echolevel
commented
2 years ago Not only is it not crazy, but some of us (mostly me and Akira) have been trying to get this exact feature-set implemented for at least 20 years :) The main two reasons we haven't managed it are 1) we're both terrible at 68k assembly and 2) PT2.3D's source was such a mess. Every few years we've asked experienced coders (StingRay et al) for help with this, but incentives were low and wider support was almost nonexistent (most other musicians who desperately wanted proper MIDI implementations just used OctaMed instead). Obviously some iterations of Protracker and various SoundTracker clones have some degree of MIDI support - usually limited to start/stop and receiving NoteOn events, and usually a bit flakey.
My live chiptune/demoscene performance setup, as Syphus, was centred around Protracker and AHX on an A600 with selectively muted channels so I could play lead melody lines live on a synth or guitar/violin, and occasionally some A1200 numpad-drumpad stuff. Akira was usually more geared towards DJ sets, and that's why he developed PT-1210 with d0pefish and h0ffman; all the cool features in that program basically made MIDI in Protracker unnecessary for him, and I've been too busy with work and family to perform live for some years now.
More generally, even though 8bitbubsy has done LOADS of fantastic work cleaning up the PT2.3D source (and ultimately iterating it to the 2.3F version that bootPT uses), he discovered that MIDI in that source is essentially a stub - a black hole where some useful MIDI library should be. So it STILL needs a skilled 68k ASM coder to implement this, and it's now easier than it would've been before, but the obstacle is still to find a coder who's willing to invest quite a bit of time into something that's widely considered to be of limited utility. Not to me, or to you! But definitely to most of the (already tiny) user base.
I still nurture a dream of one day having enough free time to learn enough Amiga ASM to be able to introduce some existing serial/MIDI lib into the codebase and implement the stuff you're talking about, but it's not an immediate possibility.
ferro4prez
Hi, I hope this isn't a tall order and instead is an interesting thing that would add a lot of value.
Would be incredible if ProTracker's MIDI support could be extended to Stop/Start and Pattern Change messages.
It would instantly lock-in the Amiga with any modern DAW, truly turning it into an instrument rather than an obscure inefficient way to make music. Could leverage different CC parameters for those tasks - Program Change gives you 128 values that can be mapped to ProTracker Patterns. Imagine, in your DAW you simply hit Play and ProTracker would start playing - and you set Program Change values to change ProTracker Patterns in realtime.
Is this crazy? I feel like this could change the landscape of using Amigas for real music in 2022.