MIDI Mapping

MIDI Mapping

Via Midi Mapping you can remote control Renoise from your external MIDI controllers or master keyboard. Nearly everything (and more ;) you can do in Renoise with the mouse or the keyboard, can also be done from an external MIDI controller.

First note that MIDI mappings are saved along with your song, unlike the Keyboard mappings in the preferences. This way you can create unique MIDI mapping sessions for every song, but you can also share the settings by either using Template Songs, or by im/exporting common MIDI mappings in the MIDI dialog (see below). More about this later.

Either way, Renoise will never automatically detect your MIDI controller and do the mappings for you. You have to (at least once for a Template Song) set up your controller just the way you would like to use it.

MIDI Device Setup

First make sure Renoise 'knows' which MIDI device you want to use for MIDI mapping. This is done in the Preferences, section MIDI. → Master Keyboard A/B

Opening the MIDI Mapping Dialog

Opening the MIDI dialog can be either done through the View option in the title-menu (or by hitting Control/Command + M):

Or by clicking clicking the MIDI Map button in the upper right title bar area of Renoise:

There you will also find two small LED which will show you the MIDI input/output that Renoise receives/sends. If you are in doubt if your MIDI controller is set up and connected correctly to Renoise, then watch the green LED, the input, which should blink as soon as you do something on your controller.

midi_led_indicator

-> Left:Midiclock slave monitor, Right:Midi input monitor

The MIDI Mapping Dialog At a Glace

• Learn mode (when clicked, it will turn into “Test Mode”: File:Vvoois renoise midi mapping test mode.png which allows you to test out what you've just mapped - disable the learn mode - without having to close the MIDI Mapping Dialog)
• Available and active mappings: When the arrow is clicked, it unfolds a list with an overview of currently active mappings and all available ones. More about this later)
• Selected parameter (in the example above „Lower Frame / Show Song Properties“): Displays the currently mapped parameter in Renoise.
  • Channel : The MIDI channel currently mapped/broadcasted from your controller.
  • CC No : The CC number currently mapped/broadcasted from your controller.
  • CC Type: This refers to the type of the MIDI CC controller.
    • Absolute 7 bit: use the CC value as absolute value
    • Relative signed bit: increase at [065 - 127], decrease at [001 - 063]
    • Relative signed bit 2: increase at[001 - 063], decrease at [065 - 127]
    • Relative bin offset: increase at [065 - 127], decrease at [063 - 000]
    • Relative two's comp: increase at [001 - 64], decrease at [127 - 065]
  • Min: When mapping, lets say a MIDI fader or encoder to a FX parameter in Renoise, this allows you to set up the lower bound you want to reach in Renoise with your controller.
  • Max: Just like min, but this controls the upper bound of the destination parameter in Renoise. TIP: Swap min and max values to reverse the controller.

" Prefer to Set instead of Toggling: Specify how your controller should change things that are turned On/Off in Renoise. Please see #Set, Trigger and Toggle Mappings for a detailed description.

• Allow mapping the same Note/CC more than once: When enabled, you can assign the same button or fader on your controller (the same MIDI message), to multiple things in Renoise. This can for example be useful to do cross fades of two track volume parameters.
• Record Midi mapped parameters to automation: When enabled, any parameter changes you do with your MIDI controller will be recorded in either the Pattern Editor or Automation Editor. This only applies when having the global Edit Mode enabled. If you just want to perform and play around with your controller, never record the changes to the song as automation, then disable this option.

As soon as the MIDI mapping dialog opened, you will also notice that a lot of things in Renoises GUI got a different color. All those parts of the interface can be quickly MIDI mapped now:

File:Vvoois renoise midi mapping 4.png

Create Mappings

With the MIDI Mapping dialog opened, all you now have to do is:

• Clicking on the parameter or button that ot highlighted

• Send MIDI from your controller (bush button on the controller or move the faders, encoders)

As soon as you've done so, Renoise automatically mapped the selected parameter in Renoise to what you've moved or pressed on your controller. Thats it.

Please note: When using endless encoders, which may send one of the relative CC modes noted above, turn them slowly left to map. This allows Renoise to guess how the encoder works (guess the relative CC modes). Then you don't have to set up the mode manually again and again.

Remove Mappings

To remove a mapping, click on the mapped part in Renoises GUI with the MIDI mapping dialog open. Then either hit the Backspace or Delete key on your keyboard. Alternatively press the clear button on the left side of the dialog next to the parameter description:

To clear all mapped parameters, click the clear button on the top of the dialog (next to the load and save buttons).

Im/Export Mappings

If you want to share MIDI mappings you've set up, you can do so by im/exporting those. To export them click on the "Load" button in the MIDI Mapping Dialog. This will prompt for a file name, where the mappings should be saved to. Later on, with the same song or in another song, you can import those settings again by hitting the "Export" button. Now simply select the file we've saved before.

Note that Renoise won't be able to save/restore parameter mappings. Parameter mappings are mappings in Track DSP effects. Those will be different in every song, so it would not make much sense to do so. Whats im/exported instead, is everything you find under "Global Mappings" in the "Available and active mappings" list, like Start/Stop the song, select/trigger Sequences and so on...

