How to access another "bank" on my midi controller?

[zepsun]

I have a project with 20 tracks/faders. I have a midi controller (BeatStep) with 16 knobs. How can I learn the remaining 4 faders (17-20)  to the Beatstep. Is there a way I can use another button on my controller like a "shift" key to re-use knobs 1-4 as my control for faders 17-20?

[enossified]

I assume you manually mapped the encoders to track volumes? If that's the case, set up a second preset in Arturia's MIDI Control Center to control the other tracks (I'd suggest mapping it to 17-32 actually). Then just use the pads to switch between the two presets.  

 

 

Edited April 9, 2023 by enossified

[zepsun]

14 hours ago, enossified said:

I assume you manually mapped the encoders to track volumes? If that's the case, set up a second preset in Arturia's MIDI Control Center to control the other tracks (I'd suggest mapping it to 17-32 actually). Then just use the pads to switch between the two presets.  

Sounds like it might work if I knew how to do that. I have MCC downloaded, but not sure how to do what you are proposing.  Sorry, I'm very new to programming MIDI.

[enossified]

I'll rephrase the first question: How did you map the encoders to volumes for tracks 1-8?

[zepsun]

17 minutes ago, enossified said:

I'll rephrase the first question: How did you map the encoders to volumes for tracks 1-8?

I used midi learn (cmd+L) to assign one fader and knob at a time. 

[zepsun]

I think I found it... 

I found out have to change channels on the Beatstep. Then I have to change the track header's channel to correspond. Is there a faster way to map it to the right channel without having to select it in the track headers afterwards?

EDIT: I think this is only good for software instruments. Can't seem to find where to change channels on audio tracks. 

Edited April 10, 2023 by zepsun

[enossified]

OK, if you are just using MIDI learn, try this.

Open up Arturia MCC. It will show you the current 16 presets loaded into the beatstep. That will include not only the 16 encoders but also all the pads. which you probably don't care about here.

Look and see what the 16 encoders are set to in the first preset. It's probably a consecutive set of CCs. If you open up the second preset you can program the encoders to the next 16 consecutive CCs. Save the preset in MCC and then send it to the Beatsep (the manual explains how to do both). Then you can use MIDI Learn to assign those.

Experiment with this a bit. You might want to create a preset for Smart Controls as well. 

Hope this is of help.

[zepsun]

5 hours ago, enossified said:

OK, if you are just using MIDI learn, try this.

Open up Arturia MCC. It will show you the current 16 presets loaded into the beatstep. That will include not only the 16 encoders but also all the pads. which you probably don't care about here.

Look and see what the 16 encoders are set to in the first preset. It's probably a consecutive set of CCs. If you open up the second preset you can program the encoders to the next 16 consecutive CCs. Save the preset in MCC and then send it to the Beatsep (the manual explains how to do both). Then you can use MIDI Learn to assign those.

Experiment with this a bit. You might want to create a preset for Smart Controls as well. 

Hope this is of help.

Thanks for this. There is a mixed bag of options in the CC dropdown. Do I chose Volume Fader for each encoder knob? If memory banks are my presets or banks, how do I chose memory #3 if faders 17 and higher? Using the Channel button +pad 3 on the controller? 

[enossified]

I wish I still had my Beatpad, it would be easier to explain 😉

With the Beatpad connected to the Mac, open up the MCC.  Press the Sync button to load your current settings.

Now you can click on each encoder in MCC and it will dispaly what the current settings are in preset #1.

 

In the pic above you can see that the encoder in red is selected and it's set to output CC#76 on the Global channel with a minimum value of 10 and maximum of 32. The min-max range in this case means the encoder has a narrow range of adjustment of that CC. If you want the encoder to cover the full range of a parameter set min to 0, max to 127. You can also do reverse I think (min 127, max 0) for any cases where that makes sense.

You can read on your screen how your encoders are currently set, it's probably CCs in ascending order. That is what you used during MIDI Learn to control your 16 volume faders.

Now look at preset #2, it's probably the same. You can assign different CC numbers to the encoders (I suggest you continue the ascending numbers from preset #1. If the last encoder there is CC#x, then start  preset #2 off at CC#x+1 and then go in ascending order until you reach CC#x+17. 

As you make these edits, the Beatstep automatically picks them up. This is temporary until you store the preset to the Beatstep (see Beatstep manual p.21). That lets you tweak the eidts until you know they are doing what you want. Feel free to experiment here, just don't save. You can always close MCC and the Beatstep will revert to the state it was in before you started edits.

One thing to understand: Each preset pairs a sequence with the controller assignments. If you are using the sequencer, you can edit sequences in the same way (read the manual).  When you switch from preset #1 to preset #2 in order to control the next 16 volume faders you will also load the sequence from that preset. If the Beatstep sequencer is running at the time, it will switch to the new sequence. 

I suggest you read chapters 4 and 5 in the manual a few times and experiment a bit with editing. A good idea is the very first time you sync the Beatstep and MCC you save the file and give it a name like "Initial Beatstep Backup" so you can always restore the settings you have today in the future.

There's lots of videos about the Beatstep on YouTube, start here for the Arturia videos and then search for others if you need to.

Hope this helps.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 11, 2023 by enossified

[zepsun]

19 hours ago, enossified said:

I wish I still had my Beatpad, it would be easier to explain 😉

With the Beatpad connected to the Mac, open up the MCC.  Press the Sync button to load your current settings.

Now you can click on each encoder in MCC and it will dispaly what the current settings are in preset #1.

In the pic above you can see that the encoder in red is selected and it's set to output CC#76 on the Global channel with a minimum value of 10 and maximum of 32. The min-max range in this case means the encoder has a narrow range of adjustment of that CC. If you want the encoder to cover the full range of a parameter set min to 0, max to 127. You can also do reverse I think (min 127, max 0) for any cases where that makes sense.

You can read on your screen how your encoders are currently set, it's probably CCs in ascending order. That is what you used during MIDI Learn to control your 16 volume faders.

Now look at preset #2, it's probably the same. You can assign different CC numbers to the encoders (I suggest you continue the ascending numbers from preset #1. If the last encoder there is CC#x, then start  preset #2 off at CC#x+1 and then go in ascending order until you reach CC#x+17. 

As you make these edits, the Beatstep automatically picks them up. This is temporary until you store the preset to the Beatstep (see Beatstep manual p.21). That lets you tweak the eidts until you know they are doing what you want. Feel free to experiment here, just don't save. You can always close MCC and the Beatstep will revert to the state it was in before you started edits.

One thing to understand: Each preset pairs a sequence with the controller assignments. If you are using the sequencer, you can edit sequences in the same way (read the manual).  When you switch from preset #1 to preset #2 in order to control the next 16 volume faders you will also load the sequence from that preset. If the Beatstep sequencer is running at the time, it will switch to the new sequence. 

I suggest you read chapters 4 and 5 in the manual a few times and experiment a bit with editing. A good idea is the very first time you sync the Beatstep and MCC you save the file and give it a name like "Initial Beatstep Backup" so you can always restore the settings you have today in the future.

There's lots of videos about the Beatstep on YouTube, start here for the Arturia videos and then search for others if you need to.

Hope this helps.

This is exactly what I needed. I actually placed the CC messages in order 1-24 (they were randomly assigned), then I did midi learn in logic. Changing the channel was pretty much the last thing I had to figure out.