Duplex Keyboard

Renoise Tools
1

Duplex Keyboard (v0.98)

Download: Duplex (including Keyboard)
This tool is written for Duplex, the OSC/MIDI communication framework for Renoise.

The Keyboard application is designed as a drop-in replacement of the standard Renoise keyboard withsupport for both MIDI and OSC devices. Essentially, the Keyboard application can be used in two ways:as a standard keyboard (visualized as black & white keys in the virtual control surface),and as individually-mapped keys/pads, suitable for grid and pad controllers.

7352 duplex_keyboard_key_mode.png

7353 duplex_keyboard_grid_mode.png

Check out the full documentation, available on github:

https://github.com/renoise/xrnx/blob/master/Tools/com.renoise.Duplex.xrnx/Docs/Applications/Keyboard.md

1 Like
2

You’re a mad man :)

Nice work!

3

Hey danoise, you forget to mention about this Prerequisites:

 The Keyboard application will not work unless you have enabled the internal  
 OSC server in Renoise (Renoise prefereces -> OSC settings). It should be set  
 to "UPD" protocol, and use the same port as specified in Duplex/Globals.lua  
 (by default, this is set to the same value as Renoise, "8000").

At first, since notes did not sound at all, I was straying for a while… :rolleyes: ;)

4

Thanks for pointing that out. Added to description

5

insanely good!

6

Satobox has discovered a small issue in which certain messages are doubled (working on a fix).
Once that’s taken care of, the standard keyboard will have a Grid Pie configuration

Edit: Fixed, download llnk updated with new version

7

Hey danoise - where’s your tip jar?

9

Thanks, I did mess up something for the monome in that last release, as acknowledged here.
In any case, the reported issues should have been fixed - I’m hoping to release something tonight.

Are you planning to use the monome or mpd18 for triggering samples? Both are of course possible, also at the same time. If you experience otherwise, this is most likely because that last release didn’t play well with the monome to begin with.

11

Ah, OK - I think that is just a question of changing the colors being displayed on the monome in the device configuration. Lights may be blindin’
But wait just a little while…this exact part has changed a lot in the upcoming release

12

I just made a small change in how this tool works.
Now, when you set the keyboard velocity to a fixed amount it will always output notes at that velocity level.

So, if your workflow involves temporarily switching on/off velocity for your master keyboard as a whole, this tool will now let you use the “keyboard velocity switch” in the Renoise pattern editor toolbar to achieve that.

13

I have just updated the original post to cover the new features in Duplex 0.99.4

  • Support for the new “hold” and “mono” trigger modes in Renoise 3*

  • Grid layouts: harmonic, isomorphic and piano style

Some controller layouts got updated in this process, and have changed a bit. Hopefully for the better, but if you are missing the exact layout offered by the previous version, it’s possible to change the harmonic layout into something identical using these settings:

GridLayout.HIGHLIGHT_SAMPLE

HarmonicLayout.ALIGN_NONE

Contact me if in doubt as how to apply these settings.

  • The visual display of held notes will be 100% up to date onlywhen you are exclusively using the Duplex Keyboard. In other words, do not try to control the same instrument natively from Renoise and via the Duplex Keyboard when in “hold” mode - thestate of lights can become inverted (will turn on when the voice stop playing, and vice versa).
14

Hi danoise, :slight_smile:

Recently I bought Launchpad mini and tried isomorphic layout in Duplex (let’s say 5-5-2 layout).
At first I couldn’t understand how to use it, but I found this page and I get it now.
https://hearandknow.wordpress.com/2014/03/15/the-isomorphic-note-layout/

But I also found an another page and I like the alternative isomorphic layout (let’s say 3X4 layout).
http://mididesigner.com/qa/3452/layout-isomorphic-keyboard-on-the-ipad

Isn’t there the chance to adopt the 3X4 layout too in Duplex? (only a chromatic scale layout is enough.)

I compared these two layouts and I personally think that the 3X4 layout looks easier than the 5-5-2 layout.
Well, I’ve already tried to hack the IsomorphicLayout.lua (tried “local pitch = (row\ *3 ) + col - 1”), it works to some extent but I give up now, haha.
Thanks in advance.

5444 5-5-2.png

5445 3x4.png

15

Hi danoise, :slight_smile:

Recently I bought Launchpad mini and tried isomorphic layout in Duplex (let’s say 5-5-2 layout).
At first I couldn’t understand how to use it, but I found this page and I get it now.
https://hearandknow.wordpress.com/2014/03/15/the-isomorphic-note-layout/

It’s pretty typical of me to make something “clever” and not document it properly :blush:

But what you are suggesting sounds interesting too. Have you actually tried playing with that particular layout?

16

Have you actually tried playing with that particular layout?

Ahh, yes I’ve tried (if saying correctly, I’ve touched them only a bit) and I felt not very confortable, (sorry to say).
There are too many doubling-buttons (like 60, 60, 62, 62, etc) so I was confused, to be honest.
I’d like to memorize the cord form as easyas possible. Having a lot of layouts can be counterproductive, imho.
So I like the isomorphic chromatic scale layout. It works great already and I want to practice it mainly.

Well, it’s just an opinion of a beginner without the perseverance, so never mind too much, haha. :wink:

17

Would love support for the Livid Base! :slight_smile:

18

I have been trying to use this keyboard application since it launched, and I’ve still never been able to figure out how to switch layouts and choose scales like you do in that first gif. It’s just incredibly unclear in all the documentation and this thread how you achieve that. Using the default launchpad config with an original launchpad for clarification.

19

I have been trying to use this keyboard application since it launched, and I’ve still never been able to figure out how to switch layouts and choose scales like you do in that first gif

You can switch bothscale and keyusing the supplied mappings (already part of the Launchpad config), or simply by choosing the scale/key manually from theinstrument propertiesin Renoise.- the Keyboard application will listen for this and change accordingly.

.

To change the layout you need to have the Duplex browser visible while the Keyboard app is selected/running, click ‘Settings’ and choose the layout you want from the option called ‘Grid Layout’

20

I can’t find the grid mode, where the lights represent my keyzones… Other than that, everything works fine so far. Can someone help me?

Edit (because this was not specific enough):

"In grid mode , the Keyboard application is able to visualize the currently selected instrument’s key-zone/sample

mappings in real-time. This makes it a lot easier to see exactly where each sound is located, and even works
as you are moving mappings around, or transposing the keyboard octave up/down."

This is what I want to have. But when I load a sample into a new instrument and shrink the keyzone so that it can only triggered by one key, still the whole matrix will light up and not only the one key. Why?

21

This is what I want to have. But when I load a sample into a new instrument and shrink the keyzone so that it can only triggered by one key, still the whole matrix will light up and not only the one key. Why?

Oops, overlooked this. Yes, you are right - and you’re not the first one to notice.

Later versions of Keyboard emphasize the dynamic layouts (isomorphic, chromatic etc.) over keyzone visualization.

I will see what I can do about this, perhaps toggling the visualization would make sense.

22

This tool (with Duplex) actually encourages me to invest in a real midi controller again (or build an own). Mouse-free workflow for the win.

Which device would you recommend for composing with Renoise (Duplex) primarily and perhaps a bit of Reaper for mixing ? Live-capabilities are secondary.