Beatstep Pro DAW and Gear Midi Hell(p)

Step BeatStep Pro
#1

Hi I am trying to get all of my gear and wares working and midi-synced in a way that works in time and tracked and recorded…

Gear and Ware:

Garageband on Mac
AUM on iOS iPad Pro 2018

iConnectAudio4 A/D interface
Arturia Beatstep Pro
Moog Subsequent 37 CV
Moog DFAM
midi keyboard
also possess an old midisport 2x2

I am just so in the weeds here trying to figure out how to get everything clocked and in sequence… unsure what to set as master/slave or where and how… lost with the double whammy of AUM and iConnect midi grids - throw in BSP and GB and I’m lost in a maze in over my head and my logic trees are breaking…

I would like to send the Moogs into iConnect4Audio and AUM iOS to add effects and other AUM tracks of software instruments controlled and sequenced via BSP. I have achieved getting the synth and dfam into AUM, adding effects, but then in figuring out how to sync AUM tempo and also the midi routing gets me all messed up. But yeah I’d like get all that piping into GarageBand for recording and mixing…

I have had other elements of this working somewhat from time to time , like using subsequent cv and gate outs to get the DFAM at least moving in relative time - though I still am lost when it comes to the differences between gates, cv pitch, and where to send them auch as adv clock, trigger , etc - but then if i change something or try to get everything working under ONE midi clock it doesnt work or I just get lost in a black hole…

Should I be slaving everything to the Beatstep pro, that being plugged into the mac mini with GB as the DAW maybe slaved to BSP USB Sync, sending BSP clock via midi or midiSync to Sub 37 CV, in turn using CV outs and gate outs on Sub37 to DFAM (or control DFAM from BSP!?)? If so how to do all that properly in the signal hierarchy ?

but then there is the USB port on the Sub37…

Just want to have everything going into GB so I can have external gear sequences and BSP controlled and and mapped AUM processed channels all tracked and recording at same tempos in GB…

but how can the BSP be able to be set as master to GB (being plugged via usb into mac mini) yet ALSO be controlling the iOS instruments because BSP can only be plugged into one or the other ? I guess this is where the iConnect unit is supposed to some in? UGH… too many moving parts for my small brain.

I’d be grateful for any help here…

thanks…

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#2

Will follow this topic and reply later.

For now: AUM must be the master, because as far as I know it cannot be the slave. So if you’re using AUM it should send the master clock signal.

I’m using an Audio4c (same interface but with USB-C instead of A connectors) and have the Elektron Midi Hub connected to the USB-A midi hub port of the interface. From there I route midi over usb to my Syntakt, Digitakt, Uno Synth Pro X, Roland TR-8s, Akai APC-40mk2, KeyStep Pro and BeatStep Pro (should be added as last, because it claims two ports). My Maschine Plus is connected to the separate midi ports of the A4c interface.

All midi is routed and filtered once via the midi matrix of the A4c and per project AUM.

One USB-C port (with power) is connected to my iPad Pro and the other one to my MacBook Pro. But this weekend I want to experiment with Mackie ProFX16 mixer connected to that last port, so I can return a stereo 100% wet signal to the mixer (hopefully). This way I can use my iPad mainly for effects and mix them in AUM.

Audio outs of my gear running to the Mackie, with audio ins of the A4c connected to the busses of the ProFX. If USB isn’t working as expected I’ll return the FX signal via the outs of the A4C. The monitor outs of the mixer will be send to the Digitakt and M+ for sampling purposes.

#3

Thanks for the quick reply… cool to see you have a similar setup and got it working !

figured I would mention that I have a lightning ipad if that makes any difference…

I will try to follow this and see if I can get something going…

peace

#4

Well, the first thing I have tried is to hook up my old midisport to the iconnect usb port (not the computer or ipad usb ins but the third standard looking port) but my midisport does not get power from it… the midisport does get power from usb when I plug it into a computer so I dont know whats happening…

I am now looking at getting a new midi hub as it seems to me this is the first step… unless you happen to have any input…

Do you think this would be a decent one ? Able to pull power from my non-usbc iconnect ?

