Delay pressure and position/slide data?

[MNDMTH]

Is there any way that the Mandala can be configured to slightly delay the pressure/slide/position data being sent, so that this continuous data is only sent when a note is held for a longer duration. Essentially it would block that data for a very short time so that short stick or finger hits wouldn’t send this data but if the note is held down then it allows that continuous MPE or CC data to pass.

I came up with a solution in Ableton using the MIDI envelope device to turn on and off MPE pressure but it has been quite buggy and triggers high CPU usage and has started to cause Ableton crashes in the latest Ableton update. If there was a way to implement this in the Mandala firmware that would be amazing! Or if there is already a way to do this that I have overlooked please let me know! Thanks!

[admin]

You could create a Max for Live patch to do that. Another option would be to do it before it even reaches Live by writing a Max patch and sending the Mandala data through that patch on its way to Live.

Do you have experience with Max? If not, let me know what CC numbers you're using for pressure/slide/position and if you're Mac or Windows and I could make a standalone Max patch for you to try.

[MNDMTH]

You could create a Max for Live patch to do that. Another option would be to do it before it even reaches Live by writing a Max patch and sending the Mandala data through that patch on its way to Live.

Do you have experience with Max? If not, let me know what CC numbers you're using for pressure/slide/position and if you're Mac or Windows and I could make a standalone Max patch for you to try.

Thanks for the quick reply! A Max for Live Patch would be ideal. I don't have experience writing Max for Live patches but I often work with Tobias Hunke (Abletondrummer) who has created a bunch of custom Max for Live patches for me.

I'm using the Mandala Drum in MPE mode (so that I can take advantage of the built in MPE expression in Ableton's native instrument patches without having to do a lot of extra MIDI CC mapping). Tobias was trying to work on a M4L patch to block initial MPE data but he doesn't have access to a Mandala drum to test it so we kept hitting problems, partly because of the way that MPE is note specific. MPE mode seems to offer me the greatest flexibility but let me know if using it with MIDI CC data is a better option in terms of being able to block initial continuous expression data.

If you are able to create a M4L device to block initial MPE (and/or CC) data I would greatly appreciate it. I've posted a couple of Mandala videos which you kindly shared on instagram already and I was planning to do a few video tutorials and share some patches, etc.

[MNDMTH]

Sorry I forgot to include this info:
I'm using Mac
I'm using the standard MPE preset that you include with the Mandala drum but I have modified the MIDI notes to be:
Surface (from centre to edge): C3 C#3 D3 Eb3
Rims: ascending chromatically from C4 upwards

[admin]

I don't have experience making Max 4 Live patches but I could create a Max patch that theoretically does it and send it to you as a patch instead of a standalone so you could see what I've done and use it as the basis for a M4L patch.

Just to make sure I've got all the parameters, since you are using the MPE preset that would mean:

- The Position Controller is already turned off and Slide is cc74 on ch2 and Pressure is aftertouch on ch2. It's fine that you changed the surface notes to C3 C#3 D3 Eb3 but have you kept them all on ch 2?

- The rims have aftertouch coming in with every hit and it's on the channel of the rim note that came in (ch 3-11).

So, what I would do is every time a surface note comes in I would block cc74 on ch2 and Aftertouch on ch2 until a corresponding noteoff comes in, but only if the noteoff comes in after a certain short time frame (just a bit more than a standard drum stick or quick finger hit).

For rim hits I would do the same but I would only be blocking aftertouch on the channel of the incoming note until a corresponding noteoff comes in, but only if the noteoff comes in after a certain short time frame (just a bit more than a standard drum stick or quick finger hit).

Please review that and let me know if it sounds like what you need.

[MNDMTH]

I don't have experience making Max 4 Live patches but I could create a Max patch that theoretically does it and send it to you as a patch instead of a standalone so you could see what I've done and use it as the basis for a M4L patch.

Just to make sure I've got all the parameters, since you are using the MPE preset that would mean:

- The Position Controller is already turned off and Slide is cc74 on ch2 and Pressure is aftertouch on ch2. It's fine that you changed the surface notes to C3 C#3 D3 Eb3 but have you kept them all on ch 2?

- The rims have aftertouch coming in with every hit and it's on the channel of the rim note that came in (ch 3-11).

So, what I would do is every time a surface note comes in I would block cc74 on ch2 and Aftertouch on ch2 until a corresponding noteoff comes in, but only if the noteoff comes in after a certain short time frame (just a bit more than a standard drum stick or quick finger hit).

For rim hits I would do the same but I would only be blocking aftertouch on the channel of the incoming note until a corresponding noteoff comes in, but only if the noteoff comes in after a certain short time frame (just a bit more than a standard drum stick or quick finger hit).

Please review that and let me know if it sounds like what you need.

Thanks. This all sounds right. Yes the surface notes are still all on channel 2. I have attached a screenshot of the Mandala settings just to make sure you have everything you need. I do not have the standalone version of Max but I think if you send it as a patch I can open it in the Max for Live editor and access/modify it that way.

Screenshot 2025-02-27 at 06.51.29.jpg (215.25 KiB) Viewed 59861 times

[admin]

Attached is a Max patch which does what you're looking for. It blocks the controllers associated with any of your notes for 100ms when that note comes in, then the data starts flowing after that. Short hits or taps only produce notes.

If you use this as a Max patch to filter the data from your pad before it hits Ableton you would set the input port in Ableton to 'from Max 1' so the data from this patch is what gets to Ableton instead of the data directly from your V3. The data from your particular V3 (Mandala_V3_0628) is set to automatically be the input device to this patch and 'from Max 1' is automatically set to be the output path from this patch. You can change those things in the upper left of the patch depending on how you take it from here (like making it into a M4L patch or maybe into a Max standalone).

V3_Filter.maxpat.zip

(5.05 KiB) Downloaded 2496 times

[MNDMTH]

Thanks! Will try and test this out and let you know how I get on.