Beiträge von Global_l

  • midi based librarian audio unit

    Zitat von MrMowgli

    and I know for a fact the ctrlr version whilst free still has serious problems.


    Are you talking about Windows and OSX systems, or Linux systems?


    You know that on (some) Linux systems, incoming midi dumps are splitted into blocks of 256 bytes, and there is nothing I can do about it, it's out of my reach as a Ctrlr panel developer, we have talked about that. But it's a Linux issue only.


    By the way, there's a new special version for the Snow managing all the four parts with a single instance (for Win and OSX only, and to avoid messing with Ctrlr app, the download links contain a standalone version and a plugin version ready to use inside a DAW) at http://ctrlr.org/snowed/
    Some users had problems reading the RAM/ROM patch banks of the unit, this has been finally fixed.

  • Virus TI Midi Editor based on Ctrlr

    Zitat von kwtsh

    Is this a silly question? You discuss how to increase the MaxExportedVstParemeters. Is there there any harm increasing this to a larger number, say 10,000?

    I don't understand why you ask if is a silly question, I think it isn't.


    When a vst is loaded in a Daw, it must export a defined number of modulators to allow communication of those modulators with the Daw. In the case of Ctrlr, Ctrlr doesn't know how many modulators a panel will have, so it's impossible for Ctrlr to know how many it must export at loading time, and by default it exports 64 modulators. That's why you must create this file with a number of modulators to export best suited to your needs. This doesn't happens when you create a .dll of the panel, because the .dll version of the panel stores the number of modulators it has, but as I said in a previous post the .dll version doesn't work fine.


    I don't know if a big number will affect the performance, I think it should not.


    Zitat

    As I'm on Mac OSX what should I call this file and where should I put
    it? Is this 64 parameter limitation why the Effects section doesn't respond? How about the ARP section? Any chance of the list of the 64 Parameters that can be automated?
    Should I expect adjusting the parameters in the Arp section of the panel
    to change the playing Arp?

    Read the previous post. Find in your vst/au folder the file Ctrlr-VST.dll (I don't know how it's called on Mac and where is installed, I'm on Windows). On Windows is installed by default in C:\Program Files\VstPlugins\Ctrlr 1590. Create the file in the same folder with the text I posted and with the name I indicated, and the next time you load Ctrlr vst inside Ableton it will export the number of modulators written in the file.


    If you don't create this file, Ctrlr will export only 64 modulators, leaving the remaining modulators (almost 500) not communicated with the synth and with Ableton, so yes, Effects, Arps, Matrix and many more parameters will not work.


    Zitat


    I get what you mean about combining the panel and and Live's MIDI ports
    together. Are there any advantages to this complexity that you can see?

    This was only in the case you needed Midi Clock to be sent to the Virus, but If you have it synced there is no need to do it.


    Zitat

    I did try creating multiple tracks in Live each with controller
    instances, but as each can only output on channels 1/2 it doesn't really
    achieve 3 tracks playing simultaneously over MIDI, each tweakable as
    they haven't been bounced to audio...if we can do that!! Wow!

    Again, the output modulator will not work if you don't export more than the default 64 parameters. You HAVE TO CREATE the file. You can change the output in the panel, but the midi message is not sent to the Virus.


    Zitat

    Sounds like Ctrlr needs this thousands of modulators improvement, but
    with they way it's released this will then mean it'll break Juce with
    any panel over 1590.....:(


    This is what a normal modulator looks like in a panel (xml)



    As you can see, there a a lot of parameters that aren't needed when using images to draw knobs or sliders, almost the entire component section. I asked Ctrlr developer to create a new kind of modulator that will only store the modulator and midi section and the minimum info possible about the component part. It is just ridiculous waiting more than 10 minutes to load a panel for a 16 multitimbral parts synth with more than 10K modulators. Look at this post.

  • Virus TI Midi Editor based on Ctrlr

    Hi kwtsh.


    Glad to know you can solve some of your sync problems with the panel.


    Zitat

    Some of the Panel GUI updates according to the Virus knobs and can see
    the parameter changing in Live in real time as I change parameters on
    the Virus TI, just cant figure out how to record it successfully in
    Live, (automation arm enabled in session view). Any ideas anyone?

    To record automation, just click the triangle in the Ctrlr device (next to "device activator" button), now click "Configure" button, and finally click on any parameter on the panel. You should now be able to automate them.


