Simple Idea (VST Controller) - New To Max

mindspyk's icon

Hi,

Just another idea I was thinking about as a project to work on. I'm pretty new to Max For Live, most of my experience is with PD-Extended.

Anyways, I have a few VST Synths I like to use w/ Ableton, however, I don't like using the VST's given envelopes/controls in the Ableton VST window for automation. Basically, is it possible to write a patch that would be a custom controller for parameters within the VST? It's basically so I can relabel the parameters and use dial controllers instead of the default controllers in the VST window in Ableton. Maybe this is simple maybe not, but would this be a MIDI patch or an Audio patch?

Any help is greatly appreciated, as I really don't even know where to start with this.

mindspyk's icon

Also, I realize that I would probably have to configure all the parameters I want to control for the VST Synth ahead of time. Or would it be possible for Max to directly access the VST?

Roman Thilenius's icon

in pluggo in OSX and windows you can only access other plug-ins via MIDI, in
pluggo in mac OS 9 and in maxmsp using the [vst~] object you can also access
the VST parameters directly.

it is quite some work to get the list of parameters and their names off the [vst~]
object, especially if oyu want to save the data in the patcher for later.
but it is a standard function of the object and the helpfile and the referene
should be all you need to get it working.

basically, you send "0.5" via [prepend 17] to [vst~ filterplugin] to set its
17th parameter to the center value. so far it is not too difficult.

if you compare the parameter list with a preset of the plug-in you can also
perform all thinkable forms of offset, random, and morphing between existing
presets.

but another interesting thing to build is that you have an interface where you
can choose only a few specific parameters in order to modulate these.

thats what i did in combicontrol - which was more or less my first project
ever made with max! :)

this is the plug-in build of the midi-version, but i also have a version for
parameters and controller data for the kyma language. (VST parameters are
number from 0-1, which is something you can make use of everywhere.)

-110
 

2245.combicontrol2.jpg
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mindspyk's icon

wow this is exactly what I was looking for!

I'm going to start playing around with this and repost when I stumble on something, this is going to enhance my workflow quite a bit i think,

EDIT: I'm going to get started working with this, but before I begin I had two questions,

First, is this combicontrol patch available anywhere for download/use?

Second, one of the VST's I like to use run's in reaktor (Native Instruments), does this change the idea/process at all? Or rather, the VST is reaktor, and I want to control a plugin that runs inside of it.

mindspyk's icon

Also, this might be a dumb question, or I might be overlooking the usage/limits of the vst object, but does this object receive raw MIDI data/notes from the [midiiin] object?

EDIT: Okay, now I understand the [Prepend] object's part in this

MBM's icon

Hello, where can I download your combicontrol? It looks great.

Thanks and best regards