Cannot activate read or write auotmation in Cubase

[meister]

I always thought I am a computer affine person but know I think I was wrong. I guess and hope this is an easy to solve issue and hopefully I give you all the details you need to help me which would be much appreciated!

OS: Windows 10 21H2
loopMIDI v1.0.16 (27)
two MIDI ports: „osc“ and “osc_cc”
Open Stage Control v1.15.0
Cubase 10.5 / Cubase 11 (same issue in both versions, which is not a surprise to me )

The template includes four buttons:

1. Play
2. Stop
3. Read
4. Write

The Play and the stop buttons work as expected. I can use the buttons from the template and I can use the buttons in Cubase also.
When I click on the read button in the template the tracks read function (for automation) is activated. With read activated I can click on the write button on the template which activates the tracks write function.
This is what works and now I try to describe what does not work:

*When I click in Cubase on the “read” button it turns green for a very, very short time and then stays grey.
*When I click in Cubase on the “write” button it turns read for a very, very short time and then stays grey. At the same time the “read” button turns green for a very, very short time and then stays grey.
*On the template when the “read” button is not activated and I click on the write button the following happens: On the template the “read” button changes its color which I would expect since it should be activated together with the “write” button. But the “write” button only briefly changes the color. Plus the same behavior as when I click on the write button in Cubase: The “write” and the “read” buttons2 change their colour briefly but are not activated.

I hope this is kind of understandable

And here some screenshots and the json and xml:

All the three other remote devices are not connected!

The Cubase xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<remotedescription version="1.1">
<ctrltable name="Standard MIDI">
<ctrl><name>Play</name><stat>176</stat><chan>15</chan><addr>11</addr><max>1</max><flags>3</flags></ctrl>
<ctrl><name>Stop</name><stat>176</stat><chan>15</chan><addr>12</addr><max>1</max><flags>3</flags></ctrl>
<ctrl><name>Read Automation</name><stat>176</stat><chan>15</chan><addr>28</addr><max>1</max><flags>3</flags></ctrl>
<ctrl><name>Write Automation</name><stat>176</stat><chan>15</chan><addr>29</addr><max>1</max><flags>3</flags></ctrl>
</ctrltable>
<bank name="osc_cc">
<entry ctrl="Play">
<value><device>Transport</device><chan>-1</chan><tag>4015</tag><flags>1</flags></value>
</entry>
<entry ctrl="Stop">
<value><device>Transport</device><chan>-1</chan><tag>4016</tag><flags>1</flags></value>
</entry>
<entry ctrl="Read Automation">
<value><device>Mixer</device><chan>-2</chan><name>readEnable</name><flags>256</flags></value>
</entry>
<entry ctrl="Write Automation">
<value><device>Mixer</device><chan>-2</chan><name>writeEnable</name><flags>256</flags></value>
</entry>
</bank>
</remotedescription>

Since I am new here I can not upload the json file so I paste the screenshots of the important (hopefully) parts:
The "read" button:

The "write" button:

The "play" button:

The "stop" button:

Thanks in advance for any hint!!!
Martin

[jean-emmanuel]

You must remove the content of open stage control's send option, you're basically routing osc's output to its input here, this can't go well.

Also, I don't use windows nor loopMidi, but from what I've read I think you need to create separate ports in loopMidi for input and output otherwise it creates feedback loops (although I'm not 100% sure as I can't test that), for example

1. create two ports in loopMidi
   • one named oscToCubase
   • one named cubaseToOsc
2. set open stage control's midi option to

OSC:cubaseToOsc,oscToCubase

(copy paste it as is)

3. in Generic Remote, set
   • MIDI Input to oscToCubase
   • MIDI Output to cubaseToOsc

Edit: missing point:

4. Set the target property of your widgets to

midi:OSC

This way the widget will be connected to both loopMidi ports (the midi target named "OSC" being connected to oscToCubase and cubaseToOSC as per point 2.

[YaroslavKnyazev]

Hey !

