My goal for this update request is speeding up the MIDI pre-production workflow for loop based recording. I recently purchased a new Arturia KeyLab MKII 88 Black Edition MIDI keyboard. I needed an all-in-one solution with weighted keys and drawbars/faders, etc. I am also trying to get away from using my hardware Roland XP-60 workstation keyboard as a MIDI controller. Although I love it, it's capabilities are very limited compared to present day offerings. What keeps me on the fence is the fact that I am currently unable to do RPS (rhythm pattern sequencing) via MIDI in Studio one.
I am a multi-instrumentalist with masterful performance dexterity on each instrument I play. I also studied music in college, which has allowed me to be fluid in all musical genres. As a result, I am able to produce music in every genre. However, when writing, songs tend to come to me in big incomplete chunks. I rarely get a finished musical arrangement or song all at one time. They tend to come to me in pieces/sections. So, I often start several songs all at once, take a break, and come back to finish them later.
When I am producing sample-based music (i.e. rap, hip hop, house, EDM), what sets me apart from others is that I tend to copy my entire musical arrangement to several keys, usually a full octave, and transpose each key accordingly. I can then not only manually "stutter" playback of my entire MIDI arrangement/pattern in real-time, in any key with no loss of audio quality or noticeable time stretch whatsoever, because the audio is still coming from a MIDI instrument! Something similar can currently be accomplished with audio tracks using Impact XT. However, transposed audio samples don't always yield a desirable result. So, the upgrade I'm proposing would add audio flexibility to MIDI tracks via Impact XT.
The specific aspects I'm looking for are: being able to simply drag and drop a MIDI instrument's piano roll and combine it with an unlimited number of other MIDI and/or audio tracks on a single pad; allow sampled MIDI/audio information on each pad to be transferred; right click the Impact XT keypad to transpose choose your MIDI assignment, including options to assign each MIDI file to its own VST instrument and/or MIDI channel, and options to assign each audio output to either a new or existing mix bus upon dragging it to Impact XT. I would also like Impact XT to be able to detect whether the file I'm dragging to it is a MIDI or audio file and present output assignment options accordingly.
When recording the MIDI notation that triggers the Impact XT’s pads, I would still like the captured real-time performance to be represented as MIDI data on an instrument channel’s piano roll, because doing so allows me to go back and quantize the notation as needed. I would like options to render the resulting piano roll MIDI information "in place" and be output as either audio or MIDI, which would essentially convert the captured Impact XT MIDI information to audio. However, if rendering to MIDI (for the purpose of printing the resulting MIDI notation). I would also like the option to unpack the resulting compacted Impact XT MIDI piano roll to an aggregate MIDI track. I would also like to have an option to explode individual MIDI channels and/or instruments to their own instrument tracks. If, for some reason, audio and MIDI can’t be combined on the same Impact XT pad, I would ask that we be allowed to be able to trigger 2 separate pads simultaneously by note assignment.
Although the need for MIDI phrase triggering from Impact XT may not be as prevalent for all musical genres, I'm sure it will supercharge the production workflow for anyone that works with artists that are creating loop-based productions. Multi-instrumentalists also like having more MIDI options at their disposal. Completing this Studio One request will make Studio One the most sought after of all DAWs!
Thank you for your consideration - J
