Arturia Minilab, Analog Lab. Yes or No?

[DenisArturia]

Hi Denis, when I said that I was using the analog lab preset, I meant the preset on pad 2, which works fine in standalone. Absolute works fine for other midi learning purposes. But relative doesn't work with analog lab as a vst.

Can I ask an honest question? Have you or anyone from Arturia actually ever tried to use the mini lab with analog lab vst? On a Mac that is.

Because if you had, you should see that it doesn't work. Standalone is fine but I would never use a standalone soft synth outside if a sequencer.

Thanks

Hello,

I think we have a misunderstanding because to me the problem you face should be easily fixed if you watch this video we made about Minilab's absolute and relative mode:



As a side not:
- I personally do use Minilab inside of Ableton Live, in VST, on a MacBook pro
- I'm not a technical person...I'm just in this forum on my spare time because I like it

All the best,

Denis

[Echoes in the Attic]

Hi Denis, when I said that I was using the analog lab preset, I meant the preset on pad 2, which works fine in standalone. Absolute works fine for other midi learning purposes. But relative doesn't work with analog lab as a vst.

Can I ask an honest question? Have you or anyone from Arturia actually ever tried to use the mini lab with analog lab vst? On a Mac that is.

Because if you had, you should see that it doesn't work. Standalone is fine but I would never use a standalone soft synth outside if a sequencer.

Thanks

Hello,

I think we have a misunderstanding because to me the problem you face should be easily fixed if you watch this video we made about Minilab's absolute and relative mode:



As a side not:
- I personally do use Minilab inside of Ableton Live, in VST, on a MacBook pro
- I'm not a technical person...I'm just in this forum on my spare time because I like it

All the best,

Denis

Yes there must be a misunderstanding because at no point in that video about relative and absolute mode does it demonstrate or discuss using the minilab with analog lab as a plug-in, only standalone. And as I have said, using relative mode (preset 2) with analog lab as standalone works as expected. Using it the same way, but as a VST, with the same relative settings and having minilab set in analag lab as the controller source, it does not work properly.

I say again, this is not an absolute vs. relative issue. Relative mode works with analog lab as expected in standalone! And Absolute mode works fine in Ableton Live for midi learn and for plug-in learn. But relative mode does not work as it should with analog lab as a plug-in. This is absolutely infuriating to be sent back to this one video constantly which does not solve this problem in any way. I can't even get you guys to acknowledge the issue even though I've seen it raised by numerous people. I do appreciate the replies, but you guys need to stop and understand that this video doesn't address this issue.

[DenisArturia]

Hello,

This time I asked our tech support directly and they told me that a firmware update should solve your problem:
http://www.arturia.net/downloads/minila ... _1_0_1.zip

As you are using the Minilab with Ableton Live using this scrip might also help:
http://www.arturia.net/downloads/minila ... _1_0_1.zip

All the best,

Denis

[Echoes in the Attic]

Hello,

This time I asked our tech support directly and they told me that a firmware update should solve your problem:
http://www.arturia.net/downloads/minila ... _1_0_1.zip

As you are using the Minilab with Ableton Live using this scrip might also help:
http://www.arturia.net/downloads/minila ... _1_0_1.zip

All the best,

Denis

edit: the firmware update did the trick with using Analog Lab as software. There is still some weirdness with using minilab with the arturia control template. Tried a few presets and the control is bad in all of them. I'll watch that video again to see if I'm missing something.

[pfdavidz]

So the minilab is the same as keylab right? Uses the same software?
Therefore one is not more stable then the other?

This sucksssss.....could have been such a good product. at the same time Im kind of secretly addicted to it....

[sata_fortuna]

happy minilab owner here.
i customized the ableton script to have sends and track arm pads in another preset, works like charm.
also, there's a new update that seems to correct the weird encoder behavior in live.
i really like this thing. only missing a proper midi output, but at this price point cant really complain. will be willing to pay a little something extra for it though.

[Echoes in the Attic]

happy minilab owner here.
i customized the ableton script to have sends and track arm pads in another preset, works like charm.
also, there's a new update that seems to correct the weird encoder behavior in live.

The new script does help somewhat but I still don't like the acceleration of the knobs. It should just turn at the same rate all the time, as AKAI or novation relative controls. The minilab controls move a parameter too slowly when your moving the knob slowly. Turning at a slow rate can still take 4 or 5 complete turns for one turn of a software knob. And then turning quickly might turn it 1:1. But this behavior is unpredictable, you don't have good control.

I'd like to modify the Ableton script to just work with Absolute mode instead because, although that's not as convenient as relative due to value jumps, at least it feels right. Does it seem fairly straight forward to modify the script in this way?

[sata_fortuna]

customizing the script is not hard at all. you just have to edit a txt file.
there's several modes for encoders though, you'll need to try 'em all to know wich one suits you best.
the encoder mode settings in the txt looks like this:

Code: Select all

# Enter the respective map mode for the encoders here. The following
# map modes are available:
# - Absolute
# - Absolute14Bit
# - LinearSignedBit 
# - LinearSignedBit2
# - LinearTwoCompliment
# - LinearBinaryOffset
# - AccelSignedBit 
# - AccelSignedBit2
# - AccelTwoCompliment
# - AccelBinaryOffset
# Consult the controller's documentation to find out which mode to use.
EncoderMapMode: LinearBinaryOffset

EncoderMapMode: LinearBinaryOffset <-this is the current setting

very straight forward actually.
sadly theres no much more things to assign in there. i miss panpots, mutes and solos the most =/

[Echoes in the Attic]

Ok, should be easy to change it to absolute and pick a different template. Well actually, that different template would have to be a copy of preset 2 on the minilab, with only the knob settings changed from relative to absolute. But that's easy enough to copy. Wouldn't want to change preset 2 itself because the Analog Lab software also uses that, which relies on relative mode.

I think I might want to create a custom script for it though anyways. You can assign pan pots to the knobs and mutes and solos to the pads. Just have to find a way to change the setting by some combination of of commands within the template. I'm somewhat familiar with Python but I still haven't gotten around to trying to modify or customize a remote script for Live.

[pfdavidz]

Arturia claims that there is a mini lab update in September...

[Echoes in the Attic]

Arturia claims that there is a mini lab update in September...

With what changes?

[witchmaster]

I have version 2.1.0.2 for the Minilab and response of the encoders is STILL terrible (moving wrong way etc.), it will be interesting to se if Arturia is able to fix these problems at all, I mean the product has been on the market for several months already.

[Echoes in the Attic]

Using firmware 2.1.0.2 and it seems ok. Aside from the fact that I don't like encoder acceleration for the Live script.

It's also pretty annoying that you can only use the analog lab control when you disable the Ableton Live remote script in preferences. So you get one or the other.

[pfdavidz]

Hey Guys,

Did anyone do an update on minilab? Is it still taking up ;ots of cpu, crashing and not responding correctly? Details please.....

[witchmaster]

Did the update on minilab and also version 1.0.5 of analog lab. This thing is totally useless, I'm rarely this angry about a product. I usually accept some problems but this is totally unacceptable. CPU usage ridiculously high, totally random response from encoders, crashing etc. You better stay far away from this product if you still have the chance.