MonsterJam - Maschine JAM controller extension

[fwsuperhero]

I do not have enough time to investigate all the features by myself so your answer is hugely appreciated, thanks.

[minortom]

I do not have enough time to investigate all the features by myself so your answer is hugely appreciated, thanks.

In that case, if you don't specifically need note input or browser on the Jam at this moment then use mine It will give me a reason to add those sooner.

[minortom]

v6.5: Maintenance and QoL improvements

* Fine tempo adjustment with SHIFT+encoder
* Empty group clips and scenes are no longer lit. Easier to tell what cannot be launched.
* CONTROL button will blink when device selector is active. Easier to remember you're looking at a sticky device selector and not clips.
* DPAD arrows will blink when group navigation is available, while holding a group track button. Easier to notice and distinguish from track/scene navigation.
* Fixed: device selector could stay active after exiting CONTROL mode

https://github.com/unthingable/monster- ... s/tag/v6.5
https://github.com/unthingable/monster- ... aster/docs

[minortom]

v6.6.2: More improvements and fixes while battle-testing at home

* Added: Master/parent group track selection with the MST button. Useful for controlling master/parent track devices in CONTROL mode, especially when group diving.
* Added: toggle device enabled state in Device Selector with SELECT+PAD
* Improved: Device Selector will unstick more intelligently. For example, if CONTROL is being held down and you operate anything related to this mode (flipping remote control pages with LEFT/RIGHT or selecting a device), DS will deactivate upon releasing CONTROL.
* Fixed: glitches around DS (de)activation with SELECT
* Fixed: TrackTracker recall was returning wrong IDs, causing SuperScenes to sometimes launch wrong tracks

https://github.com/unthingable/monster- ... tag/v6.6.2
https://github.com/unthingable/monster- ... 6.6.2/docs

[minortom]

v6.7: Controls galore! More features you won't find elsewhere.

* 64 user controls instead of 8. When in User Control mode, use the track buttons to select any of the 8 pages. Page selectors are self-gating: a quick press selects a page, a long press or touching any strip while holding will return to previous page upon release.

* Control Slicing

Imagine the device controls laid out on a 8x8 knob controller, where each vertical column corresponds to the 8 device parameters per track. In Control mode you control a single column at a time with the touch strips.

In Control Slice mode you control a single row: one device parameter per each track. This is similar to how AUX sends operate and you can use them as such. This mode is most useful if you put relevant parameters in the same position across your devices, e.g. parameter 1 -> filter cutoff, parameter 2 -> compressor attack, etc.

To activate: press LEFT+RIGHT in regular Control mode (not User Control, MACRO not lit).

To select a parameter: use TRACK(1-8) buttons. The currently selected parameter is lit in white. Note that selectors are self-gating: if you press and hold a track button, operate any touchstrip or just wait long enough, it will return to the previously selected parameter when track button is released. This is useful for momentary adjustments.

To select a device and a page: whichever device was selected last on a track will be the device controlled in Slice mode. Same goes for remote control pages within a device. You can use Device Selector to quickly select a device on each track.

* Other improvements: activating User Control while in Control mode will unstick the Device Selector.

https://github.com/unthingable/monster- ... s/tag/v6.7
https://github.com/unthingable/monster- ... /v6.7/docs

[minortom]

v6.8:

* Added: reset touch strip parameters by holding CLEAR and touching the strip.

Last release on API 14, next release will require Bitwig 4.1 Beta 1 or higher.

https://github.com/unthingable/monster- ... s/tag/v6.8

[minortom]

v7.0

* API 15, Bitwig 4.1+ (thus the major version bump)

* Expand individual groups

Before it was possible to expand/collapse all top-level groups by double-tapping the group track button. Now double-tapping will expand/collapse only that specific group, and (visible) nested group tracks can also be expanded/collapsed.

* Expand groups in Track Selector: added same expand/collapse functionality to Track Selector (visible when holding MACRO).

* Delete/copy devices in Device Selector

Deleting (CLEAR) and copying (DUPLICATE) devices is now possible in Device Selector (visible when holding CONTROL), same as it works for clips. Copying a device to an empty slot adds it to the end of the chain. Arrow scrolling still works while holding DUPLICATE, so copying a device to tracks on other pages is possible.

* Flexible track scrolling

Added a new way to scroll: press left or right arrow while holding a track button and the bank will scroll left or right so that the track you were holding moves to either the last or the first position on the Jam respectively.

If that was confusing, imagine this: you're looking at 8 tracks on the Jam and track 3 is a group track. You want that group track to be the first track on the Jam, so that you see as many group member tracks as possible. So you press the track button (C) and the right arrow, and voilà, your wish is granted. Or you could press the first visible nested track instead of the group and have that be the first track, and so on.

You'll notice that scrolling does not change the track selection, and you can keep scrolling as long as the track button is held down. Effectively this allows scrolling the track bank by arbitrary amounts and not just 1 or 8, and you don't have to hold SHIFT to scroll by 1 anymore. Hold second track button to scroll right by 1, third to scroll by 2, etc., or hold 7th button to scroll left by 1, and so on. (The off-by-one semantics is there to stay consistent with the "make this track first/last" action, so moving the first track to first position does nothing, as expected)

https://github.com/unthingable/monster- ... s/tag/v7.0
https://github.com/unthingable/monster- ... /README.md

[minortom]

v7.3

* New page selection mode: hold SONG to select track/scene pages via the clip matrix
* Added setting to invert SHIFT/non-SHIFT behavior of DPAD arrows (scroll by page or single row)
* Fixed regression: device toggling in Device Selector was misbehaving due to broken SELECT mode

Next up: step and note sequencers.

If you're using this I'd love to hear from you, don't be shy.

https://github.com/unthingable/monster- ... s/tag/v7.3
https://github.com/unthingable/monster- ... /README.md

[Mantras]

Hello.

Thanks for sharing this, I will give it a go when I have time and give you some feedback! I am looking for a performance oriented script, so this is very interesting.
MOSS script is great, but sometimes I feel it is almost to much too much stuff to get lost in... I want simplicity and ease of use as nr1, and browsing and sequencing I do in the computer anyway.

[Mantras]

I gave it a go. First impression was that the coloring scheme could be more clear. I am talking about the mute and solo function. I prefer moss style where it is not lighted up if it is not active. When all buttons are semilighted and the activated button is slightly more strongly lighted using the same color I have to look close to really see whats going on. On the other hand I like the fact that when pressing shift the functions that are activated such as metronome lights up just by holding shift down to show it is activated. Moss script lacks this feature.

However, the mute and solo issue was a bit overwhelming so I went back to moss. Would there be a different color option I would inclined to go deeper.

[minortom]

I gave it a go. First impression was that the coloring scheme could be more clear. I am talking about the mute and solo function. I prefer moss style where it is not lighted up if it is not active. When all buttons are semilighted and the activated button is slightly more strongly lighted using the same color I have to look close to really see whats going on. On the other hand I like the fact that when pressing shift the functions that are activated such as metronome lights up just by holding shift down to show it is activated. Moss script lacks this feature.

However, the mute and solo issue was a bit overwhelming so I went back to moss. Would there be a different color option I would inclined to go deeper.

Thank you for your feedback! I'm having a little trouble parsing it, though. "where it is not lighted up if it is not active" — what are the "it"s you are referring to?

[minortom]

I gave it a go. First impression was that the coloring scheme could be more clear. I am talking about the mute and solo function. I prefer moss style where it is not lighted up if it is not active.

To clarify my question, are you referring to the SOLO and MUTE buttons themselves, or the track buttons?

The SOLO/MUTE buttons are never dark when Jam is in MIDI mode, that's just how it works. Moss' version is the same. There is no way to make them completely dark without going through HID, AFAIK.

The track buttons turn dim yellow/red to indicate that you're toggling solo/mute statuses, and yes, the difference between states is just the brightness. If that's what you mean I could add a setting to use more contrasting colors.

[matthieu87]

Hi man,
it’s look amazing !
From now, i’m using an Apc 40 MII, but the implementation is a bit limited.. and I’m considering to switch with a Jam ( much cheaper than the push 2 ..)
but i’m a little afraid of the « feeling » of the sliders to control parameters over the knobs ..
By the way I can’t wait to see your notes and sequencers implementations !
That would be killers features !
Hope you keep developping it

[minortom]

Hi man,
it’s look amazing !
From now, i’m using an Apc 40 MII, but the implementation is a bit limited.. and I’m considering to switch with a Jam ( much cheaper than the push 2 ..)
but i’m a little afraid of the « feeling » of the sliders to control parameters over the knobs ..
By the way I can’t wait to see your notes and sequencers implementations !
That would be killers features !
Hope you keep developping it

Thanks!

The feeling is different, but nothing to be afraid of. The sliders themselves feel great. There are things they can do that knobs can't, namely instant parameter jumps and simultaneous control with all 8 fingers. There is even an interesting multitouch behavior where the strip acts like a tiny mono keyboard: if you hold down one finger and then place and release another, the parameter will jump first to the first finger, then to the second and then back to first. Basically you can play trills with parameter values.

The flipside is that it's not difficult to touch a slider accidentally, but the sliders are recessed and with a little care it's not an issue. Also unlike with a knob the finger placements are inexact, I have the jumpless relative fine adjustment mode for that (by holding SHIFT) that only accounts for movement but not absolute position.

I do keep a MidiFighter Twister next to the Jam so there are knobs when needed, but that's mostly so I can keep it pinned to a specific device while multitasking on the Jam.

There is a prototype step/note sequencer in place, currently in test driving and iterating on new features phase. This is a good time to make suggestions.

[trevormeier]

I’m interested in the step sequencer once you’ve had a few turns at it. One thing I’d love is something similar to parameter locks on Elektron devices. So, holding down a step and being able to affect its microtiming, FX sends or device parameters for just that step.

Whatever you put together, I’m interested to see how it turns out. Thanks for sharing!