Isolated pad or separate sample slot for Keys

[Kimberley]

Hi, first post here.
is there currently a possibility to have an isolated pad that exists in the Pads section just for selecting and making settings, but that doesn’t get played/triggered like the other pads. Instead it functions as a separate sample slot solely for the Keys.
The idea is that because Pads and Keys can have their own Midi Channel, I would like to be able to use the Pads for slicing samples (chopping up a breakbeat) and use the Keys for a single other sample (like a long string sample). Any pad other than the isolated pad can’t trigger that isolated pad (or dedicated Keys sample slot).
That way I could use the Drums track on my Beatstep Pro for triggering the Pads and one of the other two Sequencer tracks for triggering a sample in Keys. Each section to their own dedicated stereo (or whatever configuration) outputs for further fx processing etc.

[Steve]

(I'm not certain I completely understand what you are asking).

You can set the incoming MIDI channel globally (Pads vs Keys) or you can set it at the Pad level. When MIDI is set at the Pad level, you do not need to highlight/select the sample you want to play from Keys. have a look at this video as it explains MIDI routing. https://youtu.be/ZAOaQvMR5uM

Maybe this gets you closer. If not, please ask again.

[Kimberley]

I think I’ve seen a workaround in the video you posted, thank you. It seems possible to play a single pad chromatically while all remaining pads play ‘regularly’. So now I would try to set that up in a way that a single pad can be played chromatically on a certain midi channel while all other pads act regularly on a different midi channel.

But to clarify/explain my initial post:
The Keys section plays the sound of the last played and therefor selected pad right? How can I lock a sample that is played by the Keys section? Because when I play the Blackbox pads using external pads in my Beatstep Pro’s drum sequencer the last played Pad becomes the one that is selected to be played in the Keys section. This way I can’t seem to separately play the Keys section (which can be triggered using a different midi channel) using one of the two sequencer tracks of the Beatstep Pro because the selected pad changes when I play them from the Beatstep Pro drum sequencer track eventhough both sections of the Blackbox respond to different midi channels.

[Steve]

triggering pads from a beatstep should not change the selection. Maybe upload a short video of this behavior?

[Kimberley]

Ok…..me…..stupido….
I now know why I got the result I explained above:
The selected pad plays in the Keys section when using the Beatstep Pro’s sequencer track using a separate midi channel for the Keys section.
Like you said: It indeed does not get changed when I play something using the Beatstep Pro’s drumsequencer in the Pads section which uses a different midi channel than the Keys section.

The reason why at first it did change is the following: I wanted to edit the sound of a certain Pad using the Info button and selecting the to-be-edited Pad therefor changed the selection of the Pad/sound that plays in the Keys section….Before I wrote my initial post I had a sequence running the Keys section (using one of the two Beatstep Pro’s sequencer tracks) and a sequence running the Pads section (using the Beatstep Pro’s drumsequencer on a different midi channel). It sounded as desired until I wanted to edit some bassdrum in the Pads section which I pressed to be able to use the Info button for that sound/pad.

Does this mean that while performing live I can’t seperately edit the sound that plays in the Keys section from any of the sounds that play in the Pads section? Or is that avoided by assigning controls via Midi Learn? It seems that in order to use the Info button on any sound I have to select it via the touchscreen which changes the sound that is played in the Keys section?

[Steve]

The issue here is using Global MIDI Keys. That input will always point to the currently selected pad. Instead, you should use the MIDI settings at the Pad level. If BSP is sending sequences on channels 1 and 2, set the desired pads - individually - to channels 1 and 2. This will create a direct connection to that pad without the need for Global MIDI Keys. You can set multiple pads to the same channel and MUTE them in the Mixer.

[fiddymen]

You can set the incoming MIDI channel globally (Pads vs Keys) or you can set it at the Pad level. When MDI is set at the Pad level, you do not need to highlight/select the sample you want to play from Keys. have a look at this video as it explains MIDI routing. https://youtu.be/ZAOaQvMR5uM

One more useful tool, for MIDI OUT, is in Sequences, as MIDI can also be set at that level - if you have highlighted a sequence that plays a MIDI channel (e.g. Seq 3 is set to send MIDI on Ch. 3, and is the currently highlighted sequence), playing the pads will play both the MIDI pad note on Ch. 3 AND the assigned Pad clip/sample/etc. This happens even when Global and MIDI Out for all pads is 'None'. Highlighting an empty or non-MIDI sequence will make is so that the pads no longer trigger the MIDI.

While this is tricky to get the hang of (3 different ways to assign MIDI - Global, Pad, & Seq.), and can be easy to mess up on the fly, the versatility is really neat.