Helix LT Midi Control Cakewalk Transport

[gvrnmtwrng]

i have been trying to get the LT to control the transport in Cakewalk by Band Lab and have gotten close to my desired ending, but i can not for the life of me get the exp toe switch to be recognized via midi. what i am trying to do is use the exp toe switch to play the tracks for live use. i can get the other pedals to control but i never use the toe switch so would rather use that. i know it can send cc messages but i'm lost on details.
thanks for any help

[rd2rk]

On 10/5/2023 at 6:48 PM, gvrnmtwrng said:

i have been trying to get the LT to control the transport in Cakewalk by Band Lab and have gotten close to my desired ending, but i can not for the life of me get the exp toe switch to be recognized via midi. what i am trying to do is use the exp toe switch to play the tracks for live use. i can get the other pedals to control but i never use the toe switch so would rather use that. i know it can send cc messages but i'm lost on details.
thanks for any help

 

In CommandCenter, select the switch above expression pedal 1 (which probably shouldn't be used for anything else) and assign it the required MIDI message or Hotkey "Space".

Repeat for each Snapshot that you want it active in.

 

[gvrnmtwrng]

Thank you, that gets me much closer, it works perfectly via usb, but not through the midi ports. i have tried using key conversion software like coyote midi and it allows me to record midi commands from the 10 footswitches, but not from the toe switch. i know i'm missing a setting somewhere.
my goal is to allow one laptop with HX Edit to be controlled with usb and a second laptop with Cakewalk controlled via midi outs.

[rd2rk]

On 10/12/2023 at 4:47 PM, gvrnmtwrng said:

Thank you, that gets me much closer, it works perfectly via usb, but not through the midi ports. i have tried using key conversion software like coyote midi and it allows me to record midi commands from the 10 footswitches, but not from the toe switch. i know i'm missing a setting somewhere.
my goal is to allow one laptop with HX Edit to be controlled with usb and a second laptop with Cakewalk controlled via midi outs.

 

Trying to get this working in Cakewalk reminds me why I stopped using Cakewalk years ago.

 

How are you getting Cakewalk to accept MIDI over USB from your LT?

I can get it to see MIDI from the DIN ports through my Scarlett, but not over USB from my Floor.

 

Takes seconds to get both working in Ableton or Reaper.

 

As for controlling the Transport, IIRC, that requires ACT. NOT going there ever again.

Ableton/Reaper - again EZ PZ.

 

Although I am curious how you're getting Cakewalk to see MIDI over USB, I'm afraid your best bet is to try the Bandlab/Cakewalk forums.

I say "afraid" because that forum was another reason I dumped Cakewalk.

 

 

 

[gvrnmtwrng]

On 10/12/2023 at 6:27 PM, rd2rk said:

 

Trying to get this working in Cakewalk reminds me why I stopped using Cakewalk years ago.

 

How are you getting Cakewalk to accept MIDI over USB from your LT?

I can get it to see MIDI from the DIN ports through my Scarlett, but not over USB from my Floor.

 

Takes seconds to get both working in Ableton or Reaper.

 

As for controlling the Transport, IIRC, that requires ACT. NOT going there ever again.

Ableton/Reaper - again EZ PZ.

 

Although I am curious how you're getting Cakewalk to see MIDI over USB, I'm afraid your best bet is to try the Bandlab/Cakewalk forums.

I say "afraid" because that forum was another reason I dumped Cakewalk.

 

 

 

i actually didn't do anything except what you said, used control center to activate the space bar and it just worked. but to make it even more strange, if i go to snapshot 2 then back to snapshot 1, that ALSO triggers the spacebar. but in control center there is nothing on those buttons at all. still can not get it to work over midi

[rd2rk]

OK, don't know what was happening when I tried this, but now with HOTKEY>Space assigned to the Toe Switch it works (starts playback) when EXP 1 is first activated.

It doesn't work over the MIDI ports because Helix is not sending MIDI, it's sending a keyboard action.

There's technically no reason you can't run HXEdit and Cakewalk on the same machine. Is there some reason why you need two machines?

 

As to the snapshot thing, it has to do with the way that the toe switch switches the Exp pedals. I'm sure there's a programming logic to it, and maybe if you mess with it long enough you'll be able to figure that out, but I just spent an hour on it and every time I think I've got it working I find some other combination of which Exp pedal is active in what snapshot that puts it out of sync. I see three choices:

 

1) Mess with it until you figure it out. Good Luck with that!

2) Use a regular FS (not the Toe Switch) for this function.

3) If you MUST use two machines, assign MIDI to the Transport in addition to option 2. In Cakewalk I THINK that would require ACT, which is a PITA. Good Luck with THAT!

 

Let me ask you this. Is there a REASON that you use Cakewalk? Have you been using it for years and have a lot of time invested learning it and a lot of saved projects?

Is it just the first FREE DAW that you tried?

If the latter, DL a copy of REAPER (COCKOS). It's VERY powerful, FREE until you want to pay for it, and IIRC it's currently $60 for a lifetime license.

It's a WAY better DAW than Cakewalk (though not as pretty), and you can easily assign MIDI to just about any function OR use Hotkeys.

HUNDREDS of YT tutorials and an active and friendly user community.

You might also consider auditioning the FREE version of Ableton LIVE (Lite). Lite has track restrictions and the full version is MUCH more expensive than REAPER but again, assigning MIDI to functions is easy. Its primary mission and design is Electronic Music creation, but it works well as a regular DAW also.