Twister Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 I'm trying to write automation on an external instrument track. I go to automation view, set the mode to "Touch" and move a knob on my synthesizer, which also functions as a controller. I can see MIDI coming in, but no automation lane is created. If I record and move the knob, I can see that MIDI is being recorded, no automation though. I know that writing automation for this parameter is possible, because I recently managed to do it, I just can't remember how. 🫣 Also, I don't know how to access my existing automation. I can see it's there, but I don't know how to select the automation lane so I could edit the nodes. How do I access the correct automation lane? Can I convert the MIDI recording to automation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordi Torres Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 Hi Twister, I think it's good to emphasize you're talking about track automation here. With that out of the way... If working with "classic" External MIDI tracks, you can patch up a Transformer object in the MIDI Environment set to "Track automation splitter" mode. If working with the External Instrument plugin on a Software Instrument track, the way I like the bestis to use the Scripter MIDI FX to act as a "proxy" between incoming MIDI data and track automation. So by assigning the incoming data through MIDI Learn to control sliders in the Scripter MIDI FX, which in turn generate whichever CCs you like, these can be written as track automation and passed to external instruments via the External Instrument plugin. J. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twister Posted August 3, 2023 Author Share Posted August 3, 2023 On 7/31/2023 at 1:29 AM, Jordi Torres said: Hi Twister, I think it's good to emphasize you're talking about track automation here. With that out of the way... If working with "classic" External MIDI tracks, you can patch up a Transformer object in the MIDI Environment set to "Track automation splitter" mode. If working with the External Instrument plugin on a Software Instrument track, the way I like the bestis to use the Scripter MIDI FX to act as a "proxy" between incoming MIDI data and track automation. So by assigning the incoming data through MIDI Learn to control sliders in the Scripter MIDI FX, which in turn generate whichever CCs you like, these can be written as track automation and passed to external instruments via the External Instrument plugin. J. I'm talking about any automation, track or region. I don't know what constitutes a "classic midi track", I'm using the external instrument plug-in. If I record any parameter on my synth, it is stored as events. I can see them in Event List, and in Step Editor too if I choose Lanes > New Lane Set from Current Events. I need to convert these to automation (or even better, be able to record them as automation, which I'm sure should be possible with a MIDI controller). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solution David Nahmani Posted August 3, 2023 Solution Share Posted August 3, 2023 If you go to automation view, click the "Track" button on the track header to switch it to "Region", and click the automation parameter pop-up menu and select the events you've just recorded at the bottom of the pop-up menu, then they'll be displayed as automation onto the region: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twister Posted August 3, 2023 Author Share Posted August 3, 2023 3 hours ago, David Nahmani said: If you go to automation view, click the "Track" button on the track header to switch it to "Region", and click the automation parameter pop-up menu and select the events you've just recorded at the bottom of the pop-up menu, then they'll be displayed as automation onto the region: I don't know how I managed to miss that, but that's exactly what I was looking for. Perhaps my eyes were fixed on the "Automation" section of the menu. 🙄 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Nahmani Posted August 3, 2023 Share Posted August 3, 2023 Good! Automation / MIDI CC handling has become quite flexible thus complicated in the sense that there are tons of different options for recording and editing it so it's easy to get confused if you don't remember the exact workflow you were using before. Good to hear that what I described was what you were looking for. 🙂 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordi Torres Posted August 3, 2023 Share Posted August 3, 2023 (edited) 10 hours ago, Twister said: I don't know what constitutes a "classic midi track", I'm using the external instrument plug-in. Cool. If you're using the External Instrument Plugin, you're using a Software Instrument track which takes MIDI input and outputs audio. What I call a "classic" External MIDI track is MIDI-only, creates (and is assigned to) a Multi-Instrument object in the MIDI Environment, and creates this kind of channel strip in the Mixer (visible when the Mixer is set to display "All" channel strips): 10 hours ago, Twister said: If I record any parameter on my synth, it is stored as events. I can see them in Event List, and in Step Editor too if I choose Lanes > New Lane Set from Current Events. I need to convert these to automation (or even better, be able to record them as automation, which I'm sure should be possible with a MIDI controller). Ok, but that was basically my point: You don't necessarily need to convert your recorded MIDI Controller events. You can also have them as track automation, allowing you to display different data in separate lanes right in the Tracks area: But anyway this is only FYI as you already found what you were looking for. 🙂 J. Edited August 3, 2023 by Jordi Torres 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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