The "what's not in the manual" tip thread

Discussion of all things related to MOTU's awesome MachFive software sampler.

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Sarcazm
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The "what's not in the manual" tip thread

Post by Sarcazm »

So, there are some areas in the manual that could be better explained, and I figure that we could add to this tips thread as we come across stuff.

First off:

Rules - cycle.

NOTE: with rules you pretty much need to get it right the first time, cuz if you find you need to add a higher level rule, then you cannot just move child dims into it, you'll need to do them over.

Took me a while to figure this out, but to make this work you need a parent dimension and then x child dims for each item you want cycled.

i.e.: let's say you have bass gtr samples with each note having an up and down pick sample, and you want to alternately play the up/down samples.

Create two layers called uppick and downpick and place the samples accordingly.
In rules create a parent dim and choose 'cycle' as the rule.
Create two child dims and for each child choose one of the above layers

You're now good to go, and you can check it's working by choosing a sample in the sample edit window and play the its key. Every other note the "insertion point" will move across the sample as its played.

I can't get "Note Duration" & "Playing Speed" to work (or even figure out what they're supposed to do :oops: ), so perhaps someone can add those rules.

Modulation/Mapping would also be a good thing to add here.
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Shooshie
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Post by Shooshie »

If you screw up and have to do a rule over, it is very fast and easy once you've learned what it is you're supposed to do. The parameter values are set by dragging, which makes them quick and easy. They look like you're supposed to enter values, but don't let that fool you. Grab the thing and drag it horizontally. You can have velocities that overlap, or ranges or any other parameters.

Of course, this sounds pretty abstract in print. Just get your hands dirty and give it a try. Pull up some samples and start playing around. You don't have to save them, so don't worry about messing up anything.

Shooshie
|l| OS X 10.12.6 |l| DP 10.0 |l| 2.4 GHz 12-Core MacPro Mid-2012 |l| 40GB RAM |l| Mach5.3 |l| Waves 9.x |l| Altiverb |l| Ivory 2 New York Steinway |l| Wallander WIVI 2.30 Winds, Brass, Saxes |l| Garritan Aria |l| VSL 5.3.1 and VSL Pro 2.3.1 |l| Yamaha WX-5 MIDI Wind Controller |l| Roland FC-300 |l|
Sarcazm
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Post by Sarcazm »

Shooshie wrote:If you screw up and have to do a rule over, it is very fast and easy once you've learned what it is you're supposed to do. The parameter values are set by dragging, which makes them quick and easy. They look like you're supposed to enter values, but don't let that fool you. Grab the thing and drag it horizontally. You can have velocities that overlap, or ranges or any other parameters.

Of course, this sounds pretty abstract in print. Just get your hands dirty and give it a try. Pull up some samples and start playing around. You don't have to save them, so don't worry about messing up anything.

Shooshie
yes, but it is a PITA if you have several embedded rules and then decide to put them all in key-switch container rule. M5 should allow you to cut and paste them, but, for some reason, they omitted that.

I've tried the trial and error method for the note duration and playing speed rules, but maybe I'm not understanding the prinicipa, as I cannot get them to change layers, now matter how I play the notes. I assumed for note duration it would play the first layer for an amount of time then switch to the second layer, but I guess that's wrong. Do you know what they are??
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Shooshie
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Post by Shooshie »

Haven't done those yet. My progress came to a halt recently when my friend died. I haven't done anymore in MachFive2 since then.


Shooshie
|l| OS X 10.12.6 |l| DP 10.0 |l| 2.4 GHz 12-Core MacPro Mid-2012 |l| 40GB RAM |l| Mach5.3 |l| Waves 9.x |l| Altiverb |l| Ivory 2 New York Steinway |l| Wallander WIVI 2.30 Winds, Brass, Saxes |l| Garritan Aria |l| VSL 5.3.1 and VSL Pro 2.3.1 |l| Yamaha WX-5 MIDI Wind Controller |l| Roland FC-300 |l|
carrythebanner
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Automating List Editor items

Post by carrythebanner »

Here's one:
Page 87, "Automating layer settings." It does mention that you can right-click to open a standard MIDI CC automation dialog for a number of the List Editor items* but it doesn't really highlight why this would be useful.

The best use I've found for this is to group each element of a drum kit -- kicks, snares, HHs, toms, etc. -- into separate layers, then assign CCs to mute each layer to program mutes for a hip-hop beat. I usually rename each layer with the mute CC at the end, like "Kick CC108", "Snare CC109", etc. I create a second MIDI track to hold the mute CCs, to keep the notes & mute data separate for easier editing. Also, if you want to program mutes for a bass line, I've found that it's better to modulate the bass part's volume (in the Parts List), rather that automate the bass part's mute; if you do the latter, sometimes there are pops as it mutes/unmutes.

