fully when you trigger them.

Alright, that first error is a serious issue. That means that you can't connect the Dicers to two applications at the same time and my initial plan is not going to work. What I'd like you to do instead is load MT first and connect the Dicers. Then use the MIDI Router.

In the MIDI Router, connect the Dicer Input to a Virtual MIDI Port, like Bome Virtual Port 1. Then open Serato and activate Bome Virtual Port 1 in the MIDI preferences. Does that work? The only way this works is if both applications are working and receiving data from the Dicers. Serato can be, in technical terms, a pain in the ass with stuff like this.

Thanks
J

Yea that seamed to work m8, there were no errors & in the midi devices pannel in serato it shows:
Bome's midi translator 1
2-Bome's midi translator 1

It was doing something because when the dicers were in the cue points mode (Red) i loaded a track & pressed one of the buttons to save a cue point. Expecting for the button to light up red, but it lit up green.

Then i closed MT & opened Serato again & they were back to normal.

Just wanted to drop a line and let you know I haven't forgotten. I'll write up a few steps this evening when I get home from work.

Can you activate another Virtual MIDI Port and have one output to Serato (Virtual Port 1) and one return to MT (Virtual Port 2). So what you'd do is draw a connection from the Dicer In to Virtual Port 1 Out, and then from Virtual Port 2 In to the Dicer Out. Then activate the MT Port 1 In in Serato, and MT Port 2. Does that make sense?

It's weird they aren't lighting up correctly, though. Can you check the other modes and let me know what happens? I can't find my Dicer so I can't test yet but I'm going to keep looking.

Ok m8, is this what you mean:

Also what do i select here:
I havent tried it yet, waiting to see if thats right first.

Thanks m8

Hey

So you need to activate two Virtual MIDI Ports. You have only one activated right now.

Once that is done activate the Inputs and Outputs, as well as the Dicers. Note at the bottom of your second image that the Novation Dicer input and output are not activated.

Does that make sense?
J

Thanks a lot of your time helping me with this m8, but i think im in over my head with this...

Maybe a custom xml file could be another way to do it, i dont know.

Thanks again tho m8