Visual Feedback/Display of Controller Status

Cantabile
Tags: #<Tag:0x00007f9788876438>
#1

Hi folks. It’s been a while since I’ve been here. To be honest I haven’t been using Cantabile as it was taking too long to migrate from Forte (and frequency of shows didn’t allow time to test before performing). However I have a month or so to get a few projects migrated and ready.

Many of the bands I perform with I use an AKAI MPK261 and trigger backing tracks, loops, play synth and some basic live mixing (levels, eq, fx) using the faders and rotary encoders. The one downside I have with the MPK261’s encoders is that they don’t provide any visual feedback of where the encoder is/what value I am currently positioned. So…

Is there a way to see this presented in Cantabile either using Cantabile itself or a plugin that could be used? I have previously tried BlueCat (can’t remember the plugin know) which is kind of like Automap but its really REALLY small.

Anyone have any ideas or anything that you guys use to show your controller feedback?

#2

Hey,

I was thinking about this too. There is an app from BlueCat called Remote. I never used it because it seemed to complicated to adapt it to my needs.
I worked a bit with CTRLR:
http://ctrlr.org/
This works pretty well. The great thing is, that you can export your layout as VST and load it as VST in Cantabile. I build some simple midi controllers with it. This is also not THAT easy, but since what you want to do does not require deep coding skills, you will manage it.

Maybe this helps…

1 Like
#3

Bluecat Remote - that’s the blighter… That’s what I use at the moment (I say use; I may as well not bother as unless I’m less than an inch away from the laptop monitor [never] I just can’t see it - waaaay too small and too difficult to code a different GUI)…

CTRLR looks interesting… I think I’ll look into it! Thanks for the tip @FantomXR ! I’ll report back!

#4

I’ve just started trialing Cantabile (loving it) and I too need some way of grouping a visual indication of the changing status of various different parameters (across different plugins) in one place on the screen. I’m playing around with a little Behringer X-touch mini and the rotary encoders actually work very well with Cantabile - 2-way communication works really well and the LED rings around the encoders show the current status.

But it’s not particularly easy to see what’s going on at a glance and you need somehow to label up the various encoders etc. What would be really nice is if the encoders poked through a flat panel screen on which a fully-fledged GUI was being displayed. That way you could have whatever you wanted, including for instance a numerical (as well as graphical) readout of each encoder’s current value. And when you switched from one context (eg song) to another, any changes in the function of the encoders could be displayed automatically. Someone’s going to say why not go the whole hog and have a full VR setup but I can’t play the piano with gloves on.

So, short of pipe dreams like the above what’s the best bet? I’ll try out the two suggestions in this thread so far - thanks for those - and report back. And if anyone has any other ideas I’d be really interested. Of course some native support for this sort of thing in Cantabile would be wonderful, and judging by the way the rest of the program’s been put together would work beautifully. But it sounds like Brad’s pretty busy just now with all the technology update stuff so I’ll not hold my breath.

Cheers, Ian.

Behringer X-Touch integration