Call for Layouts: Akai Miniak/Alesis Micron

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Note: Since the Akai Miniak is so similar to the Alesis Micron, the current template by landschall works with both. Great!

asked Oct 7, 2012 in Community Shares by MIDI Designer Team (Dan)
edited Oct 2, 2016 by MIDI Designer Team (Dan)

Hi guys! I love your work, both the Midi Designer in general and the layout by Landschall in particular.
I have a question though. Has anyone of you experienced any problems with the Miniak layout in the later versions of MidiDesigner? I get a flickering behavior when I tap some (most) of the controls. it seems to trigger several other controls and just runs amok. Probably there's something with the supercontrol/subcontrol function. I'm on an Ipad 1 with ios 5.1.1. I'm sorry if this has been brought up in some other thread and I have been ignorant enough to miss it. /Raudbjarn

commented Feb 21, 2013 by raudbjarn (110 points)

The template might have gotten more complex, too. I'll ask the author, first, then we'll talk about next steps. Thanks!

commented Feb 21, 2013 by MIDI Designer Team (Dan)

Hi raudbjarn,

sorry for the delayed answer.
Tried the layout yesterday. Did not experience the described errors. I have an iPad 3 @ the latest iOS version.

Sorry to hear that you are having trouble with it.

Best,

LandSchall

commented Feb 25, 2013 by landschall (260 points)

Hi, I'll try it on an iPad 1 with 1.5 prerelease this week. Hopefully we can sort this out.

commented Feb 25, 2013 by MIDI Designer Team (Dan)

Layout is looking awesome on an iPad 1 with MIDI Designer 1.5 prerelease. Hoping that it will solve your problems @raudbjarn. If not, get in touch, please.

commented Feb 28, 2013 by MIDI Designer Team (Dan)

2 Answers

Akai Miniak/Alesis Micron Controller by landschall

MIDI Target Manufacturer(s): Akai, Alesis
Summary: Author and Broque artist André Noller (Landschall) explains his motivation for building this MIDI controller:

"As many know, this synth was nearly un-editable (at least for me) because of the missing controllers and the ‘calculator-styled’ display with one (!) endless knob and a few shortcuts to get to the menus faster (but not fast enough if you ask me)."

André worked closely with the MIDI Designer development team to achieve control of every parameter in the Miniak. The Sequential Subcontrols feature was implemented to achieve full control over the Miniak/Micron.

This is the first complete, real-time MIDI controller for the Akai Miniak and the Alesis Micron. The author’s work is aesthetically simple, but amazingly comprehensive and utilizes MIDI Designer to the maximum extent.

Rating: Platinum

Hi,

finally I've finished my Layout for the Akai Miniak.

As many know, this Synth was near un-editable (at least for me), because of the missing controllers and the "calculator-styled" display with one (!) endless knob and a few shortcuts to get to the menus faster (but not fast enough if you ask me).

So I created this layout, featuring 250 parameters (and loots, loooots, loooooots of subcontrols) to edit and choose from, to finally use this nice little Synth as it deserves!

The flow through the pages is based on the signal flow chart in the Miniaks menu (p. 27 i think). Also initializing a patch is a lot easier, since Preset 1 of the MIDI Designer Layout features a (more or less) default patch, to create your sounds from scratch.

Tested it, every parameter should work fine. If not, feel free to leave me a note and I'll try to look after the issue.

Have fun :)

Attached please find a few preview pictures (covers not all pages and banks)

Downloads:
Download

Images

Image 1

Image 2

Image 3

Image 4

Image 5

answered Jan 18, 2013 by landschall (260 points)
edited Jun 27, 2016 by MIDI Designer Team (Dan)

I have a feeling this one also should work with the Alesis Micron. Which would be wonderful! Can you load patches from the Miniak into the mididesigner layout as well?
Good work!

commented Jan 22, 2013 by raudbjarn (110 points)

I can confirm that it works perfectly with the Alesis Micron. Thanks a lot for the work!

commented Jan 22, 2013 by buttrock (100 points)

Thanks for testing that, buttrock! That's awesome news!

commented Jan 22, 2013 by MIDI Designer Team (Dan)

Hi raudbjarn,

I have not implemented such a feature directly.
Could not find something like a "receive values" option either. But this must not mean anything, maybe I've simply overseen it...

Concerning the 1:1 functionality: was not a big surprise when you keep in mind that the Miniak is virtually a face-lifted Micron :p

But I am happy to hear that it works without any constraint (I hope so?)

Best,

Landschall

commented Jan 23, 2013 by landschall (260 points)

No problem :)

Happy to hear that it helps someone. Justifies the hours and effort that went into this project even more!

commented Jan 23, 2013 by landschall (260 points)

Yes, I also got it up and running with the Micron. Actually I had started to make a template of my own when I found yours which is complete. So no need to reinvent the wheel, right?
This might be a stupid question, but how do the Mod1-6 and Mod7-12 work?
Thanks for a great template!

commented Jan 23, 2013 by raudbjarn (110 points)

Hi raudbjarn,

this is not a stupid question, that is indeed a good question, since I did not provide any kind of documentation at all :p

Not sure how this is done on the Micron, but on the Miniak you can add up to 12 Modulations to a programm / patch.

