MPE now supported on zynthian with Surge-XT and potentially others

Using Zynthian
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1

Hi @zynthianers and MPE players!

I’m proud to announce we are adding support for MPE to the zynthian-UI so the engines that currently support MPE, like Surge-XT can work flawlessly without needing to tweak things or access the native GUI thru VNC.

Those using Vangelis can test with the (currently) only supported engine, Surge-XT. Indeed you don’t need to do nothing. Simply:

  • Create a new chain with Surge-XT engine and select ALL MIDI channels

That’s all! :wink:
The trick is selecting ALL MIDI channels. When you select ALL MIDI channels, MPE is enabled with this zone settings:

  • lower zone => 15 channels
  • upper zone => disabled

When you select a single MIDI channel, MPE will be disabled. Super-easy.

I also have changed the default values for Pitch-Bend and CC smothing to “Fast Linear”. I found the defaults very unpleasant for MPE playing with my Roli Blocks.

I don’t have too much experience with MPE, so probably this needs improvement. The important thing is we have a starting point now.

Best regards,

6 Likes
Pi-Surge-MPE
2

Wonderful news! Thank you!

3

When will this be available in an update? I downloaded and installed the 2026-08-22 Vangelis image from scratch (the one we SHOULD install), but I suppose I will still have to wait for the next update.

4

I think the update is available now on Vangelis - I’m not certain because I’m testing with an Artiphon Chorda and I’m not sure what it should do and I’m kind of clumsy with its pads, but it appears to polyphonically work.

5

You have to update to get the latest changes.

Regards