Norns: alternative grids

MentalSandal · 2021-02-04T08:32:12.256Z

@Cubeinthebox Not sure if you saw my post, but I got the Launchpad Pro mk3 running with midi grid.

You need to edit supported_devices.lua and paste the following line (after line 6)
{ midi_base_name= 'launchpad pro mk3', device_type='launchpad_promk3' },

Then duplicate launchpad_minimk3.lua (in the devices folder) and rename it launchpad_promk3.lua
You can open it and replace line 41 with launchpad.device_name = 'launchpad_promk3'

Now all you need to do is add local grid = include "midigrid/lib/midigrid" to your scripts, and set your Launchpad to programmer mode.
I tested it on Awake, Arcologies, mlr64, Zellen and a few other scripts.

Hope that’ll help!

Cubeinthebox · 2021-02-04T12:12:22.177Z

I did not, this thread has got a lot of launchpad mk3 going on in it! Thank you, @MentalSandal I’ll be trying this later today!

MentalSandal:

You need to edit supported_devices.lua and paste the following line (after line 6)
{ midi_base_name= 'launchpad pro mk3', device_type='launchpad_promk3' },

How did you settle on the name launchpad pro mk3 vs the reported names like Launchpad Pro MK3 1?

MentalSandal · 2021-02-04T16:57:50.054Z

Great question, the honest answer is : purely out of luck!
I read that the Mini mk3 was showing up as Launchpad Mini MK3 1, so I tried the same name formatting, since both devices have a similar note/CC layout.

Now a better answer would be :
When you look at supported_devices.lua, line 33 :

github.com

jaggednz/midigrid/blob/6be89d4d8319daa2bf22f62d856322799089479c/lib/supported_devices.lua#L33


  --'launchpad mini %d'
  for _,device_def in pairs(supported_devices.midi_devices) do
    if sysex_ident_resp and device_def.sysex_ident then
      --TODO use General Sysex ident call to try and ID device
    end
    -- Fall back to midi name matching
    if string.lower(midi_device.name) == device_def.midi_base_name then return device_def.device_type end
    -- Deal with any appended suffixes
    -- Warning! could cause issues if a new version of a device named "[device_name] 2"
    if string.lower(midi_device.name):find(device_def.midi_base_name .. ' %d') then return device_def.device_type end
  end
  return nil
end
return supported_devices

midi_device.name contains ‘Launchpad Pro MK3 1’ because of a midi.devices() query in midigrid.lua . See this doc for more info
So this line is converting our string to lowercase, and if ‘launchpad pro mk3 1’ matches one of the midi_base_name values plus any digit (because of %d), then it returns device_type .

This is why this extra line comes in handy :
{ midi_base_name= 'launchpad pro mk3', device_type='launchpad_promk3' },

As you can see, it’s essentially saying : “if the device shows up as ‘Launchpad Pro Mk3 1’, let’s reference it as launchpad_promk3 from now on.”

A least that’s how I understand it, @JaggedNZ or anyone, do let me know if I’m talking rubbish!

Hope that will help!

Cubeinthebox · 2021-02-04T17:30:01.666Z

Thank you, logically that all makes sense and thank you for the additional references! I’m going to take a look at some of the studies to get some more bearing on the scripts that norns utilizes.

MentalSandal:

Now all you need to do is add local grid = include "midigrid/lib/midigrid" to your scripts, and set your Launchpad to programmer mode.

Would this be in the opening of a script where it details pulling a grid or other midi info?

JaggedNZ · 2021-02-04T18:07:46.138Z

I’ll try fold these changes back into the code when I get a chance.

Cubeinthebox · 2021-02-04T22:31:00.390Z

I’ve gotten awake and a couple of the other scripts you mentioned working correctly with the LPPmk3, well as much as I can tell with some that I need to read more into! Thank you for the help!!

delineator · 2021-02-06T13:44:08.659Z

JaggedNZ:

Yeah, looks like most people are jumping on my branch and I’m the most active dev at the moment … I’ve also managed to get in a state where merging the original code makes a mess. (More on this below)

@JaggedNZ I’ve tested the master branch of your repo with two LP mini Mk3. Also with an older LP mini, and an APC mini.

I’ve created a PR on your repo with a fix for two LP mini Mk3 setup.

I copied log output into the PR so you can see what the change does.

I haven’t started looking at any sysex changes to the code yet to set an LP mini Mk3 into programmer mode automatically.

github.com/jaggednz/midigrid

Fix two LP Mk3 device setup for 128 grid - to jaggednz/midigrid fork

jaggednz:master ← robmckinnon:jaggednz-fork-lpmk3

opened 01:35PM - 06 Feb 21 UTC

robmckinnon

+27 -10

bharris22 · 2021-02-07T21:54:26.926Z

JaggedNZ:

Plug in one device ONLY and go to
SYSTEM > DEVICES > MIDI
And tell us exactly what you see, capitalisation matters.

I’m expecting “launchpad mk2” and not sure for the mini?

Edit: Then plug in both devices and see if the names have changed? (This should only happen if they both have the same device name)

Tell me both device names and you should be able to use them both as a 128.

OK - here is what I see:

For the Launchpad Mini Mk2 (when plugged in separately): Launchpad Mini
For the Launchpad Mk2 (when plugged in separately): Launchpad MK2

No change when both are plugged in at the same time :).

Thanks again!

delineator · 2021-02-08T17:49:59.100Z

bharris22:

For the Launchpad Mini Mk2 (when plugged in separately): Launchpad Mini

Note: You can optionally set a hardware ID to a value in the range 1-16 on older launchpad mini models. This ID gets appended to the midi device name.

