Is this the right way to set up Zone/Modes in Controller Assignments?

[levets]

 

Yes, wouldn't something like this be a great feature? ( ) Feedback in general requires some "intelligent" handling, and isn't possible on a dumb MIDI controller beyond some very basic options that's aren't flexible and aren't worth going into here.

 

I was meaning on Logic's screen!

 

It would be really simple for them to have a screen popup like a help tip say "Mode: Upper Manual" when I press the button for that Mode Change. Heck, it seems like it might already send something to external controllers which is way harder. Even if it was up in the LCD display.

 

Of course, as we know, nothing is simple with Apple! I'm also not planning to update anymore - don't even want to risk Catalina at this point so Big Wreck is out of the question at this point. So I'll be on 10.5 until I can't take it anymore!

[simoncroft]

levets: All interesting stuff. I think once I've got through the 'proof of concept' stage, I need to map out what I'm trying to achieve. Without some sort of plan, it would be too easy to get horribly confused, and start assigning multiple functions to the same button, when my intention was actually a nested hierarchy.

 

I too have the V-Collection, but I have reservations about how realistic it is to set-up complete assignments for the actual GUIs. I started doing that to the Mini V, and it started to get very messy. For me, the way forward will probably be to assign the eight parameters over which I'm most likely to want 'performance control' over to Smart Controls, and use eight physical controls to address them in a "one goes to one, two goes to two..." scheme.

 

Trying to remember which control is oscillator 2 is too much of a guessing game!

 

des99: Thank you for the clarifications, which I will add to my collection of notes. I progress a lot faster when I'm not trying to do the impossible. As for my assignments graphic, I might just print it out and stick it on the wall. Logic takes up all of the screen real-estate most of the time.

[des99]

I was meaning on Logic's screen!

 

I know what you meant.

 

It would be really simple for them to have a screen popup like a help tip say "Mode: Upper Manual" when I press the button for that Mode Change. Heck, it seems like it might already send something to external controllers which is way harder. Even if it was up in the LCD display.

 

It's not a case of "simple" - these things are designed for custom interfaces *that already have their own feedback*. You don't need an onscren display on a MCU when you press the "EQ Mode" button, as that button lights up, and the screen changes - in other words, there is already user feedback in the place where the user's attention is.

 

Remember that what we are doing here is using a mechanic designed to implement control surfaces, on simple hardware controllers that aren't designed with this in mind - so it's always a compromise.

 

Given the amount of people who even bother to try to implement anything more than a few simple MIDI learns, Apple aren't exactly motivated by a need to better help people program complicated solutions with simple gear. What we are doing here is getting the best out of limited gear, or setting something up super custom to your specific needs. And while it possible, not *everything* is possible, without some other intelligent agent in between.

 

This agent appears to be the control surface module itself, but that's not something non-developers can access - that requires an agreement with Apple and an NDA to get access to the SDK (though everything here is a black box). It's something I'm contemplating applying for - I know how to do it, but I'm not sure yet of what the qualifying conditions are.

 

So while just displaying onscreen feedback of mode changes is indeed "simple", that doesn't mean it's a feature that they should implement, especially when there are much better ways of doing properly, but using actual, properly developed, supported control surfaces.

 

For the rest of us, we're maximising the tools we have, within the limitations that exist.

[simoncroft]

Given the amount of people who even bother to try to implement anything more than a few simple MIDI learns, Apple aren't exactly motivated by a need to better help people program complicated solutions with simple gear. What we are doing here is getting the best out of limited gear, or setting something up super custom to your specific needs. And while it possible, not *everything* is possible, without some other intelligent agent in between.

 

This agent appears to be the control surface module itself, but that's not something non-developers can access - that requires an agreement with Apple and an NDA to get access to the SDK (though everything here is a black box). It's something I'm contemplating applying for - I know how to do it, but I'm not sure yet of what the qualifying conditions are.

 

The impression I get from looking at video from Apple's conferences is they are keen for developers to be as on-board as possible. Whether that is limited to informing them of the latest OS, or extends to their own applications, I really don't know. Looking at the many independently developed AU plug-ins there are around, I can't imagine you need to be a corporation to get access to the Software Development Kit. I just hope Apple is as helpful to you as you've been to us!

[des99]

The plugin spec is different - this is freely available for anyone to download and use, and is a spec that's part of MacOS.

