how do i change the notes on virtual midi keyboard?

for · 04-03-2015, 07:12 AM

how do i change the notes on virtual midi keyboard to be activated by different keys on my laptop keyboard?

for · 04-03-2015, 10:50 AM

for example now my laptop's keyboard G key activates note D on virtual midi keyboard

how do i change these assignemnts

Fergler · 04-03-2015, 01:23 PM

It is done by right clicking a note to set it as the scale to use.

E.g. right click on C and Z - > M become the C major scale.

for · 04-03-2015, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fergler

It is done by right clicking a note to set it as the scale to use.

E.g. right click on C and Z - > M become the C major scale.

i just want to change the mapping of the laptop keys corresponding to the virtual midi keyboard notes...sorry if i didn't make sense?

for example i want to set my laptop key Z to press the C note on virtual midi keyboard

uncleswede · 04-03-2015, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by for

i just want to change the mapping of the laptop keys corresponding to the virtual midi keyboard notes...sorry if i didn't make sense?

for example i want to set my laptop key Z to press the C note on virtual midi keyboard

That is what Fergler is suggesting. If you follow his advice, when you press the Z key, a C note will be played.

for · 04-03-2015, 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uncleswede

That is what Fergler is suggesting. If you follow his advice, when you press the Z key, a C note will be played.

ok but what about note D (and all the rest) i want to set them at a place i want on my laptop...it seems it does the rest automatically...

uncleswede · 04-04-2015, 03:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by for

ok but what about note D (and all the rest) i want to set them at a place i want on my laptop...it seems it does the rest automatically...

Oh, I see...

No, AFAIK all you can do is set the octave (arrow keys) or base note (as per Fergler) and Reaper sets the rest of the note mappings itself :-(

for · 04-04-2015, 10:18 AM

i emailed support about this...if someone knows anything more as to why it can't be done let me know, thanks

viscofisy · 04-04-2015, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by for

i emailed support about this...if someone knows anything more as to why it can't be done let me know, thanks

I'd imagine it can't be done because someone would have to write code to make it possible - and there might not be a huge demand for a feature that lets someone re-purpose individual qwerty keys for each musical note just because they'd like to.

gofer · 04-05-2015, 03:59 AM

It can be done. For good reasons, not just because someone would "like to". There might be an internal way I am not aware of to set the VKB to different keyboard layouts nowadays, but back in the v2.x days VKB expected a qwerty and everybody using a different keyboard layout, eg qwertz, had his notes more or less all over the place ("z" swapped with "y" in that case). I know I still have - if I don't use the following file.
Luckily a user came to the rescue for people with a german qwertz layout. As said, I am not sure if it is needed anymore, but it still works.

It's a textfile that needs to be called "reaper-vkbmap.txt" and resides in the same directory as the REAPER.ini (the Reaper User Data directory, or the install directory in case of a portable Reaper).
This is how the mapping for a qwertz looks like (a bit of explanation which should help you to trim it for your purposes is written at the top of it). Basically it swaps "z" with "y" (exclusively for VKB):

Code:

; put this file in the same place your reaper.ini is.
; oh and edit it for your keyboard, if you want. you can add additional keys/etc
; First item is the key (ASCII) or can be a number to define the scancode (i.e. 27 is Escape).
; second item is offset from current center of keyboard
;
; Version for German keyboard (QWERTZ) by Juergen Mossgraber
;

Y -12     ;  C
S -11     ;  C#
X -10     ;  D
D -9     ;  D#
C -8     ;  E
V -7     ;  F
G -6     ;  F#
B -5     ;  G
H -4     ;  G#
N -3     ;  A
J -2     ;  A#
M -1     ;  B
, 0     ;  C
Q 0     ;  C
L +1     ;  C#
2 +1     ;  C#
W +2     ;  D
190 +2   ;  D
3 +3     ;  D#
192 +3     ;  D#
E +4     ;  E
189 +4     ;  E
R +5     ;  F
5 +6     ;  F#
T +7     ;  G
6 +8     ;  G#
Z +9     ;  A
7 +10     ;  A#
U +11     ;  B
I +12     ;  C
9 +13     ;  C#
O +14     ;  D
0 +15     ;  D#
P +16     ;  E
186 +17     ;  F
221 +18     ;  F#
187 +19     ;  G

