Zebra3 mod matrix visualization experiment (Logic Pro wrapper)

[jooster]

Hi,

I have been using logic pro for years and like many aspects of it and some not so much. Specifically, connecting plugin parameters to external controllers to get a bi-directional update/change they have never supported. Not even with their "midi 2" support. Very annoying. Yes i can go to another DAW, bitwig looks rather interesting but i prefer to stick with LP.

So i decided to create a wrapper around an AU plugin that provides a bidirectional side channel and streams in/out OSC (havent done MIDI yet, not sure i need it). It wraps any component so Zebra3 becomes Wrapped(Zebra3), Hive; Wrapped(Hive) etc. One must then load Wrapped(<any AU>) into logic - thats a dependency i dont like much either but i have no other way of solving that. Anyway, this works.

I realized i could fairly easily stick out all the plugin's parameters to web pages by implementing a little server. From there on create a UI for stuff that is fun to play with outside the plugin UI - specifically Z3's mod matrix. I really struggle with getting an overview of the MM when operating in Z3's UI, even with my own patches which i try to keep the number of MM slots low.

Anyway, a localhost port produced by this little server now spits out instantly updated MM graphically. I created 3 different modes to play with (Dagre, Hierarhical, and Bus). These do a quick layout after which you can move stuff around and the final positions are automatically persisted and recalled.

I cant say i've found my eureka moment for MM graphics yet - this is a difficult problem to visualize - though i like the bus layout best. Here three example layouts for the Cosmic Solitude patch in Poly Synths.

This is very much in its infancy and to some degree quite hackish (some data from the plugin some from the local installed patch file, hmmm). But perhaps at least a playground to try out good/better/best graphical solutions for MM. This whole set up can do much more but i am not convinced i will take it further, rather support what U-He comes up with and align this little experiment to that. Thoughts?

[jooster]

oh one more quick comment, one aspect I found rather important is that the instant overview this tool generates should be mostly good to go else it becomes a graphical drawing exercise which is rather distracting from making music. Hence the 'bus mode', though it waists a lot of space it is the quickest to give an instant overview that mostly works.

[Urs]

Nice!

How do you visualise Via Source/Depth?
How do you visualise Matrix->Matrix Depth Modulation?

[jooster]

Yah, it's getting complicated quickly (hey it's your fault you gave us all this! (grin)). So I modified the bus mode visualization with MM-->MM and via modulation. In this example, I used just two MM in Z3 to:



My bus mode visualization then works out to this:


So the MM becomes a visualization similar to a "engineering control signal multiplier" (the circle) which then creates its own bus out anyone can hook up to. A via is visualized as a 'tap' on a bus bar pointing to that circle. This seemed a fairly clean way to indicate modulating a modulation which a via is. The MM1 to MM2 connection is the bezier (solid line depth connection, for a via connection that bezier would be dashed).

I am not entirely happy with this. The MM output bar suggests many connections to it are possible and this is not true - at least not with current Z3. Instead of the bezier, I could present the Mmx output as just another input/source on the left side. I did play with that for a while but found it to be more confusing than the bezier. Hopefully most patches aren't so complex that there are many MM to MM connections else those bezier lines will really obscure the meaning of the diagram.

This diagram is fully interactive i.e. the sources, destinations and MM circles can be moved to make the diagram more clear and their positions are preserved. Also all the values update in real time. For the more complicated patches in the beta distribution this does help me understand how the _sound masters_ have contracted them. I am just not yet convinced how this graphical language will feel (intuitive or not) when I haven't worked with it for a while).

Really would love to have your input...