 

The control surface SDK is different - it's access is under NDA only (or always has been) probably because it exposes some technical things in Logic that are proprietry and Apple wish to keep confidential - and probably also for commercial reasons, as this lets Apple to a certain extent control who can make "supported" control surfaces in Logic.

 

I'd settle with just some automated way to create a bunch of controller assignments (this is one of the things a control surface module can do) but I'm not Korg or Native Instruments so I think the liklihood of getting access to the control surface SDK is slim... but I don't know for sure.

[simoncroft]

des99 - are you also Desmond on the Sound On Sound forums? I'm guessing so, because you both seem to know an awful lot about Controller Assignments! I hope no-one minds if I quote Desmond and Blott from SOS February 2018, because these insights have just saved me from making some rookie errors in the structure of my Modes.

 

Blott wrote:

I thought it'd be wise since I'm going to be mapping the same plugins to three different synths. The idea being that that whichever one I'm sat in front of I'll still have the same control of my soft synths regardless (or at least that was my plan).

 

Ok, this means that to control your target synth, you need to load that synth, and then press a button to select the desired mode for that synth, before the controls will work. Not optimal, really. You call up your EVB3, and then before the controls will work, you've got to remember to hit button 17 on your controller which is the button you've mapped to select the EVB3 mode... :headbang:

 

Blott wrote:

If you just did them all under one Mode I just thought it'd be messy. I thought that was the point in having the option for multiple Modes?

 

Not really, but kind of. The point of modes is to be able to reuse certain controls for different purposes. If you look at a Mackie Control (which is a kind of reference implementation for the controller assignments, as this what what they were built for), the soft knobs along the top - sometimes you want them to be pan controls, sometime you want them to be aux send controls, sometimes you want them to be instrument edit knobs, sometime you want them to be plugin edit knobs. This is a good example of how to us Modes - the MCU has an "EQ" button which puts the Knob zones into EQ mode, and there is a "Pan" button which puts them into Pan mode, etc...

 

But you don't need to do this for the purpose of targetting different instrument plugins to edit.

 

Try this (and this is how my instrument assignments are done):-

Forget about Modes and Zones for the sake of this test, do any test assignments in the default "No Zone" and no Mode to keep thing simple.

 

- Load an ES1.

- Assign the knob you want to use for Filter Cutoff to it's cutoff parameter.

- Now replace that with an ES2.

- Learn *the same knob* to the ES2's cutoff parameter.

(These should all be directed to "Selected Channel Strip" BTW).

 

Ok. So what happens now? Any channel strip can only ever have one instrument loaded on it. So, load the ES1, and twiddle your cutoff knob. It works. Replace that with an ES2 and twiddle the same knob - it just works.

 

There is no extra step of having to put the controls into the correct mode for each different synth you want to control - you can learn the same control to parameters of multiple synths - the assignment remain unique to that instrument, and only the ones that match the loaded instrument will apply at any given time - the rest are ignored.

 

I have about 16-30 assignments for each of probably over 50 plugins assigned this way. It works great, the correct controls target the correct parameters based on what instrument is on the selected channel strip.

 

(This is what never used to work reliably in previous versions of Logic - you could make the assignments, but after about 7 or so instruments, the mappings would get flakey and unreliable and misbehave).

 

No modes involved at all - i just works, transparently, once mapped, and you don't have to do anything else (at least for this application).

 

And this is all without factoring LPX's Smart Controls into the process, which is another way of setting this up...

 

desmond

[des99]

des99 - are you also Desmond on the Sound On Sound forums?

 

Yup.

 

I'm guessing so, because you both seem to know an awful lot about Controller Assignments!

 

We know about the same amount of stuff - I sometimes I ask him for help but he doesn't really tell me anything I don't already know...

 

As for that post, yes, this still applies but it's not the way I do things these days.

 

It does work, but has downsides which may or may not affect you (which is why it's good to explore these things and understand the behaviours and apply them to your use cases.).

 

Instruments are largely ok, because you can only ever have one instrument on the selected channel - so this method will work - and that's what's being discussed in that post.

 

For audio plugins, it's more a problem, as your one control will now potentially change all plugins that are listening for the that control. And if you've already used those controls for the instrument, you can't "target" them to the correct plugin - unless you use Modes to target your devices.

 

Even then, say you have an "EQ Mode" that maps your channel EQ. Great. Now what happens when you put a *second* channel EQ on that track..?

