i can't seem to get [key] or [keyup] to work normally inside [clone]. it works if i open the cloned patch and use [key]/[keyup] but idk how to have more than the (0) of the clones open at the same time, and my GPU would'nt like having all those windows open at the same time.

I'm trying to make my PC keyboard to play midi notes. So i made two patches, one that is cloned inside the other, to bypass having to make dozens of patches.

Here are my 2 patches: KEYBOARD_CONTROLLER.pd - KEYBOARD.pd

Any help is appreciated.

@4ZZ4 Yes. Key objects require an open focused window because they grab keys that are only sent by the operating system to the current focused window.
You will have to use it outside clone unfortunately and send the command into clone directly or with a send / receive.
You can add extra arguments to clone if you need to so that the cloned objects in only one [clone] receive those messages sent by a [send]....... all cloned objects in one [clone] that is....... if you have a second [clone] with the same objects....
David.

@whale-av i fixed that problem, but now it only plays one note at once. it works with another patch that i made earlier which does not use [clone], and has many almost duplicate patches inside it, but it has many other problems that these two patches don't have: KEYBOARD_CONTROLLER.pd - KEYBOARD.pd

@4ZZ4 Ok. I didn't try to fix those patches as they are hard to follow.
This will do most of what I think you are looking for........ maybe2.zip

You will have to add back your keys for setting the octave....... at the moment it's a radio switch in the main page.
Put a [route 0 1 2] after both [key] and [keyup] and use the left three outlets to get bangs to control the octaves.
Connect the right outlet of the [route] objects to [pd debounce] inlets and the other keys will go through to the player as normal.

I am particularly pleased with [pd debounce] and will post it as an abstraction with a help-file.
On my laptop pressing 3 and 4 and 5 at the same time sends 3 4 5 4 5 4 5 4 5...etc. and can't be caught with [change].
Challenging.
David.

@whale-av Is [clone] really needed here? All clones do the same. Then again, is [poly] even needed? Probably i am missing something here...

@whale-av i understand like only 25% of your maybe2 folder and it's contents. why do you use [notein] in a patch that was originally meant to to send out notes? i totally understand the octave part, but i don't understand how [$1 reset bang( works on [route float reset]. i assume [$1 $1( takes the input and duplicates it as a list to have the first to be sent to float and the second to be sent to reset in [route float reset] (idk how variables work yet). How does change work? (i checked all the help files). I do not see a [s chn] anywhere, should it be there? i see a [r chn] tho. how does [poly] work? i understand that it has to do with number of voices and that the last argument specifies voice stealing, but idk what voice stealing is. the [notein] to [noteout] looks like it should loop. how will this take keypresses to set the keys as midi keys, and where is the option to switch between setting the midi keys and playing the notes? why is the [keyup] signal sent through debounce to just be sent out again? just before the [s oct], wy is there a [t b f] connected to a [+]? why is there a [pack f f f] which gets sent to a [pack f f]? why is there a [set -1] connected to [change] and gets only reset input from [route float reset]?

@4ZZ4 I wonder if this simply would work: keyboard.pd

The left part simply checks for the keys 3 to 0 on the keyboard and assigns note values to them. The middle part sets the velocity. The right part uses keys 1 and 2 to set the octave.

I am still not sure what you actually want to achieve. Sometimes it is easier to just explain what you want to do, instead of posting a complicated patch

@4ZZ4 did you try to right-click on objects that you don't understand and opened the corresponding help files? in most cases, the help files contain everything you need to know about object and how it works.... take a look at th help file of [route], it's easy to understand, if you try out the patch and see what it does. regarding th usage of $ variables please read this here: https://booki.flossmanuals.net/pure-data/dataflow-tutorials/dollar-signs.html. [change] only outputs the values reaching it, when they change (so, when it's not the same number as before for example). but thats not all: again - check it's help file and try to play with the object, connet some message boxes with numbers to it's inlet ( for example [1(, [2( ...) and a {print] object to its output and see what getting printed to the console and what happens, when you click one message twice.
the [r chn( sets the midi channel for the [noteout] object... i have to confess, this is not obvious for a beginner: it gets it's value by the message in the maybe2.pd file, which is connected to [loadbang]. the [t b f] or [trigger bang float] cares for, that the addition operation in the [+] object is getting triggered, whenerver one of both inlets receives a value. otherwise, the operation would only be triggered when the "hot inlet" (the left one of [+]) receives a value. voice stealing specifies what happens, if you run out of voices: for ecxample you have a [poly 4 1] -> imagine, you hit a chord on your midi keyboard with 5 keys simultanously -> you run out of voices, because your [poly] is only set to 4 voices (not 5). with the second argument of [poly 4 1] (the 1) you tell poly to begin "overwriting" the oldest voice with the note, that caused running out of voices. sorry for my poor english, i hope you got me. ok, this must be enough for the moment, but you can find all these anwers in the internet or in the help files and the countless pd tutorials out there. please considr making some of these, it will need some time, to learn pd.
ah, and all the infos above come without any warranty!

