OpenMPT and MIDI / Hardware Synthesizers

[anodyne777]

Greetings,

Short introduction:
I'm a producer who usually works in professional environment (Ableton Live and a number of hardware synths), but I got my start with trackers back in the day - beginning with ST3, moving to IT, and the last of which I used regularly (circa 2002) was ModPlug (still love it... nothing is faster than a familiar tracker interface!).  I had to switch to something else with more MIDI routing options and audio recording capabilities, among other things.  But recently I've started a chip music project, and I'm wondering if I can use OpenMPT to:

1) sync MIDI clock between the tracker and outboard devices

2) route note data to MIDI ports

To what extent is it possible to sequence/automate actual hardware via OpenMPT? 

I wasn't able to find very much info on this even after ~15 of looking around, however I did see that some people use a VST device called VST2MID to export note data to physical hardware over available MIDI ports.

Any advice is appreciated... I just want to know if it's worth trying, or not a good idea.  Also, if there is a VST version of OpenMPT, that would be neato. 

Thanks,
Owen G.

[anodyne777]

Hmm...

Any tips on MIDI and OpenMPT are still most welcome, but I think I may have answered my own questions though more searching (VST2MID is necessary for MIDI output, and if that doesn't do what I want then I'm hosed - I'll have to play around to find out, how it syncs up etc.).

Looks like there is also no OpenMPT Rewire support or a (current) VSTi version of the program, which would've been useful. 

I should have searched longer.

[Saga Musix]

Welcome!

1) sync MIDI clock between the tracker and outboard devices

OpenMPT can receive Start / Stop / Pause signals (look on the MIDI config tab). There might be a possibility to send at least those commands in the future, I dunno about sending other clock events.

2) route note data to MIDI ports

That's indeed only possible using plugins, but VST2MID is a good solution and it will ship with upcoming versions of OpenMPT by default. Here's a short introduction on how to set it up.

To what extent is it possible to sequence/automate actual hardware via OpenMPT? 

You can receive any MIDI events (and use them to control VST plugins), and you can also send out any MIDI commands using MIDI macros in combination with VST2MID.

Looks like there is also no OpenMPT Rewire support

ReWire cannot be licensed for open source projects. The closest open-source thing similar to ReWire would be JACK, but OpenMPT doesn't support that, either.

[anodyne777]

Thanks for the reply.  If I run into anything weird I'll be back