What are the chances of MIDI support?

[guoccamoleParticipant]

Dear Soma:

I love the atmospheric sound(s) of the Cosmos, but I’d like to be able to call up different (pre-arranged) configurations at the push of a (MIDI) button.  I see you make a MIDI device.  What are the chances you will support MIDI on the Cosmos?

If it had MIDI, Cosmos is an instant buy.  As it is, I am painfully on the fence as I love the sound but… no MIDI would be a half-and-half frustration/gratification purchase.

Thank you, = Joe =

[SomaLabsKeymaster]

Zero chance. What you describe would be an entirely different and new instrument and no longer Cosmos.

[guoccamoleParticipant]

Thank you for the quick reply.

I am confused however.  How would adding MIDI to Cosmos differ from Cosmos?  Wouldn’t adding MIDI simply open Cosmos to more types of performances keyed off of MIDI?

What am I missing?

[guoccamoleParticipant]

Perhaps the application I have in mind would help.  I’d like to create soundscapes for (live) roleplaying games I host.

I’d like to feed sounds into Cosmos and create a setting atmosphere in a general sense (genres) or specific venu (locations).  If I could automate the sounds but I also need to automate the settings in Cosmos to get the desired effect(s).  While playing/running the game, however, I can’t pause to do all that by hand.  But MIDI could do the trick.  Ideally, it would be interactive with the dialogue of the game (using Cosmos “SUP”pression setting).

Alternately, I’d also like to experiment using Cosmos for voice modification (as well as echoes in a space) for supernatural creatures.  Again sound design would happen pre-game and I would call up desired design in-game real-time without pausing the game.  Interruptions are not good for game immersion.  Yet the voicing(s) from the Cosmos could be very special.  Perhaps that’s pie-in-the-sky, but using MIDI to configure settings on the fly would make it possible in real-time.  Different voices/creatures/characters/venues would use different settings.  With MIDI support, I could prepare all that ahead of time for push-button access at the correct times in game, and even (perhaps) switch rapidly depending on interactions in game with the push of a (e.g., El Gato Streamdeck) button..

MIDI support would make that possible.  No MIDI, no joy.  Cosmos but with expanded use cases courtesy MIDI.

[SomaLabsKeymaster]

That sounds like a wonderful project, but again, you are describing an instrument that’s not Cosmos 🙂

What you are missing is the following:

There is no such thing as ‘simply adding MIDI’ to an existing instrument which does not even have internal MIDI clock and no room for any additional PCBs for MIDI components and memory.

What you describe requires a full design of a new instrument, which requires several years of development and tens of thousands of euros in costs (no exaggeration). That’s because it requires a new and bigger PCB to house more memory, maybe another processor, and all the MIDI components, which then needs a new and bigger enclosure, more connectors, all new firmwares (current ones don’t work with MIDI), new programming, an entirely new approach…

If you are willing to fund the development of this MIDI effects box with Cosmos algorithms, then we can talk 🙂

[guoccamoleParticipant]

Thank you for your clear, timely, and no-nonsense explanation. Totally makes sense.

From the outside looking in, I always hope/imagine that there’s headroom in a new (to me!) device for more functionality.  However, if there’s no room then… there’s no room.  I did suspect with the multiple firmwares that memory headroom could be limited (otherwise the firmwares would presumably be switchable), but the requirements laundry list you rolled out makes clear the “Zero chance” reality of the situation.

BTW, I already have “my” Cosmos on order which, even after this reality check, I am very much looking forward to enjoying.  I still feel lucky the Cosmos even exists.

The Cosmos is a lovely, fabulous, and unique device.

I can hardly wait to “meet” Cosmos in person, see if I can use it half as effectively as some of the YouTubers I watched do (and apply that to augment my and my gamers’ experiences).  And I love ambient, so… thank you!

[AlejandroGIParticipant]

The Cosmos is a wonderful instrument to create soundscapes and it has even shaped my way of working.

That being said, I think you may benefit from a split/hybrid approach for your use case, where you pre-compose long soundscapes with Cosmos that you record into a DAW like Ableton Live or similar and that you can control/trigger with MIDI on such DAW. Then you can use a separate effects unit for your effects that depend on what happens in the game (ie, characters voices effects or SFX), and trigger that with other MIDI messages. An example of such box would be the Hologram Microcosm and (if you’re more adventurous into programming patches) the Poly Beebo. There are many other multi-effects boxes with MIDI that you can look into, those are two very lovely ones. You can even create those effects in Live and enable/disable them based on the game part.

The Cosmos wouldn’t be as useful as real-time effects processor since the reverb/delays algorithms take some time to “build up”, so to speak (an exception would be the granular algo but I don’t know how that one might be useful for your case).

Would be curious to hear what you end up doing. Cheers.

[AlejandroGIParticipant]

Also, I agree that having MIDI on the Cosmos would enable a lot more functionality, specially for triggering recording, and very specially on the rhythmic firmware since otherwise there’s no chance to play rhythms or on tempo unless you have a free hand to push the switches or put the device on the floor. That’s why I only tried the rhythmic firmware once but cannot use it at all in practice since my pedalboard is not on the floor like my MIDI footswitch controller is. I guess you have to take it as it is and play with the good parts, as with everything 🙂

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