Got my Bitstream 3X today!

Krugger · Post by **Krugger** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 4:02 pm

okay, got it, still at the office, haven't tried it yet.
However, first impressions 'out of the box' are:

1) the weight tells you it's not gonna be a toy! (i think every owner of the 3X agrees here)

2) Knobs and faders are great quality (and I know what I'm on about, I got the Evo UC33E) - even the crossfader that looks tiny in the picture is very convenient and feels solid too

3) Buttons do a click noise like the UC33E (compared to being a soft/spongy push). Personally I prefer square buttons but that's only if I'm being picky.

4) The joystick has a very nice feel - cant describe it much - it's just that it feels like something you'd want to use often.

Altogether, it looks the daddy. No doubt about this. I'm sure I'll be blown away once I connect it to my laptop tonight and 'spin' some tunes/loops.

I'll try throw in a proper review next week after a week-end's use. For now, anyone out there having doubts on the build quality only, have no fear: this thing is rock solid, feels rock solid and has high quality controls.

Kr.

MrYellow · Post by **MrYellow** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 2:09 am

u bastard!

-Ben

tbatchelli · Post by **tbatchelli** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 5:54 am

Grrr... I am thinking of getting one too, but I kinda promised myself not to get more gear for a while.

Tell me if you miss a couple buttons per channel (i.e. cue and mute)... that's the only thing I feel I would miss in this beauty

Moody · Post by **Moody** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 4:10 am

Can't wait to see that review.

supster · Post by **supster** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 5:27 am

waiting with baited breath man, i know that thing is the bomdiggity.
.

alan* · Post by alan* » Mon Oct 03, 2005 6:12 am

tbatchelli wrote:Tell me if you miss a couple buttons per channel (i.e. cue and mute)... that's the only thing I feel I would miss in this beauty

Me too, thats what I am wondering, thought it would be nice if it had a couple rows of buttons directly in line (under or above ) the faders/knobs.

Krugger · Post by **Krugger** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 10:38 am

(the following is from a DJing perspective as I use Ableton to extend my CD decks - if you use Ableton for something completely different, my notes on the 3X might/might not be helpful)

I'm not gonna talk about the build quality again. It's been said too many times by now: It's PRO, PRO, PRO and rock solid. Full stop.

EQ and Send
Gone simple for now - will have a think later about what I really wanna do. Hence, each group of 4 knobs above each channel fader does:
Bass, Mid, High, Send (A)
For now, it's enough (to set the rest up and do some tests)

CUE
The 3X allows (via its config software) the LCD to be configured and display (in your own words) which preset (the 3X calls it Groups) you're on.
I would have preferred a button above/under each channel fader and assign them as CUE button.
However, as I can assign custom names to 'Groups', I've programmed my groups 00, 01 & 02 as :
00 - vol EQ clip launch
01 - cue
02 - effects
etc etc (you can do/type whatever you want)

Still not happy - assigning buttons 1-5 (i need 5 tracks) to the CUE icons in MIDI assign mode and the cue becomes active OK but, the track is still active/armed!
What I want is a cue button that cues/disarms the track all in 1 go.
Hence I'm using BOME MIDI Translator to capture those 5 buttons and attach a function-keystroke with them (F1 to F5 on the keyboard arm/disarm a track)
Now, press button1 and track1 is cued and disarmed too. Press again, and back to normal. Most excellent.

CLIPS NAV / LAUNCH
The 3X has transport contols that I dont use. In USER mode, those controls can be configured with 2 functions each and that's per channel. To achieve the 2nd function, you use the SHIFT button
Hence I've programmed them as follows (on channel 1)

MIDI CHANNEL 1:
<< and >> = scene up/down

play >> set quantize to 1 Bar (I'll explain why I use this later) - 1bar quantise is CTRL-0 (key shortcut) and I use BOME Midi Translator again to convert the midi note into a keystroke

record >> (via BOME again) F12 which swaps between clip and track view (VERY helpful!!!)

MIDI CHANNEL 2
shift play >> play all clips in selected scene
shift stop >> stop all clips
(I rarely use the above, almost never)

To launch clips, I'm using 5 of the 8 buttons (which are horizontally aligned and this is a nice touch).
For the remaining 3 buttons,
button 6 - LOOP on/off
button 7 - set IN loop here
button 8 - set OUT loop here

All my clips are on Trigger launch mode and buttons 1-5 will fire the clip in tracks 1-5 depending on selected scene.
In Trigger mode, if you fire a clip again (while it was playing), it plays from the beginning. But if you turn on LEGATO mode, firing the same clip again will leave it playing.
Useful to set a clip active and view its waveform (maybe I want to activate a loop or maybe switch off a running loop)

Hence, i'm using 8 buttons in Group 00 to fire clips and loop them without breaking a sweat.

Here, I wish the SHIFT button could be used on those 8 buttons giving them a 2nd function just like on the transport controls but it doesn't .
If it did, it would have been my stop button.

