On another note, I realized I unfortunately will not be able to use shown boolean for the more complex wave functions I want to use that require the LEDs to be constantly updated, so that had to be scrapped.
That is a mistake, you will not see that effect.
Can you post what you had with the Boolean variable, maybe you were not using it right.
maybe the loop is going faster than the MIDI is actually coming in,
Of course it is.
Store all incoming MIDI messages
- Update the LEDs based on those messages (i.e. the chunk of "if" statements following the MIDI.read() section)
- Call FastLED.show() once to display update the LEDs all at once.
That is only reproducing what the library and the Boolean system is doing.