If you want to use the same mappings over and over again for your songs, then it might be useful to use a Template Song. Because all mappings are saved along in your songs, set up your favorite mappings in an empty document once, and then save this song as template. This will enable all your mappings by default, for every new song that you create.

Set, Trigger and Toggle Mappings

When opened, the list of available and active mappings shows you all possible parameters and functions that you can map in Renoise. This list contains way more entries and thus possibilities than whats highlighted in Renoise to be automatically mapped.

There are mappings to for example select the currently active track, to control the selected Track DSP FX and much more. Please see below for some usage tips.

Further, a lot of things can be mapped in more than one way. Note the postfix of the mapping names in the list: [Trigger], [Toggle] or [Set]

Lets try to understand what [Set], [Trigger] or [Toggle] means.

1. [Trigger]: This means in words: Whenever your controller sends something, do "something" in Renoise, ignoring any values or states from the MIDI messages. This is for example used for things like "Start Playing" or "Stop Playing"

1. [Toggle]: Let the controller only change a value from On to Off or Off to On again ignoring any "values" or "states" from the MIDI messages, from the controller.

1. [Set]: Let the controller exactly specify when something is On or Off. So when the controller sends out a value of 0 (< 64 to be exact) then this means for Renoise Off. A value of 12 (>= 64 to be exact) means On for Renoise. This way you can let your MIDI controller have the total control.

To understand the difference between [Toggle] and [Set] better, lets have a look at what MIDI controllers may send out. Here is an example for a button that sends a MIDI controller change message:

A) Button Pressed: Controller with Value 127 (or something above 64) is sent Button Released: Controller with Value 0 (or something below 64) is sent Button Pressed again: same as before Button Released again: same as before

B) Button Pressed: Controller with Value 127 (or something above 64) Button Released: nothing Button Pressed again: Controller with Value 0 Button Released again: nothing

C) Button Pressed: Controller with Value 127 (or something above 64) Button Released: nothing Button Pressed again: Controller with Value 127 is sent again Button Released again: nothing

So some controllers may use use protocol A, others B or C, even other non listed combination are possible. Often this can also be configured for the controllers. We want Renoise to deal with all those possibilities, thats why the [Toggle] [Set] options exist.

Lets say you want to set something ON or OFF in Renoise, you then have to 'tell' Renoise how it should deal with the incoming messages. Lets choose the global "Edit Mode" as example:

There are two variants for the "Edit Mode" in the list of available MIDI mappings:

Edit Mode [Toggle] -> will ignore Controller Values of 0, so you can use controller A) or C) Edit Mode [Set] -> will not ignore Controller 0 Values, but interpret them as "state": CC value > 64 ON, CC value < 64 OFF, so you can use controller B) or encoders or faders

If you are unsure whats the „right“ mode for you controller, simply try out both variants. Then select the variant also for other mappings for this controller because its very likely that it sends MIDI the same way for other buttons as well. Note that Renoise always chooses the [Toggle] variants when doing the MIDI learning by clicking on the highlighted frames in the GUI.

Automatically choose [Set] or [Toggle]

When clicking on something in the Renoise GUI to quickly do mappings, the "Prefer to Set instead of Toggling" option in the MIDI mapping dialog defines which mappings should be used for your controller. [Set] will be selected when the option ins enabled, else [Toggle] is used. This way you only have to decide which type of mapping you want and can quickly do the mapping without using the "Available And Active Mappings" list.

Dynamic Mappings

In the list of "Available and Active Mappings", you will find much more options than things you can click on in Renoise. Here are some examples. Feel free to explore the list by your own to find more options that may be useful for you.

Selected Track Mappings

'Global Mappings/Navigation/Tracks'

allows you to switch over the next or previous track in Renoise. This alone is not yet that interesting, but it will be with the following examples, which all use the selected track as base:

'Global Mappings/Track Muting/Current Track'

allows you to mute/unmute the currently selected track

'Global Mappings/Track Levels/Volume/Current Track'

allows you to control the volume selected track and

'Global Mappings/Track Levels/Panning/Current Track'

the panning of the current track.

this way you can control every track in all songs with a few buttons and faders on your controller.

Selected DSP FX Mapping

Same is possible for Track DSPs:

We already mapped track selection, now we also map selection of DSPs via:

'Global Mappings/Navigation/Track DSPs/Select'

and can control up to 32 parameters with

'Global Mappings/Track DSPs/Selected FX/Parameter #XX

via

'Global Mappings/Track DSPs/Selected FX (Mixer Subset)/Parameter #XX'

we can control only the parameters which are seen in the mixer for a DSP. The great thing about this is that you can customize which parameters are seen by your own (right click on the FX in the mixer, Show Sliders). This way you can for example control and navigate through a small subset of parameters in a live performance. Prepare which parameters you would like to change and which not...

Sequencer Navigation & Triggering

Just like the track and DSP effects, the sequencer can be controller as well in a dynamic manner. I leave this for you to explore by your own, just like other things in the mappings list ;)