    Zitat

    Some areas of the panel unfortunately dont seem to respond to knob changes on the virus, r.g. Effects


    The Arp section in the panel seems to have no effect, maybe missing
    something? Changing resolution/octave for example in user pattern I cant
    hear any difference in the arp sequence. Turn the arp off in the panel
    and the Arp stays on, on the virus.

    By default, Ctrlr only has 64 parameters ready to be automated (and ready to be sent to the TI). That's why you can only tweak the first 64 modulators. To change this you have to create a file in the same folder where your CtrlrVst.dll is located.


    Create a new text file and paste this content inside:

    Parameter "ctrlrMaxExportedVstParameters" is the number of modulators that Ctrlr export to the DAW to allow their automation and transmission. In the case of the TI, a single part uses more than 550 parameters, so you should have a value enough for all the panels you could use in a project per Ctrlr instance.


    The file must be named with the same name as the .dll and with extension .overrides (in my case, the .dll is named "Ctrlr-VST-Win32.dll", so the file I created is "Ctrlr-VST-Win32.overrides").


    As far as I know is not possible to send Midi Clock messages trough the panel :thumbdown: . If you don't mind to complicate things a lot, you cold use two pairs virtual midi ports, one from Ctrlr and another one from Ableton Live and merge them in the physical midi output to the TI. The one from Ableton should carry the Midi clock message (not tested).


    Zitat

    You mentioned back in a Feb post that the panel is only single part. Is
    that correct for the 4.1 build? I have three stereo analog TRS outs
    coming from the Virus into my Motu and would be great to have multiple
    tracks in Live for different timbral parts. Any way this can be
    achieved?

    Yes, the panel is single part and will be this way until Ctrlr developer adds some new functionality to allow a faster way to load a panel with thousands of modulators, something requested ages ago.
    But as you are on Mac and have multi-client midi ports, you can open several instances of Ctrlr, each one with one TI panel assigned to different TI parts. This is something I haven't tested directly (because my midi interface is not multi-client and I can only use 1 Ctrlr instance), but I think to remember that I tested this with virtual midi ports and it worked.

    I think this is related to the previous question about not been able to automate/receive some of the panel modulators.
    Another aspect is that the panel has been tested only with a TI Snow, with only 1 pair of analog outs. The list of values I have for the main out parameter is this:

    If some one can confirm that the list is correct, please let me know.


    Zitat

    Options:


    1) Multiple Panels inside Ctrlr, not flexible enough for me, prefer to be able to add effects and routing in Live.


    2) Multiple tracks in Live with different panel instances loaded, e.g.
    Track 1 : MultiTimbral Part 1, Track 2 : MultiTimbral Part 2 etc?

    If your midi port is multi-client try what I answered above. Load a Ctrlr instance for each track.


    A problem that comes to my mind right now using this method is that each instance is not communicated with each other. I suppose that when you open a panel with several instances of the panel, they will send the patch dump may be at the same time or not allowing to finish on dump and start with another, and this could cause a bad reception of the data. You should re-send the patches one by one once the project has finished loading.


    The optimal method to make the panel is having all 16 parts loaded in one instance of the panel, like in VC, this would allow an ordered data transmission to the synth, but Ctrlr is not good with thousands of modulators.

  • Virus TI Midi Editor based on Ctrlr

    After many tests I've found the.exe and .dll options aren't reliable.


    In order to work with it, the panel must be loaded in Ctrlr either inside or outside the sequencer, and only one panel. Inside the sequencer the parameters can be automated, but only for one part.


    I've uploaded a new version fixing some bugs, this is the download page.


    Ctrlr revision recommended: 1590.

  • Virus TI Midi Editor based on Ctrlr

    Hi thetechnobear.


    Yes, I did my own docs with OpenOffice, they must be somewhere on my backups. I'll take a look and will upload it here. But I don't have it in the form of Page/Parameter Number = Virus Parameter. I did a table with a patch dump and wrote down what each byte did, it's parameter and it's midi message. But I don't remember too much, this was done 2 or 3 years ago.


    The docs I found online are mainly for Virus A, B and C. And there is another one that must be for some older OS of the TI, and they are completely different form the real sysex specs, and even with OS 5 Access added more parameters.