 

Honestly, I firmly believe than manual assignments are *not* the way to go in general, and I've talked about my current approach in other threads, which works great but is not simple to setup. Currently.

 

But everyone's use cases and needs are different, and if you have simple-ish needs, then by all means investigate what you can do with the current system. You may well come up with a perfectly workable system for your needs - and if so, it's good to document how you set things up to give other people ideas of what they can do, because it's still a somewhat opaque and nerdy thing that most people don't bother with, or give up after trying it a bit...

[simoncroft]

But everyone's use cases and needs are different, and if you have simple-ish needs, then by all means investigate what you can do with the current system. You may well come up with a perfectly workable system for your needs - and if so, it's good to document how you set things up to give other people ideas of what they can do, because it's still a somewhat opaque and nerdy thing that most people don't bother with, or give up after trying it a bit...

 

Once I have a useful system up and running, I well definitely document how I did it, and produce a PDF with screen shots. I'll also make a demonstration video.

 

Increasingly, I'm thinking it's best I stick to a simple scheme that controls 8 'outboard' processor plug-ins effectively. Once I find out how that works for me, and hopefully others too, I can start considering whether more complex arrangements will actually assist my workflow.

 

Sadly, I had a bit of a Waves nightmare last night, and I need to mop that up before I do anything else. For some reason, Logic decided I didn't have licenses for any of my Waves plug-ins, so to stem the disruption, I uninstalled the lot. Today, I've remembered how tedious trying to install v9 plug-ins under 10.15 is. What a time waster!

[simoncroft]

For the benefit of anyone following this thread – now or in the future – I would like you to know that, with the invaluable help I've received here, I have achieved what I set out to do. That is: I can control multiple plug-ins from a Korn nanoKontrol and an M-Audio Axiom 49. I intend to post a video showing what my set-up does, along with a PDF booklet, giving a full explanation of the Zone/Mode/Control/Parameter structure I created. I'll also include screenshots of the different types of control assignment parameters used, along with an explanation of what they do.

 

Perhaps most importantly: I'll describe all all the mistakes I made along the way, and how I managed to find workarounds that turned complete disasters into minor inconveniences! I'm still new to all this, and I still have a lot to learn.

 

When I've done that, I'll start a new thread and post a link here too.

 

Many thanks to Des99 for the great advice and David Nahmani for his excellent book and invaluable forum.

 

EDIT: I meant to add, I found this tool very helpful https://www.snoize.com/MIDIMonitor/ That's how I found out that some of my controls were set to SYS EX, and would never be recognised by Logic's Controller assignments unless I changed them to a specific MIDI channel.

[usersincelogic4]

This thread is gold! Thanks to Simon for starting it and Des for the invaluable information.

 

Haven't read through the whole thing yet so apologies if this has already been addressed, but @Des99 can you please help me find the error of my ways? viewtopic.php?f=1&t=154103

 

Groove3 should hire you to make a video course about controller assignments

 

I'm passionate enough about studio optimisation that I'd love to learn what there is to learn about this topic. Find it really interesting to hear what gurus like Yoad Nevo can get Logic to do.

[des99]

I would like you to know that, with the invaluable help I've received here, I have achieved what I set out to do.

 

Great!

 

I intend to post a video showing what my set-up does, along with a PDF booklet, giving a full explanation of the Zone/Mode/Control/Parameter structure I created. I'll also include screenshots of the different types of control assignment parameters used, along with an explanation of what they do.

 

Awesome, that should be helpful for people having similar needs and not knowing where to start.

[simoncroft]

The V1 draft of the first five chapters of my developing book can be found here: http://www.just-play.com/ControllerAssignmentsBookV1.pdf

 

Before I expand the book, and place it in the public domain along with a demonstration video or two, I'd be very grateful for your feedback. I am especially keen not to mislead anyone, so where I don't really understand how I've managed to get something to work, I've said so!

 

As the book is already 5MB (and that's with smudgy image quality) I'll probably put a future edition onto Issuu, so that people can browse it without downloading if they prefer.

[des99]

Awesome, will take a look!

 

Edit: I might have some notes, but awesome job!

[usersincelogic4]

The V1 draft of the first five chapters of my developing book can be found here: http://www.just-play.com/ControllerAssignmentsBookV1.pdf

 

Before I expand the book, and place it in the public domain along with a demonstration video or two, I'd be very grateful for your feedback. I am especially keen not to mislead anyone, so where I don't really understand how I've managed to get something to work, I've said so!