As a result, as I (luckily) need 5 tracks, my transport controls (with SHIFT) become my STOP clip 1-5 (on MIDI CHANNEL 1)

When Ableton finally gives us the ability to view any clip's properties/waveform without having to fire them, then I can set my clip's launch mode to Toggle for play/stop

Joystick
This control is very smooth to operate and on channel 1 group 00 (which is my main preset), i decided to use it for nudging tracks (for when i mix out of a CD deck or maybe a track is not properly warped midway etc).
Now for that kinda nudging, I need quantise off (i.e NONE).
That's a CTRL-0 on the keyboard.
Also, the joystick's X-Axis generates value 0-127, I've reduced it to 0-2 only (you can do this with the config software)
As the joystick always comes back to its center position, 0 is for left, 1 is for center and 2 for right.
I map 2 midi notes to the nudge buttons on Ableton first.
Then in Bome midi Translator, I map the joystick's 0 and 2 values to each of the midi notes on the nudge buttons.

Result: flick the joystick left or right and it nudges the track backwards/forwards. Very cool (and it feels natural most importantly).
We also need to set the quantise to NONE before applying the nudge.
Using BOME again, I map the joystick 0 and 2 values to CTRL-0.

Therefore if you flick the joystick left or right, not only does it nudge the track but it also sets Quantise to NONE first so that you dont have to do it manually.
This is why I'm using 'PLAY' button on the transport area to set Quantise back to 1 bar (for when I'm done nudging)

Now when mixing out of a CD deck onto Ableton, i can nudge the incoming track quickly using the joystick if it's a little bit 'out'.

This is ONE way to use the joystick creatively - I'm sure I (and others) will come up with more

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And that's just the beginning! I haven't even tackled the Motion Sampler yet!
I did try the 'chained control' feature and that allows me to fade in something while another was fading out all in 1 go. I know you can do this in Bidule, but this is via the config software directly!

Next on my listL:
1) control will be a knob that rotates from track 1 to 5, allowing me to see effects/eqs/etc per track.
I'll do that by reducing the cc values of that knob from 0-127 to 0-4 then use Bome Midi Translator to map 0,1,2,3 & 4 to five different midi notes which I will have assigned to each track.

2) configure a new Group which I'll call MOUSE
limit the joystick's 2 axis to values 0 - 2 for each axis.
Then map 0 and 2 for each axis to a midi note.
That's 4 notes obtained.
In Bome Midi Translator, map each note to a keystoke
Say:
1) ctrl-alt-w
2) ctrl-alt-s
3) ctrl-alt-d
4) ctrl-alt-a
Using a handy software called AutoHotkeys, i can map each of these keystrokes to ..... mouse movements! (hence up,down,left & right by (say) 5 pixels))
Using a combo of BOme and AutoHotkeys, the joystick will move the mouse cursor.
I'll do a similar technique for the mouse left click mapped onto a button i'll choose.
(ps: i tried this before on a UC33E using 5 buttons and it works)

Kr.

subterFUSE · Post by **subterFUSE** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 4:04 pm

Are the EQ knobs detented? (ie a click in the center position, like a DJ mixer EQ)

Krugger · Post by **Krugger** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 10:46 am

no, it's not

subterFUSE · Post by **subterFUSE** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 1:17 pm

D'oh!!!!!

supster · Post by **supster** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 2:27 pm

nice, thanks for the report.
.

Krugger · Post by **Krugger** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 2:29 pm

what, that's it??

you dont get this feature and your set is entirely ruined?!?!?

you're VERY picky, Sir!

maybe i should sell my 3X ... can't seem to get beer out of it. damn it. waste of money

Krugger · Post by **Krugger** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 2:33 pm

on a more productive note,
dunno if other midi controllers do that (cause i haven't had the chance to try them all....yet) but the 3X config software accept a full MIDI string hexa for any control.

The result? well, instead of firing 1 midi even for 1 control (say a button), you can fire 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc all in 1 go
Great for combos Street-Fighter style....ok maybe not, but u get the drift.

Applies for any control

Kr.

montrealbreaks · Post by **montrealbreaks** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 8:13 pm

Krugger wrote:on a more productive note,
dunno if other midi controllers do that (cause i haven't had the chance to try them all....yet) but the 3X config software accept a full MIDI string hexa for any control.

The result? well, instead of firing 1 midi even for 1 control (say a button), you can fire 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc all in 1 go
Great for combos Street-Fighter style....ok maybe not, but u get the drift.

Applies for any control

Kr.

Can you apply inverse values to the controls? That is, while you rotate a knob CC1 goes from 0-127 while CC2 goes from 127-0?

I have been experimenting with this using drawn automation to do "filter crossfades", where I crossfade two signals not by attenuating the volume of one and increasing the other, but by sliding a low pass filter down on the outgoing signal and a coresponding high pass filter down on the incoming signal.

That's for a "downwards fade".

For an "upwards fade" I increase the low pass filter on the incoming signal and increase the high pass filter on the outgoing signal. Very cool sounding, try it.

Anyways, I can't do it live at the moment, but if the Bitstream 3X has this capability, it's a real winner.

hmmm, I should post this in tips n' tricks.

Krugger · Post by **Krugger** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 10:03 am

Besides the 3X MIDI string (where you can type multi-midi events for a single control), you also get what they call Chain Control

You basically select any control from the drop-list that is affected while control XYZ is being used.
But here's the winning bit: you can also tick the "Cross Fader" option.

I did try it. Assigned (to a knob) another fader as chain control with cross fader option.
One goes from 0 - 127 and the other goes the other way.

I'll try your filtering trick when I get home, thanks for the tip

Kr.