REAKTOR COMMUNITY

DESCRIPTION

I wanted to spend a day in the Reaktor with something different and this is the result.

Sometimes it is pleasant to receive the computer's keyboard input in Reaktor. In Reaktor it can be used to play MIDI notes. But you cannot get events from keys between those that are internally mapped to MIDI values.

I wrote a simple C code, that makes it possible to read any key from the keyboard. I'm sorry it is Windows only so far. I never owned an apple computer. But I'd love to port it or see it ported from somebody else, so the source code is also included.

The setup consists of:

1) The application "MIDIText.exe" that reads the keyboard input and translates them to MIDI messages.
-If you are not a C programmer: Try the .exe that comes with the download from
...\MIDIText\Projektmappen\MS Visual Studio\Release xY\MIDIText.exe
-If you are a C programmer: Build from source with any toolchain you prefer. Link to winmm.lib
-If you want to be a C programmer: Install MS Visual Studio and open the solution file from
...\MIDIText\Projektmappen\MS Visual Studio\MIDIText.sln
which opens the project folder. Just start the debugger and the application executes if it compiles successfully.
Visual Studio is third party software. You can obtain it from the internet.

2) A virtual MIDI port named "MIDIText" installed with the third party driver LoopMIDI. The C application needs the LoopMIDI driver to create a virtual MIDI port to interconnect with Reaktor. When installed, only create a MIDI port labelled "MIDIText".
The LoopMIDI driver is third party software. You can obtain it from the internet.

3) A Reaktor ensemble "MIDIText.ens" that listens to the MIDI port and decodes the MIDI messages into scan and virtual key codes. Deactivate the MIDI keyboard from Reaktor Options Menu and connect to MIDIText MIDI port in Reaktor Audio and MIDI settings. Open Reaktor before you start the C application.