KVR Audio

Kyran · Post by **Kyran** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 4:39 pm

Does it work with an x-station?

This approach should be easily converted to support other midi controlers as well.

dusted william · Post by **dusted william** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 4:43 pm

I don 't know if it can be converted since it actually reads the VST info on the LED display.

dw

Omniphonix · Post by **Omniphonix** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 4:47 pm

Kyran wrote:Does it work with an x-station?

This approach should be easily converted to support other midi controlers as well.

Actually no, it wouldn't be easily converted. There's hardware logic in the SL series that allows it to be programmed any way they see fit for bi-directional communication directly over USB protocol. That's why its exclusive to the SL series. Most controllers use MIDI natively or emulate MIDI ports over USB, but the SL series can talk directly to VST automation. I could see this blowing up into a huge range of virtual studio control devices from Novation though.

acid1 · Post by **acid1** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:38 pm

So I spent my first night with automap in Energy XT 1.4, and I can say after a lengthy studio session till 4am and writing a mostly complete song that I am completely in love. Within about 15 minutes of opening synths, I was able to map all the paremeters onto the Novation exactly how I'd want them. It really does change your complete outlook on midi controllers when you can load up a synth and just immediatly start tweaking stuff. Feels very much like having hardware, except you don't have to fumble around in finicky menus/you can do what you want with a mouse and get down to business with the controller. Alt-controlling thru the plugins in your sequencer on the left arrows and using the right arrows to scan thru programs is all laid out quite nice. I actually went as far as swapping the locations of my keyboard and Remote so the SL sits directly infront of me.

I did notice some bizarre crashes tho. I don't know if its my setup or the novation, but I noticed a few times when creating a new sequencer from scratch or fumbling a right click Energy XT would close without warning. I can't say its definatly the Novation or notbut I don't recall it ever happening prior to the automap update.

ericj23 · Post by **ericj23** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 9:06 pm

ok sounds good - does the wrapper make copies of all your vsts so you have to keep them in a different folder ? - and presumeably wrap any new vsts you add

Omniphonix · Post by **Omniphonix** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 9:32 pm

ericj23 wrote:ok sounds good - does the wrapper make copies of all your vsts so you have to keep them in a different folder ? - and presumeably wrap any new vsts you add

This is handled bu the Automap Server's Plug-in Manager. It doesn't actually make copies of your plugins, its adds a 157k wrapper DLL file next to each plugin with the same name followed by (Automap). Then you load the wrapped (Automap) version of your plugin and it will call the original DLL. This is nice since it would greatly increase your disk space usage. This is no problem for me since I make sure every plugin is installed in a folder of the same name which is then sorted into folders by plugin type, so it really doesn't add much to my selecting plugins off a list. It kinda sucks because your sequencer now has to reinitialize all the Automap versions of your plugins. With this plugin manager though, you can select only the plugins you use a lot and have those reinit in your sequencer at first, then add more as you go. I made the mistake at first of adding all plugins in the manager and Cubase took FOREVER to open (it never actually did since one of the plugs bombed halfway through). Then I used the plugin manager to unwrap all the plugins and that took even longer (which is why I never got to test anything). So tonight I will add a few plugs and try it out.

acid1 · Post by **acid1** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 10:04 pm

Not to reiterate, but some more clarification:

Basically when you are done installing the OS it runs the plugin manager which is a simple program with two columns. You drag the plugins you want to automap from one side to the other. This plugin manager will automatically open in the background (in the taskbar in windows) when you open a vst from within your host that is the automap version, so you don't have to worry about manually running the manager all the time. When you add a vst to the automap column it makes a .dll with "Automap" at the end of the file name in the same folder as your original .dll exists. So when you add a vst to your host, you will use the UltraCoolSynth(Automap).dll instead of UltraCoolSynth.dll.

With EnergyXT I didn't really run into the initialization errors Audioflux1 mentioned, but I'd assume hosts that preload VSTs (cubase, renoise, fl studio, wavelab) would run into this. I'm assuming you could double the amount of time it takes to initialize. EnergyXT kinda just loads VST's as you use them. Thus to your host, the UltraCoolSynth.dll and the UltraCoolSynth(Automap).dll are concidered two different VSTs.