Each Modulation offers 4 parameters.

1. (Modulation) Source
2. (--"--) Destination

3. (--"--) Level
4. (--"--) Offset

Parameters 1, 2 and 3, 4 deppend on each other.

Since you've got a plethora of modulation sources and destinations to choose from (and who really knows which is which all the time), I thougt it would be most fun to more or less "randomize" this feature. This way, you can simply move around the X/Y-Pad and explore the variety of combinations quick and comfortabel.

So I hope this explanation helps you a little bit.
If not, feel free to ask (goes for anyone who reads this and may has a question). You know, Karma and stuff :p

Best,

André

commented Jan 23, 2013 by landschall (260 points)

yeah, I got some interesting results from playing around with it, just couldn't figure out the logic behind it. Now I know there's no logic to look for. I'll play on with it!
Thanks mate!

commented Jan 23, 2013 by raudbjarn (110 points)

First: Thanks for this huuuge effort to map all the controls, all the NRPN stuff etc!
Sadly, on my Ipod touch the layout is not very usable because buttons overlap and there's not enough screen space for all the elements on one page.
So:
Could you post a list with the parameters you used for the controls so people (meaning me atm ;)) can create their customized controllers more easily
or
create an Iphone version with more banks and each page with a height of three knobs (the turn-to-choose-type) and maybe a bit more crammed?
I'll try to spread the controls over more pages myself, but I'm not sure if I'll succeed.

commented Feb 3, 2013 by acid-o-philous (310 points)

Hi, I'm not the author of the layout, but rather of MIDI Designer. This is the first time I've seriously thought about this, but being able to convert an iPad layout to iPhone would be a huge advantage. The problem is that there are many cases where this is quite difficult. Anyway, I'll think about this feature going forward. It probably won't happen for at last a couple of months, though I do think it could be useful. Thanks for your patience as we learn about and service these new needs.

commented Feb 3, 2013 by MIDI Designer Team (Dan)

Hi,

since I only own an iPad, I did not consider problems with smaller screens :)

I've used this list to identify the respective NRPN parameters and their corresponding values:

http://ion-micron-miniak.wikia.com/wiki/Common_FAQ#MIDI_implementation

You could create new buttons, knobs on your own using this list. But trust me, setting all the parameters and values (especially those who require negative values and thus must be controlled via sequential subcontrols) is a very time consuming and monotone job.

Maybe you could create and new bank, move or copy all the parameters you need to a new page and delete the old bank afterwards (and gain free space to move the rest).

Best,

LandSchall

commented Feb 3, 2013 by landschall (260 points)

Wow, quick feedback, thanks a lot!
@admin: Converter would indeed be neat, thanks for considering (and verbalizing in the first place :)

@LandSchall: Thanks for the link and ideas, I'm currently shuffling buttons and knobs around and think of it as rather promising. Screenshots of the pages not already covered would be helpful if you find the time, but I think I can manage without, too.

I'll let you know about results, but it's gonna take a while... Still much(!) faster than doing it all over again, I guess I'd lack the patience to go through with it :) So thanks again!

commented Feb 3, 2013 by acid-o-philous (310 points)

Not sure how the link was missing its extension (.mididesigner), but anyway, fixed it. Hope it's not a problem, landschall.

commented Feb 28, 2013 by MIDI Designer Team (Dan)

Request current patch from micron / mod source and dest? (alesis micron)

asked Mar 23, 2013 in Advanced by max-polyakov (120 points)

Patch implementation / Editing Current Patch Values

asked May 6, 2013 in Community Requests by yanovski (120 points)
recategorized Jan 29, 2014 by MIDI Designer Team (Dan)

Question for you here, not sure if you can help?

http://mididesigner.com/qa/6596/akai-miniak-with-layout-not-controlling-parameters

commented Jun 26, 2018 by MIDI Designer Team (Dan)

First edit of Landschall's Layout for use on Ipod touch /Iphone (small screen)

http://mididesigner.com/qa/?qa=blob&qa_blobid=16088179275153348063

I hope the upload worked :)

It's a visually not as sophisticated version, buttons replaced with sliders for most controls, some labels omitted, should be working though. If I feel the need to beautify it I'll share that as well, for now I'll leave it the way it is. Of course everyone is free to post an improved version :) The Supercontrol-thingy pages are particularly messy, but I figured I won't really need to access them so I left them like this.

I tried to keep the pages as filled with controls as possible, unless it seemed to make morte sense doing it another way. So, fell free to use it any way you want. Next up for me: trying to figure out pedalboard use for a doepfer midi controller :) Big Thanks again to Landschall for his work, Praise be unto him!

answered Mar 25, 2013 by acid-o-philous (310 points)

Great, very glad to have it!

commented Jun 26, 2018 by MIDI Designer Team (Dan)

Call for Layouts: Akai Miniak/Alesis Micron

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2 Answers

Akai Miniak/Alesis Micron Controller by landschall

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