Automated Fader Rack 2018 update

[dave_dore]

Hi Everyone,

I have been using the previous version of this tool for a while now and decided to update it to make it more friendly out of the box as well as better labeled and optimized. I have added locked rack state presets that are labeled for all the various fader functions the rack can perform so a user can pick a preset mode, adjust it to taste and save as a new preset state with it’s own name that you can lock when done if desired.

The basic usage is to pick one of the 30 locked fader mode presets from the states list for the rack.

• The Single type modes use only engine 1.

• The Double types use both engines 1 and 2.

• The Cascade types are made to allow the 1st engine to complete it’s fade and then trigger the second engine to perform it’s fade.

• The Pedal type fades up when pressed and fades down when drawn back. In addition on some presets the Pedal mode is on engine 1 with another triggering type on the second engine so they are independent of one another as far as triggering goes.

• The Double Slope Switch is unique and works like this, when you press the expression pedal down half way the first engine up fade executes. When you press the pedal the rest of the way the second up ramp executes. When you pull the pedal back halfway the 1st down fade executes and when you pull it all the way back the second down fade executes.

adjust the time for the fade ramps using the media players files drop down to set the course value

and using the speed control on the media player to fine tune the adjustment (Time Desired / Time constant = Speed Dial Adjustment) e.g. If I want a 4 second delay I can use the 2.5 sec file and then set the speed knob to 160%. ( 4 / 2.5 = 1.6 or 160%)

and then set the slope values from the slope racks for each of the 2 fader engines.

The fade rack requires the ‘MIDI CC 7 Fader Files’ folder in the provided zip file to be installed in the same folder with the rack.

The fader can be triggered by

• An expression pedal switch that auto fades up when depressed all the way and auto fades down when pulled back all the way.

• Any key on the keyboard for a variety of one shot fade events, these types can be reset manually or with a binding if you wish

• fixed keys that act as switches and auto reset themselves after execution

The input ports are shown here, keynote inputs for each engine, an expression pedal input and a CC3 reset port to reset the one shot fader engines.

The rack puts out CC7 streams of MIDI data from the 2 separate engines and there are ports that provide the combined up and down ramps on a port and separate up and down ports for each engine.

Engine 2 ports are marked with a “2” in the port name

The Gain sliders on the media players and main Input and output slots act as indicators to show how the fades will behave when triggered.

Auto Fader Rack Version 2 Double Engine.zip (303.2 KB)

There is a rack that is calibrated for ‘Classic’ scaling and one for ‘New’ scaling to match with the Cantabile scaling you are using.

This is like a Swiss army design so I will be putting out a simpler 1 engine version later …

Enjoy!!

Dave

[hermanoantequera]

Wow, thanks @dave_dore for this excellent contribution. I will try it out after as soon as I can after this weekend’s gigs!

Herman

[dave_dore]

Hi Everyone,

This rack is the little brother of the big one posted above. It is similar but has only 1 up and down engine and as a result is more simple. The instructions for the large one shown above also relate to this simpler one. As with the other model you open a preset, tweak it to taste and save it to a new rack state to create your own presets. Also you need to put the rack and the MIDI files folder from the zip file into the same directory. (usually Cantabile\Racks)

It has the same inputs as the original

less outputs since it is 1 engine

and less presets

There is a rack that is calibrated for ‘Classic’ scaling and one for ‘New’ scaling to match with the Cantabile scaling you are using.

Auto Fader Rack Version 2 Single Engine.zip (150.8 KB)

Enjoy!!

Dave

[JanM]

This is great @dave_dore, thnx. I use it to create an envelop for playing 12 keys each having a 12 minute sample. The fade in/fade out is triggered by note on / note off of the corresponding key. The mediaplayer works great for that.
Question though: once triggered the fade out with a note off event, is there a way of stopping the sample playing media player ?

Regards,
Jan

[dave_dore]

Hi Jan,

I might need a little more explanation. I think you are using one media player to supply the MIDI notes to trigger the fader rack which controls the gain of other media players with 12 minute samples. You want to pause the media players with the 12 minute audio samples I think. Is this what’s going on?

Dave

[JanM]

Yes indeed, the 12 minute samples are power chords, triggered by note pads, that I use on a regular basis. Sometimes just for 1 minute, sometimes longer. The fader rack controls the gain of the media player, playing these samples. In fact I’m trying to make a simple sample player with AR envelop, which implies that the sample will stop (so the mediaplayer) after release time (fade out time).
I tried TX16Wx before, but this is not stable.

[dave_dore]

Interesting application Jan, I will think on it and get back to you. I think Cantabile can do it with some work!

Thanks for the reply

Dave

[dave_dore]

Hi Jan,

I can create what you want but in order to make it work with any note off value I would need to make the end of fade output triggers so that you could route them to the notes you wanted but at the song level. I will build up a modded version of it to post tomorrow if possible.

Dave

[dave_dore]

Hi Jan,

I added some bindings to the rack that produce a CC #5 switch output . This also included adding some more output ports for them. There are 4 new ports to supply the CC5 trigger. There iis one for each fade out engine and One for each fade up engine. I assumed the fade out signals would be of primary interest but decided to include fade in signals too.

The bindings at song level would look like this for the media player in use

Here are the modified Quad slope racks, let me know if it works out

Fader Racks with triggers.zip (314.3 KB)

Here are the Dual slope versions with the same mods

Dual Slope Fader Racks 7 - 2019.zip (153.1 KB)

Dave

[JanM]

Thanks Dave,
Looks promising, I will give it a try and come back to you. I have to fix a Korg driver issue first since I installed Windows 10 1903 .

Jan

[JanM]

Well, got it working quite smoothly. I used the single engine version of this rack, changed some bindings and added two for the note on/off triggering.Dave’s rack has been used as an AR envelop now.

This rack is embedded in a Ambient Pads Rack, which basically is my ‘sample/mediaplayer’. Every media player in the rack holds 12 WAV files (for all keys).

Every rack state enables a group of bindings that is used to start the correct WAV-files and trigger the rack fade in / fade out. Tips for more efficient binding definitions (if any) are welcome, BTW. This way a rack state corresponds to a ‘patch’ or ‘program’.

The reason to do all of this: simple WAV-playing for ambient patches saves a lot of CPU power. I used to do this in Omnisphere, but complex reverb effects and granular synthesis can be cpu hungry tasks.

@dave_dore : thanks for this wonderful contribution!
@Torsten : thanks for the inspiring idea of creating envelops using CC7 midi files. Great!