The perfect soft synth live control rig

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Prime Mover
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The perfect soft synth live control rig

Post by Prime Mover »

As I and many other keyboardist continue to switch to a completely softsynth environment for live performance, there are still some large caveats to overcome, namely in the control department. Softsynths are quickly getting infinitely closer to matching hardware synths in sound and quality, and I think it's hard to not estimate that they'll soon be unrecognizably close (if not already in some cases), and their versatility and workflow advantages make them the superior choice in many cases.

But although they may sound like their hardware predecessors, they don't feel like them, and they suffer greatly in realm of real-time control and tweakability. And this often makes them slower and more complicated to setup. Sure, you can map controls to a MIDI controller's sliders and nobs, but that takes not only time but foresight; suddenly the instrument becomes less on-the-fly but precalculated, which can impede creative use. And not just synthesizers either, but I'm sure guitarists switching to software rigs are facing similar changes in workflow that make for less spontaneous setups.

What are some future solutions that could be developed to overcome these obstacles? Do we have to sacrifice spontaneity for the advantage of presets, precision, and universal environments? Or are there some solutions that could begin to overcome these shortcomings?

My first thought is touch screens. MacBooks don't have touch screens... yet... though it's hard to imagine that will be the case for long. Being able to grab an on-screen graphic nob and manipulate it would be a nice start, though it's nowhere near as tactile or precise as a physical control, but you do get the advantage of seeing exactly what you're manipulating, and touching the screen is a fast enough process to be able to do mid-performance, however doing it precisely is going to be frustrating. If softsynth VIs could develop full-screen modes (that may require some updates in the AU and VST engines, I don't know), that may make the controls larger and more easy to manipulate, but it certainly won't solve everything.

The second option is some kind of hybrid control surface that was covered with physical nobs and sliders, but also surrounded by context-sensative display readouts that change depending upon the VI or effect being used. Unfortunately, they will in no way accurately represent the actual device, and probably won't even match the software interface. Likely, fitting everything in would make it a veritable mess.

So, where is we headed? Is there anything that can be done to make this stuff more tactile and intuitive without major sacrifices? I'm interested in people's thoughts.
— Eric Barker
Eel House

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stubbsonic
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Re: The perfect soft synth live control rig

Post by stubbsonic »

I could envision some kind of three stage solution:

1. VI developers could create an interface- interface, or i2 (ok, I'm riffing about that). It would essentially take certain fixed elements of the interface, like filter frequency, LFO rate, envelope controls, and publish them in a kind of matrix.

2. Hardware control manufacturers would also create an i2 for their knobs & sliders and other controls.

3. A master repatcher would take all the parameters from #1 and allow you to link them to the controls published in #2.

Obviously, this would not work so well for things like reaktor ensembles, which has no fixed interface. It would also be problematic for some settings which were not designed for realtime control. But this has the potential to cut down on some of that set-up time, and it would allow for different VIs & hardware to talk nice.

Touch screens are good for some things, but not for replicating knobs & sliders, IMO. Still, if that is what a user has to work with, this plan could also work there as well.
M1 MBP; OS 12, FF800, DP 11.3, Kontakt 7, Reaktor 6, PC3K7, K2661S, iPad6, Godin XTSA, Two Ibanez 5 string basses (1 fretted, 1 fretless), FM3, SY-1000, etc.

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Prime Mover
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Re: The perfect soft synth live control rig

Post by Prime Mover »

So, basically a universal standard for various controllers? Supposedly, General MIDI has a bunch of "recommended" controller assignments, but I only know of a few synths that actually map them.

If all VI manufacturer's would simply go back to the original general MIDI specs and pre-assign controls to the suggested CCs, it would go along way toward opening up some universal controller possibilities.

Another possibility would be to use SysEx to send text labels and that would define various CCs functions to a hardware unit that could display the function above the pot or slider. That way there wouldn't need to be a set standard (though it would be nice if everyone kept some general things standardized).

Since MIDI is the only universal in the computer music industry, it makes sense to use it, even if it has to be used in an awkward fashion.
— Eric Barker
Eel House

"All's fair in love, war, and the recording studio"
MacPro 1,1 2Ghz 7GB RAM OS 10.6.8 | MacBook Pro 13" i5 1.8Ghz 16GB RAM OS 10.8.2
DP7/8 | Komplete 7 | B4II | Korg Legacy Analog | Waves v9 (various) | Valhalla Room | EWQLSO Gold
MOTU 828mkII | MOTU 8pre | Presonus BlueTube | FMR RNC
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stubbsonic
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Re: The perfect soft synth live control rig

Post by stubbsonic »

Well, I was kind of trying to avoid standardizing in one sense. Rather than just forcing a particular parameter to a particular control, it would put it in a slot in a table. This would allow a one-time wiring for a VI (with a fixed interface) rather than wiring it for every preset.

If there was something of an industry standard slot for, say, cutoff, then the once that was wired to a hardware knob, that wiring could remain for other VI's.

Still, I think folks who use VI's and hardware controllers should probably just think of assigning controls to params as kind of the price of admission for the time being.
M1 MBP; OS 12, FF800, DP 11.3, Kontakt 7, Reaktor 6, PC3K7, K2661S, iPad6, Godin XTSA, Two Ibanez 5 string basses (1 fretted, 1 fretless), FM3, SY-1000, etc.

http://www.jonstubbsmusic.com
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