Using Midi Fighter Utility and Live 12 at the same time

Bome Products
1

Hello everyone, i’m here to ask for information regarding Unlimited Named MIDI Ports.
i’m working on a Windows 11 Pro 64-bit system, and here are the specifications of my audio setup:

  • Focusrite Clarett2 Pre USB
  • Ableton Live 12.2
  • APC64 as controller/pads
  • Minilab MK3 as keyboard and controller for NKS and Arturia products
  • MPC One+ with its VST2 plugin to have a ‘separate world’ inside Live
  • Midi Fighter Twister

Here’s the scenario:
i own Control Surface Studio by Remotify, but i don’t want to create a script for the Midi Fighter. What i’ve done instead is internally map the VSTs, using the Midi Fighter as a controller for all DAWs. Specifically, if i decide to load a VST in the MPC One+ plugin, i don’t have to deal with the Q-Links because i’ve already mapped the Midi Fighter to the plugin.

Everything works great, but obviously there’s no LED feedback on the Midi Fighter when i switch presets or VSTs, and i can’t open MF Utility to make changes unless i first disable the Midi Fighter’s MIDI port in Live, then open MF Utility, make the changes, close it, and re-enable the port in Live.

What i’d like to know is if, with this add-on (Unlimited Named MIDI Ports), i could at least use both softwares at the same time. MF Utility doesn’t have any settings for MIDI port selection.

This same issue applies to Arturia’s MIDI Control Center or the APC64 Project Editor.

On top of that, to make MF Utility work with the Focusrite (DJ Tech Tools is aware of this issue with Focusrite interfaces), i had to disable the Focusrite MIDI drivers in Windows, otherwise MF Utility would enter an infinite loop.

Regarding LED feedback, i’m not too hopeful: DJ Tech Tools explains that the message sent by the Midi Fighter must be echoed back on Channel 0 to get feedback.

Apologies for the long post. I know Microsoft is currently testing multi-client MIDI in the next release of Windows, but i’m honestly desperate because i just can’t do what i normally do so easily on a Mac.

Thank you very much and have a great day!

2

Hi and welcome to the Bome community!

You should be able to share MIDI ports with unlimited MIDI ports, however I would not try to share with the MF Utility as it is hardcoded to search for a port name with the name “Midi Fighter Twister”. See this post.

With that said, you might also need to use Bome MIDI Translator Pro for mapping your LED feedback to the correct MIDI Channel to blink your lights. Bome MIDI Translator Pro also has virtual ports (9 of them) but you can’t pick the name.

In either case, I would not recommend using the MF Utility when using the MIDI fighter twister with your DAWs. It is designed for programming the device in a non-shared environment. As you say, you would need to disable it in your DAWs when using the MF Utility.

Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care

Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
3

Thank you very much for your reply. If i understood correctly, MF Utility works on its own and doesn’t allow two apps to be open simultaneously. What i haven’t understood, however, is how to send CC values back to the Midi Fighter on channel 0, to have a visual representation of what’s happening in a VST when i change presets. At the moment, the values stay the same, and as a result, i get jumps every time i move a knob.

I should say i’m really not very experienced with MIDI. Control Surface Studio can do amazing things, but it’s also easy to program for a basic mapping. I downloaded the Bome Midi Translator trial, i created a virtual port, but in the translators i haven’t found anything that lets me take an incoming signal from a MIDI output.

If i understood correctly, the Midi Fighter sends signals to Live, into the VST. If i load a new preset, the new data needs to be sent back to the Midi Fighter on channel 0—all the CCs, basically. i’d gladly purchase the software, but i haven’t figured out if and how this can be done. i’ve watched a few tutorials, but i haven’t found what i’m looking for.

Thanks again for your availability and patience.

4

Hi, please find the below example using Bome MIDI Translator Pro

  • Preset 1 handles converting MIDI CH 1 on MFT to CH2 to Ableton. If you are already sending on MIDI CH 2 then you need to modify the incoming trigger to match what your MFT sends.

  • Preset 2 handles converting message from Ableton from CH2 back to CH1 on the MFT
    I set up my aliases as follows. In Ableton Live I used BMT 1 for input and output

{80C30B41-9B7C-4F73-A0B8-C6B9A10DA9BD}
{80C30B41-9B7C-4F73-A0B8-C6B9A10DA9BD}363×352 7.57 KB

You can learn more about aliases from this tutorial.

Device selection is handled at the preset level.

For more information about device selection, see this tutorial.

Translator2.0 uses raw MIDI to reduce the number of required translators.

Here are the rules with comments:

// look for note message (note on or note off)
rr=oo&224
if rr!=128 then exit rules, skip Outgoing Action
// look for MIDI CH 2
rr=oo&15
if rr!=1 then exit rules, skip Outgoing Action
// Note off?
rr=oo&240
// 0x80 is always note of regardless of velocity
if rr==128 then Goto "off"
// verlocity of zero is always note off
if qq==0 then Goto "off"

// If we get here it is a note on message

qq=127
Goto "done"

Label "off"
qq=0

Label "done"
// output always in note-on format with velocity either
// 127 for note-on or 0 for note-off

oo=145

You can download a trial copy of Bome MIDI Translator Pro here.

The trial version is fully functional but times out every 20 minutes.

MFT-Feedback-2025-06-21.bmtp (2.6 KB)

Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care

Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
5

Thank you so much for your availability and the example. I tested the software and the preset, but it’s really too complicated for me :slight_smile: I only managed to crash the midi feedback :sweat_smile: Thanks again, I thought it would be something simple like it is on a Mac, but even Control Surface Studio is complicated for me.

6

If you can turn on the log window and check the Incoming, Outgoing, MIDI IN, and MIDI OUT boxes, then push your encoder a few times, I should be able to figure out what is happening. I just didn’t know how you had the encoder in question set up for a MIDI message.

image
image1726×802 66.2 KB

Then show your MIDI alias setup.

image
image452×337 8.17 KB

Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care

Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz