Twister Sister - MIDI Fighter Twister controller extension

[Andy Devine]

AUTO-ADMIN: Non-MP3, WAV, OGG, SoundCloud, YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter and Facebook links in this post have been protected automatically. Once the member reaches 5 posts the links will function as normal.

I recently began using Twister Sister in BWS 5.1 - it does a lot of the things I want in an MFT extension. There's one thing that's been eluding me - I've tried myself to implement it but I'm very much a beginner when it comes to the API, so I'm not sure how to do it.

Here's a typical situation:
(https://postimg.cc/WhJR35mW)

You can see how the leftmost Project Remotes panel is currently in focus, and the 8 lower MFT knobs work fine with those color-marked controls. I can also click the Track Remotes panel to move focus there. Navigation between remote pages in each of those panels is fine.

However, the MFT knob assigned to navigation between devices only moves focus between the actual devices, i.e. the two plugins on the right. I would absolutely love it if that knob could move focus between all these panels - Project & Track remotes, as well as the devices.

Would that even be possible? I think I understand that Project and Track Remotes are not devices as such, so a CursorDevice instance is unable to reach them. Or something like that.

[Dozius]

This annoys me too and I would like it to just work but I haven't had time to look into it. You are correct that the track remotes and project remotes are tied to completely different things than the device cursor, so there would need to be some way to glue it all together. I might get around to coming up with a solution at some point, but I'm focused on other things these days. I'd gladly accept a pull request from anyone that implements a good solution to this.

[Andy Devine]

AUTO-ADMIN: Non-MP3, WAV, OGG, SoundCloud, YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter and Facebook links in this post have been protected automatically. Once the member reaches 5 posts the links will function as normal.

Thanks, glad to hear you've thought about this too. I just noticed that in the drop-down controller "thing", one can "pin" the MFT to either "Track Selection" or "Project Remotes":
(https://postimg.cc/TyxJ30tL)
I assume this is something that comes "for free" from the host? I'm trying to understand the Twister Sister code, and I can't see there's anything in it that you have done to expose those choices? Just curious and eager to learn.

[Dozius]

Yeah, that is just showing the standard UI for cursors, i.e. comes for free. This existed in the old IO panel in v4 or older, but didn't have the modes. You can still see the old UI in the docs for the extension because I haven't updated the screenshots yet.

[killmaster]

Would this be a good script to start with? Just got a MFT yesterday and trying to sort through all the available Bitwig implementations. Thanks for any advice on which one to go with.

[Dozius]

I wrote this extension after trying the ones that were available at the time and not being satisfied, so I would say yes. I am, of course, extremely biased haha. Best thing to do is just try them all and see which one fits for you.

[killmaster]

I wrote this extension after trying the ones that were available at the time and not being satisfied, so I would say yes. I am, of course, extremely biased haha. Best thing to do is just try them all and see which one fits for you.

Thanks! I did load them all and there is a learning curve for each. Guess I'll have to just spend the time. I'll start with yours though! Thanks for the reply!

[killmaster]

I wrote this extension after trying the ones that were available at the time and not being satisfied, so I would say yes. I am, of course, extremely biased haha. Best thing to do is just try them all and see which one fits for you.

I'm using your script and just have to say that I really love the layout. It seems super hearty as well!
The only thing I'm noticing that could be an issue for me is the sensitivity when you click the knob. It *seems* like it only toggle between High Resolution and Responsive. I would use Velocity Sensitive most of the time. I may not be right about this, but from what I can tell moving the knobs. In any case, would it be possible to have feedback about which sensitivity option is selected when you click? Not sure if it's possible to have a black strip pop up in Bitwig's interface with the selection type shown.

In any case, thank you so much for this script. In ways, it's ideal for me so far except for above mentioned "issue".

[Dozius]

The fine sensitivity is adjustable in the options. Make sure you have a read through the docs to get the most out of the extension.

https://github.com/dozius/TwisterSister/tree/main/docs

edit: Ah I see what you are saying now. It's not changing encoder modes, as far as I know there is no way to do that other than through the MF utility. The encoders are all set to high resolution and the scaling is happening on the Bitwig side. You could go into the MF utility and change the knobs you want to be velocity sensitive, everything will still work including switching between course/fine sensitivity. I personally can't stand the velocity sensitive mode and forgot that was even an option haha.

[killmaster]

The fine sensitivity is adjustable in the options. Make sure you have a read through the docs to get the most out of the extension.

https://github.com/dozius/TwisterSister/tree/main/docs

edit: Ah I see what you are saying now. It's not changing encoder modes, as far as I know there is no way to do that other than through the MF utility. The encoders are all set to high resolution and the scaling is happening on the Bitwig side. You could go into the MF utility and change the knobs you want to be velocity sensitive, everything will still work including switching between course/fine sensitivity. I personally can't stand the velocity sensitive mode and forgot that was even an option haha.

Thanks! I noticed one other minor thing and that's probably a Bitiwg thing as well, but when I switch remote control pages, the parameter dials and labels that appear in the bottom bar of Bitwig don't refresh, I see rings but no colors or labels. If the device has more than one page, I can select another page and it refreshes. Kind of a pain but usually I can work around it. Not sure if you are still working on this but thought it worth a mention in case you can force a refesh in there

Regardless, this seems really robust overall!

[Dozius]

This happens to me too sometimes. It seems somewhat inconsistent. I'm not sure what causes it but I think it's a Bitwig bug. The cursor is obviously on the correct device since the knobs are all mapped and working correctly. I doubt there is anything I can do on the extension side to force these displays to update.