preset scene changer?

i've been thinking about things like this for a while but i'm a bit reluctant to add "yet another little floating window". perhaps it would be good to incorporate this kind of functionality by extending the metasurface or something like that (not sure what)? -- or perhaps you're right and a mass changer is the way to go.

as an aside, if you use a MIDI control surface you can map the same control source (button, whatever) to switch presets on more than one contraption, so you can do mass switching that way.

[b]"how about some sort of mass changer for presets?"[/b]

this is something i've wanted forever in mulch.

the metasurface is great but a mss preset changer like reaktor's snapshot would be awesome and a game changer for live use. really, being able to click through massive changes instantly would make for incredibly dynamic possibilities.

it wouldn't even need to be a free floating window. could just be another contraption that you put in your patcher and it is wired up 'in the background' to do what it does..

then you would have it in the properties view and could save snapshots like anything else and name them and of course automate the snapshot changes in the automation lanes.

it could even be tied to the metasurface in some way...

if the meta surface just had the ability to morph between snapshots in addition to individual parameters that'd get it done too.

this type of functionality has always been a glaring omission for me in mulch... though i of course am still addicted to the program.

yes,
this would be a very useful tool.
I think AM's brain already has all what is needed, at the end it would "just" be a different way to recall a scene as metasurface is doing but done via specific midi values instead of recalling an x/y position.

I set up my metasurface like this, trying to get the exact x/y value to direct my midi controller to.
The only problem is that with the metasurface the controller crosses all the in between points and their respective values.

In our case the controller should be able to jump between two different values avoiding the in between ones.
How greatl it would be to have a full midi control centre in AM !

luca

I have recently been performing live with a band where the bulk of my Mulch usage is in fact exactly what is described. I use a Korg PadControl for the task, although I'm sure any of the new Ableton controllers would be equally useful.

The Korg is very handy because it allows you to assign a note to a pad but restrict the velocity output to a single value. This means that by assigning all 16 pads to a single note and each to a single value between 1 and 16 you can easily create 16 switchable scenes on a range of contraptions via the first 16 preset channels and have them all change with a single button press.

As people have said the guts of what you're chasing are already possible within Mulch, the trick is how it should be implemented. I would argue that it should be best be done in a way which uses mulch's existing structures without changing things excessively. While the metasurface seems like the place to apply this sort of functionality I'm not so convinced. Ross has for some time discussed the possible inclusion of virtual contraptions which act almost like internal MIDI controllers. You could have knobs, faders, checkboxes, buttons, even a matrix which other parameters can be mapped too. I think this is the place to implement this sort of thing.

In this way you could map a whole set of presets to the boxes on a virtual matrix. As there are also plans to improve the MIDI implementation of the preset mappings this will also likely mean the ability to selectively map presets rather than an entire set thus significantly improving the ability to create scenes. Cut/Copy of the mappings between cells on the virtual controller would then potentially further speed up this assignment process. When you have a control surface you can then easily control the virtual contraption and when you don't the functionality is still available on screen. The other benefit of this approach is that you could use a touch screen to control the virtual contraption and throw away your controller all together. OOOOOOOHHHHHHH!!!

For now the workaround is definitely to use a decent programmable controller (PadControl, LaunchPad, Akai Ableton controller etc) and keep your metasurface for transitional changes.

A.

lots of good ideas in this thread.

i'll have to try that pad kontrol set up.

ignatius wrote:
>>>>
the metasurface is great but a mss preset changer like reaktor's snapshot would be awesome and a game changer for live use. really, being able to click through massive changes instantly would make for incredibly dynamic possibilities.
<<<<

I don't understand what the difference is between Reaktor snapshots and AM Metasurface snapshot. Do you know that in AM you can double-click Metasurface snapshots to switch directly between shapshots? How is that different from Reaktor snapshots?

Sorry for dumb question :-)

Best wishes

Ross

I don't know about Reaktor but the first issue that comes to my mind is the fact that changing scenes through metasurface spots is recalling all the midi changes that are between the starting and final point.
This is a very useful feature for the morphing for which metasurface was thought but not for this different kind of use.
Another issue is not having the chance to recall precise positions through the use of x/y axis just.
It is easy to set a controller to call specific positions via a geometrical concept of the surface but still this is a rigid limitation.

