You can configure up to five generic MIDI control surfaces to work with
the Acid interface.
For information about your specific device, please refer to the manufacturer's
documentation.
For more information about setting up a control surface, please see
Using a Control Surface.
NOTE Notes:
If you have
a MIDI controller that includes buttons and knobs or faders, you can use
the device as an external control device and as a MIDI input device for
recording MIDI
for example, you can use the buttons, knobs, and sliders on the device
for external control, and still use the keyboard, pitch wheel, and modulation
wheel for recording MIDI.
MIDI messages that are mapped to external control functions are filtered
when you record MIDI. If a note message is assigned to a control surface
function, both the note-on and note-off messages will be filtered. —
Effects
parameters cannot be adjusted with a generic controller.
A generic control surface can control either
trim or automation settings. In order to control automation settings,
you must assign a button to place the control surface in automation mode,
and the Automation Settings button on the track or bus you want to edit must
be set to Automation Write (Touch) or Automation Write (Latch).
If you have a MIDI device that has knobs, faders, and buttons,
you can use assign those controls to adjust the tracks in your project.
For this example, let's set up a MIDI keyboard with 8 knobs to adjust track
volume.
NOTE Notes:
You can
use this same process to assign a controller to any configurable parameter.
To adjust track volume, we're selecting Channel x Fader in the Host Command list in step 10 below. However, if you wanted to adjust
panning, you could choose Channel x Pan, or if you wanted to adjust the bus send level, you could
choose Channel x Send.
Effect
parameters cannot be controlled with a generic controller.
From the Options menu, choose
Preferences to
display the Preferences dialog.
Select the MIDI tab, and verify
that the port where your controller is connected is selected in the Make these devices available for MIDI input list.
Select the External Control
& Automation tab.
From the Available devices drop-down list, choose Generic Control, and then click the Add
button. The Generic Control is added to the Active control devices list.
Double-click the Generic Control entry in the Active control devices list to display the Configure Generic Control dialog.
Verify that the port where
your controller is connected is selected from the MIDI input drop-down list at the bottom of the dialog.
Because the MIDI keyboard
in our example has 8 knobs, type 8 in the Number of channels box.
Now, let's assign buttons
to shift the channel banks up and down so you can control all the tracks
in your project.
For example, when you start using the controller, the knobs will adjust
tracks 1-8. When you shift the banks down, you can control tracks 9-16,
and so on.
From the View function group drop-down list, choose Channels.
Select the Learn
check box.
Select Channel Bank Down from the Host Command list.
Press the button or key you want to
use to switch to the next group of 8 tracks.
Select Channel Bank Up from the Host Command list.
Press the button or key you want to
use to switch to the previous group of 8 tracks.
Choose Audio Channels from the View function group drop-down list.
Program each knob:
Verify that the Learn
check box is still selected.
Select Channel 1 Fader
from the Host Command
list.
Turn knob 1 on your MIDI keyboard.
You'll notice that the Channel, MIDI Message,
and MIDI Data
columns are updated.
Repeat steps 10a and 10b to program
knobs 2 through 8 on your keyboard.
Now, let's assign a button
to toggle the controller in and out of automation mode so we can use the
knobs to adjust the track's volume (trim) or record volume automation:
From the View function group drop-down list, choose Assign.
Select Toggle Automation Mode from the Host Command list.
Verify that the Learn
check box is still selected, and then press the button or key you want
to use to switch your control surface in and out of automation mode.
You'll notice that the Channel, MIDI Message,
and MIDI Data
columns are updated.
Click OK
to close the Configure Generic Control dialog, and then click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
From the Options menu, choose
External Control
to enable your controller.
You're ready to start using your controller.
Turn
each knob on your controller and notice that turning knob 1 adjusts the
volume (trim) of track 1, turning knob 2 adjusts the volume of track 2,
and so on.
Press
the button that you assigned to scroll the channel bank down in step 8.
Turn each knob on your controller and notice that turning knob 1 now
adjusts the volume (trim) of track 9, turning knob 2 adjusts the volume
of track 10, and so on.
Press
the button that you assigned to scroll the channel bank up in step 8 so
you can control tracks 1-8 again.
Press
the button that you assigned to toggle automation mode in step 11.
Select the Automation Settings button on each track to enable automation recording.
Start playback, and turn each knob on your controller, and notice that
turning knob 1 records
volume automation on track 1, turning knob 2 records automation on
track 2, and so on.
Press
the automation mode toggle button once more, and you can use the knobs
to adjust track trim levels again.
on the track or bus you want to edit must
be set to Automation Write (Touch) or Automation Write (Latch). 