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NS2: switching slots A/B via midi (ext. sequencer...)

Posted: 05 May 2015, 21:37
by jesav
Hi guys,

Just a quick message to create this topic.

A few days ago I started prepping live sessions, organizing my sounds, etc etc... And since I do a lot of stuff in real live conditions (playing / tweaking / etc...), I had this idea that I didn't want to take care of the bank / program / slot changes manually. In this case, I'm talking about my NS2 88 connected to Ableton Live 9 Suite via USB. I knew Ableton could do this for me, after all it also does some effects automation and stuff. It requires a long preparation and a lot of midi programming in one session, but it's convenient for me.

Anyways. I figured out easily how to make the switch between my banks and sounds: a midi track with program changes informations does the job really well. But I totally forgot about the switch between slot A and slot B. I use the slots a lot when I build a sound. I can be two different piano sounds, it can be a piano drowned in reverb on A and a Rhodes on B, it can be two synths stacked together, whatever.

I started searching and didn't find how to do it in Ableton Live. So I asked here, and pablomastodon rescued me:

"Slot Focus is cc #68. Send a midi message on that cc# <64 and Slot A will be in focus. >64 and Slot B will be in focus."

Just what I needed. Now I've got a new midi track that takes care of this for me. I haven't found yet how to have both slots A and B focused, but I guess it won't take long :)

Thanks again for the help !!! Hope this thread can help you guys if you have the same problem.

Bisous from Paris.

Jeremy.

Re: NS2: switching slots A/B via midi (ext. sequencer...)

Posted: 05 May 2015, 22:55
by neolithic
Thanks for sharing, and thanks to Pablo of course!

Re: NS2: switching slots A/B via midi (ext. sequencer...)

Posted: 06 May 2015, 05:37
by pablomastodon
jesav wrote:and pablomastodon rescued me:

"Slot Focus is cc #68. Send a midi message on that cc# <64 and Slot A will be in focus. >64 and Slot B will be in focus."

Just what I needed. Now I've got a new midi track that takes care of this for me. I haven't found yet how to have both slots A and B focused, but I guess it won't take long :)
sorry to disappoint you so soon after "The Great Rescue of 2015," but it is not possible to have both slots in focus at once. Once while experimenting I did succeed in controlling parameters on both slots at once (almost) from an external foot controller by programming in the following commands:

cc#68, value=0 to select slot A
cc#77, value=x to set delay rate on slot A
cc#68, valu=127 to select slot B
cc#77, value=y to set delay rate on slot B

When it didn't work at first, I figured that the delay rate adjustment commands were following too closely on the heels of the slot focus commands, so I inserted a few "dummy" midi commands (on unused channels) to slow things down just a bit and it seemed to work fine while testing. Then of course when I tried to replicate the experimental results in a gigging situation it didn't work right away, so I abandoned the whole thing. But perhaps someone with more time/persistence/will power will again succeed. I just didn't really want it badly enough to continue to pursue it.

Bless,

Pablo