There are various MIDI data types available in addition to the standard 'I hit this key that hard' kind of thing. The plug-in will map that parameter to whatever CC value the controller is giving out, which is a whole lot easier than having to edit the hardware to match the software! Pat on the back to Arturia. All that the user needs to do is click Learn and move a knob or slider on their MIDI controller. Command-clicking on any parameter in the plug-in window brings up a small window with control options. This RTAS synth has had control data learning functionality built in by the developers. There is hope however, if Arturia's Minimoog plug-in is anything to go by. Once again, all this is a bit fiddly, especially compared with the fast 'learn' method employed by Reason and Live.
In any case many of the CC data numbers are specified for standard uses like envelopes, so with any luck some of your controls will be mapped anyway.Īny moves you make can be recorded as continuous data by dropping the MIDI track into Record, instead of using Pro Tools ' standard automation system. Hopefully, this information will be published so you can program your controller to map to the controls you're interested in. If the manufacturer of the plug-in has implemented control data, each parameter on the virtual instrument will have been assigned a control value. This provides an alternative way of controlling soft synths from hardware. Additionally, whatever is receiving the MIDI from the output of the MIDI track may be able to make use of MIDI CC data. If you have a MIDI track in Record and are playing data into it, these controllers will be active without having to go through the process of programming the CS10 data. MIDI tracks work with the CS10 personality just the same as audio tracks, but also respond to (and record) standard MIDI Controller data such as volume and pan info. Don't worry if you've never ventured all that deeply into MIDI messages, it's not as bad as you might think.Īnother Option For MIDI Tracks And Soft SynthsĪrturia'a Minimoog RTAS plug-in has built-in MIDI controller learn capability: hopefully other developers will follow suit.
Thankfully, even the humble Oxygen 8 lets you edit its rotary encoders, and Digidesign publish the full list for the CS10 template. All you need is a hardware controller that lets you edit the MIDI messages that each of its knobs, sliders and buttons emits, and a list of what those messages should be. Even if the manufacturer of your particular controller hasn't set up a Pro Tools template, you can do it yourself. The way these devices do this is to have templates that use exactly the same MIDI messages for altering each parameter as the control surface they are emulating. Examples of this are the Mackie Control, and Yamaha 02R and 01V mixers. The support is more sophisticated, allowing you to shuffle your controls across the mixer channels in banks of, say, eight at a time, and any open plug-ins have ready-to-go control, again with the ability to bank across the parameters to accommodate the number of knobs you have available.īut what if you don't have one of the devices on the sacred list? Well, quite a few devices can emulate one of those on the list.
In fairness, there are advantages to this scheme compared with the method of mapping hardware controls to on-screen parameters. If you have one of these you just hook it up, tell Pro Tools it's there in the Peripherals menu, and it'll work. There are four specific units that Pro Tools supports directly: Mackie's HUI, CM Labs' Motormix, JL Cooper's CS10 series, and Peavey's PC1600. Pro Tools communicates with hardware control surfaces using a system of set 'controller personalities' or templates. Of course this is far too effective and obvious an idea to have found its way into Pro Tools! (Actually, if I remember rightly, there was a MIDI learn function in Pro Tools years ago, but it was taken out.)
It's incredibly easy to make use of all those knobs and sliders if you're using software like Reason or Live: you just use the 'learn' function to click on an on-screen parameter, then wiggle a hardware control, and the two are mapped together automatically.
There can't be many home studios that haven't been infiltrated by an Oxygen 8, or similar portable MIDI controller from the likes of M Audio, Edirol, Evolution, Kenton, Novation and others. You don't even need one of the 'supported' MIDI control surfaces: pretty much anything with knobs on will do. You don't need a Pro Control to get some hands-on control of Pro Tools. By pretending to be a JLCooper CS10, any programmable MIDI controller can be used with Pro Tools.