Controlling samplerbox with an Arturia Beatstep Pro

HI Hans & the whole community,

first off, thanks so much for your invaluable work on this project. I've been working on getting my samplerbox going on a Pi4, running Raspbian and Samplerbox through the Hans fork from the github repo, with an AudioInjector hat. It required quite a bit of hacking and debugging, and I aim to share the way of getting there (maybe not a bespoke image, but a fork of Hans' fork specifically for running it on Pi4.

Anyway, I'm trying to further complete my configuration of the box to a stable system before thinking of sharing.
This involves controlling the box (mainly: switching instruments, volume, toggling effects on/off, changing effects parameters) using my midi controller, which right now is the Arturia Beatstep pro. I thought this'd be ideal as it has a lot of buttons and pots.

I edited the ControllerCCs.csv file to represent the CC mapping in Beatstep. I've verified that the CC numbers I've entered here are correct, both using the arturia midi control centre software, AND the aseqdump utility in Raspbian. It looks like this:

Code:

Controller,CC,Val
# Testing config for arturia beatstep pro for use with the samplerbox.
# NL, 26/02/21
Pot_01,10,-1,
Pot_02,74,-1,
Pot_03,71,-1,
Pot_04,76,-1,
Pot_05,77,-1,
Pot_06,93,-1,
Pot_07,73,-1,
Pot_08,75,-1,
Pot_09,114,-1,
Pot_10,18,-1,
Pot_11,19,-1,
Pot_12,16,-1,
Pot_13,17,-1,
Pot_14,91,-1,
Pot_15,79,-1,
Pot_16,72,-1,
#Button_01,20,1,
Button_01,20,20,
#Button_02,21,2,
Button_02,21,21,
Button_03,22,3,
Button_04,23,4,
Button_05,24,5,
Button_06,25,6,
Button_07,26,7,
Button_08,27,8,
Button_09,28,10,
Button_10,29,11,
Button_11,30,12,
Button_12,31,13,
Button_13,52,14,
Button_14,53,15,
Button_15,54,16,
Button_16,55,17,

As you can see, I'm somewhat confused as to what the 'Val' column represents. So I initially copied the approach taken by you in your ControllerCCs file, i.e. assigning an increasing 'Val' to each of the buttons. I did then try experimenting a bit with this, as the samplerbox was not reacting to any of the button inputs.

Further, I've edited the CCmap.csv in order to map to the controls I want, see below:

Code:

Controller,Type,Sets,Mode,#TAKE CARE: most keywords are case sensitive,
Pot_01,Fixed,Volume,Continuous,,
Pot_02,Fixed,PitchWheel,Continuous,,
Pot_03,Fixed,MoogCutoff,Continuous,,
Pot_04,Fixed,MoogResonance,Continuous,,
Button_01,Fixed,ProgramUp,Toggle,,
Button_02,Fixed,ProgramDown,Toggle,,
Button_03,Fixed,Moog,Toggle,,
Button_04,Fixed,Chorus,Toggle,,
Pot_05,Fixed,ChorusDepth,Continuous,,

The interesting thing is that Pot_01 and Pot_02 work, i.e. they reduce volume and adjust pitch, respectively. However, none of the buttons or the other pot produce any reaction on the Pi.

For reference, here is some output from the aseqdump util, to show what my Beatstep Pro's buttons and pots are sending to the samplerbox:

Code:

20:0   Control change          0, controller 10, value 91       # pot 1
20:0   Control change          0, controller 10, value 92      
20:0   Control change          0, controller 10, value 93
20:0   Control change          0, controller 10, value 94
20:0   Control change          0, controller 10, value 95
20:0   Control change          0, controller 20, value 127     # button 1
20:0   Control change          0, controller 20, value 0
20:0   Control change          0, controller 20, value 127
20:0   Control change          0, controller 20, value 0
20:0   Control change          0, controller 22, value 127     # button 2
20:0   Control change          0, controller 22, value 0

Are the buttons perhaps sending the wrong information?

Any ideas on how I can identify what isn't working here? Most importantly, I'm talking about being able to change sample sets with the touch of a button.

Thanks so much in advance,
All the best
Nik

As you can see, I'm somewhat confused as to what the 'Val' column represents. So I initially copied the approach taken by you in your ControllerCCs file, i.e. assigning an increasing 'Val' to each of the buttons. I did then try experimenting a bit with this, as the samplerbox was not reacting to any of the button inputs.


The interesting thing is that Pot_01 and Pot_02 work, i.e. they reduce volume and adjust pitch, respectively. However, none of the buttons or the other pot produce any reaction on the Pi.

'Val' is going to be the CC value from 0-127 that the control sends.  Encoders are going to be -1.  Buttons should be 127 or 0, if you're turning something on or off.

Pot_03 doesn't work for the filter because you need to turn the filter "on" first.

Thanks so much @Ken. That totally worked - and makes complete sense. After 3 years or so, I still haven't quite wrapped my head around using midi beyond vsts.

Hello Nik,

I'm trying to configure the Arturia MiniLab MK2 midi keyboard with SamplerBox.
I asked Hans for help and he was very quick to answer, but I don't understand the whole procedure

https://homspace.nl/forum/thread-115.html

I saw that you seem to have successfully configured your BeatStep Pro.


Would it be possible to explain me the process and if you want to share with me the configuration files that you have modified.
(in Midi Control Center, ControllerCCs.csv, CCmap.csv or other)

I understand that the first difficulty comes from the fact that you have to create a template to transfer in the physical memory of the Arturia (with the Midi Control Center software on Windows 10 PC)

I would like to be able to change the samples, and manage the volume or the filter options with the controllers as well as play with the pads to have bass or batery type notes.

I understand that you have edited the ControllerCCs.csv file to match the changes you made in the MIDI Control Center.

I'm sure there are a few of us who own Arturia products. It might be great to have a little tutorial to be able to change sample sets with the touch of a button as you asked Hans.

Thank you for your help.
I'm going on vacation this Friday, so don't worry if I don't answer before I get back after 2 weeks