MIDI Bank Select Entries Not Being Retained in PT7

[DigiTechSupt]

Since Version 7, ProTools has become incapable of accepting/saving this data.

Just to clarify - in our testing, the fields accept the data (the bank change message is sent), but the fields do not retain the data once it's been entered.

Are you seeing something different?

[DigiTechSupt]

Also, I will point out that Cherry Picker can create custom middev and midnam files that will allow you to create patch banks that can be used in association with your synths. Once you create the midnam and middev files for your synth, you can associate the patch name file with your synth and use the drop down menus to change banks.

[jepmus]

My recollection is that, indeed, data can be typed into the field. The bank change message is sent, but the instruction is not retained in ProTools. Once the user leaves that field, by tabbing for example, the field reverts to a dash "-", as if no data has been entered. I would say that the fields do not "accept" data. I could accomplish the same thing, with the same inconvenience, by manually performing the settings on my sound module. My workaround has been to type bank select numbers in the track comments field. Thankfully, track comments are retained.

Sincere thanks for entering the discussion again, Digi, but respectfully, could we discuss the issue, as opposed to semantics, or the use of another app [which covers more turf than than this issue] to aid in the implementation of what has become a relatively basic midi feature? Cherry Picker, a wonderful app, is, regrettably, a much needed app for many, as the sticky thread reveals. Using Third Party Midi Patch Names

Again, respectfully, the mention of CherryPicker is a diversion. I am speaking of a feature which existed, and worked, in ProTools. The feature is still in the program, but it no longer works, and hasn't for some time. Surely you wouldn't imply, for example, that audio track volume automation was acceptable, were it to simply transmit data, only as the user was literally drawing a curve.

There are bank select fields in ProTools which were meant to allow and retain data entry. These fields are currently useless, and have been since the release of PT7. In January of this year, in this thread, I received the following response from Digi:

Yes, we are aware of this and have logged it to be fixed.

Will the issue be addressed in relatively short order [i.e., within the next 2 months], or is it perpetually destined to slide towards the bottom of the "to do" list?

thanks very much for your response Digi,
jep

[bpert]

Hi folks,

This midi related problem seems new to PT7 ... I am now using 7.1 cs3.
When entries are typed in the bank field in the patch select dialog, they are not retained. Dashes replace the data entered in the bank select fields. Program numbers, however, are kept. Can others replicate this behavior? If so, I hope the problem is fixed soon.
thanks,
jep

I agree that this should be fixed. Some of us still use a lot of MIDI modules and even program our own sounds for them! It would be really nice to have an easier way to edit patch names and add the patch names of expansion cards quickly and efficiently. I understand that everyone isn't looking for this functionality in Pro Tools HD, but why not write an add on for Pro Tools that would allow this functionality? I know I would buy it!!

[Philthy]

Also, I will point out that Cherry Picker can create custom middev and midnam files that will allow you to create patch banks that can be used in association with your synths. Once you create the midnam and middev files for your synth, you can associate the patch name file with your synth and use the drop down menus to change banks.

I complained a year or two ago about how the drop down menus on tracks were behaving in ways contrary to a productive work flow (overwriting choices on other tracks which utilize the same midi channel, for example, and also impossible to mute) and the reply Digi offered to me was that this was how all MIDI sequencers work, which of course is not true. To me it was just evidence that at Digi there is a lack of experience with using MIDI in the creative process.

Program changes should be stored as data points in a track and not as some kind of global setting for a track. The pull down menu on a track should write an initial program change at the start of a track. This is how Studio Vision Pro worked and how most MIDI sequencers that I have used have worked.

It's incredibly difficult to save MIDI work in ProTools in an evolving session, because there is no way to deactivate a MIDI track, and mute absurdly does not stop a MIDI track from sending out program changes. Basically once you assign a sound to one channel of a MIDI device you can never use that device channel again in that session unless you delete that MIDI track or delete the patch assignment to that saved part.

This is absurd MIDI behavior and is driving me crazy on all my arrangement work right now. Right now I'm saving a new version of the project every time I add a new MIDI part, meaning for some songs I end up with 30+ versions of the session, before I even worry about mixing or anything like that. Recently an artist decided to change the key of a project, meaning I had to work my way back through the entire chain of sessions, transposing and reprinting the audio to each part. If ProTools wrote patch settings as data points at the start of a track, and if muting a MIDI track muted patch changes, none of this would be a problem.

I don't need some kind of global patch setting for MIDI device channels, which is how the software now behaves. I can't even imagine an application for such behavior.