Event Console

The Live Event Console provides real-time visualization of MIDI events, helping you debug mappings, discover note numbers, and understand your controller’s behavior.

Overview

The Event Console displays:

MIDI events: Note on/off, CC, aftertouch, pitch bend
Timing information: Timestamps and event duration
Velocity data: Press intensity values
Processed events: Long press, double-tap, chord detection
Action execution: What actions were triggered
Error messages: Failed actions or validation issues

Access the Console

GUI Method

Open Conductor GUI
Navigate to Settings tab
Click 📊 Show Event Console
View live events in real-time

CLI Method

# Monitor all events
conductorctl events

# Filter by event type
conductorctl events --type note

# Follow mode (live tail)
conductorctl events --follow

Event Types

MIDI Events

Note On/Off

[12:34:56.789] NOTE_ON  | Note: 36 | Vel: 87 | Ch: 1
[12:34:57.120] NOTE_OFF | Note: 36 | Vel: 0  | Ch: 1
Duration: 331ms

Control Change

[12:34:58.456] CC | CC: 7 | Value: 64 | Ch: 1

Aftertouch

[12:35:00.123] AFTERTOUCH | Pressure: 95 | Ch: 1

Pitch Bend

[12:35:01.789] PITCH_BEND | Value: 8192 | Ch: 1

Processed Events

Long Press Detected

[12:35:05.000] LONG_PRESS | Note: 36 | Duration: 2150ms
Trigger matched: "Emergency Stop" (mapping #5)

Double Tap Detected

[12:35:10.100] DOUBLE_TAP | Note: 37 | Interval: 245ms
Trigger matched: "Quick Launch" (mapping #8)

Chord Detected

[12:35:15.500] CHORD | Notes: [36, 40, 43] | Window: 87ms
Trigger matched: "Save All" (mapping #12)

Encoder Turn

[12:35:20.750] ENCODER_TURN | CC: 1 | Direction: Clockwise | Steps: 3
Trigger matched: "Volume Up" (mapping #2)

Action Execution

[12:35:25.100] ACTION_START | Type: Keystroke
  Modifiers: [Cmd, Shift]
  Keys: "S"
[12:35:25.105] ACTION_COMPLETE | Duration: 5ms | Status: Success

Errors

[12:35:30.000] ERROR | Failed to execute shell command
  Command: "/usr/bin/notexist"
  Error: "No such file or directory"
  Mapping: #15 ("Custom Script")

Filtering Events

By Event Type

# Only note events
conductorctl events --type note

# Only CC events
conductorctl events --type cc

# Only processed events
conductorctl events --type processed

# Only actions
conductorctl events --type action

# Only errors
conductorctl events --type error

By MIDI Channel

conductorctl events --channel 1

By Note Range

# Only pads (notes 36-51)
conductorctl events --note-min 36 --note-max 51

By Time Range

# Last 5 minutes
conductorctl events --since 5m

# Last hour
conductorctl events --since 1h

# Specific time
conductorctl events --since "2025-01-15 12:00"

Use Cases

Discover Note Numbers

Problem: Don’t know which MIDI note a pad sends

Solution:

Open Event Console
Press the pad
See NOTE_ON | Note: 36 in console
Use note 36 in your mapping

[12:40:00.000] NOTE_ON | Note: 36 | Vel: 92 | Ch: 1
                       ↑
                   This is the note number

Debug Long Press Not Triggering

Problem: Long press mapping not activating

Solution:

Open Event Console
Hold the pad
Check if LONG_PRESS event appears
Compare duration with your config:

[12:45:00.000] NOTE_ON    | Note: 36 | Vel: 87
[12:45:01.500] NOTE_OFF   | Note: 36 | Duration: 1500ms
                                      ↑
                        Too short! Config requires 2000ms

Fix by reducing duration_ms in config or holding longer.

Verify Velocity Ranges

Problem: Soft/medium/hard velocity ranges not working as expected

Solution:

Press pad softly: Check velocity value
Press pad medium: Check velocity value
Press pad hard: Check velocity value
Adjust ranges in config

Soft press:   [12:50:00.000] NOTE_ON | Vel: 25  ← Within 0-40
Medium press: [12:50:05.000] NOTE_ON | Vel: 65  ← Within 41-80
Hard press:   [12:50:10.000] NOTE_ON | Vel: 110 ← Within 81-127

Debug Chord Detection

Problem: Chord mapping not triggering

Solution:

Press chord notes
Check timing window in console:

[13:00:00.000] NOTE_ON | Note: 36
[13:00:00.150] NOTE_ON | Note: 40  ← 150ms gap, too slow!
[13:00:00.300] NOTE_ON | Note: 43

Config requires all notes within 100ms

Fix: Press notes faster OR increase chord_timeout_ms in config.