EDIT: I never looked at how it works before, but it's very easy. Just edit the first item of each line to your liking (to the keyboard key with which you want to play the note after the ";"). The second line is how many virtual midi keys it is away from the current VKB center note. After the ";" Juergen commented which note the key in that line would play if the current center note of VKB is set to a "C" note, to make editing easier.

qwertz-to-qwerty map attached:

uncleswede · 04-05-2015, 05:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gofer

It can be done. For good reasons, not just because someone would "like to". There might be an internal way I am not aware of to set the VKB to different keyboard layouts nowadays, but back in the v2.x days VKB expected a qwerty and everybody using a different keyboard layout, eg qwertz, had his notes more or less all over the place ("z" swapped with "y" in that case). I know I still have - if I don't use the following file.
Luckily a user came to the rescue for people with a german qwertz layout. As said, I am not sure if it is needed anymore, but it still works.

It's a textfile that needs to be called "reaper-vkbmap.txt" and resides in the same directory as the REAPER.ini (the Reaper User Data directory, or the install directory in case of a portable Reaper).
This is how the mapping for a qwertz looks like (a bit of explanation which should help you to trim it for your purposes is written at the top of it). Basically it swaps "z" with "y" (exclusively for VKB):

Code:

; put this file in the same place your reaper.ini is.
; oh and edit it for your keyboard, if you want. you can add additional keys/etc
; First item is the key (ASCII) or can be a number to define the scancode (i.e. 27 is Escape).
; second item is offset from current center of keyboard
;
; Version for German keyboard (QWERTZ) by Juergen Mossgraber
;

Y -12     ;  C
S -11     ;  C#
X -10     ;  D
D -9     ;  D#
C -8     ;  E
V -7     ;  F
G -6     ;  F#
B -5     ;  G
H -4     ;  G#
N -3     ;  A
J -2     ;  A#
M -1     ;  B
, 0     ;  C
Q 0     ;  C
L +1     ;  C#
2 +1     ;  C#
W +2     ;  D
190 +2   ;  D
3 +3     ;  D#
192 +3     ;  D#
E +4     ;  E
189 +4     ;  E
R +5     ;  F
5 +6     ;  F#
T +7     ;  G
6 +8     ;  G#
Z +9     ;  A
7 +10     ;  A#
U +11     ;  B
I +12     ;  C
9 +13     ;  C#
O +14     ;  D
0 +15     ;  D#
P +16     ;  E
186 +17     ;  F
221 +18     ;  F#
187 +19     ;  G

EDIT: I never looked at how it works before, but it's very easy. Just edit the first item of each line to your liking (to the keyboard key with which you want to play the note after the ";"). The second line is how many virtual midi keys it is away from the current VKB center note. After the ";" Juergen commented which note the key in that line would play if the current center note of VKB is set to a "C" note, to make editing easier.

qwertz-to-qwerty map attached:

REAPER continues to surprise me :-)

viscofisy · 04-05-2015, 09:44 AM

J eje uijt boe opx j dbo'u dibohf ju cbdl !

for · 04-05-2015, 12:22 PM

cheers!

Andaraginga · 11-25-2018, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uncleswede

REAPER continues to surprise me :-)

Thanks a lot

robozb · 06-09-2020, 07:49 AM

In Windows 10 use the "Options -> Show Reaper resource path in Explorer/ finder" to determine the correct folder to put "reaper-vkbmap.txt" in the right place!

Andaraginga · 09-20-2020, 05:21 PM

Does somebody know what code I have to use for the <, Ü and ß keys on the keyboard?
I searched for ascii code and tried 60 for < but that didn't work.

And is there a better way to switch between different vkbmap files (I have three different versions) other than renaming those files and restarting Reaper?

for · 01-20-2021, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andaraginga

Does somebody know what code I have to use for the <, Ü and ß keys on the keyboard?
I searched for ascii code and tried 60 for < but that didn't work.

And is there a better way to switch between different vkbmap files (I have three different versions) other than renaming those files and restarting Reaper?

i'm reopening this thread just in case found a solution on how to switch easier