You can also automate keygroup mutes, layer mono on/off, layer poly porta on/off, and layer porta time, so there are definitely more possibilities here -- I just haven't really explored them yet.


* Note: It seems that the hot-spots are a little touchy. You might right-click on one of these parameters and get the regular contextual menu instead of the automation dialog; if so, right-click on the parameter again. Hopefully they'll fix this in the future, but in the meantime it works, albeit with an extra click.
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carrythebanner
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Create a "template" preset with empty keygroups

Post by carrythebanner »

Another one, sort of related to the above:
To speed up preset creation, make a skeleton preset with empty keygroups. For a drum kit, for example:
- I created layers for Kick, Snare, HH, etc.
- I assigned CCs to automate mutes for each of those layers.
- I added empty keygroups to each layer. I mapped each as I desired, and name each keygroup appropriately -- Kick 1, Kick 2, Snare sidestick, Snare open, Clap, HH closed, etc.
- I then programmed some basic envelope settings and such as I might expect to need them (on average; of course, I tweak these as I load samples).

When I'm done, I have a fully programmed drum kit -- but without samples. I then use this preset as a template whenever I want to build a drum kit. I load in samples by double-clicking a keygroup, then navigating the browser until I find samples I like. You can audition samples by using the arrow keys to navigate the browser while playing the appropriate MIDI note. Once I've got a kit I like, I Save As to create a new preset.

Also, it helps to make the "template" file's permissions Read Only, to prevent accidently overwriting it.
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carrythebanner
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Using Read Only to protect presets & samples

Post by carrythebanner »

And more on Read Only ...
If you have a preset & its associated set of samples that you like to use as-is, but also like to use them as a starting point for further mangling, try setting the preset & its samples as Read Only. This way, you can load the preset and make any sort of preset/sample changes you want, but you won't be able to screw up the original. And when you use MachFive's Save Preset And Samples As, the new files which result are not read only, so you can freely modify your new copy.

This is particularly useful with sound effects libraries; you almost always want to/need to tweak the sounds to fit the current project, but you don't want to edit the originals. Especially if multiple people are using the same sound effects from different machines (if, say, the sounds are on a server volume accessible by multiple people), it becomes imperative to protect the files from accidental overwrite.
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Sarcazm
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Post by Sarcazm »

Cool stuff CTB, keep 'm coming...
carrythebanner
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Excluding layers from rules

Post by carrythebanner »

If you want to exclude a layer from the logic of the layer rules, add that layer to the root rule.

Example:
Let's say you have a three layer synth preset. You want one layer ("totally awesome") to be heard all the time, and the other two ("almost as awesome 1" and "almost as awesome 2") to alternate with each note.
- Create a root rule and assign Cycle as its rule type. In the layers list, check "totally awesome."
- Create two child dimensions; in the layers list, check "almost as awesome 1" for the first child and "almost as awesome 2" for the second child.
If you don't add "totally awesome" to the root rule, you won't hear it at all.
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Sarcazm
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Post by Sarcazm »

Cross Fading Songs:

Say you're playing a live set and want to do a Ableton Live-style cross fade of songs playing different instruments and beats instead of stopping a song, loading up a new performance and starting again. Well you can, so long as your performance is not too complicated (say beats, bass loops and an instrument).

First assign your first song beat and bass loops onto some lower keys and assign them to the same layer. Choose an instrument (say elec piano) for the upper keys and assign that to the same layer (you can use different layers if you want but for this example I'm using a total of 2 for simplicity). Do the same for song 2 and assign them to a second layer and map them over the same keys as song 1.

Now go to modulation, choose layer 1 from the layers section and right click on Amp. In the mod screen choose Mod Wheel for the Modulation Source. Then add a new map, right click on the map and choose ramp down. Click on 'Use linear' and change range to 0 and 1. Add another map with the same settings except choose ramp up. Choose the first map, close, then choose the layer 2 and set the same mod settings as layer 1 but choose the second map.

Now, in theory, you'll can cross fade between song1 and 2 via the mod wheel.

Note: You may need to adjust the map ramps, so that they zero out before the mod wheel fully opens/closes.
Also, you can use any MIDI cc for the cross fading, not only the mod wheel.
maxximusic
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Post by maxximusic »

HAVE ANYONE SEEING THE KEY-SWITCH SETUP IN THE MANUAL

I JUST CAN'T FIND IT.....

THANKS
LIFE IS GOOD
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carrythebanner
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Post by carrythebanner »

maxximusic wrote:HAVE ANYONE SEEING THE KEY-SWITCH SETUP IN THE MANUAL

I JUST CAN'T FIND IT.....

THANKS
Page 116.
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maxximusic
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Post by maxximusic »

carrythebanner wrote: Page 116.

THANKS THANKS THANKS !!!!!!!!!!!
LIFE IS GOOD
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