MIDI-STEP - Support for Hercules DJControl Starlight

[IndianaGeorge]

Hi, great work on MIDI-STEP! I have a controller that behaves in a different way (and is, in fact, often unsupported): the Hercules DJControl Startlight. It has two jogs (infinite/incremental) using ch2 and ch3 respectively that send two different CCs depending on how you hold them: CC10 from the top and CC9 from the side. This is all already covered by MIDI-STEP already! The problem is: each one decrements or increments by sending 0 or 127 respectively on that same CC, and since MIDI-STEP has a single output per CC, I can't hook it up to increment or decrement on PILE nor use it as a "speed" CV either.

Could such a controller be supported? or should I write my own very-specific module? Thanks!

[stoermelder]

MIDI-STEP has two outputs for each CC, one for triggers on decrements and one for triggers on increments. As MIDI-STEP has 8 ouputs for each decrements and increments, only eight CC selection slots are active by default (the lower the rows are only available when using a polyphonic cable for output).

I'm not sure if I understand you correctly and I did not find a MIDI reference for this controller: All controllers I know are sending some fixed values with special meaning on the same CC for one knob. Are you sure your controller is sending value 0 for decrements? The protocol you are describing is essentially the same as Beatstep Relative 2 or NI Komplete Kontrol Relative, except these controllers are sending 1 and 127 for decrements and increments respectively.

[IndianaGeorge]

Thanks for looking into it! I was testing using stoermelder MIDI-MON module and it shows: Left Jog

• spin outer (clockwise/counter): ch2 cc9=1 / ch2 cc9=127
• spin inner (clockwise/counter): ch2 cc10=1 / ch2 cc10=127
• touch (on/off): ch2 note on 8 vel 127 / ch2 note on 8 vel 0 Right Jog
• spin outer (clockwise/counter): ch3 cc9=1 / ch3 cc9=127
• spin inner (clockwise/counter): ch3 cc10=1 / ch3 cc10=127
• touch (on/off): ch3 note on 8 vel 127 / ch3 note on 8 vel 0

Then I went and tested with hardwaretester.com/midi and got the same values except for an extra unlabeled id: Left Jog

• spin outer (clockwise/counter): Chan 2 Control/Mode Change (177 9 1) / Chan 2 Control/Mode Change (177 9 127)
• spin inner (clockwise/counter): Chan 2 Control/Mode Change (177 10 1) / Chan 2 Control/Mode Change (177 10 127)
• touch (on/off): Chan 2 Note on G#-1 (145 8 127) / Chan 2 Note on G#-1 (145 8 0) Right Jog
• spin outer (clockwise/counter): Chan 3 Control/Mode Change (178 9 1) / Chan 3 Control/Mode Change (178 9 127)
• spin inner (clockwise/counter): Chan 3 Control/Mode Change (178 10 1) / Chan 3 Control/Mode Change (178 10 127)
• touch (on/off): Chan 3 Note on G#-1 (146 8 127) / Chan 3 Note on G#-1 (146 8 0)

[IndianaGeorge]

so my mistake, it's actually sending 1 for counterclockwise, not 0. also I had not understood that the bottom connections were for dec, I thought inc/dec would come in the same connection as +/-

I hooked it up and every protocol works. You can add Hercules DJControl Starlight to the list of supported devices.

Thanks!