The Note On/Off action can be used in several ways, not only to "play notes".

Select the Midi channel that should be used.

Please note that the Midi channels are numbered 1-16 (normal for humans), but the Midi protocol uses 0-15 (normal for computers). If your daw/device uses 0-15 numbering, please subtract 1 from the channel in the dropdown list.

Select how the button should interact with the device/daw:

• A Push Button will always send a "Note On" when pressed.

• A Latch Button acts like a Push button but will also send a Note Off for any previously used Latch button (see "Latch group" below for more details).

• A Toggle Button alternates between "Note On" and "Note Off" when pressed.

• A Hold Button will send a "Note On" when pressed and a "Note Off" when the button is released.

Select the purpose of the action and how the plugin should populate the Keys dropdown fields.

Some notes about Expression Maps and Articulation Sets:

• If a question mark precedes an entry in the dropdown list "[?]", the articulation has no key assigned for remote control in the Expression Map/Articulation Set and can not be used.

• If you change an Expression Map/Articulation Set, you must save the changes to the file. Changes you make will immediately be used by the daw and saved with the project, but the originating file is not updated. The plugin relies on the content in the plist/expressionmap files, and these files aren't updated unless you explicitly update them.

The default behavior is to send a Note Off message with the same velocity as the corresponding Note On. You can set this here if you need to have another velocity value in the Note Off message. If multiple notes are defined in the action, they will all send Note Off messages according to the setting in this parameter.

(Only visible if button type is "Latch")

If you e.g. are using Note messages to control articulation it can be useful to have the previous articulation disabled at the same time as a new one is selected. Latch keys keep track of the last used note message(s) and send Note Off message(s) for the previously pressed button before sending Note On message(s) for the currently pressed button. Latch buttons keep track of all notes triggered by the previous latch button, and if the previous button triggered multiple notes, Note Off messages for all those notes are sent. Latch buttons work across profiles and folders - a latch button in any folder or profile will send Note Off messages for a previously used button even if that button was used in another folder or profile.

With Latch groups, it is possible to group latch buttons so that Note Off messages are only sent for the previously pressed button belonging to the same latch group. Every new Latch button is assigned to the "Default group"; unless changed, every latch button will act (send Note Off) for any other latch button. If you want some latch buttons to only react to a subset of other latch buttons, you can create a latch group for those buttons. Please note that latch buttons do not filter on midi channels. If button A sends a Note On message on midi channel 1 and button B sends a Note On message on midi channel 2, button B will still send Note Off messages on channel 1 for button A when pressed (if they belong to the same latch group). If you need to keep latch buttons for different channels apart, create a latch group for each channel.

Select the group in the dropdown to add a latch button to an existing latch group. The dropdown contains latch groups detected since the Stream Deck application was started, i.e., groups from multiple profiles or folders might appear in the dropdown. If latch groups are only used in profiles or folders you have not yet activated since the last start of the Stream Deck application, they will not appear in the dropdown. If you know there is a latch group that isn't shown, you can still assign the button to it by registering it as a "new" group, as described below. As long as the group name is identical (case sensitive) to a group in a not yet activated profile, it is regarded to be the same group.

To add a new latch group, enter the group name in the text field and press the + button. The group will be added to the dropdown and automatically selected for the current button. There is no way to remove groups from the dropdown manually. If you have removed all buttons from an earlier used group, it will be removed the next time the Stream Deck application is restarted.

If Latch buttons are configured to use two icons, the latest used button will have the On state and show the appropriate icon. When another button in the same Latch group is pressed, the first button will be reset to the Off state while the new button will have the On state. Configured this way, you will always see which button is currently active. Please note that if the buttons are configured to monitor Midi In, an incoming note that matches the first note for a button will activate that button and inactivate the other buttons in the same Latch group. Tip: If you want a button that mutes and resets all other buttons in the same Latch group, just create a button with a single note with the velocity 0 (i.e., Note Off). This button will never get the On state, but it will reset all other buttons in the group.

Select the Midi port that should be used for sending notes. If available, the default port "StreamDeck2Daw" is selected when you create a button, but you can select any other port if required. When you change the Midi port for one button, the change affects that button only, but the new Midi port selected will be the default port for all new buttons created from that point on.

Select the Midi in port that should be used. By default, no midi in port is selected. Toggle and Latch buttons can monitor Midi In and adapt to and (if configured with two icons) show the current state based on incoming Midi messages. Any button type can be configured to use a translation file to define how incoming note messages should be treated. For Push and Hold buttons, incoming note messages are ignored if no translation file is defined.

A translation file can be assigned when a Midi in port is defined. The primary purpose of the translation file (in the Note action) is to present texts and images on the button based on incoming note messages (values in the translation file represent note values, not velocity values). The syntax of the translation file is identical to when used with Program Change or Control Change actions, but please note that send attributes are ignored for the note action. Notes defined in the editor will be sent regardless of the send attribute on the corresponding note tag in the translation file. The displayonsend attribute will, however, be used, so if you want a button press to affect the text/image of the button, you can do that using that attribute for the corresponding note. Please see the Translation File section for more details.

You can select if the button should use 1 or 2 icons (when not using a translation file). Toggle and Latch buttons (and, to some extent, the Hold button) can benefit from having two buttons to display the current state. In earlier releases (1.8.6. and earlier), the Note On/Off action had only one icon. To not break existing installations, "old" buttons keep the setting with one icon by default, while newly created buttons will get two icons by default.

Please note that it is the selected radio button that determines if the plugin will use 1 or 2 icons, not whether 1 or 2 icons are defined in the Stream Deck editor icon selection (...but of course, you need to select which two icons to display if you tell the plugin to use two icons...)

Push buttons will always only use one icon since there is no state involved in Push buttons (...unless a translation file is used...). Toggle, Latch and Hold buttons can be configured with 1 or 2 icons depending on whether they should show different states.

Initially, the same icons are set for all midi actions. You can choose whatever icons you like, but a set of Midi-related icons are bundled with the plugin (please see the  Installation section for details).

If a translation file is used, you can have unique icons for every step defined in the translation file. If you want to use that feature, you must not define an icon for the action in the Stream Deck editor. Please see the Translation File section for more details.