VU-Meter behavior?

Hi Trevliga,

congrats to MIDI V2.3. Just tested the VU-Meter functionality. I am not quite sure whether the issue is on the side of MIDI 2.3 but when I stop playing sound, the VU-Meter freezes at the last registered volume played. I would expect the VU-Meter to go back to zero. Am I getting this wrong?

Hi,

You are not getting it wrong; I would also expect the VU-Meter to go back to zero.

I guess that you use Studio One since the VU meters never go to zero. I made a quick check with Studio One, and it just stops sending data (when a channel is muted) so that the VU meter will freeze at the current level. On the other hand, Cubase does send data to make the meter go down to zero.

So this is another of those cases I talked about in the video, where different daws handle the protocol differently. I don't know why that is, but since the details of the Mackie Control protocol are so poorly documented, I guess everyone creates their theory for how to handle it.

I don't know if I can do something to get better behavior. I get the Mute command from the daw, so in theory, I can treat this as a "return VU to zero" command. I'll have to think more about that after some sleep.

Best,
Gunnar

Hi Gunnar,

well, I am not using a DAW as source but a Software called MIDI Mixer. This SW is meant to connect generic MIDI controlers to control audio of Windows Sound Devices and Applications. As your plugin turns StreamDeck into a MIDI Controler I have created corresponding profiles in MM and SD.

For this reason I chose a "Generic" Layout. The Midi messages for the VU-meter I am sending to the SD have been taken from a  dataflow between studio one and a Behringer X-touch controler in Mackie Control mode.

Channel1: 
CH:1 Control:1 Command:ChannelAftertouch MinValue:1 MaxValue:14
Channel2: 
CH:1 Control:1 Command:ChannelAftertouch MinValue:17 MaxValue:30
Channel3: 
CH:1 Control:1 Command:ChannelAftertouch MinValue:33 MaxValue:46
Channel4: 
CH:1 Control:1 Command:ChannelAftertouch MinValue:49 MaxValue:62
...

just to give you some background.

Thanks,

As I expected, Studio One is involved.  

I have been able to handle the situation by forcing the VU meter to 0 when a Mute command is received, but it requires that the Mute command is sent by the other party.

The default behavior in Mackie Control is that the button sends a command to the host, and the host responds by setting the button state (on a real Mackie: the LED; on an SD: the button state). The plugin never sets the button state itself, it relies on the daw to respond with the correct state, that's why the Mute command must come from the daw in order to have an effect on SD.

The left-most VU display looks odd, it shouldn't be split like that!

Thx for your quick feedback. 
I think the left-most VU display is just a relict caused by the way StreamDeck interacts with its buttons. It is even the first time I have noticed it.

cu Jörg

I really do like the performance of the VU-Meter.

Hello,

had a little discussion with the Midi Mixer developer on discord regarding the topic. From his point of view MIDI Mixer would act as follows...

MM will send a message to the controller for peak meters as often as it receives those updates; if it's receiving an update every 10ms then it will send an update every 10ms. The default internal setting for peak meters for apps/devices is 50ms (20 times per second).

When sound stops, MM will wait 150ms before then sending a zero-value to the controller, thus hopefully setting the VU/peak meter to zero. 

In my example this would mean 
for "Channel 1" -> 1
for "Channel 2" -> 17
...
for Channel 8 ->113

any comments? 

Do you suggest that I implement the same kind of "shut down meter after 150ms of inactivity" in the plugin?

I don't understand the channel list at the bottom, what are those numbers?

Tbh, I haven't found a detailed description of the Mackie protocol on this matters. My original idea was to emulate the behavior of a DAW working with it.

From my understanding this means that the ChannelAftertouch (CAT) command on MidiChannel:1 is used for 8 Channels to display the VU-Meter in this way:

Mackie Channel 1 CAT  1 to 14
Mackie Channel 2 CAT 17 to 30
Mackie Channel 3 CAT 33 to 46
Mackie Channel 4 CAT 49 to 62
Mackie Channel 5 CAT 65 to 78
Mackie Channel 6 CAT 81 to 94
Mackie Channel 7 CAT 97 to 110
Mackie Channel 8 CAT 113 to 126

In which the lowest value represents the zero value for this Mackie Channel. When the sound suddenly stops, MM will wait 150ms before then sending the respective zero-value to the controller. 


Depending on the performance of the StreamDeck it would be nice to use something similar for Faders or VPots based on CC commands as a generic solution.

The spec for metering in the Mackie Control protocol looks like this:



Using something similar for the VU display on Mackie Control faders sounds like a good idea. I can't see any use for it on V-pots, though.

The VU meter information is not available for CC based faders.

This is just a question of someone sending the Information   The task would be to consolidate something already working with a group of SD MIDI 2.3 buttons into one button.

VU-Meter resets now perfectly.