Test Action Execution

Problem: Action not executing as expected

Solution:

Trigger the mapping
Watch action execution in console
Check for errors

[13:05:00.000] ACTION_START | Type: Shell
  Command: "open -a 'Visual Studio Code'"
[13:05:00.250] ACTION_COMPLETE | Duration: 250ms | Status: Success

vs.

[13:05:05.000] ACTION_START | Type: Shell
  Command: "open -a 'NotExist'"
[13:05:05.100] ERROR | Application not found
                ↑
            This tells you what went wrong

Monitor System Performance

Watch event processing latency:

[13:10:00.000] NOTE_ON      | Note: 36
[13:10:00.001] PROCESSED    | Duration: 1ms  ← Very fast!
[13:10:00.002] ACTION_START
[13:10:00.007] ACTION_COMPLETE | Duration: 5ms

Total: 7ms from button press to action complete

If latency >50ms, investigate performance issues.

GUI Console Features

Visual Event Timeline

The GUI console includes a visual timeline showing:

Event type (color-coded)
Timestamp
Event details
Expandable for full info

Event Highlighting

Green: Successful events
Yellow: Warnings (e.g., near timeout)
Red: Errors
Blue: Info (e.g., mode changes)

Auto-Scroll

Console auto-scrolls to latest events. Click Pause to freeze for inspection.

Event Export

Select events
Click Export
Save as JSON/CSV for analysis

Event Statistics

View live statistics:

Events per second
Average velocity
Most-pressed pad
Error rate

Advanced Features

Pattern Recording

Record event sequences for analysis:

conductorctl record-events --duration 30s --output session.json

Playback recorded events:

conductorctl playback-events session.json

Event Filtering Rules

Create custom filters in config:

[event_console]
[[event_console.filters]]
name = "Only My Pads"
include_notes = [36, 37, 38, 39]
include_types = ["note", "processed"]

[[event_console.filters]]
name = "Errors Only"
include_types = ["error"]
min_severity = "warning"

Activate filter in GUI or CLI:

conductorctl events --filter "Only My Pads"

Event Triggers

Trigger actions based on events:

[event_console.triggers]
[[event_console.triggers.rules]]
condition = "error_rate > 5 per_minute"
action = { type = "Notification", message = "High error rate detected!" }

[[event_console.triggers.rules]]
condition = "note_36 pressed > 10 times in 5s"
action = { type = "Notification", message = "Stop mashing that button!" }

Performance Profiling

Enable detailed performance metrics:

[event_console]
enable_profiling = true
track_latency = true
track_memory = true

View profiling data:

conductorctl events --profiling

Output includes:

Event processing time
Memory allocation
CPU usage per event
Bottleneck identification

Troubleshooting

Console Not Updating

Check daemon is running: conductorctl status
Verify events are being generated (press pads)
Restart daemon: conductorctl restart
Check event monitoring is active: conductorctl is-event-monitoring-active

Too Many Events

Filter aggressively:

# Only errors and warnings
conductorctl events --type error --type warning

# Debounce rapid events
conductorctl events --debounce 100ms

Or reduce update rate in config:

[event_console]
max_events_per_second = 30

Missing Events

Check buffer size isn’t full:

[event_console]
buffer_size = 10000  # Increase if needed

Verify event types are enabled:

[event_console]
capture_midi = true
capture_processed = true
capture_actions = true

Check log level:
```
DEBUG=1 conductorctl events
```

Best Practices

Start with full view: See all event types initially
Filter progressively: Add filters as you narrow down issues
Use follow mode: -f flag for live monitoring
Export for analysis: Save interesting sessions
Watch timing: Event timing reveals latency issues
Compare configs: Record events, change config, compare results
Document discoveries: Note note numbers and velocities for future reference

Integration with Other Tools

Export to CSV for Analysis

conductorctl events --output events.csv --duration 60s

Analyze in Excel/Google Sheets:

Event frequency
Velocity distribution
Timing patterns

Send to External Monitoring

# Stream events to external tool
conductorctl events --format json | jq '.' | your-monitoring-tool

Log to File

# Continuous logging
conductorctl events -f >> conductor-events.log

Next Steps

Use console to build mappings with MIDI Learn
Debug complex triggers in mapping configuration
Monitor LED feedback in real-time
Analyze per-app profile switching behavior

Keyboard shortcuts

Conductor Documentation