Automation Quick Access unexpected behavior

Hello everyone,

 

I am having trouble with automation quick access (AQA). I set the Mod Wheel of my old Fatar 61 MIDI controller to be the AQA controller by going into the Automation Preferences and selecting Learn Message, using the Mod Wheel to go through all of the values, and then selecting the Done button.

 

In the automation lane, I select Region and expression, for example. Touch is the selected mode.

My understanding is that the AQA Mod Wheel should write to the expression lane, or any parameter chosen, but as soon as I touch the Mod wheel it defaults to Volume. I tried selecting different parameters but the wheel always defaults to Volume. What am I doing wrong?

 

-Jonathan

Logic Pro X 10.4.6

MacBook Pro Mid-2015 2.5 GHz i7

16 GB RAM

Hello everyone,

 

I am having trouble with automation quick access (AQA). I set the Mod Wheel of my old Fatar 61 MIDI controller to be the AQA controller by going into the Automation Preferences and selecting Learn Message, using the Mod Wheel to go through all of the values, and then selecting the Done button.

 

In the automation lane, I select Region and expression, for example. Touch is the selected mode.

My understanding is that the AQA Mod Wheel should write to the expression lane, or any parameter chosen, but as soon as I touch the Mod wheel it defaults to Volume. I tried selecting different parameters but the wheel always defaults to Volume. What am I doing wrong?

 

-Jonathan

Logic Pro X 10.4.6

MacBook Pro Mid-2015 2.5 GHz i7

16 GB RAM

That is the expected automation behavior in the Touch mode. Experiment with the other modes to familiarize yourself with them.

Experiencing the same issue Trogon.

 

To clarify the above reply, unless I'm mistaken, it seems that AQA is designed to look for the most recently used parameter in the track automation lane. At least that is how it's configured to work on my system following the basic setup protocol in the manual. If there are no other automation parameters active in track automation, then AQA will default to track volume. Same with region automation. For instance, If you write some arbitrary plugin automation in the track automation lane then AQA will default to that same parameter when switching to region automation.

 

Can any experts weigh in on the possibility of using AQA with region based automation as Trogon describes? Is it possible to select the c11 in the region automation view and write an automation pass with AQA with no prior track lane automation? AQA Automation currently defaults to volume when I try.

Following up on this (for future reference), it seems this is not possible due to the fact AQA can automate various 'track' parameters (fader, pan, plugins etc) but not write MIDI data itself. The region automation lane can show both track parameters AND midi data, hence the confusion. That said, this would make a useful feature.

Following up on this (for future reference), it seems this is not possible due to the fact AQA can automate various 'track' parameters (fader, pan, plugins etc) but not write MIDI data itself. The region automation lane can show both track parameters AND midi data, hence the confusion. That said, this would make a useful feature.

That's correct. Despite Apple's effort to unify the interface and call everything "automation", MIDI CC data is not automation, and doesn't behave as automation does. So yes Automation Quick Access can be used to record automation, not to record MIDI CCs.

 

Note that on the other hand, you can create a Smart Control knob for any MIDI CC and use a MIDI knob to record that MIDI CC "automation style" (using for example Touch or Latch modes).

Very clever workaround, thanks as always David!

You're welcome!