HOW TO: Control OnTheAir Video (Express) with MIDI

One of the lesser known features in OnTheAir Video is the MIDI control feature. OnTheAir Video’s MIDI Control allows you to assign a MIDI note to buttons and clips.

MIDI devices are automatically detected when attached to a system, you only need to plug in the device and you can use the feature immediately. The simplest way to test this feature is to start with a simple MIDI keyboard. M-Audio, Roland and a variety of manufacturers have USB keyboards that are both inexpensive and packed with options.

Enable MIDI Communications

Once the MIDI keyboard is attached to the computer, open OnTheAir Video. Then go to the MIDI settings of  OnTheAir Video:

You can set:

• The MIDI input device: the device that you use to control OnTheAir Video. It will send MIDI triggers to OnTheAir Video and OnTheAir Video will play, stop clips when it receives these triggers.
• The MIDI output device: the device to which OnTheAir Video will output a MIDI note when specific clip will start playing.

Control playback with MIDI

Assign a MIDI note to a button

You can assign a MIDI note to a button if you want to control the generic playback control such as play, pause, or even put a playlist in loop. For that, right-click on any button and select "Assign MIDI Note..."

Assign a MIDI note to a clip

Instead of assigning to a button, you can assign a MIDI note to a clip directly, so you will control the playback of that specific clip. For that, right Click on a clip and select "Assign MIDI Note..."

• The following window will show up:

• Then simply hit a key on your MIDI device or choose manually. You can also choose a list of preset messages. 

That's it. Now if you press again that MIDI note, the clip will start playing, and continue with the standard behaviour of the playlist (if it's in chain, it will continue playing the next clip, or stop at the end if it's not in chain,...)

Set an output MIDI note to a clip

You can automatically output a MIDI note when a specific clip starts playing, that way you can control external devices with MIDI. For this, right click on any clip in the playlist and select "Configure MIDI Output Node...", this window will show up:

Then enter manually a value for the Channel and Note. You can also choose a list of preset messages. 

That's it, the next time the clip will play OnTheAir Video will output that note to the MIDI device selected in the Settings.

Clearing MIDI Notes

To clear a MIDI note, right click on the clip or button and select "Clear MIDI Note". This will clear both the input and output MIDI notes.

Important notes

• Make sure to have only unique notes for each clip, otherwise you won't know which one will start.
• If you are working with the Duo or Quad versions of OnTheAir Video, and have multiple outputs on the same Mac, you can learn the same MIDI key to one clip of multiple playlists in order to start clips in sync (not frame accurate).