ForumsNews ← Aalto on Linnstrument, via MPE

And apparently the MPE implementation works! Thanks for sharing, Roger.


With Aalto 1.7, aftertouch is implemented in an MPE-compatible way—all of the factory Aalto patches will play expressively with Soundplane, LinnStrument, and other MPE-aware controllers over MIDI. And adding pressure, x or y control to any of your existing Aalto patches is just a virtual patch cable away. I’m excited to see more of the fruits of this cooperation.

I was just demoing the Madrona Labs Aalto Demo Software since the Linnstrument and Aalto support mpe: i was looking at Geert's post on the mpe specification - multidimensional polyphonic expression. I just made a few basic tweaks from a basic default setup patch in Aalto: from y axis to timbre circuit in oscillator and pressure dedicated to filter and amp. A little of the built in reverb just to demo the demo. Just checking to see if mpe and soft synths would work for me in general. I have tried some other soft synths and they all tend to overwhelm me. The interface on Aalto feels on point. Looking forward to Kaivo and mpe.

a video of demoing the demo version of Aalto: demo of a demo

I've created a patch in Aalto that sounds one way—the input protocol is 'MIDI'. I then change it to 'MIDI MPE' and, while it makes very interesting sounds, it sounds almost nothing like what the patch sounds like in 'MIDI'. Latest version of Aalto in the latest version of Reaper using a Linnstrument with the latest firmware. On an up-to-date iMac. Possibly a beginner question but I didn't find anything in the manual. Happy New Year!

If you want to play a different voice from each note of the Linnstrument, you want MIDI MPE. This can certainly sound different from using MIDI alone. It's hard for me to guess what you might mean by "completely different" though or whether it is a problem. In general I would advise to focus on MPE with your Linnstrument and I'll be here to help.

There's not much if anything in the manual on MPE yet. Sorry it's lagging behind reality. I'll do what I can to catch up soon.

Happy new year!

Here’s an example of the difference between MIDI and MIDI MPE for the patch I’m trying to work on (forgive me if I stumble with Markdown).

MIDI
MIDI MPE

Essentially the same notes, same positions on the Linnstrument. Same Linnstrument settings.

The second one is pretty different ! :-)

So... MIDI and MIDI MPE will indeed produce really different signals out of the KEY module, which in turn will make really different sounds. You can see that the mod outputs change their labels, because they turn from mod cc outputs into dedicated x and y outputs for MPE. So now the x and y information is going to the patch and it sounds completely different as a result.

You can consider the MIDI / MPE choice as a fundamental part of the patch that you probably won't change afterwards. Then you can work by either making MPE patches from the ground up, or switching a MIDI patch to MPE and then adding the modulation you want.

The same is true with OSC and the Soundplane inputs by the way. To get all the Soundplane data in the KEY module outputs are repurposed and so in general patches won't be compatible.

Nice playing BTW, I am interested to hear what you do with Linnstrument down the road.

Ah! I had a feeling this would be the answer. After a little consideration I think I like it. Aalto is the first soft synth I've felt like I could 'bond' with and this 'limitation' helps me feel a little more at home in a digital paradigm.

The change from +1 and +2 hadn't registered yet—I'm still unfamiliar with the interface—but I see that now and it makes sense and stimulates the curiosity!

Thank you!