CC controller layer

Home Forums Feature Wishlist CC controller layer

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This topic contains 24 replies, has 11 voices, and was last updated by Avatar of Panason Panason 5 years, 6 months ago.

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 25 total)
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  • #3809
    Avatar of manfredi
    manfredi
    Participant

    while i am having fun with the demo of the mighty Zaquencer i still hesitate to accept it in my studio. The point here is that footspace is a premium and i wouldnt like to renounce to the control feature at all. If it was me i would be glad to trade some pattern memory for a layer or two of cc controllers.
    Any chance to see my wish in next firmwares ?

    #3810
    Avatar of pure
    pure
    Participant

    yes please +1000.
    i imagine a third mode called CONTROL that, in its most basic form, works like the original BCR.
    here’s an example of what could be done with it:
    track1: drum mode
    track2: control mode – i could map 8*4 controls to the first 8 drum voices. or 16*2 to all 16. if the control mode had a shift function to provide 64 CCs i could use 16*4 controls. I can do the same now with a 2nd BCR and 2 presets of course. But it would just be a more intuitive workflow and make the Zaquencer a more self-contained instrument.
    track3: chord mode
    track4: control mode – controlling parameters of the instruments played by track3

    and there would be much space to improve the usefulness of 32 CC beyond just sending 0-127:
    * reduce the resolution (and spread it equally over the full encoder range) so that it can be conveniently used to control a function with only a few choices. e.g. selecting the oscillator waveform/filtermode/modulation source in a synth.

    #3811
    Avatar of alien_brain
    alien_brain
    Participant

    there are already 2 controller lanes per track that handle cc, pc, pb, and at

    #3812
    Avatar of pure
    pure
    Participant

    i know. thats why we want more.

    #3813
    Avatar of manfredi
    manfredi
    Participant

    alien brain maybe you misunderstood me im not talking about lanes and sequenced modulation but just as a way to shape sounds on devices as the original bcr2000 firmware does. yes i know i might use one bcr2000 for sequencing with Zaquencer and another one for controlling with original hardware but AS I SAID i would like to save space on my desk and do both functions on same unit with acceptable limitations.

    #3815
    Avatar of alien_brain
    alien_brain
    Participant

    ok i understand now… maybe zaq will chime in here.

    #3824
    Avatar of Luigi
    Luigi
    Participant

    +1000
    I requested this feature last year and Cristian wasn’t so enthusiast.
    https://zaqaudio.com/forums/topic/get-some-bcr-features-back

    #3826
    Avatar of pure
    pure
    Participant

    well, thats 1,5 years ago and christian implemented various sequencer features since then.
    I think the more you see the zaq as an instrument the more speaks for a bcr/control mode. and there is so much space for ideas to make controlling parameters via dials smarter.

    any words from the man himself on this?

    #3827
    Avatar of Christian
    Christian
    Keymaster

    Hi guys,

    without making any promises, but I have been thinking about something like this myself lately.
    There should be enough memory left in the global settings to map 32 encoders for controller purposes.
    The way I envisioned it was so you can map it in global menu, giving each of 32 encoders it´s Midi CC type and a Midi channel. Then I thought about actually adjusting (using) the controllers in Mixer Menu, because the encoders are not in use there. Just a very simple, straightforward functionality. Not all the bells & whistles of the original BCR, just a page of CCs more or less.

    Would that fit your bill?

    One thing I´m not sure about yet is if/how to store the actual values of the controllers (the types, yeah, but the actual value you set e.g. a filter to). Would that be important to you?

    Again, I only know if it´ll work once I get around to start working on it, which might be a while, so please do not get your hopes up too high just yet.

    #3829
    Avatar of Paul
    Paul
    Participant

    This sounds like it would be a best of all worlds approach – especially if you could do nrpn as well as cc. As it stands right now, much as I love using the zaquencer, I’ve got an application that would benefit from using the bcr2000 as a knob controller for patch editing.

    #3830
    Avatar of alien_brain
    alien_brain
    Participant

    it would be convenient but imho the idea strays from what the zaquencer is. how many other step sequencers have a page of cc knobs? i know you used to have a bcr with stock firmware but this is not that bcr, its not even a bcr anymore, its a zaquencer. why attempt to get bcr behavior from a zaquencer? wouldnt you rather see a bunch of improvements to the zaquencer idea and use some other controller as a controller? because, i mean, to me, the cc page would be sorta useless unless i could use it in conjunction with zaquencer somehow. Christian said it doesnt have much of a chance of being rolled into the sequencer functionality. so whats the point?

    i say i dont need my zaquencer to be a controller too.

    -1

    #3831
    Avatar of DENTEdiSEGA
    DENTEdiSEGA
    Participant

    It think that CC page (4=1 per track? or 1 global?) could be interesting if zaquencer could record CC automations in steps (like prameters locks in elektron sequencers), but I think this costs a lot of memory/code.. perhaps better to use it for other functions?

    #3833
    Avatar of Luigi
    Luigi
    Participant

    Hi Cristian,
    seems like a cool idea. Do you think it may be possible to map also the push of the push-eoncoders this way, and have feedback on the led rings via midi-in?

    #3834
    Avatar of pure
    pure
    Participant

    @ christian:
    i am struggling a bit with understanding your description, however I think the most flexible (and logical to my brain) implementation of controls would be as a new mode. i could then decide on how many of the 4 tracks i want to use this control mode. and it should of course store the values.

    isnt a control mode and storing its values very similar to a monophonic chord mode? only differences are it sends cc’s instead of notes and there is no sequenced reading out of its values.

    it would probably need some sort of dump command (like the bcr has) so i can send all 32 control values to my software again in case i loaded the zaq before.

    i also dont see so many bells and whistles in the original bcr. i think there are many improvements possible which dont need much memory. if you like i will collect ideas for a while and then post them.

    it would be great if each CONTROL could be set to CC, NRPN, SYSEX, or… what did I forget? program change!

    implementing a parameter lock functionality like DENTEdiSEGA mentioned would of course be a killer feature. i didnt even dare to think that far.

    #3835
    Avatar of pure
    pure
    Participant

    @ alien brain:
    “how many other step sequencers have a page of cc knobs?”
    the zaq is a full sequencer not just a step sequencer.
    to answer your question: arturia spark, apc 40, mpc renaissance, trigger finger pro,… all have dedicated control knobs.

    “why attempt to get bcr behavior from a zaquencer?”
    because it fits my musical needs. and obviously also others.

    “wouldnt you rather see a bunch of improvements to the zaquencer idea and use some other controller as a controller?”
    nope

    “because, i mean, to me, the cc page would be sorta useless unless i could use it in conjunction with zaquencer somehow.”
    you can use it with the same or other instruments you are now controlling with the zaq. i dont understand why you dont appreciate the potential in this.
    possible uses:
    * control attack, decay, pitch and fx send of 8 drumsounds in any software (works probably with some hardware as well)
    * control attack, decay, pitch and fx send of 16 drumsounds in any software (works probably with some hardware as well) by using CONTROL mode on 2 tracks.
    * control 32 parameters of any soft or hardware synth in your setup – for example the one that you sequence with the zaq on another track.

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