Ableton Forum

One thing to remember with using Push 2 to program synth plug-ins, especially when the desire is to mimic a hardware synth experience, is that it takes time to develop the muscle memory needed to take things over to "hardware synth land". To truly develop that muscle memory and still take advantage of having numerous synths at your fingertips will require some custom mapping.

Even though Monomachine has 5 different types of synthesis methods inside, 6 of its 7 programming pages are the same no matter what method is employed. So for filters, FX, AMP, LFOs you know from experience exactly where to go to accomplish what you wish. The navigation becomes second nature.

To become well trained for speedy synth programming on Push 2 will require taking the time to design your own custom maps with commonalities for your favorite plug-ins. For instance, populating the 4th page with filter parameters on Monark the same as you do for the 4th page on Diva, or DiscoveryPro, etc...

There's a big payoff in designing a uniform custom layout to all your synth plug-ins. My design consists of dedicating the first two banks of 8 to the unique parameters of that particular synth (wavetables, or FM operators, or unique modulation options), then making uniform assignments on the subsequent banks for all the synth plug-ins I'll use with Push 2. If "LFO 1 rate" is the first parameter of Page 6 on every synth plug-in I use with Push 2, then I'll never have to search for "LFO 1 rate".
It takes a little planning and maybe an hour of executing to get it just right across two or three different synths, but in a lot of ways it is like designing your own synth interface within the Push 2 environment.

The alternative is drowning in all the possibilities that this black slate with a screen gives us. Navigating through numerous VSTs and searching for the parameter you need because each one has different features and therefore very different mappings.... using a mouse would be better.

Is it possible to insert spaces between parameters, or does it force you to add them sequentially? For example, can you map to page 6 before you map anything to page 1?

jbone1313 wrote:Is it possible to insert spaces between parameters, or does it force you to add them sequentially? For example, can you map to page 6 before you map anything to page 1?

No and that is one of the things I am hoping will be possible (like on the Komplete S series keyboards)

jbone1313 wrote:Is it possible to insert spaces between parameters, or does it force you to add them sequentially? For example, can you map to page 6 before you map anything to page 1?

Afraid not, and that makes uniform custom maps more of a challenge.

Sometimes I will leave unique but rarely used parameters out of the map, or just put them in the first two banks to fill things out evenly. It's a balancing act.

Fortunately envelopes (Amp ADSR and Filter ADSR) will populate one bank with 8 common parameters.
My Filter parameters are often Mode, Frequency, Resonance, Drive (if available), Keyrack, Env amount, Velocity, Modulation.
If there are 2 filters, then I may only use a limited amount of available Filter 2 parameters.

I totally agree and it is one of the reasons I find "automapping" limited and honestly can't get why people ask for it so much. To me it is far more important to have information feedback (as the screen on push) but what is now missing are more controls to avoid jumping through so many pages.

A controller with 32 controllers and a nice screen as Push has would be great.

jbone1313 wrote:Is it possible to insert spaces between parameters, or does it force you to add them sequentially? For example, can you map to page 6 before you map anything to page 1?

This is one of the features of our PrEditor Utility which we'll be bringing to Push 2 over the coming weeks...

http://isotonikstudios.com/sigabort/isotonik-preditor/

Cheers
D

S4racen wrote:

jbone1313 wrote:Is it possible to insert spaces between parameters, or does it force you to add them sequentially? For example, can you map to page 6 before you map anything to page 1?

This is one of the features of our PrEditor Utility which we'll be bringing to Push 2 over the coming weeks...

http://isotonikstudios.com/sigabort/isotonik-preditor/

Cheers
D

Wonderful!
Maybe my question is answered in the video, but I was unable to watch it... will it be possible to name the Banks for Push 2? Such functionality, combined with the blank spaces, would be a dream.

AdamJay wrote:

S4racen wrote:

jbone1313 wrote:Is it possible to insert spaces between parameters, or does it force you to add them sequentially? For example, can you map to page 6 before you map anything to page 1?

This is one of the features of our PrEditor Utility which we'll be bringing to Push 2 over the coming weeks...

http://isotonikstudios.com/sigabort/isotonik-preditor/

Cheers
D

Wonderful!
Maybe my question is answered in the video, but I was unable to watch it... will it be possible to name the Banks? Such functionality, combined with the blank spaces, would be a dream.

Absolutely - that would be wonderful.

While I don't do deep patch programming on Push as I prefer the mouse+keyboard by far for that (try programming Zebra 2 effectively from a device such as Push...no thanks), I do very often tweak existing patches on it. I also use your method atm - storing filters/ADSR/etc from different synths in the same banks and so on, as I have no intention of memorizing different default configs for different VSTs across unnamed banks.

AdamJay wrote:

S4racen wrote:

jbone1313 wrote:Is it possible to insert spaces between parameters, or does it force you to add them sequentially? For example, can you map to page 6 before you map anything to page 1?

This is one of the features of our PrEditor Utility which we'll be bringing to Push 2 over the coming weeks...

http://isotonikstudios.com/sigabort/isotonik-preditor/

Cheers
D

Wonderful!
Maybe my question is answered in the video, but I was unable to watch it... will it be possible to name the Banks for Push 2? Such functionality, combined with the blank spaces, would be a dream.

Yes, bank naming and blank spaces are both possible! My favourite bit is the Multi settings so that i can have multiples of the same parameter in different banks, so whatever bank i'm in for example the first encoder is always volume!

Cheers
D

S4racen wrote:
Yes, bank naming and blank spaces are both possible! My favourite bit is the Multi settings so that i can have multiples of the same parameter in different banks, so whatever bank i'm in for example the first encoder is always volume!

Cheers
D

Sold!

Just signed up for your mailing list updates to get informed when it is available for Push 2.
And if you need a beta tester, let me know.

The multi assignments of same parameter is great too. Looking forward to it. This is going to help turn Push 2 into the digital hardware synth I've always wanted.

Shouldn't be too long for that...

Cheers
D

Yes, sold here too

Can parameters be renamed as well?

tedlogan wrote:Yes, sold here too

Can parameters be renamed as well?

No they're taken from the source...

Cheers
D

Ok cheers. Still sold though

S4racen wrote:

tedlogan wrote:Yes, sold here too

Can parameters be renamed as well?

No they're taken from the source...

Cheers
D

Edit... That function should be added at a later date, we've currently focused on our own scripts and are adding VST and MaxforLive device support in the next week or so, the rest should be around Mid to late December...

Cheers
D