Two things could allow the Metasurface to work with this new flexibility:
-the chance to set a "through" or "jump" feature where the route from the starting to the destination point passes through all the in-between tweakings OR directly from the starting to the destination values;
-when "jump" is selected you don't have an x/y combined value available but the chance to assign a cc or program change precise value.

With this there would be no need to add a different tool but just an extension of the already very useful metasurface and two different ways to use it.

luca

>>>I don't understand what the difference is between Reaktor snapshots and AM Metasurface snapshot. Do you know that in AM you can double-click Metasurface snapshots to switch directly between shapshots? How is that different from Reaktor snapshots?

Sorry for dumb question :-)

Best wishes

Ross>>>>>>>

Hi Ross -

well, honestly, i've only dabbled w/the meta surface so i may be speaking out of turn.. but for me, this feature request it's about how i work with audiomulch to make music.

I tend to start out w/an idea.. add contraptions/plug ins etc and start jamming. i save snapshots of individual contraptions along the way and sometimes one contraption might stay the same through out a jam session but i might save 10 different snapshots on 20 other contraptions and snapshot 1 on one contraption might work with snapshots 5,6 and 19 on another contraption and 1, 4, 7 on another contraption...

so, once i feel i have all the parts of a jam together using all the various contraptions i have to make mental notes or physical notes on which combination of which snapshots work on which contraptions to achieve a certain thing

so, if there was a way to simply save a global snapshot of whatever snapshot the contraptions are set to along the way then i could just automate the snapshots globally when it came time to turn a patch into a song.

also, when playing live or just jamming i may open an old patch and see if i can come up with something new simply by making different combinations of snapshots on the different contraptions and it'd be great to just be able to save globally the state of the patch.

maybe this is all possible w/the meta surface and i'm an idiot for not doing it already (it wouldn't be the first time) and maybe my way of working w/mulch is convoluted but i'm pretty used to it and i like the results i get...

also, i'm not pushing for something exactly like reaktor snapshots it's just the first thing that comes to mind. i'd just love some kind of global patch snapshot that works with snapshots of contraptions and not individual parameters? or something.. i don't know.. maybe my explanation/idea is just as convoluted as my brain. :)

Hi Ignatius

Thanks for clarifying. It think that makes it pretty clear what you're asking for.

Ross.

dear Ross,
knowing this is going to be part of the serious feature considerations would be such an amzing thing for me and I am happy to know I am not the only one here !

Enjoy this important new year, we all have to try to do our best out there :-)

Luca

Umm, wouldn't all this be sorted out by allowing preset change automation in the metasurface? Preset changes seem to automate nicely, would love to be able to plot them out on the metasurface the same way as matrix gate assignments.

Speaking of which, I had wrongly assumed this was the case (presets in metasurface) and am now scratching my head to solve a problem. I've got an xy midi signal driving the metasurface, and was hoping to use this to sharply change frequencies (so slight note sliding) via preset changes in a 10harm.

Any ideas? Right now it seems I'm stuck creating a 10harm for every freq, and switching with a matrix. Bottom line, the automation needs to come from the metasurface.

- neb

Whoa. Just noticed that matrix switching with the metasurface isn't seamless. There are gaps where no gate is active at all. Umm, so now what do I do?

Hi Neb,
unfortunately it looks like we're still too few to make this request go up on "to do " the list.
You can see it coming back here and there and I honestly always try to give it some pepper more but I don't want to be too intrusive.

I'd love to see my favourite software become a full control environment.

You can read more about the argument on these threads:
http://www.audiomulch.com/content/live-am-document-switching-or-build-one-layout

this is the latest find I did and put on the list:
http://www.audiomulch.com/content/automation-scene-changer

have fun,
Luca

>>>>
Whoa. Just noticed that matrix switching with the metasurface isn't seamless. There are gaps where no gate is active at all. Umm, so now what do I do?
<<<<

Depending on how you set up the snapshots I can kind-of imagine this happening, but it should be possible to avoid (I think, not 100% sure about that). Can you post an example patch?

Perhaps it would be nice to offer the option of Switching vs. Morphing for each parameter in Metasurface.