probing matrixctrl or creating group of cells?

Hi there,

Does anyone know of a way to probe the state of matrixctrl in the same way node works with its dot/cross?

I have a joystick input and want to use it to trigger sections of the matrixctrl (currently 8 x 8 but want to be able to scale up or down).

I have a coll that has the values I want to trigger stored into it and I have a way of accessing the values through a pictslider attached to another matrixctrl but as I move around within the triggerable zones I get each cell turning off when the next one turns on.

So I either need an way to move around the values without changing them or creating a group out of the triggerable cells, effectively turning them into one cell?

Any help would be amazing! Or suggestions of other objects that are easy to draw on to create zones that can then be used as trigger zones?

Thanks all!

Asha