    Anyway, you can check in any modulator of the panel the message it delivers. Open the panel in Ctrlr, enter Edit Mode and select a modulator. On the right of the panel there is a list of every parameter of each modulator, including it's sysex or cc message. Or you can change any parameter on the Virus and connect it to a midi monitor to see what the Virus sends.


    But give me some time and I'll post here the midi specs.


    You talked about writing an editor in Max. I tried to do it on Maxforlive, but on Windows it's not easy to use Ableton and sysex messages, and Ctrlr was much more easy to work with.

  • Virus TI Midi Editor based on Ctrlr

    Hi boreg.


    Standalone is fine. It's the Vst version what never fully worked. It depends on the revision, but it never worked 100% in vst mode. Of course you can move a slider and the message is sent to the Virus and vice versa, you can automate parameters and they work. But there was always some issue that, at least on my opinion, made impossible to work seriously inside a sequencer.


    Newer Ctrlr revisions (1600 and above) broke all my file handling, ruining the library and patch management of the panel, and there is no current fix, plus adding some graphical glitches.

  • Virus TI Midi Editor based on Ctrlr

    Zitat

    Sorry, I wasn't implying any fault of yours in the panel… as a fellow
    developer, i recognized the issue was Ctrlr's overnight build process.
    this ridiculous model means as a panel developer are developing against a moving target (impossible!).


    Ctrlr should follow a proper release model, and give panel developers a stable release to use.


    No problem, I wasn't offended. Just wanted to clarify that, at least as a standalone application, it really works.


    Your are absolutely right. Almost every panel is sooner or later abandoned by it's author due to what you say. I did panels for all my synths to find later that they were useless inside the Daw.


    Btw, have you developed any panel?

    Zitat

    One idea.. I didn't know that Ctrlr could build .exe (does it build executables for mac as well?)


    why don't you release a executable/standalone,


    that way your users will not have to deal with the Ctrlr build, and you
    will know you have released a working version. (since you will control
    the ctrlr version)

    Yes, once you open a panel on Ctrlr running as standalone you can save it as an .exe. On Mac too. And if you open the panel inside the Daw you can save the .dll for this panel, that is, the Vst version, just like any other plugin.


    You are probably right. I didn't did this mainly because Ctrlr wasn't finished and I thought that this will no take much time :huh: , I was waiting a stable version that could work fine inside the Daw and then I would release the .exe and .dll versions. But yes, I will check it and will release a .exe version that will work 100%.
    But as I said before, anyone can build the .exe (especially Mac users, as I'm on Windows and can't do the Mac build), just open the panel and "export as instance".


    Thanks for your kind words. It was really a challenge, as I didn't found the docs about midi dumps and how to read them (in fact, there are still some bytes that are a mystery to me and don't know what they do, only that they are not for the sound engine). I think not so long ago the docs were published on this forum.

  • Virus TI Midi Editor based on Ctrlr

    Let's clarify some points:


    Ctrlr can be used in several ways:
    ·As a standalone app, where you can load several panels inside a single Ctrlr instance. You have to open Ctrlr and then load any panel you want.
    ·A panel can be saved as a .exe (That is, a Ctrlr instance with only one panel loaded). This way you can create a .exe for each panel you want.
    ·As a Vst inside any Daw (same procedure as in the first case)
    ·A panel can be saved as a Vst (that is, a Ctrlr instance with only one panel loaded. Same procedure as in the second case).


    For the two first alternatives, both Ctrlr and the panel work fine. The problem is that a panel will not work on every Ctrlr versions. The other two alternatives never worked fine with any Ctrlr revision, unfortunately.


    With each new Ctrlr version there are some changes that make all panels incompatible with the previous revision, so if I fix the panel to work with a new Ctrlr version, the previous versions will fail. I've been updating the panel to be working with the newer revisions, with the hope that Ctrlr will be finished and polished soon. This has not been the case, so I decided not updating the panel to the last Ctrlr revisions any more.


    So if anyone is interested in using this panel on one of the first two alternatives above, let me know. I'll check which Ctrlr revision is the best and test the panel to be sure it's working fine, and I can solve any problem or doubt you could have using it.


    Disclaimer: I'm on Windows and I have a Snow. I never tested the panel with a non Snow Virus TI and on a Mac or Linux. If I remember correctly, the only difference between the Snow and non Snow Virus TI is the patch output. One user says this option is not working with his Virus, but we didn't found a solution. If someone else have the same problem, please let me know.