void serialEvent Arduino - Processing to avoid lag - serial-port

Question

I'm having problems with sending data from Arduino to Processing. I can receive the data OK in the draw loop, but it was very slow, so I included a serialEvent() function to try and eliminate some of the lagginess, but now it doesn't seem to be reading the data in the serialEvent function, and I can't figure out why!
import themidibus.*;
import processing.serial.*;
int end = 10;
String serial;
Serial port;
MidiBus myBus;
// Incoming data
int c;
int d;
int e;
int f;
int g;
int a;
int b;
int C;
int pitchPot;
int tonalityPot;
int noteVol;
int pan;
int reverb;
int dlay;
int distort;
int octave;
// Ellipse parameters
int noteOn = 0;
int col1 = 0;
int col2 = 0;
int col3 = 0;
int passTime;
int saveTime;
int expand = 0;
String[] A = new String[18];
String[] B = new String[18];
boolean cPress = false;
boolean dPress = false;
boolean ePress = false;
boolean fPress = false;
boolean gPress = false;
boolean aPress = false;
boolean bPress = false;
boolean CPress = false;
void setup() {
size(600, 600, P3D);
frameRate(10);
smooth();
port = new Serial(this, Serial.list()[6], 115200);
port.clear();
serial = port.readStringUntil(end);
serial = null; // Initially, the string will be null (empty)
myBus = new MidiBus(this, -1, "Java Sound Synthesizer");
}
void draw() {
if ((c == 1) && (cPress == false)) {
col1 = 255;
col2 = 0;
col3 = 0;
myBus.sendControllerChange(1, 10, pan);
myBus.sendNoteOn(1, (60 + pitchPot + octave), noteVol);
cPress = true;
}
if ((c == 0) && (cPress == true)) {
myBus.sendNoteOff(1, (60 + pitchPot + octave), noteVol);
cPress = false;
}
// D
if ((d == 1) && (dPress == false)) {
col1 = 0;
col2 = 0;
col3 = 255;
myBus.sendControllerChange(1, 10, pan);
myBus.sendNoteOn(1, (62 + pitchPot + octave), noteVol);
dPress = true;
}
if ((d == 0) && (dPress == true)) {
myBus.sendNoteOff(1, (62 + pitchPot + octave), noteVol);
dPress = false;
}
if ((e == 1) && (ePress == false)){
col1 = 0;
col2 = 255;
col3 = 0;
myBus.sendControllerChange(1, 10, pan);
myBus.sendNoteOn(1, (64 + pitchPot + tonalityPot + octave), noteVol);
ePress = true;
}
if ((e == 0) && (ePress == true)){
myBus.sendNoteOff(1, (64 + pitchPot + tonalityPot + octave), noteVol);
ePress = false;
}
if ((f == 1) && (fPress == false)) {
col1 = 255;
col2 = 0;
col3 = 255;
myBus.sendControllerChange(1, 10, pan);
myBus.sendNoteOn(1, (65 + pitchPot + octave), noteVol);
fPress = true;
}
if ((f == 0) && (fPress == true)) {
myBus.sendNoteOff(1, (65 + pitchPot + octave), noteVol);
fPress = false;
}
if ((g == 1) && (gPress == false)) {
col1 = 255;
col2 = 255;
col3 = 0;
myBus.sendControllerChange(1, 10, pan);
myBus.sendNoteOn(1, (67 + pitchPot + octave), noteVol);
gPress = true;
}
if ((g == 0) && (gPress == true)) {
myBus.sendNoteOff(1, (67 + pitchPot + octave), noteVol);
gPress = false;
}
if ((a == 1) && (aPress == false)) {
col1 = 0;
col2 = 255;
col3 = 255;
myBus.sendControllerChange(1, 10, pan);
myBus.sendNoteOn(1, (69 + pitchPot + tonalityPot + octave), noteVol);
aPress = true;
}
if ((a == 0) && (aPress == true)) {
myBus.sendNoteOff(1, (69 + pitchPot + tonalityPot + octave), noteVol);
aPress = false;
}
if ((b == 1) && (bPress == false)) {
col1 = 50;
col2 = 250;
col3 = 130;
myBus.sendControllerChange(1, 10, pan);
myBus.sendNoteOn(1, (71 + pitchPot + octave), noteVol);
bPress = true;
}
if ((b == 0) && (bPress == true)) {
myBus.sendNoteOff(1, (71 + pitchPot + octave), noteVol);
bPress = false;
}
if ((C == 1) && (CPress == false)) {
col1 = 200;
col2 = 90;
col3 = 75;
myBus.sendControllerChange(1, 10, pan);
myBus.sendNoteOn(1, (72 + pitchPot + octave), noteVol);
CPress = true;
}
if ((C == 0) && (CPress == true)) {
myBus.sendNoteOff(1, (72 + pitchPot + octave), noteVol);
CPress = false;
}
if(c == 1 || d == 1 || e == 1 || f == 1 ||
g == 1 || a == 1 || b == 1 || C == 1) {
noteOn = 1;
}
else {
noteOn = 0;
}
if (dlay == 1) {
if (noteOn == 1) {
passTime = millis() - saveTime;
if (passTime > 1) {
expand += 15;
saveTime = millis();
}
strokeWeight(10);
stroke(col1, col2, col3);
noFill();
ellipse((300+pan), 300 , expand, expand);
}
else {
expand = noteVol*2;
noteOn = 0;
}
fill(0, 0, 0, 100);
rect(0, 0, 600, 600);
fill(col1, col2, col3);
lights();
pushMatrix();
translate(300+pan, 300);
noStroke();
sphere(noteOn*noteVol);
popMatrix();
}
else if (reverb == 1) {
fill(0, 0, 0, 100);
rect(0, 0, 600, 600);
fill(col1, col2, col3);
lights();
pushMatrix();
translate(300, 300);
rotate(frameCount / 50.0);
star(0, 0, (noteOn*noteVol* 20), ((noteOn*noteVol)/20), 40);
popMatrix();
}
else {
fill(0, 0, 0, 100);
rect(0,0, 600,600);
fill(col1,col2, col3);
lights();
pushMatrix();
translate(300+pan, 300);
noStroke();
sphere(noteOn*noteVol);
popMatrix();
}
}
void serialEvent(Serial port) {
while (port.available() > 0) {
serial = port.readStringUntil(end);
}
if (serial != null) {
A = split(serial, ',');
B = trim(A);
c = Integer.parseInt(B[1]);
d = Integer.parseInt(B[1]);
e = Integer.parseInt(B[2]);
f = Integer.parseInt(B[3]);
g = Integer.parseInt(B[4]);
a = Integer.parseInt(B[5]);
b = Integer.parseInt(B[6]);
C = Integer.parseInt(B[7]);
pitchPot = Integer.parseInt(B[9]);
tonalityPot = Integer.parseInt(B[10]);
noteVol = Integer.parseInt(B[11]);
pan = Integer.parseInt(B[12]);
dlay = Integer.parseInt(B[13]);
reverb = Integer.parseInt(B[14]);
distort = Integer.parseInt(B[15]);
octave = Integer.parseInt(B[16]);
}
}

Answer 1

serialEvent() does not seem to called by a serial event like the documentation says, at least on the Arduino platforms I am using. It may work on some. If it doesn't work, try just calling serialEvent in your main loop. I think that is equivalent anyway as there really are not interrupts for serial data. You just have to read it and the idea was that the serialEvent function would be called every loop but it doesn't seem to work that way.
The SerialEvent Arduino documentation says:
"NB : Currently, serialEvent() is not compatible with the Esplora, Leonardo, or Micro", but I suspect the list should be longer.