I also struggled with the connection for a long time)
But Jean Emmanuel helped to sort out the situation!
These are the more detailed settings of what he sent me:

Stopped working!

remove port OSC in loopMidi create two ports in loopMidi one named oscToCubase one named cubaseToOsc set open stage control's midi option to OSC:cubaseToOsc,oscToCubase in Generic Remote, set MIDI Input to oscToCubase MIDI Output to cubaseToOsc remove the content of open stage control's send and port option, you don't need these Note: don't bother hiding the IP address in your screenshots, it's a local network address that has no interest for anyone ;)..

And here are some other icons:

Useful links of different icons

Hi guys ! I want to share links to various icons for widgets. For advanced users, this is not necessary) But for beginners (like me), in order not to waste their precious time searching - it will come in handy! Not all icons (today) fit, but I hope for another update... Good luck ! https://www.alt-codes.net/miscellaneous-symbols

Also the icon settings I use:

Good luck !

Screenshots

[jean-emmanuel]

@YaroslavKnyazev The target of your widget is wrong, it should only be midi:OSC

[YaroslavKnyazev]

By the way, if you want to change the properties of the button, then you are here:

[YaroslavKnyazev]

Thanks, but everything works fine for me!
And your version too...
With values like mine, can there be problems?

[jean-emmanuel]

It "happens" to work but it's incorrect nonetheless. The canonical reference is here.

[meister]

Thanks for trying me to help! And sorry for bothering you again since the hints did not lead me to a solution.
What I did:
I removed the content of open stage control's send option: This alone did not change anything. But if it’s not needed I will not keep it, so the field “send” stays empty for the future:

I created two ports in loopMIDI (“oscToCubase” and “cubaseToOsc”):

Then I set open stage control's midi option to: oscToCubase:2,2 cubaseToOsc:3,3:

In Generic Remote I set MIDI Input to oscToCubase and MIDI Output to cubaseToOsc:

And finally I changed the configuration in the Studio Setup --> MIDI Port Setup:

And also change the target of the widgets (for example the “read automation” widget:

After making this corrections as you suggested I have the following behavior:

When I click on the read button in the template the tracks read function (for automation) is activated à no change in behavior
With read activated I can click on the write button on the template which activates the tracks write function. à no change in behavior
Without read activated I can click on the write button on the template which activates the tracks write function. à that’s new and fine and works like expected
The behavior in the other direction changed but does not work as expected which means:
When I click in Cubase on the “read” button it activates the tracks write function. So far so good but the button in the template does not change. So the communication obviously is a one way communication.

What else can I try?

Or: Isn’t there anyone who can send me a configuration for just the read and the write buttons in Cubase? Jason and xml including the information about the virtual MIDI driver?

Thanks again!

[jean-emmanuel]

The midi config in your screenshot does not match what I suggested, please try following above instructions precisely (I added a forth point that was missing).

[meister]

Ok, sorry for this mistake!
I changed the midi config to "OSC:cubaseToOsc,oscToCubase" and now it works nearly as I would expect it to do

When I click on the write button on the template the tracks read and write function is activated. That's cool because when I click the write button in Cubase it also activates the read and the write button.
After that when you click the write button in cubase again it disables the write function, the read functions stays activated. Same on the template. But: After that in Cubase I click on the read button and it deactivates the read function. In the template I have to click twice to achive the same.
Is there also an easy solution for this?

[jean-emmanuel]

That's beyond my knowledge sorry, maybe someone with a cubase experience could help you better.

[YaroslavKnyazev]

Hello again !
I showed you how to change the behavior of the buttons, see above!

[meister]

That's totally ok! You already helped me out and expanded my understanding of OSC

[meister]

Thank you, I appreciate your help also and will study your screenshots in detail soon. I like your idea to have on (the same) button for play and pause!

[Sylvain]

Hi

I met this problem of buttons who didn't behave the same way.

Try setting your buttons value to :
on : 127
off : 10

I think this should solve your problem (thinking right now : maybe just an off value different from 0 should work... so Off to 1 may work too...).