AKAI APC mini - Button-LED

Massimo Callegari

Translation: "To Massimo Callegari: is it possible to solve the issue that is now known and solved with a patch or an update ? I am repenting I bought the only controller that doesn't work as it should !"

Ronnie, I am not gonna have a private conversation with you about the APC (which I don't even own btw), so please stop bugging me with private emails, private messages on Sourceforge and messages in italian here.
This is not your personal answering machine. This is a public and international forum where everyone write in english - even if they are italians.

Moreover you didn't get the point of this whole thread (and the original one). The Akai APC has a specific functionality that most of the other MIDI controllers don't have, so including this change would make few users happy and a lot more users unhappy as it breaks feedbacks on other devices (like BCF2000)
Massimo Callegari

To Maikel, Joep, Alessandro and Jano: the only way to bring this upstream is to bind this behaviour to the input profiles. So basically users can specify a (global?) setting and define the feedback MIDI values to be sent.

I am a bit confused though regarding the 'off' state. I understand LEDs can have 3 or 4 colors, but what about if I want to completely turn off a button ?
I found weird that MIDI value 0 doesn't do it, especially because 0 is supposed to be the "factory default" value when you turn the device on.

So, anyone can please explain and come up with a constructive proposal of how we can implement this without breaking other devices ?
Ronnie Roselli

Dear Massimo, usually when I receive a private message, i always answer, receiving no reply, I thought you did not read or received.
I took the liberty to write you privately just because I had an urge to work and I'm sorry that with my two private messages I disturbed ...
However I have solved my problem, now it works perfectly!
Maikel Boerebach

I can't really tell you why a velocity value greater than 0 needs to be sent. I guess it is something hardware-related. I agree with your proposal to attach the output to the midi-input profile. I would suggest making different classes inside the midiprotocol.cpp which are then called by choosing the appropriate profile in the dropdown menu.
Maikel Boerebach

I don't really know what you mean by a function being attached. Only buttons mapped to a function in Virtual Desk are lit in colors and the ones not mapped are simply blank.
Alessandro Grechi

Yes, that is what I meant, sorry!.
I've just tried your mods with my APC20 and I can confirm that WORKS as expected! :)
Buttons mapped to a function which is not running are lit in red, the others are off.
Just wow! Thanks!

I noticed that this is working well only in the main "clip launch" section. With the others (clip stop, navigation...) the lit is always green.
Adrian Kapka

Hi
Sorry for my English, I use google translate.

* data2 = DMX2MIDI ((value == 0)? 3: value);

The solution with the change to "3" is ok, but only for 8x8 buttons. Other buttons have only one color for the ON value of 1-127. I suggest change to "0"

* data2 = DMX2MIDI ((value == 0)? 0: value);

The buttons then lit on green or red when they are ON, and go out when they are turned off.

Sincerely
Adrian
Joep Admiraal

Hi Massimo,

The APC communications protocol document states we should use note on/off messages to control the LED's. A note on message with a velocity of 0 can be used to turn the LED off, but a note off message is preferred. See page 8 of the attached document.
Attachments
APC40_Communications_Protocol_rev_1.pdf
(194.67 KiB) Downloaded 200 times
Joep Admiraal

Please ignore this post, the APC mini seems to work a bit different than the APC20/40. Which seems weird because the documentation of the APC40 mk2 also states we could use velocity 0. I think the mk2 is the same generation as the mini so I would expect them to behave the same.
Attachments
APC40Mk2_Communications_Protocol_v1.2.pdf
(775.65 KiB) Downloaded 205 times
waggod
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue May 05, 2015 9:16 am
Real Name: Jonas

Hello there,

can please someone upload a 4.9.1 Windows Version where the "Midi-Patch" is included?
It would be great. :-)
Veaceslav22
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Sep 13, 2015 3:34 pm
Real Name: Veaceslav

Hello everybody. I have the same problem, and I can not solve it. I've done both in the instructions https://github.com/mcallegari/qlcplus/w ... uild-HOWTO, but when it comes to make the program
(cd qlcplus
qmake -spec macx-g++
make),
my terminal fails. Anybody can create a file .dmg with modified file midi protocol.cpp for Mac OS? Or please write in detail how to do this operation on Mac OS. Thank you
Veaceslav22
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Sep 13, 2015 3:34 pm
Real Name: Veaceslav

This is error of my terminal:
(MBP-Veaceslav:qlcplus Veaceslav$ qmake -spec macx-g++
-bash: qmake: command not found)
plugz
Posts: 637
Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2015 6:30 pm
Real Name: David

qmake: command not found
qmake is part of the Qt framework, are you sure you've installed it properly ?
Veaceslav22
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Sep 13, 2015 3:34 pm
Real Name: Veaceslav

I installed Qt, but these commands I entered in the terminal. It is not right? Please write the whole procedure how to do and what software. Or if you can, please send me a reworked version of QLC with changed protocol.
Unfortunately I'm not a programmer, so please explain in detail how to make, or please send me finished file dmg to my e-mail 7751213@gmail.com. Thank you so much
Sorry for my english, i use translate
Veaceslav22
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Sep 13, 2015 3:34 pm
Real Name: Veaceslav

I tried to build the project using QT, the program gives me this error :
Neither libftdi-0.X nor libftdi-1.X found!
janosvitok
Posts: 1266
Joined: Mon Apr 13, 2015 7:05 am
Location: Bratislava, Slovakia
Real Name: Jano Svitok
Contact:

I'm thinking that if I find some time I may implement config file setting for MIDI plugin that will do this.
Veaceslav22
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Sep 13, 2015 3:34 pm
Real Name: Veaceslav

janosvitok wrote:I'm thinking that if I find some time I may implement config file setting for MIDI plugin that will do this.
Thank you very much
Ovis
Posts: 65
Joined: Thu May 28, 2015 2:00 pm
Real Name: Ovidijus

Veaceslav22 wrote:
janosvitok wrote:I'm thinking that if I find some time I may implement config file setting for MIDI plugin that will do this.
Thank you very much
That would be great :)
MBP 13 i5 8 GB OS X El Capitan
ENTTEC PRO Mk2
AKAI APCmini

User avatar
mcallegari
Posts: 4462
Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2015 9:09 am
Location: Italy
Real Name: Massimo Callegari
Contact:

janosvitok wrote:I'm thinking that if I find some time I may implement config file setting for MIDI plugin that will do this.
I agree on having this feature.
Apparently this is a hot topic and in these days I was thinking to contact Joep to understand precisely what are the needs of who uses the AKAI APC devices.
Basically I suppose one wants to send feedbacks to the APC with precise MIDI values to light a specific color of a button.
If this is what is required, we can probably act at the input profile level.
Basically a special case only for buttons where 0 is always feedbacked as 0 and 255 can be customized to a specific value. (or even better both customizable)

Is this what you guys need ?
Veaceslav22
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Sep 13, 2015 3:34 pm
Real Name: Veaceslav

What we need is to have the controller button with led lights works. They have three colors. Let the red is off, green on, even be true. Then it is clear what the scene on, which are not. So users like me, not programmers, it is difficult to do. You could make a QLC+ version specifically for Akai APC Mini, it would be very nice and would all be grateful.
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