Zebra's biggest flaw

[Chris Jones]

Hmmm... well that could've been a bug in the PolyAT, but then it's not.

Strange though. Aftertouch is evaluated just like any other controller. If you create a sweep from 0-127 in your daw, once for AT and once for e.g. Breath Control, and you check how each sweeps the oscillator frequency or anything, both sweeps should be exactly the same...

That's what I'd have thought, nevertheless heres what this:


sounds like with breath assigned to modulate tuning http://www.chrisj.com.au/temp/breath.mp3, and here's the exact same thing with aftertouch http://www.chrisj.com.au/temp/aftertouch.mp3, and here it is with aftertouch assigned in the modmatrix instead of in the oscillator http://www.chrisj.com.au/temp/aftertouch_modmatrix.mp3.

Not sure if that's what you meant, but hopefully it illustrates what I'm experiencing.

[Urs]

Interesting... very interesting. I'm definately going to check this out!

[Chris Jones]

Thanks Urs! Just to complicate things further... you'll notice that at the point where I've ramped it, the modmatrix aftertouch version ramps slightly faster than the breath controller for some reason.

[Urs]

Well, the ModMatrix operates at a slower control rate (below 1 kHz). It compensates for that by using pushing events that occurr at the end of a period (i.e. *later*) early on, to minimize possible latency. Sounds more complicated than it is, but it's the only viable way to make the ModMatrix as powerful as it is. So yeah, in some cases the ModMatrix can be earlier than a normal high-resolution modulation slot. It can however get steppy at times, depending on the parameter (e.g. I forgot to smooth out the XMF Overload parameter... using the ModMatrix for that sounds awful).

[Chris Jones]

Interesting - I wasn't aware the modmatrix operated differently to a regular mod slot, and that explains why I get faster AT results with it I suppose. I guess the question now is whether I'm the only one suffering laggy aftertouch syndrome...

[Urs]

Interesting - I wasn't aware the modmatrix operated differently to a regular mod slot, and that explains why I get faster AT results with it I suppose. I guess the question now is whether I'm the only one suffering laggy aftertouch syndrome...

Yes... there might be a simple explanation though. We just can't see it...

Can your host route aftertouch to Breath Control?

[Chris Jones]

Not too sure, it's Cubase 4 - don't remember seeing a function like that... I'll dig around though and see what I can find.

[bmrzycki]

Not too sure, it's Cubase 4 - don't remember seeing a function like that.

You can do it midiConverter2, a simple VST made by piz. Just place it in the signal chain before Zebra and change channel pressure to CC 2. Hopefully Cubase 4 supports midi VSTs.

They're over here: http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=192282. You can just install midiConverter2.dll into your VST folder. No need to install all of them.

[Vonbrucken]

[Chris Jones]

You can do it midiConverter2, a simple VST made by piz. Just place it in the signal chain before Zebra and change channel pressure to CC 2. Hopefully Cubase 4 supports midi VSTs.

They're over here: http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=192282. You can just install midiConverter2.dll into your VST folder. No need to install all of them.

Thanks for that bmyzycki, I gave it a try but the plug seems to come in as an instrument, so I'm not sure how Zebra can be hooked into it..?

[bmrzycki]

You can do it midiConverter2, a simple VST made by piz. Just place it in the signal chain before Zebra and change channel pressure to CC 2. Hopefully Cubase 4 supports midi VSTs.

They're over here: http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=192282. You can just install midiConverter2.dll into your VST folder. No need to install all of them.

Thanks for that bmyzycki, I gave it a try but the plug seems to come in as an instrument, so I'm not sure how Zebra can be hooked into it..?

I've never used Cubase so I can't tell you exactly. How I do it in Reaper is create a new midi track, add Z2 into the FX/VST chain. Then I load midiconvert2 and place it before Z2 in the same chain; much like how one would place and FS unit after Z2 such as a compressor or limiter.

After that I just tweak the midi morphing settings of midiconvert2 and it changes the midi commands sent into Z2.

Any Cubase users around these parts know if it has trouble with MIDI VSTs?

[JeeTee]

Hope no-one minds me wading in on this one (I'm a frequent viewer/infrequent poster type!).

Chris - I think you need to use a built in Cubase midi plugin called Transformer, with the following settings.

Action (top left dropdown menu) - Transform

Filter Target/Operation/Parameter 1
Type is/Equal/Aftertouch

Action Target/Operation/Parameter 1
Value2/Use value 1/
Type/Set to fixed value/Controller
Value 1/Set to fixed value/2


This should do the trick.

[bmrzycki]

Hope no-one minds me wading in on this one (I'm a frequent viewer/infrequent poster type!).

Awesome, thanks JeeTee!

[Chris Jones]

Thanks for the help guys! Unfortunately I'm still none the wiser though...

Action (top left dropdown menu) - Transform

Filter Target/Operation/Parameter 1
Type is/Equal/Aftertouch

Action Target/Operation/Parameter 1
Value2/Use value 1/
Type/Set to fixed value/Controller
Value 1/Set to fixed value/2

Does this look right?


I'm not getting any aftertouch response with those settings, so I'm guessing I have something out of place.

Meanwhile, I tried Zebra in a little VST host called Minihost, and aftertouch behaves the same way in there. Not sure if that puts anyone on the scent... Could it be a Windows/PC thing?

By the way, let me know if I should take this into a thread of its own, so as to make way for other Zebra flaws.

[JeeTee]

Does this look right?

Spot on! Cubase is now reading aftertouch in the midi lane (and live from your midi controller/keyboard) and sending breath control to Zebra, so you'll need to reassign Zebra to respond to breath, not aftertouch. If you still have problems, check that the midi filter in Preferences isn't getting rid of aftertouch info. Actually, it solves the lag you mentioned when using the Mod Matrix for pitch shift duties... well, OK, it does on my system...