Using The 4-way Switch with a Foot Controller

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Using The 4-way Switch with a Foot Controller

#1
I replicated a similar switching setup as on your FIRST STEPS WITH RACK PERFORMER page:

http://www.livefactory.com/products/tutorials/rack-performer/quickstart-first-steps-rack-performer

The switch is set up to select 4 separate guitar amp setups. When I click each of the 4 separate routings with the mouse it works well. I have a Native Instruments Guitar Rig Foot controller 3. I don't know how to make each of the switches on it select the corresponding 4-way i/o on the RP. Can you suggest a way to do this, please?

Thanks,
H / UDmr
#2
Hani,

There are many ways to perform what you are trying to achieve. I don't know how much you can program your NI controller, can you select what every switch sends or is this fixed by the hardware?

If you can program the controller, the basic idea would to have all switches configured to the same MIDI CC number, but each with a different value. But I think this could be problematic as I imagine those are on/off switches rather than push buttons? (ie a message is sent when pressed and another is sent when released?)

Another approach would be to use only two switches, one to increment and one to decrement the switch module selector value. Then if again the switches are configurable, you could set them both to the same CC and create a midi mapping of the "jogwheel" special type, having the "dec" switch configured to send 0 and 64, and the "inc" switch configured to send 64 and 127.

If you can't program your controller, it will be a little more complicated as RP is missing the "MIDI mapper" window (equivalent to keyboard mapper window, centralized place to manage all mappings) so you would have to edit your .RPL document by hand (I would of course give you the procedure to follow, it's not hard)

But there are many ways to proceed, so the real question is: what are you trying to achieve exactly? For instance it could be more practical to have all 4 switches behave as on/off for the individual effects (or effects chains) meaning you could have 1+2, 1+3, 3 alone etc...In this case you would patch things differently and map your pedals to the "bypass" controls (in case you have single effects) or to a 2-way switch (in case you have effect chains)

Maybe the problem is that there are too many possibilities!
_______
Live Factory Team
#3
Hello Live Factory Team:

I would like the RP 4-way switch to react to my foot controller input the same way it reacts to my mouse input. That is to say, rather than have an increment/decrement switching setup, I'd prefer to have 4-way switch 01 activated when I press foot switch 01, switch 02 activated when I press foot switch 02, etc.

I have set up my foot controller so that 4 switches are assigned to the same controller number '80'. Each switch mode can be set as: Toggle, trigger, gate or inc. In this instance, I have set each switch to 'trigger'. And each switch sends it's corresponding 'value', ie switch 01 sends controller #80 val 01, Switch 02 sends controler #80 val 02, etc.

In RP 4-way switch I have 4-way switch set to: Quick MIDI control mapping/linear mapping/ 7 bit control change/

... Not sure where to go from here. I tried "auto learn" but I'm not sure what that is doing, either.

PDF documentation for Native Instruments Controller editor:
http://www.uniquesquared.com/media/manuals/NAT-MASCHINEMK2_manual.pdf

- Guitar Rig Controller chapter starts on page 136.
- MIDI Message Types – Type Menu on page 191.

The Native Instruments foot controller can receive MIDI feedback so that the foot switch LEDs can be activated to show switching status.
- Visual Feedback on your Controller on page 138. Can RP handle this?
H / UDmr
#4
Ok then you were very close. The quick MIDI map + auto-learn on the Switch module position control port will indeed map it to the correct MIDI CC number and channel.

Then the last step to do would be to distribute your 4 controller switches to the full 0..127 values range supported by MIDI (the Switch module position can have 4 values, each taking 1/4 of the range -> 128/4 = 32)

So the first switch should send any value from 0 to 31, the second any value from 32 to 63, the 3rd any value from 64 to 95, and the 4th any value from 96 to 127.

MIDI Controller feedback is much requested but unfortunately will be postponed for after 1.0 (it will be one of the first features added after release)
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Live Factory Team
#5
Hello Live Factory Team:

Thanks, I understand the logic now. I got it to work, no problem.

There is, however, an interesting CPU issue that arises from this setup. If I create a patch with one tuner, one amp head and one cab, Task Manager shows about 30% CPU.

If I create 3 parallel amp/cab setups, where only one of the amp/cab combinations can be activated at one time by the 4-way switch, the Task Manager shows almost 90% CPU.

This suggests, to me, that even though the two other 'branches' from the 4-way switch are inactive, they are still using CPU. In fact the 4-way switch scenario can't work on my (admittedly not very powerful Celeron) because there are too many audio cut-outs - while in the one amp/cab scenario the audio works perfectly.
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H / UDmr
#6
I may have a work around solution to the CPU problem. I think there is a logical way of doing it, but am unsure if technically it is possible with the software.

When the foot controller sends channel switch command to RP to activate channel one, for example, the other two other channels as in my example above should interpret the same command to 'turn off' - not merely by-passed. This way the unused effects in the other parallel chains would not be using CPU.

Perhaps this can be accomplished using the "preset links" feature?


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H / UDmr
#7
Hani,

You are touching a delicate subject and I don't know if I will be able to answer in simple terms, while at the same time not exposing too much of our future plans.

I can just say that the matter is complex and we will definitely tackle it with various angles of attack!

Meanwhile in your particular case, if you are using 3 instances of the same amp/cabsim plugin, the "correct" way to do it would be to use only one and create 3 presets in it and switch the presets number with your MIDI controller (or similarily by creating 3 global scene snaphots)

There might be a glitch depending on how the plugin is coded and the VST presets mode you selected when creating the plugin. Not all plugins handle real-time presets change well, this is why we reverted the default VST presets mode to the simplest form (params+program numbers)

If this mode is not satisfying (ie if changing presets on the module does not yield a real "snapshot" recalling effect) you might need to use one of the heavier presets mode (namely partial or full chunks) The full chunks mode is the heaviest CPU wise, and is also likely to make the DSP glitch depending on the particular VST plugin, but it will always completely recall the module state (real snapshot) The partial chunks mode is in between and is recommended.

You can select a particular VST presets mode by holding shift or control when creating the module in the patcher.

The switch modules do not create separate patch branches as their purpose is to switch in real-time and without any glitch. If you really need to "deactivate" modules then it is currently not possible (cf other angles of attack, but more on that later)
_______
Live Factory Team

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