#5

I think before you go out and buy new hardware, it’s a good idea to break your problem down into smaller steps and figure out exactly what you need. It’s not clear at all to me why you would need a MIDI thru box or another MIDI interface on top of the iConnectAUDIO4 if the Sub 37 is the only device that needs to receive (non-USB) MIDI in your setup. Did I get that right?

Start with the problem of the main clock source. It seems like AUM can only send clock and not receive it, and though I am not a GarageBand user, from what I can find it looks like it can’t send or receive MIDI clock. So, that could be a major problem, but on the other hand, if you are only using GarageBand to record audio, maybe it doesn’t matter.

In that case, you can set the BSP to sync to the clock from AUM, and use the clock output from the BSP into the ADV/Clock input in the DFAM. I would probably connect the Sub 37 directly to the MIDI output on the iConnectAUDIO4, but there are different ways you could do that.

I’m not sure what you’re using the other MIDI keyboard for—is that for playing soft synths on the iPad? It seems like you could connect that to either the USB host port (if the keyboard has a USB port) or the MIDI in on the iConnectAUDIO4.

Then, the audio routing between the iPad and the computer would happen through the iConnectAUDIO4 software. I don’t have one, so I can’t give you the details on that, but it sounds like what you need should be possible.

#6

Thanks…

I plan to buy the Sonoclast MAFD which is way to add MIDI capabilities to the DFAM, so I was thinking with that I will need a MIDI through box or something to get both the SUb37 and DFAM synced up with everything else… is that correct?

Meantime I will try the other stuff you suggested ASAP…

Thanks again…

#7

Well, I don’t know. How are you planning to use the MAFD? There’s also a MIDI output on the BSP, or you could use USB MIDI on either the MAFD or the Sub 37. There are a lot of options for connecting things up, and a MIDI thru box might be one option, but you should be sure that it actually suits your needs. You asked if the iConnect could supply enough power to the CME box over USB. I don’t know the answer, but that CME box is not a USB MIDI interface, it only uses USB for power. So I would connect it to an ordinary USB phone charger and not to the host port on the interface. I’d save that for one of the USB MIDI devices, or maybe connect a powered USB hub and connect all of your other devices with USB.

The MAFD website says that it responds to all MIDI channels unless you change the firmware. A thru box won’t let you route a specific MIDI sequence to it in that case, but I believe you can do that using USB MIDI and the iConnect software.

I would really recommend breaking the problem down into small steps with specific goals. Start with just getting the Mac and the iPad working together the way you want through the interface, then add one new device at a time and get that working before moving on to the next one. Connecting a bunch of gear together all at once and then trying to troubleshoot is a good way to get confused and frustrated, especially if you’re new to some of these technologies.

#8

Hi Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for your response…

Yeah I understand what you mean about the midi and am holding off on purchasing any type of box…

I did just purchase the MAFD so this will open up options for the DFAM…

GB having no slave capability seems to indicate I may need to go with another DAW if I want to get things going with desktop, so for the moment I will set this part aside and go back to seeing what I can do with just the iPad, AUM, iConnect, BSP, and Moogs, relative to getting things working in time and some type of recorded, even if thats just inside AUM…

So, I am thinking I will use BSP midi out to iConnect which is connected to iPad lightning… then somehow I have to slave AUM to either iConnect or BSP… this is pretty much exactly where I was when I posted here originally but things kinda went haywire when I tried to incorporate the computer which now seems to have obfuscated the original issue of me not being able to figure out how to get the BSP controlling AUM’s transport… again I was lost in the midi menus and grids of the AUM and the iConnect (thats I think what made me think I would just try to use a proper DAW on a desktop as a Master to make everything work , enter the GB complication…).