 

As the book is already 5MB (and that's with smudgy image quality) I'll probably put a future edition onto Issuu, so that people can browse it without downloading if they prefer.

 

Wow, this is very impressive. Much appreciated

[simoncroft]

Thanks, guys.

[simoncroft]

Just to let you know, I've discovered a limitation, but also an easy work-around. I've just spent a baffled hour, trying to work out why my assignments for the CLA MixHub work sometimes, but not others, even though the assignments themselves look as if the 'should' work.

 

They only work on the stereo version! If you're working on a mono track, the easy fix is to put a stereo delay in the first plug-in position, then follow it with the CLA MixHub stereo. All will then be fine, even if you then switch the delay off.

 

I imagine I will encounter this problem in the future when creating assignments for other plug-ins that have mono and stereo incarnations.

[usersincelogic4]

Just to let you know, I've discovered a limitation, but also an easy work-around. I've just spent a baffled hour, trying to work out why my assignments for the CLA MixHub work sometimes, but not others, even though the assignments themselves look as if the 'should' work.

 

They only work on the stereo version! If you're working on a mono track, the easy fix is to put a stereo delay in the first plug-in position, then follow it with the CLA MixHub stereo. All will then be fine, even if you then switch the delay off.

 

I imagine I will encounter this problem in the future when creating assignments for other plug-ins that have mono and stereo incarnations.

 

An even easier workaround is to option-click the plugin slot and select the stereo version. This trick lets you insert mono plugins on stereo channels and vice versa

 

Fortunately, many companies don't make separate mono and stereo versions like Waves does. Waves = faff IMO.

[simoncroft]

Very good points! I was panicking a bit at the time, because I'm trying to put the demo video together as well.

 

Something I've just noticed is my Channel EQ Assignment, not only opens the floating window for the EQ, it will actually add an instance to a selected channel. I've looked carefully, but so far I can't see what would be causing those two behaviours when compared my other plugin assignments.

[des99]

I don't have that plugin you referred to above, so I can't check how it behaves with it's parameters - some different flavours of a plugin expose their parameters differently between versions, for instance, or have multiple sets of parameters, where one set is for the mono version, and another set is for the stereo version.

 

There are key commands to open plugins, and there are control surface commands to target various inserts and open plugins etc, but it's difficult to know what's going on there without any specifics...

[simoncroft]

I'm talking about the Channel EQ that comes as standard with LPX. In fact, you can see it doing exactly what I'm talking about on this video I've just made.

 

 

At the moment, it's Unlisted, because I don't want to go public until I've put a home page with the PDF on my web site, and also given you a fair chance to comment of its contents.

[des99]

I'm talking about the Channel EQ that comes as standard with LPX.

 

Sorry, I was referring to the earlier CLA Mix Hub issue discussed above.

 

I'll take a gander at the vid... (you can breathe now... )

 

Oh - as for the EQ behaviour - I haven't checked, but I think this is a general Logic behaviour specific to the EQ (and possibly compressor too), where tweaking parameters will add an instance, just like clicking the EQ thumbnail on the channel strip will add an instance.

 

Interesting you chose to put the cut/boost on the knobs, and the frequencies on the sliders - I always favoured the other way around, where the sliders were doing cut/boost and the knobs changing the frequency per band, as cut/boost is more an up/down thing and frequencies seem more a left/right thing...

Edited January 4, 2021 by des99

[simoncroft]

I see the logic of what you're saying. Pardon the pun.

[facej]

Standard behavior of the MCU/Logic Control surface is open (or create and open) an EQ plugin when the EQ button is pressed. https://support.apple.com/guide/logicpro-css/eq-button-overview-ctls722273a3/10.6/mac/10.15 - the EQ settings make a huge amount of sense when looking at an MCU (X-Touch) with one fader and set of buttons/knobs for each of the 8 bands on the EQs...

[des99]

Yes, that's when you go into EQ mode (similar to clicking on the EQ thumbnail). Logic says "Ok, you're going to EQ, but you don't have an EQ inserted yet - I'll sort that out for you to save you the bother - here it is!"

 

It's similar behaviour to when you go into Instrument Edit mode, the instrument plugin opens, and same for Plugin Edit mode - the plugin are the currently targeted insert slot opens.

 

But Simon isn't using the MCU or those settings, he's using manual assignments only.

