Bela MIDI into a DAW?

jamierpond

Hi everyone.

I want to use Trill sensors to generate MIDI, and I want to get that MIDI directly into my DAW (Ableton) on Windows.
I've read the posts on the forum but this isn't what people seem to be talking about, does anyone have any ideas about how to make this work? Thanks!

Jamie

lokki

a BELA for this purpose is a bit overkill i guess. but you can use the trill sensors in conjunction with a teensy or an arduino to make a midi controller.

giuliomoro

While it is indeed overkill to use Bela for the task, it can be done: Bela shows up as a MIDI device on the host and can be used to relay Trill data as MIDI. From Bela, the MIDI port hw:0,0,0 represents the virtual MIDI device that is exposed to the host.

jamierpond

giuliomoro Is there any documentation for this? The Bela isn't automatically 'popping up' in the MIDI devices list?

giuliomoro

it should if it has an image version ≥ 0.3 (i.e.: any image from 2017 onwards). What operating system are you on? Is the board connected to your computer directly via USB? What image is on your board? You can find out by running grep v0 /etc/motd in the console at the bottom of the IDE.

jamierpond

I'm trying it on Windows, am I going to get better luck on my Mac?

Image version: Bela image, v0.3.8a, 21 June 2020

jamierpond

@giuliomoro It appears to pop straight up in Ableton on my Mac, but not sure any MIDI is getting in or out when I'm running the MIDI example. Any ideas?

Edit: Apologies, the default in the project is port hw:1,0,0 which I didn't spot properly! Of course, as you mention, it's hw:0,0,0! Thanks for your patience and expertise as always!

Edit 2: In Windows Bela doesn't display as Bela like in Mac world, it displays as MIDI Function, but does work when is given the appropriate address!

giuliomoro

Ah brilliant news! Yes I seem to remember that device names on Windows are a bit different