Anyway, I am going to try to do everything as I said above and attempt to wrestle with the midi grids and maps again…

It might be a bit slow going here as I am currently saddled with some fiat mine commitments for the next six weeks , but I will definitely report here how things go… and hopefully be able to clarify some more specific questions if I have them…

Thanks again for your thoughts on the matter its very helpful…

#9

QUESTION: How do I set AUM to receive Beatstep Pro Clock? I want to do that and then use the BSP DIN to send clock/tempo/trigger/run-stop (what the heck is the difference?) data , whatever is best, to the Subsequent, while I was thinking I can use the other 1/8" midi out on BSP to send to the DFAM via the incoming MAFD… am I thinking of this the right way?

another thing that’s tripping my brain up here is that I cannot hook both the iConnect4 and the BSP up to the iPad because there is only a single lightning port… so how in the heck can I use the BSP midi software? I don’t understand how the usb host port on the iconnect uses the BSP or what in hell is going on there…

Again, at this point I just want to get external gear working alongside music apps in AUM all in one tempo - to one clock…

Seems like it should not be so difficult :frowning:

#10

AUM can’t receive MIDI clock from Beatstep Pro or any other source. You’ll need to send MIDI clock from AUM and sync the Beatstep Pro to that using the Sync button on the BSP to set it to USB or MIDI, depending on how the BSP is connected (more on that later).

To answer your question about the difference between clock, tempo, trigger, and run/stop:

clock could mean MIDI clock or analog clock, depending on context. Either way, it’s essentially a periodic signal that is sent from one device to another to keep them in sync, exactly what you’re trying to get working

tempo refers to the speed of the clock, 120 bpm for example. This is set on whatever is providing the master clock source.

trigger assuming you’re talking about the TRIGGER input on the DFAM, you use this to play the current step without moving to the next step (while the ADV/CLOCK input does move to the next step and normally also triggers the step when nothing else is plugged into TRIGGER)

run/stop on the DFAM is a way to get it to start and stop its internal sequencer, but you probably don’t want to use this when you’re using the ADV/CLOCK input. It could also refer to the MIDI Machine Control play and stop messages, which could be used for example to start and stop the AUM transport using the transport buttons on the BSP. This is something you can configure in AUM’s MIDI settings, but maybe it’s a more advanced step once you get the basic sync working.

Next question: “how in the heck can I use the BSP midi software?” If you’re talking about the Arturia MIDI Control Center software, that doesn’t run on the iPad at all (only Mac and Windows). It’s only used for configuring the BSP, changing settings, updating firmware, backups, importing and exporting MIDI sequences, things like that. You don’t need to be running it while using the BSP to play things. So, the workflow would be to connect the BSP to your Mac with USB, do whatever you need to do in MIDI Control Center, then disconnect it. A lot of the things you can do in MIDI Control Center can also be done right on the device, so you might not need it much at all.

So then my recommendation is that when you’re actually playing rather than configuring the Beatstep Pro, you connect it to the USB host port on the iConnect. The idea with that is that the BSP appears as a MIDI device to the iConnect (rather than being connected directly to the iPad). Then you can use the iConnect software to route it how you like, but it looks like by default it should just work, although maybe @MaikR or someone else who has one can advise on that.

That then frees up your MIDI outputs on the BSP and on the iConnect to connect them to the Sub37 and the MAFD. I’m not sure what you meant by “BSP DIN” and “other 1/8” midi out on BSP" because the BSP only has one 1/8" midi out that needs a DIN adapter…there’s no built-in DIN port on it. Maybe you meant the iConnect DIN?

So then the full set of connections would be:

  1. iPad lightning to one of the USB device ports on the iConnect via a lightning-to-USB adapter like the camera connection kit
  2. BSP USB to the iConnect USB host
  3. iConnect MIDI out DIN to Sub37 MIDI in
  4. BSP MIDI out to DIN adapter to MAFD MIDI in

That’s assuming you’re sequencing the MAFD from the BSP and that you’re using the internal sequencer on the Sub37 or just playing the keys. You could swap 3 & 4 if that makes things simpler.

