Control Surface Mapping Editor

Hey,

I am new to this forum and really only registered to make a small tool available to other Logic users, maybe its useful for somebody. I published this in another forum already and am re-using the post from there so sorry if some wording is strange in context.

I made a little Java application to re-order the default hardware controller parameter order for plugins in Logic. It uses the CSParameterOrder.plist files Logic creates.

What is it?

The issue is this: Say you have a Mackie C4 and you display the parameters of a plugin on it. If you're lucky the arrangement on the C4 makes sense, if you're unlucky it completely doesn't make any sense at all. This is what this editor is for, it allows you to put the parameters for any plugin in a different order on the control surface.

Can I see an Example?

I am using a Mackie C4 which has 4 rows with 8 controllers each.

http://media.musiciansfriend.com/is/image/MMGS7/Control-C4-Pro/701809000000000-00-500x500.jpg

Heres an example for the Sonnox Oxford EQ, the upper image shows the default mapping and the lower image shows the mapping after editing. It should be obvious that the EQ can be edited much easier with the lower mapping.

BEFORE

http://i.imgur.com/IgGsZqU.png

AFTER

How to use it?

Just drag & drop the tiles around

To use it you must first have stored a "default setting" for each plugin you want to change the order of. Simply open the plugin in Logic and in the preset menu select "Save as default". This also creates a plist file in your (home)/Library/Audio/Presets/(Manufacturer)/(Plugin)/ folder which contains the ordering (and which you can also edit by hand btw).

Then just start the application, it will scan for all plist files automatically and allow you to change the order of the parameters, even insert "blank" ones if you want to do a certain order with free spaces. Right-click on any tile to insert an empty tile.

Functions:

• Rescan: Reloads the plugin list, say if you created a new preset file in Logic
  
• Plugin Selector: Select the plugin to edit
  
• Save Current: Saves the currently selected list
  
• Arrows: Select previous/next plugin
  
• Parameter Label: Change the selected parameter label, press "Return" to select the next parameter
  
• Delete Selected Empty: Deletes the selected tile if its empty
  
• Swap Mode: Switches between swapping tiles and moving them

Known Issues:

• When editing parameter labels the changes will be kept in the UI even if you switch between plugins without saving. The changes will however only be saved into the file when you press "Save Current" while the plugin is selected. Press "rescan" to make sure the UI reflects the state of the actual files.

Theres been no other issues for me but to be sure MAKE A BACKUP OF ~/Library/Audio/Presets/ and ~/Music/Audio Music Apps/Plug-In Settings/ !!

If you have any other issues let me know. Its not a full-blown user friendly application, it was just a little problem solver for me, anyway hope its useful to somebody!

How can I get it?

You can download a full Application or just a Java JAR file here:

Download Link (Full Application, ~65MB)

Optional Download Link (JAR File Only, ~50kB)

You can run this much smaller file directly if you have Java installed on your computer

Version History:

v1.2

• UI improvements

v1.1

• UI fixes
  
• Include version number

v1.0

• First release as application package

v0.9

• Allow editing parameter labels
  
• Allow adding empties with a right-click
  
• Make deleting empties easier

v0.8

• Added support for Logics internal plugins
  
• Added support for swapping tiles instead of moving them
  
• Added tooltips

Cheers,

Normen

Thanks for sharing this tool Normen.

Unfortunately the JAR link appears to be broken.

Thanks for sharing this tool Normen.

Unfortunately the JAR link appears to be broken.

Thanks for mentioning that, should be fixed now.

Hey, I'm just trying this out - thanks for making/sharing it!

Cool, hope it's useful! I am still using it regularly when adding new plugins.

Hey - do you fancy adding any features to this?

If you do, I'd like to suggest some things that may or may not take your fancy

Obviously, I don't know how much effort these are, but some of these things would help improve usability, for when you have hundreds of plugins to deal with..!

Thanks!

- Search/filter parameters box

Typing say "env" would filter out all parameters for the current plugin that didn't have "env" in the description

This would help find parameters in large sets instead of having to scan them by eye.

(But still display empty slots when filtering the display by search results, which can be used as placeholders)

- Search/filter plugin/manufacturer names box

Same for plugin names, to help get to the plugin you want

- Drag improvements

Often there may be a parameter a few pages down that you want to move to the top. Mac apps will auto-scroll if you drag an item to the top/bottom of the view to let you continue to drag beyond the current window bounds. As it is, you have to do a multi-step procedure of drag to the top of the window, scroll, drag to the top, scroll, drag to the top etc.

Also, you can select multiple items, but you can drag/move multiple selections. Would be nice if you could! (Taking into account whether swap mode is active or not)

- Copy/Paste

Single or multiple items. (Taking into account whether swap mode is active or not)

- Wrap Long Titles

So long titles get fully displayed, rather than truncated off the edge of the box

- Auto colouring by group

When displaying the parameters, you could auto-colour based on names, so ones with "filt" or "flt" could be green, ones with "env", "attack", "decay" etc could be orange - this would help visually group similar parameters. You could even have a group/colour pref file the autocoloring uses that the user could edit for their own needs - a colour attached to multiple text/search terms.

Anyway, even as it is, it's proving very useful - thanks again.

Hey - do you fancy adding any features to this?

Nah, not really worth it. In the end I found that the time lost with these usability details is negligible compared to the time spent thinking about the proper ordering etc. anyway, esp. for a large set of plugins.

A text view for the plist file that can be opened side-by-side and syncs to the main display would allow for most things you ask for and be much simpler to implement and more powerful to use. I thought about adding that but in the end you can just open it in a text editor that is a bit smart about external edits.

But sure - all of the "shortcomings" are more evident when you edit the bulk of your plugins for the first time.