With the same train of thought, if you are currently working on a song with various VST's, you will not be able to use automap with them unless you save your program and then replace your current VST with the automap one. Thats one annoying limitation I've found.

Omniphonix · Post by **Omniphonix** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 10:20 pm

Well as with anything involving computerized music and MIDI, its not going to be perfect. There are going to be some snags along the way. All I can say is that its been a really long time since I saw something I had to have in my studio this badly. I'd go so far as to say the Remote SLs are going to revolutionize the MIDI controller industry.

disturb · Post by **disturb** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 11:32 pm

I'm wondering if you can still use it as a regular midi controller while using the automap mode ?

Basically in Live, i wonder if you can quickly go from the automapped synth, to a layout where youu can control params from Live's midi plugins + some synth params and even params of the insert fxs ?

this sure looks mouth watering anyway...

Omniphonix · Post by **Omniphonix** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 12:29 am

disturb wrote:I'm wondering if you can still use it as a regular midi controller while using the automap mode ?

Basically in Live, i wonder if you can quickly go from the automapped synth, to a layout where youu can control params from Live's midi plugins + some synth params and even params of the insert fxs ?

this sure looks mouth watering anyway...

All of the plugins can work with Automap Universal, even insert effects. If its VST (also AU on the Mac) it will work with Automap Universal. Then you just switch the template from Plug-in Automap to Ableton Live Automap (I think they are 2 numbers away from each other) with the template change encoder and you can control the Live mixer. Although I think Live is the app you would need this for the least, its learn mode is beyond any other sequencer (although you will get a lot more controls available when using Automap because they all change to just the plugin that has focus).

musikmachine · Post by **musikmachine** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 12:30 am

Audioflux1 wrote:I'd go so far as to say the Remote SLs are going to revolutionize the MIDI controller industry.

That was the reason i bought mine when they first came out but it didn't work!I'm glad they've got it right this time

Total integration and control would be the icing on the cake

Is it possible to control hw and sw atst in automap mode?

Omniphonix · Post by **Omniphonix** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 12:38 am

musikmachine wrote:
Audioflux1 wrote:I'd go so far as to say the Remote SLs are going to revolutionize the MIDI controller industry.
That was the reason i bought mine when they first came out but it didn't work!I'm glad they've got it right this time

Total integration and control would be the icing on the cake

Is it possible to control hw and sw atst in automap mode?

I just wanna know what they're going to do about VST 3. As far as I can tell, its a whole different system than VST 2.X. I think it will work more like Audio Units plugins with the one Automap control file.

Omniphonix · Post by **Omniphonix** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 12:40 am

musikmachine wrote: Is it possible to control hw and sw atst in automap mode?

You would have to switch between templates. The Automap Universal template only sends data to the Automap Server on the host machine.

musikmachine · Post by **musikmachine** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:20 am

Audioflux1 wrote:
musikmachine wrote: Is it possible to control hw and sw atst in automap mode?
You would have to switch between templates. The Automap Universal template only sends data to the Automap Server on the host machine.

Thats why i was asking;automap would lock to ableton live,the only way i could use it to control anything else is by disabling automap so i'd have to use individual templates.I take it this is still the case?Is the automap server the technology which enables universal AM to work?

Also does the SL have the ability to read cc parameters from hardware when creating templates?

acid1 · Post by **acid1** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 2:15 am

musikmachine wrote:
Audioflux1 wrote:
musikmachine wrote: Is it possible to control hw and sw atst in automap mode?
You would have to switch between templates. The Automap Universal template only sends data to the Automap Server on the host machine.
Thats why i was asking;automap would lock to ableton live,the only way i could use it to control anything else is by disabling automap so i'd have to use individual templates.I take it this is still the case?Is the automap server the technology which enables universal AM to work?

Also does the SL have the ability to read cc parameters from hardware when creating templates?

musikmachine - There is an entire section on Ableton Live in the manual. I've never used Live myself so I can't really comment on it as accurately as I'd like but the article says that it will automap to live until you select a plugin on that xy pad thing and then will automap to that. Thus my best advice is to check out the manual on your own

Novation Automap Universal - Speculations