Hope that makes sense and gets you going. If not, maybe you could add more details about exactly what you’re trying to do with the Sub37 and DFAM/MAFD.

#11

Hey just got to this and wanted to say thanks… Last night I got 1/2 way there by finally routing AUM midi correctly…

I didnt have much time with it but BSP Transport was synced to AUM Transport and was able to use the 2 BSP sequencers and the Drum sequencer to get some AUM apps going…

What I wasn’t able to get going was the BSP midi out sending any signal to the MAFD… I am wondering if maybe this is where the MIDI Control Center might come in…

I will have more time over the coming weekends to dig in again…

Thanks so much for the detailed response man…

Merry Christmas

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#12

Hey I cannot get this BSP to send midi out to MAFD… and in trying to get it to work I somehow sabotaged the transport controls which were working great and all synced last time… now hitting PLAY on BSP starts the AUM sequencer BUT the tempo isnt in sync now wtf…

tearing hair out instead of making music fun stuff…

I don’t know what to do at this point… you guys have provided very clear and detailed steps and somehow I am too retarded to implement this properly…

#13

i am so done with these loops I am stuck in I am thinking about going to a music store to try to find someone to hire to come over and set this up but I am very mad I cannot get this going via my own efforts - I am not an idiot and this isn’t rocket science but I am beginning to question all that…

#14

It sounds like you’re pretty close! It might not be rocket science, but MIDI can be pretty complicated, and it does take a bit of time and experimentation to get things set up right. It was designed in a different era, and each piece of gear has its own quirks, so don’t feel bad that everything isn’t falling into place right away.

If you had things working with AUM before, but that isn’t working anymore, maybe the best thing is to get that back again before trying to handle the MAFD. It sounds like maybe the BSP isn’t syncing to the MIDI clock from AUM now, so check that the Sync button is in the right state (it should be USB if it’s plugged into the iConnect host port). If that’s not the problem, you’ll have to do some troubleshooting. Maybe try starting the transport from inside the app instead of from the BSP to see if that makes a difference.

For the MAFD: could you explain in more detail exactly what you’re trying to do? Are you trying to use one of the BSP sequencers to play the MAFD/DFAM, or are you using a sequencer in the iPad and trying to pass the MIDI through the BSP? If you’re using a BSP sequencer, are you using the drum sequencer or one of the melodic ones?

I don’t think there’s any reason the BSP wouldn’t be sending MIDI from its internal sequencers to its MIDI out port. As far as I know, there’s no way to turn that off. One way to check is to temporarily connect the BSP MIDI out to the Sub37 MIDI in instead of the MAFD and make sure that works. You might need to check that the MIDI channel used by the BSP sequencer matches the one the Sub37 is using.

Assuming that the BSP is sending MIDI properly, then the problem could be on the MAFD side. I don’t really know too much about that beyond what’s on its web site. Are you using the original one or the newer 2hp version? The original one should listen to all MIDI channels by default, but it looks like the 2hp one switches between either channel 8 or 16 on the front panel, so you’ll need to be sure that the BSP sequencer you’re using is set to the right one. You can use MIDI Control Center to do that, but you can also do it directly on the BSP using the CHAN button.

On the other hand, if you’re trying to send MIDI through the BSP from some other source, I’m not sure if the BSP can actually do that. I don’t think so. So in that case, the MIDI splitter might be just what you need, or you could try again to get the Midisport working, or you could use a USB hub to connect both the BSP and the MAFD to the iConnect USB host, or you could connect the MAFD to the iConnect MIDI out port instead of the Sub37. It all really depends on your specific goals, and those have been a bit unclear in this thread.

Best of luck, and I hope you can have some fun playing over the holidays, even if it’s just with a more simplified setup. Merry Christmas and happy new year!

#15

Oh, another thing to check: make sure that you use the TRS to DIN MIDI adapter that came with the BeatStep Pro, as there are different types of TRS MIDI adapters, and if you use the wrong one it won’t work.

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