Orange Tree Samples

DigitalMoose · Post by **DigitalMoose** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 12:06 pm

Hello,

Firstly, Mind Control is the best 3rd party scripting i've ever had the pleasure of seeing! It has opened up the possibilities of Kontakt and breathed life into obscure libraries.

I was hoping it could make LA Scoring Strings a little more user friendly (that is if key switching is your preferred choice of triggering articulations). It does work but when you switch from a legato to a pizz and or a staccato etc, the volume level drops dramatically. I think it has to do with the ART system that allows pizz, staccato etc to create realistic patterns.

If anyone has the same experience of this it would be grand to find out how it was or could be resolved.

Thank you

DM

Gregjazz · Post by **Gregjazz** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 5:15 pm

I wonder if LASS uses controller numbers to control the volume, hence the volume drop. When Mind Control switches from one slot to another slot in an instrument bank, it copies all the controller number values. That way, for example, if you switch slots while executing a pitch bend, it will continue where it left off of, rather than resetting the pitch bend when the slots change.

DigitalMoose · Post by **DigitalMoose** » Wed Aug 03, 2011 9:52 am

Hi Greg,

That sounds about right, is there away of 'filtering' this out when making a switch in MC?

BTW you're 'short duration' facility in MC is nothing more then inspired!

Thank you

DM

Gregjazz · Post by **Gregjazz** » Wed Aug 03, 2011 5:14 pm

If we can track down which CC # is adjusting the volume in this way, I can change that pretty easily. I'm guessing it's something like CC #11 (expression).

rjay · Post by **rjay** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 1:01 pm

Did you find a solution to this problem ?

DigitalMoose · Post by **DigitalMoose** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 2:26 pm

Not yet. It also happens when using the 'Group Start' options so it's not an issue with MC. Must be something to do with LA SS patch script but i'm afraid i don't know too much about what goes on, under the hood. If it could be solved, it would have a positive effect on my workflow.

Anyone with any ideas?

DM

DigitalMoose · Post by **DigitalMoose** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 2:08 pm

I think i've solved the problem. It was quite straight forward really

The issue was is every time you switch between an instrument like legato to spiccato, the expression/mod settings would revert to the default setting for that patch. So to remedy it, i just put in a exp/mod value 5ms after every Key Switch and that solved it

I feel slightly shamed as it makes perfect sense

Hope this helps someone else.

DM

rjay · Post by **rjay** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 2:23 pm

You mean you're drawing in a exp value in your sequencer after *every* keyswitch ? Surely there are better ways than that ? Can't you just change the default exp value in the LASS patches ? I haven't tried, but your workaround sound a bit of a PITA.

DigitalMoose · Post by **DigitalMoose** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 2:28 pm

You're not wrong. I have quite a few KS changes thanks to the beauty of MC but as you say, if it was possible to custom set the default exp/mod settings in LASS it would be less of a PITA

DM

rjay · Post by **rjay** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 6:57 pm

OK, I'm going to look into this and let Greg know what I find. There's no way I'm going to write CC data after every keyswitch

Gregjazz · Post by **Gregjazz** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 9:06 pm

One thing you might try is opening the MIDI automation panel on the left side of Kontakt. That'll let you see which MIDI CC #s get triggered while using LASS. Or, you could set Kontakt to output script-generated MIDI CC events, and record a passage, then see which CC #s are being used...

rjay · Post by **rjay** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 9:17 pm

I inserted Kontakt's MIDI monitor after the MC script, I see that whenever the slot changes, something is generating a value of zero for all CC's between 0 & 119.

According to LASS tech support:

"there are certain CCs we use with LASS that sending a '0' message to will cause problems beyond simply lowering volume".

So - is MC doing this (intentionally) ? Or is it Kontakt ? I'm pretty sure it's not my host DAW as behaviour is the same in both Cubase & Sonar.

You earlier that MC copies the current CC values from one patch/slot to the next. That's a good idea, but only for those CC's that are actually being used. Otherwise, sending a value of zero to a CC that isn't part of a performance could (& indeed does) cause problems.

Gregjazz · Post by **Gregjazz** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 9:24 pm

Yes, Mind Control only transfers controller values from 0-119 because 120-127 is generally reserved for instrument-specific usage. I can, however, decrease the number of controllers that are affected in the transfer to see if that fixes the issue.

rjay · Post by **rjay** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 9:30 pm

If it helps, this is the code that LASS gave me to solve the problem. I HAVEN'T tested it yet, but it outlines the CC's they use:

on midi_in
if ($MIDI_COMMAND = $MIDI_COMMAND_CC and $MIDI_BYTE_1 # 1 and $MIDI_BYTE_1 # 2...
and $MIDI_BYTE_1 # 7 and $MIDI_BYTE_1 # 11...
and $MIDI_BYTE_1 # 30 and $MIDI_BYTE_1 # 83 ...
and $MIDI_BYTE_1 # 110 and $MIDI_BYTE_1 # 111...
and $MIDI_BYTE_1 # 64 and $MIDI_BYTE_1 # 90)
ignore_midi
end if
end on

It apparently blocks all MIDI CCs coming in to the instance of Kontakt and those generated by Mind Control except for the numbers listed in the code (1, 2, 7, 11, 30, 64, 83, 90, 110, 111).

DigitalMoose · Post by **DigitalMoose** » Fri Sep 02, 2011 10:14 am

Thanks rJay

I'll give that a try tonight, i didn't get too much info about this from the forum.

DM

Orange Tree Samples

KVR Audio

Using Mind Control with LA Scoring Strings