Nektar Technology release Panorama P1 and Cubase support

[justin3am]

I don't want to create a new thread but I'm just too excited...
Nektar has been nominated for two M.I.P.A. awards.
Panorama P4 is nominated for best Keyboard controller
Panorama P1 is nominated for best DAW controller

Just being nominated is an awesome honor. We launched our first product less than a year ago and the response has just been incredible.

I called my mom and she said she's really stoked for us.
...though, I don't think she knows why.

[maschinelf]

I am curious as to why instrument mode cannot be implemented in all DAWs, or whether it is possible to do so.

You're mapping many popular vst instruments anyway, so why not have those mappings be useable in other DAWs? Unless, for those same instruments to work in anything other than cubase requires significant re-mapping time. And it's not like you just swap out a template that can then be used for running the same vsti in another DAW, which I am assuming is somewhat the case.

Also, what mode is used to control vst plugins?

[justin3am]

That's a good question. It's tough to answer without getting too technical.

The plug-in maps aren't like typical controller presets. We rely on communication from the DAW to tell us which plug-in you have selected, in order to determine which map to use. Two-way communication between the DAW and hardware/driver is required to make this happen. It's a lot of work to implement this kind of communication and each DAW handles it differently.

It may seem like this should all be possible with basic MIDI communication but there is actually much more involved.

VSTi are controlled from Instrument Mode, VST effects are controlled from the Insert page in Mixer Mode.

[maschinelf]

Thanks for the reply!

Not what I was hoping for, but seems like a more logical and functional approach than is typical. I'm still hoping that integration is one day implemented for Studio One. I also do want to start using Reason again, so will most probably get either the P1 or P6 at some point

I also like that fx are accessed through the insert page in the mixer mode. Again, sounds very logical and straightforward.

[whyterabbyt]

Noticed the keyboard in Urs' first picture in this post...

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 20#5324620

[rob_lee]

Noticed the keyboard in Urs' first picture in this post...

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 20#5324620

I got one here it's really nice to use

Rob

[justin3am]

Noticed the keyboard in Urs' first picture in this post...

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 20#5324620

Yeah, Claes did a great demo for Audiofanzine that shows how Panorama integrates with Bitwig Studio. He starts talking about Panorama ~10min in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz5nH05MAWg

I wish I could have been there. My co-workers were also showing the plug-in mapping we've done for Diva and ACE that will be included with our Cubase control surface support.

[Vintage73]

I'm finally close to getting a P4. Has the Cubase integration been released yet?

[justin3am]

We're close to the end of our public beta phase. We're aiming for the first week of May for the official release.

If you purchase a P4 before then, let me know and I'll hook you up with the beta files.

[justin3am]

Oh and I can answer your other question now... You can control instruments in Instrument tracks and instruments instantiated from the VST Instruments menu (as long as they are associated with MIDI tracks). We'll have documentation that describes how this works when do the official release.

[Vintage73]

Great news!

And thanks for finally being able to answer my other question. It just makes me want a P4 all the more.

[Echoes in the Attic]

Hey Justin, a couple questions for you if you have a minute:

-Is it safe to assume that all the sliders and the 16 knobs can be used at once for plug-in mapping (in DAW mode) and that buttons on the keyboard can control button parameters in plug-ins? I ask because for example in Ableton Live, even button parameters end up being sliders in the host parameter list. I also assume that the upper limit of parameters depends only on the host? So if you guys ever did support Ableton Live, it would have a 128 parameter limit whereas other DAWs may not.

-Is it touch sensitive or anything? I mean how do you switch the screen to show the different physical controls sections?

-Can you designate the step sizes/resolution of a parameter? For example some plug-ins have automatable menus that can be assiend to hardware, but sometimes they might might have 1000 values but only a list of 20 items. In this case in automap you can give it a step resolution but only let it step through the first 20 values of the full list, therefor giving only the range you're interested in.

-Is it possible to easily recall different control templates for plug-ins? For example with Reaktor you wouldn't want it the same for each ensemble because the host parameters will be different for each ensemble, so you need a different preset for each one. With Live Racks you can save parameter orders and save as a rack, hopefully you could do something similar with Nektar.


Since there's a good chance I'll move to Bitwig some day and apparently Bitwig will be supported by Nektar, I could see myself grabbing one and replacing automap with it. I love Automap but it has been causing problems for me unfortunately.

thanks

[JavaJ]

Hmm, interesting board- tinkled with it at the store but nothing was connected to it. Assuming a Logic user should just look away for the time being? Also, any chance of using this with Omnisphere??

[justin3am]

Hey Justin, a couple questions for you if you have a minute:

Hi there,
Sorry I didn't respond earlier.

-Is it safe to assume that all the sliders and the 16 knobs can be used at once for plug-in mapping (in DAW mode) and that buttons on the keyboard can control button parameters in plug-ins? I ask because for example in Ableton Live, even button parameters end up being sliders in the host parameter list. I also assume that the upper limit of parameters depends only on the host? So if you guys ever did support Ableton Live, it would have a 128 parameter limit whereas other DAWs may not.

Understood, we are limited to the number and type of parameters that are presented to the control surface, but in some cases we've found ways to work around this limitation. Of course I can't say anything specifically about potential for supporting any other DAW. It requires a lot of investigation to get the DAW integration thing right.

-Is it touch sensitive or anything? I mean how do you switch the screen to show the different physical controls sections?

We have a menu system for navigating control modes and pages. There are shortcuts to let you see the fader assignments and encoder assignments quickly. In Mixer mode, the faders always control mixer mode but depending on the last menu page you selected (EQ, Inserts, Sends, etc.), the encoder assignments can change. If you navigate back to the main Mixer page, you see the fader graphics but the encoders stay mapped to the parameters from the last active menu page. Does that make sense?

In Instrument Mode it works similarly but all controls are available for assignment, so if you have envelope parameters assigned to the faders on one page, if you switch to a page that focuses on the encoders, the fader assignments remain. If you select a fader type menu page with different assignments, the previous encoder assignments do not change. It sounds really confusing to describe it, but it makes a lot of sense in practice.

-Can you designate the step sizes/resolution of a parameter? For example some plug-ins have automatable menus that can be assiend to hardware, but sometimes they might might have 1000 values but only a list of 20 items. In this case in automap you can give it a step resolution but only let it step through the first 20 values of the full list, therefor giving only the range you're interested in.

Right now this is possible in the plug-in maps we make but not in user created maps.

-Is it possible to easily recall different control templates for plug-ins? For example with Reaktor you wouldn't want it the same for each ensemble because the host parameters will be different for each ensemble, so you need a different preset for each one. With Live Racks you can save parameter orders and save as a rack, hopefully you could do something similar with Nektar.

Not yet. Right now, we provide blank maps for these kinds of plug-ins to give you some flexibilty in parameter mapping. It is something we are aware of.

Since there's a good chance I'll move to Bitwig some day and apparently Bitwig will be supported by Nektar, I could see myself grabbing one and replacing automap with it. I love Automap but it has been causing problems for me unfortunately.

Even if it's not now, we'd love to have you as a customer. We constantly striving to improve what we're doing. That's why I haven't been here nearly as much.

[justin3am]

Hmm, interesting board- tinkled with it at the store but nothing was connected to it. Assuming a Logic user should just look away for the time being? Also, any chance of using this with Omnisphere??

Which store? ...if you don't mind me asking.

Logic: We have a template for controlling Logic but you won't get the two way communication that you get with Cubase and Reason. Other than that, I can't talk about future developments.
Omnisphere: It's high on the to-do list.