Touch all Params to Clip Automations
Am I missing some here, but when tweaking away knobs on a complex synth with many input parameters, usually takes some time to get it right. And when I do, I want to make sure all those settings get recorded, because odds are, on the same track I will want to change them a bit but keep the old settings. So I typically create on the clip an automation lane for each parameter. The process is, right click device parameter, "show automation", click on the red line of the automation curve to change it from dashed to solid red, shift tab back to the device and repeat for all the other parameters. Screen grabs at this stage become by plan B if things go pear shaped.
It would be really nice, if there was a quicker way of doing this, like "Touch all Params to Clip Automations" for all parameters in the device, to snap shot all those settings as clip automation lanes. Oh and while we are at, an erase all automations just for the current device would be nice. There is a delete all automations but it rubs out other devices for the clip as well -- not helpful :( .
When a device has something like 20 controls, it gets tedious to do it manually.
Hitting the "session record" button is not the solution for me.
These are typically for Max4Live devices I have created, so I have full programming control. I looked at the LOM, no means of writing automation lines, just seeing if there are there and to delete them.
Any one else have the same problem and possible solutions?
Thanks, Norman.
Dear Norman, the fact that one can't easily snapshot and recall an M4L device's settings is indeed my biggest incomprehension with Live, and hurts my workflow a lot. Some remarks to discuss:
At some time I imagined that Max's new snapshot system would somehow magically tie in with M4L, but I was deceived.
A possible solution might be to program your device using Max's snapshots or pattr (i.e. with a custom interface), and use MIDI program change to recall a previously stored setting.
Over on Ableton forums, I found the horrible hack that is ClyphX, a scripting language for Live, which can snapshot a device's settings into the clip name(!)
I guess, one could work with Live's presets, but that would mean to create one track with the device on it for each setting, hide them away in a group, and somehow switch the routing from input to the device tracks.
I still have hope that I have overlooked something...
Best, Diemo
Dear Diemo,
Thanks four your comments and thoughts. I was wondering about the snapshot system, so I guess I will not have to venture down that rabbit hole then.
All this work is a build up of a much more complicated system I am working on, every once in a while doing simple unity test rather than corrupt the full project. For this major project, I am using the pattr system, in particular the pattrstorage system, which does capture all the settings, which get saved to a Max xml file, which includes a preset knob to select which preset to either load back to the device parameters or vis versa, which naturally brings about a conflict, the preset knob setting gets recorded by Live but also the parameters it sets, so a post processing manual operation is to remove the preset knob and let the individual parameters do there thing via Live automations. In the heat of creating recordings, the parameters are not always recorded, i.e. lots of experiments on the Push2, then finally, wah lah, I like this one, so want to freeze that into Live.
ClyphX, yes I am familiar with it and have a copy, actually had this before I ventured from Live Intro version to now Suite version. Agree ClyphX is quite a hack, lets you peek at the Python data structures of Live but all those structures are largely undocumented and cross your figures that they work (the programming side of ClyphX). If ClyphX is used as intended, as a macro tool, not a bad system. But once you learn and have access to Max and the LOM, well ClyphX pales into insignificance.
As for Live's presets, I assume you mean through the Instrument Rack macro variations? This means assigning my device's parameters to the Instrument Rack macro knobs, not really a solution.
Hopefully the Live development team will answer our wishes and add a "Touch all parameters to Automations" button or at the very least add this to the LOM in the Max interface.