 

Like I say, I haven't looked at it to definitively say what's happening there. My *guess* would be that unlike most plugins (where an unmatched assignment would simply be ignored), if Logic detects an incoming matching assignment for the EQ plugin on the currently selected channel/insert where there isn't currently one loaded, this is the mechanic that adds it (so it works for both the MCU-supported stuff, as well as manual assignments).

[Selth3]

I don't think I've ever wanted to hug strangers more in my life. This is a wonderful thread. I have been baffled by smart controls for so long. I've started to learn and then stopped and started and stopped. This morning I thought I'd try to finally tackle this great mystery of smart controls. Seven hour later I find this post. Seven hours and 15 minutes later, I finally understand. Great work. Great questions. Great answers. Thank you so very much!

[des99]

Heh! Thanks - that's the value of preserving this somewhat nerdy conversations that generally only apply to a small minority of people - sometimes you're the answer to someone's prayers!

 

Glad it's proved useful!

[simoncroft]

Hello chaps. Just wanted to say I've learned a lot since my first attempt at a PDF booklet on the basics of Controller Assignments. Before I release a V2, I need to document it all carefully, and people keep throwing other projects at me. However, it will appear, and it will be a lot more comprehensive than V1. At that point, LPX will hopefully be revised to make the most of MIDI 2, and I'll need to start again...

[D4rkKn1ght]

I have so much gratitude to this thread and all the people who have gone before me, investigating and asking questions that help others out.

 

I've been doing a lot of reading across a few Des' threads on here the last couple of days. I initially tried to go down the very deep, dark rabbit hole of emulating the C4 and that just wasn't working out well for me with my new Midi Fighter Twister controller.

 

However, I've gone with the in-built learn assignments method that Logic provides (Des, I think you refer to them as manual assignments?) - and for my use cases, combined with modes, I think I can get it to do what I want. That is to say, I pretty much have already.

 

I currently have 2 main hurdles to overcome and was hoping that someone could help me out.

 

1. This might be for another thread as I think it has to do with the Environment and Des, you've expressed little to no interest in that on the threads I've read. I'd like to display on screen (computer screen that is) the currently active Mode. There's another thread I read about this, so most likely I'll reply there to try and tackle this one.

 

2. This is definitely where I'm hoping Des you can help: I'd like to assign a button on my physical controller that will launch/open the plugin on the currently selected track. And then maybe another button or two to move between the insert slots, opening the GUI for whichever plugin is on said slot. Your other thread on targeting insert slots is quite old and not very explicit. You very briefly referred to this thread-targeting functionality earlier in this thread too. Could you please elaborate on this?

 

Currently, I'm thinking what I'd have to do is add a fictional MCU in the Setup section and then see if I can find the mackie control that does what I want, and copy/paste it to the Zone/Mode that I want and customise it to work with my controller and desired button. Let me know if this is the only/simplest way to go about it, because the downside to this is then I have to keep that fictional MCU in the setup even though I don't want 90% of its pre-made assignments cluttering up my assignments window. Although, I suppose I could delete all the ones I'm not using. But still... messier than I'd like.

 

If the above method is the way you'd suggest, could you please give me some advice on the names of the assignments I'm looking for when I look through all the VPots, V-Selects etc. There're so many and I'm not super familiar with them. To reiterate, I'm looking to launch the GUI of an insert slot on the currently selected track, and then be able to move up and down the insert slots. I'd prefer the up/down/cycle method to navigate the slots rather than dedicated buttons for each slot as I don't know how many inserts I may use in any situation and I don't have a large number of buttons free to dedicate to this function.

 

Really look forward to your advice and much gratitude for all this education so far!

[usersincelogic4]

I'm interested in this too!

[des99]

1. This might be for another thread as I think it has to do with the Environment and Des, you've expressed little to no interest in that on the threads I've read.

 

I don't know the thread you mention, but I don't generally do much environment hacking these days, I paid my dues in that area between Logic 1.x-5.x..

 

I'd like to display on screen (computer screen that is) the currently active Mode.

 

Pretty sure this is not possible (I struggle with this for a very specific reason which I'll touch on briefly.)

 

A Mode is simply a state of the Controller Assignments - you can think of it like a variable that just determines which set of assignments should respond to an incoming message. There is no facility in Logic to "display" that variable, or have changes to the mode send out a MIDI message, and there is no way to ask Logic "what Mode are you in for this Zone" and get a response - it simply doesn't work like that (it would of course be useful if it did, but it doesn't.)

