Cantabile Controller Jumping Solution?

[jwpearson]

I am using a USB controller (nanoKONTROL2) with Cantabile. Each slider on the controller controls the volume of a Cantabile rack.

When switching between subsessions, it sometimes happens that, while my controller is physically sitting at a high (loud) position (left over from playing a previous song/subsession), the Cantabile rack is set at a low (soft or off) volume (set by the new subsession).

The problem occurs when I want to slowly fade in the Cantabile rack. As soon as I touch the controller, the Cantabile rack volume jumps to the loud level of the controller, making an undesirable loud sound until I can pull the controller down further.

I would prefer if, when the Cantabile rack is at a low (soft or off) volume, that the rack's volume not increase until I lower the controller to the level of the rack. My Yamaha MOTIF's controllers behave this way.

I looked at Cantabile's MIDI Filter "latch" feature, but it doesn't seem to relate to this problem. Has anyone found a Cantabile feature or VST that might help?

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

[cfcboc]

I have also experienced the same problem using Cantabile Solo with a keyboard controller (Axiom 61), although until I saw your post, I wasn't sure why I was getting the volume spike.

Would there be the same problem if you used a seperate volume slider for each rack, e.g. Slider1 for Rack1, Slider2 for Rack2, etc.? I was going to mess around with that option the next time I had some time.

[jwpearson]

@cfcboc: Yes - that's exactly how I'm using it - one volume slider for each rack.

[TiUser]

That's an old problem not necessarily specific to cantabile.

It always occurs when values change via software but the assigned HW controllers can't reflect that.

The expensive solution would be a host sending midi feedback (I've requested this for Cantabile but as far as I know it is not implemented) and controllers that can take feedback - like motor faders or endless rotaries with led rings.

The cheap solution is a software "catchup" - means controller values are ignored until they snap to the value set by the software. This one is a workaround - always snapping fader values before you really get control can be annoying too - but it would at least avoid unwanted value jumps, for whatever reason.

I personally do not like the usual controller surfaces much for exactly that situation. Faders and pots are not worth much except you dedicate them to control something that is not affected by software changes.

[jwpearson]

That's an old problem not necessarily specific to cantabile.

Didn't mean to imply that the problem is specific to Cantabile - just looking for a solution that works with Cantabile. I had the is problem with old hardware synths, as well. Not looking for actuated controllers - just to emulate the behavior of most modern hardware synths.

[TiUser]

"old problem" does not mean that I am satisfied with the way software treats that... it's just an underrated issue not addressed by many products.

Indeed I agree that software should give us options to work around this. The snap in approach should be an option in every software...

Refusing drastic value changes when faders and knobs start to get older and more unreliable could be handled to a certain degree too - also there are of course limits were the trade off - value change speed versus jump filtering - gets unacceptable.