PS: the "e"-key on my laptop seems to be on strike sometimes!

@4ZZ4 I forgot to remove [notein] and it can be deleted.
[pd debounce] is purely to remove repeated notes sent by the OS.... while not removing intentional repeated notes.
Yes... [$1 $1( duplicates the key number and so sends it to the correct cloned abstraction [bonkers] so each key only goes to the [bonkers] that has its number...... the first $1 is stripped by clone as it is routed (see below).
[route float reset] sends a float out its left outlet (removes the float header but sends on the actual float value) and routes the reset message to bang [-1(
[change] will not let repeated numbers through...... but when it has value -1 "set" it will see that -1 as the last number and let through any other value that arrives..... your key numbers...... which are all positive. So it will not let 34 34 through. But 34 reset 34 it will let through. The reset message comes from the [keyup] so until the key is up it will not let the same key through again.
A keyboard that continually sends 34 34 34 34 34 when the key is held down will only send 34 all the way through.
My keyboard with 34 and 35 and 36 held down would send 34 35 36 35 36 35 36 35 36........ which one [change object would not block..... so [bonkers] is a separate [change] for every key with a reset when the key is actually lifted.
At the same time the keyup is sent through to the voices to stop the note..... and it only arrives once as the key is lifted.
With clones the first float in a list determines which clone the message goes to.
So with [pack f f f] the first f says which clone...... and that is stripped by clone and only the second and third f's arrive in that clone....... so [unpack f f]
Message [34 5 8( from [pack f f f] arrives in clone 34 as [5 8(

Just before [s oct]....... you tell me why there is a [t b f] before [+]....... I just copied that bit from your patch........ He he.
You are right...... the [t b f] can go in the bin.
Does it all work how you want now? I have been out all day and will be again this evening.
David.

David.

@toxonic Lol, my "n"-key duplicates itself sometimes, you're not alone having a bad keyboard.
i already understood what [route] does.

@whale-av I didn't notice that [keyup] was connected to [$1 reset bang(.
"With clones the first float in a list determines which clone the message goes to."
That helped me very much, thank you :D.
"Does it all work how you want now? I have been out all day and will be again this evening."
Absolute legend! Thank you very much, you, help files and testing, is just what i need to learn pd.
Actually, the [t b f] in my patch does something, it makes it so that it can add the octave and what the note any key is assigned to (positive integer equal to or above A{default:4}).
Important note: my original patches made the user assign the keys on their keyboard to midi notes, and once that's done, the user presses the toggle in the top left to then begin playing, your patch on the other hand does not do the same (at least my pc makes my keys be 50% of the time: note number: 127 and 50% of the time: what seems like random notes between 0 and 127 (i assume that they are just the keyboard key numbers, but that's stupid (i think))).

@4ZZ4 Sorry about the [t b f] and [notein].... it was a rush job.
[route float list symbol] is a bit special.
If you send [34 12( into [route 34 12] you will get a bang on the left outlet for 34 and one on the middle outlet for 12.
If you send it into [route float list] you will get 34 followed by 12 on the first outlet and 34 12 on the middle.
If you send [woof 23( into [route woof] you will get 23 on the left outlet.
If you send [woof 23( into [route symbol float] you will get woof on the left and 23 on the middle.

I think that is all correct. You can check it out in the [route] help file.
There is weird stuff going on that can be a pain and can be useful. Some of it is really weird.
But essentially [route] strips the tag of the atom with [route symbol list float] and sends on the atom but [route woof lala] or [route 34 35 36] strips that part and sends on what follows.

woof in the actual message is actually "symbol woof" in the internal message
34 35 36 is actually "list 34 35 36"
and 23 is actually "float 23" in the internal message.
The internal message is "tag something something something....... something]..... and float, symbol, pointer and list are the common tags.
http://puredata.info/docs/manuals/pd/x2.htm is good bedtime reading..... but don't worry about chapter 2.9 for a while.
David.