Passing keyboard (USB protocol) commands through an MC6 Pro?

Morningstar Gear MC6 Pro MIDI Controller
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I’d like to be able to pass keyboard commands (to control Logic Pro’s transport and record functions) from an MC3, through an MC6 Pro, to my MacBook (w/ Logic Pro). The connection I’m using, specifically, is:

MC3 → MC6 Pro’s Host port → internally through the MC6 Pro → MC6 Pro’s Device port → MacBook Pro (& Logic)

I’ve got my “MIDI Thru” settings enabling “USB Host MIDI In - Thru To” “USB Device” checked. (Although keyboard commands are not MIDI messages; they’re USB Protocol commands.)

I’ve got an email to Morningstar support with lots of details, but I thought I’d post here to see if anyone has been able to make this work.

A short(ish) description of what happens: I’d like to send an “R” keyboard command (Record), or a “space” keyboard command (play/stop) from my MC3, through my MC6 Pro and on to Logic Pro. But only the “space” keyboard command gets (internally) through the MC6 Pro.

(However, when I connect my MC3 directly to my MacBook Pro, all messages get through, so it’s not an issue with my MC3 programming.)

Weirdly, the “space” keyboard command from my MC3 gets through my MC6 Pro only if the last command I issued from my MC6 Pro is also a “space” command. (It’s like it’s in the MC6 Pro’s command buffer, so it gets pushed out again when the MC6 Pro gets the “space” command from the MC3.) But there’s no way (that I can find) to get an “R” (Record) command through.

I’ve verified with a keyboard tester that it’s only the “space” command (and not the “R” command) that gets through.

Has anyone been able to get USB protocol / keyboard commands through an MC6 Pro?

(I’ve tagged this post as a “feature request,” because it doesn’t seem currently possible to me. But perhaps someone can prove me wrong!)

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Hi,
as a workaround you could program a preset on the mc6 and trigger that via cc from the mc3.

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Thanks, @GuitarWolf; this seems like a great solution!

I’m not sure how to implement it, though… In particular, I don’t see how to address a preset (that is, a particular Bank/Preset) on my MC6 via a cc msg from my MC3. I scrolled through potential CC messages on my MC3 for MIDI channel 12 (my MC6), and found this:

image
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Which is the correct preset letter (A) to trigger a start/stop preset from my MC6 to Logic. But, it doesn’t include the MC6 Bank that I need (16). There are a whole bunch of preset A’s on my MC6 (for multiple banks), and I obviously don’t want to trigger all of them; just the one on Bank 16. But I don’t see any way to select Bank 16 from the MC3.

I thought perhaps there might be a way to assign a CC number to, e.g., Bank 16/Preset A from within the editor for my MC6. But I don’t see it.

And I’m guessing that it would be a CC value > 0 to trigger the preset (if I could find a way to address it), but that’s just a guess.

If you can provide a little more guidance, I’d really appreciate it!

Edit: I also looked at an “Engage Preset” message from the MC3, but that seems to only allow sending presets that are defined on the MC3 – and not any that are on the MC6.

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At the current moment, there isn’t such a feature. When we added keyboard support for the USB Host port, it was just meant to trigger presets and cycle through banks
i.e. pressing the A Key will trigger preset A. Double tapping the key executes double tap etc.

A very niche use ca but it’s definitely possible to implement. We’ll create a ticket for it first.

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URL: Add option to pass incoming keystrokes from USB Host to USB device port

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Hi,
If you send an ‘engage preset’ message to the mc6, it will always trigger the the corresponding preset in the currently active bank.

If you have a spare preset in every bank of your mc6, just copy the message to that preset. If not you could include a keystroke message in any preset even if it’s programmed with something else already. Just pair the message with an action type you wouldn’t usually use. For example ‘double long press’.
If triggered via external midi message it is possible to target this message exclusively. If you engage a preset manually a ‘press’ action will always trigger a ‘release’ as well. However that’s not the case if the preset is engaged via a midi cc message.
Have a look at this

33c2400835525ba6769fa0b2f6e65e597fae68b7_2_486x1000
33c2400835525ba6769fa0b2f6e65e597fae68b7_2_486x1000486×1000 54.8 KB

The cc number specifies which preset is the target. The cc value specifies which action will be emulated. You can find the complete list in the mc’s online manual.

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Thank you, @GuitarWolf!! This works great!! (And your description is very clear; appreciated!)

TMI: Because I had complicated commands on my MC3 (to control Logic), with a toggle, release, long press, long press release, and a toggle reset, it took me a while to get this working. I ended up with four separate presets on my MC6 to trigger from my MC3. Currently I have four unused presets on all my banks, so that was no problem. But as you suggested I have the new MC6 presets triggered by long double taps, so I can still use these presets for anything else if I ever need them.

As an alternative approach, I could have “combined” some or all of the four new presets on my MC6 by triggering different sets of messages on fewer presets via different CC message values / action types, but that would have required my using up more action types on my MC6, which I didn’t want to do.

Thanks again!!

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Status updated

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URL: Add option to pass incoming keystrokes from USB Host to USB device port