For example, when you have set the hardware ID to 4 then this appears as midi_device.name: Launchpad Mini 4

I’ve added code to match on that in the PR JaggedNZ’s merged to the master branch of jaggednz/midigrid:

 if string.lower(midi_device.name):find 'launchpad mini %d' then
    return 'launchpad'

bharris22 · 2021-02-08T18:04:38.259Z

Interesting - thanks!

Do you know if the same applies to the Launchpad Mk2? As I mentioned, I currently have both a Mini Mk2 and a standard Mk2, and am debating whether to buy an additional mini or standard to give me a consistent grid of 128 pads. I am leaning toward a second standard Mk2 (the lights are nicer), but want to make sure that the Norns can see both of the standard devices and that midigrid can be edited to run them as a single set of 128 pads (as I understand has been done for the Mini Mk3).

JaggedNZ · 2021-02-08T20:29:11.322Z

@delineator btw your PR is merged but I have not tested on my setup. Not sure if launchpad mini mk1 devices are working, I will try test and update here in the next few days.

I think I have the launchpad mk1 and mk2 all mixed up, it looks like the implementations are almost identical, potentially only the device name is slightly different. I think I should be able to cover launchpad mk1, mini mk1, mk2 and mini mk2 with the same configuration.
I just need to tweak the supported device list slightly and we should be good.

@bharris22 pick what you think works for you best, support is based of what devices people have to test with …and I have two lp mini mk1’s (At least I think they are mk1’s )

Ps. Allergy shots suck

bharris22 · 2021-02-08T20:47:38.552Z

Excellent - thanks @JaggedNZ ! Hope to have a second Mk2 on the way shortly :).

JaggedNZ · 2021-02-08T21:26:34.995Z

Have you had any issues with random led lights? This can easily be seen on awake at high BPM, but might only be a mk1 issue (suspect Linux driver issue)

bharris22 · 2021-02-08T21:52:37.822Z

Hi @JaggedNZ - if this is a question for me, I have not yet tried using my Mk2 with Norns at all yet. I will try to install minigrid this week and let you know. Do I need to wait for you to make any adjustments to the code first based upon the device ID I posted? Once I get the second Mk2 and identify its device ID, then the code can be added for the two Launchpad Mk2 setup (i.e., 128 pads), correct?

Sorry again for the questions and imprecise terminology - still very new to this.

Thanks as always!

JaggedNZ · 2021-02-08T22:35:12.254Z

Ugh sorry I’m beginning to realise how much the notation LP model naming is a complete mess …

It looks like the launchpad MK2 is similar feature wise to the launchpad mini MK3. The launchpad mini mk1 & 2 should work about the same?!?

I will advise when I think I have something that should work. Shouldn’t take much work luckily.

bharris22 · 2021-02-08T22:48:56.547Z

Excellent - thanks!

Once you let me know it’s ready, I will try my Launchpad Mk2 and Launchpad Mini Mk2 individually with the 64 pad version of minigrid. Once that works correctly, and I get my second Mk2, I can test the 128 pad version.

shoggoth · 2021-02-09T03:29:16.896Z

Just received two LP mini mk3s today and super happy how everything is working! @Helen’s instructions are great, just need to change the reference to mg_128. Special thank you to @JaggedNZ and the genius who made sure the two LPs could line up without the black row of buttons interrupting the ‘grid plane’.

I even took a few minutes to change to a custom blue palette (can share once I’ve honed it more. To edit one yourself, reference the Launchpad programmers reference and look at the brightness_map in launchpad mk3 device file). Not sure it’s a perfect gradient but seems to work well enough.

I am getting occasional random buttons lighting up with colors outside of the ‘brightness map palette’ on a few scripts I tried (awake-mod, initenere, arcologies), but they are actually kind of charming. Arcologies is absolutely mind blowing.

delineator · 2021-02-09T17:11:38.063Z

shoggoth:

Just received two LP mini mk3s today and super happy how everything is working! @Helen’s instructions are great, just need to change the reference to mg_128. Special thank you to @JaggedNZ and the genius who made sure the two LPs could line up without the black row of buttons interrupting the ‘grid plane’.

Glad to hear you’re happy with your two LP mini mk3 setup. I have the same setup - and added that code for rotating the 2nd device to not interrupt the ‘grid plane’.

I also added that LP mini mk3 ‘brightness map palette’ using the mk3’s predefined RGB colours. There’s a way via sysex to set custom RGB values on the mk3. At some point we could add that to define a palette with brightness in a single hue - e.g. emulate the monome grid button hue.

@bharris22 Once you get your second LP mini mk2 for testing, it would be possible to test altering midigrid to rotate the 2nd LP mini mk2 device grid to not have the ‘grid plane’ interrupted by the function buttons. Like we do for the LP mini mk3.

bharris22 · 2021-02-09T17:38:22.636Z

delineator:

@bharris22 Once you get your second LP mini mk2 for testing, it would be possible to test altering midigrid to rotate the 2nd LP mini mk2 device grid to not have the ‘grid plane’ interrupted by the function buttons. Like we do for the LP mini mk3.

Excellent - thank you! Just to be clear, and I’m not sure it matters for this limited portion of the discussion, I will actually have two LP Mk2s, not two LM Mini Mk2s. This is the one I will have two of:

image677×673 146 KB

I do also have a LP Mini Mk2, shown below, but only have one of these (which I am happy to test once @JaggedNZ advises that he has made the changes to the main midigrid script).

2197 · 2021-02-09T18:48:30.736Z

has anyone had any luck using midigrid with a launchpad s? is it supported or not? i’m trying to set it up with the new version of cheat codes, but no luck so far. the launchpad appears under midi devices and is connected fine, and i’ve successfully installed midigrid and gone through the steps to activate midigrid in cheat codes. restarted norns and tried different usb ports. kind of lost what to try next, so any help would be greatly appreciated!