Fork Module for Schwung

MIDI channel splitter and router module for Ableton Move, built for Schwung.

Do you want to transform Move into 7 synth tracks (with limitations) or up to 16 MIDI tracks, or some combination of the above? You are at the right place!

Features

Fork is a chainable MIDI FX module (midi_fx) for Schwung. It acts as a 1-to-2, 1-to-3, or 1-to-4 MIDI channel splitter.

Input MIDI notes are split by pitch at three configurable split octaves:

• Notes below all split points are kept on the track (emitted further), no other changes are applied.
• Notes falling into the Split 1, Split 2, or Split 3 ranges have their MIDI channel adjusted, and are either exported via named Unix pipes (FIFOs) under /data/UserData/schwung/ or forwarded directly on the current track (if pipe is set to off) for routing to external MIDI hardware.
• Global stream controllers (Control Change, Pitch Bend, Program Change, Channel Pressure) are automatically forwarded to all active splits (adjusting the channel to match) via their respective pipe or track output.
• Active note tracking prevents stuck notes on split destinations if parameters are adjusted while keys are held.
• In Receiver mode, Fork reads from a selected Unix pipe and replays the MIDI stream, adjusted by the global transpose parameter, on the track.

Conceptual Routing Layout

Here is how Fork can be set up to split and redirect a single MIDI input track (e.g. Track 1) into three separate target Schwung tracks (Tracks 2, 3, and 4), plus:

                            +-----------------------------------+
                            |    Track 1: Normal Move Track     |
                            |    (MIDI Input -> Fork (Split))   |
                            +-----------------------------------+
                             /     /             |             \
                            /   (Split 1)      (Split 2)     (Split 3)
   [Track 1 Chain] --------/       |              |              |
                                   v              v              v
                            [Re-channel]   [Re-channel]   [Re-channel]
                                   |              |              |
                                   v              v              v
                                 [ 2 ]          [ 3 ]          [ 4 ]  <-- Local Unix Pipes
                                   |              |              |
                                   v              v              v
                            +-------------+ +-------------+ +-------------+
                            |  Track 2:   | |  Track 3:   | |  Track 4:   |
                            | Fork (Recv) | | Fork (Recv) | | Fork (Recv) | <-- Schwung Tracks
                            +-------------+ +-------------+ +-------------+
                                   |              |              |
                                   v              v              v
                            +-------------+ +-------------+ +-------------+
                            | Local Synth | | Local Synth | | Local Synth |
                            +-------------+ +-------------+ +-------------+
                                   |              |              |
                                   v              v              v
                            ==============================================
                                          Stereo Audio Output Mix
                            ==============================================

Installation

Manual Installation

./scripts/build.sh
./scripts/install.sh

Usage

1. Insert Fork on the main MIDI track in Splitter mode.
2. Configure Split 1 Oct or further boundaries (e.g. C4).
3. Set target MIDI channels and target pipe (there are 4 available, most likely you'll want to choose the same number as Schwung track number).
4. Insert another Fork instance on a second MIDI track, set its Mode to Receiver, and select the matching pipe number.
5. Play notes on the main track. The split-off notes will play the second track's synth in real time!

Gotchas

• Schwung and Move tracks share some settings, such as volume or mute flags - keep that in mind if something doesn't seem to work.
• On that note, Schwung has also aux independent controls of volume/mute/solo, use that to adjust relative volumes.
• More than 5 parallel tracks seem to easily cause stutter (even though the CPU use may not be 100%)

Parameters

In Shadow UI, parameters are organized into categories:

Global

Parameter	What it does
mode	Selects operating mode: splitter or receiver.
transpose	Transposition for main/received notes (-10 to 10 octaves).
main_oct_trans	Octave transposition for the main (lowest) notes (-10 to +10).
recv_pipe_select	Pipe index to read from in receiver mode (1 to 4).
recv_chan	Target MIDI channel mapping in receiver mode (track uses active slot track channel, as_is leaves channel unchanged, or absolute channel 1 to 16).
fallthrough	Receiver mode fallthrough (off or on, default is off). When enabled, merges incoming MIDI track events (from the pads or sequencer) with the stream received from the pipe.

Split 1/2/3

Parameter	What it does
split_oct_1	Boundary octave for Split 1 (off or C1 to C10).
split_1_oct_trans	Octave transposition for Split 1 notes (-10 to +10).
split_1_chan	MIDI channel for Split 1 (+0 to +15 relative offset, or absolute 1 to 16).
pipe_1_select	Named pipe index to send Split 1 data (off or 1 to 4).

Split 2/3 work the same, boundary octave must be always higher than the split before.

Building from Source

./scripts/build.sh

The build script outputs:

• dist/fork/
• dist/fork-module.tar.gz

Credits

• Schwung framework and host APIs: Charles Vestal and contributors
• Fork implementation: move-anything-superarp project contributors