 

And while there is a "feedback" setting in controller assignments, it's generally only useful in conjunction with a supported control surface module, because it's the code in there that determines what happens with feedback. For me, when emulating an MCU, there *is* one way I can detect what mode we are in, because in the MCU control surface handling (this is the code in the control surface module, which is an invisible black box), when you select a Mode on an MCU, it's associated LED light lights up. My software detects those MIDI commands to set the appropriate light, and thus I can determine what Mode Logic is now in.

 

(Frustratingly though, the C4, which is what I'm currently emulating, does not have buttons for Mode changes, and thus does not have indicator lights, and thus the Control Surface module knows this, and does not send these. So emulating the C4, again, I *cannot* find out the the current Mode Logic is in, which is a pain, because when you launch Logic and restores the previous Mode and so it could be in any state. I have to do some workarounds (mostly around parsing the display) to try and determine where I am, and so I can virtually poke the correct buttons to put me where I need to be.)

 

So, if you're looking for a Mode display, particularly without using a support control surface and just using manual assignments, you'll find it's not something that's possible, to the best of my knowledge. (If you do figure out something clever here, please let me know! )

 

2. This is definitely where I'm hoping Des you can help: I'd like to assign a button on my physical controller that will launch/open the plugin on the currently selected track. And then maybe another button or two to move between the insert slots, opening the GUI for whichever plugin is on said slot. Your other thread on targeting insert slots is quite old and not very explicit. You very briefly referred to this thread-targeting functionality earlier in this thread too. Could you please elaborate on this?

 

Ok, there are some complications here (but using an emulated MCU, this is perfectly possible, as this was my first use case for doing this, so I have experience here).

 

On the MCU, when you navigate to the correct screen (there's a few different ones) where you can load plugins, you basically click the Vpot on the insert slot you want, and this brings up the name of the first plugin in the list of plugins onto the display. You now turn the vpot, and each click will bring the name of the next plugin onto the display. You turn until you reach the plugin you want, and the click the Vpot to confirm, at which point Logic loads the plugin.

 

So, at a basic level, you'd send the virtual MCU the necessary button presses and knob turns to load a particular plugin.

 

Some gotchas. The plugin list is (helpfully) completely unsorted, and unpredictable. It also changes when you install or remove plugins, and depending on the channel mode and so on. So, if you figure that 423 knob increments loads your SSL channel strip in stereo, a mono channel it might be position 323 in the list. And if you install another plugin, that might change the position in that list, and so cause the assignment to break.

 

So to do this well requires a *lot* of behind the scenes overhead - and this is basically what the first version of my MCU software is doing.

 

If you're going the manual assignments route, unless you are doing something *really* simple, you might not find it feasible.

 

Currently, I'm thinking what I'd have to do is add a fictional MCU in the Setup section and then see if I can find the mackie control that does what I want, and copy/paste it to the Zone/Mode that I want and customise it to work with my controller and desired button. Let me know if this is the only/simplest way to go about it, because the downside to this is then I have to keep that fictional MCU in the setup even though I don't want 90% of its pre-made assignments cluttering up my assignments window. Although, I suppose I could delete all the ones I'm not using. But still... messier than I'd like.

 

Yes, that would be the way to go. And yes, you can delete unused assignments. But if you remove the "fictional" MCU, there will no longer be a control surface active and thus you lose access to the features that require this (eg fader banks and many other "control surface parameters" and so on) as they won't be available.

 

If the above method is the way you'd suggest, could you please give me some advice on the names of the assignments I'm looking for when I look through all the VPots, V-Selects etc. There're so many and I'm not super familiar with them. To reiterate, I'm looking to launch the GUI of an insert slot on the currently selected track, and then be able to move up and down the insert slots. I'd prefer the up/down/cycle method to navigate the slots rather than dedicated buttons for each slot as I don't know how many inserts I may use in any situation and I don't have a large number of buttons free to dedicate to this function.

 

Any of this stuff is made much easier by being familiar with how the MCU works. If you don't have one and haven't used one, you'll find it harder to navigate for sure. I can't give a full list of all your spots from memory right now, but if you're doing this, you're going to need to dig into the MCU-created assignments and start to get a handle on where stuff is, so dig in, and I'll try to give you a hand if you get stuck.

 

Really look forward to your advice and much gratitude for all this education so far!

 

No problem. This is all roads I've been down many times over the years (although my head is currently in other areas.)