Free PadKontrol app by The Covert Operators

nobbystylus · Post by **nobbystylus** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 11:56 am

Yes my thoughts are (now i've got it all working!!)

Not working as i'd expect
Drum Racks upside down -
Knobs all send out inaccurate data, they don't stop sending data once i've stopped moving them!
The x-y pad only seems to have 1 midi CC attached to it (not 2)

Things i'd like to see changed/incorporated

I'd like to use the Enter/Setting, Pedal and X and Y BUTTONs for stuff other than the mackie control uses, the undo/redo hide/show etc is not hugely useful for me LIVE. The X - Y button would be great for loop in and loop out for me, but i'm guessing if/when i get max i can tweak those myself..

I'd like to be able to make certain buttons a toggle, say the SCENE button, so that i could use it for OVR.

Apart from that you've done a great job guys and given me lots of things to ponder and play with over xmas... i will buy you a beer via paypal! What's your paypal details?

mike holiday · Post by **mike holiday** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 1:57 pm

you guys are great!!

thanks, i can't wait to get home tonight and try it!

autogen · Post by **autogen** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 2:17 pm

nobbystylus wrote:I have set up the PK squared exaclty as HOffman2k has stated..

1)from pk square 1
2)padkontrol CTRL
3)from pk squared 2
4)IAC driver (from ableton)
5)Padkontrol Port A

then midi i have setup Mackie Control as a control surface Input 'from pk Square output IAC driver (from ableton)...

...This gives me Mackie Transport and extra midi on all the other free buttons, but no lights either in or out and Drum Racks responds to the wrong notes...

I only get PadKontrol, PadKONTROL Port 1, PadKONTROL Port 2 & PadKONTROL Port 3 as options in both Live and PK[squared]. No 'padkontrol CTRL', or 'Padkontrol Port A' maybe this is my problem. I've been assuming 'padkontol CTRL' is 'PadKontrol' and 'Padkontrol Port A' is 'PadKONTROL Port 1'

I only ever get MIDI if I activate PadKONTROL Port 3 in Live's inputs, but then only from the pads, none of the extra buttons or the encoder will work. I've tried setting it up as per your settings and those posted by Timur. I guess I'll be waiting for the manual. Perhaps I get the different port names because I'm on a G4?

Timur · Post by **Timur** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 2:29 pm

I mixed PK[sq with a template someone named Selthys made up and came up with a great step-sequencer!

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=80628

It seems that the Channel bug does not need switching to channel 1 but only pressend the Knob 2 button. This also cures glitches/CPU spikes with Live 7 that happen with massive Midi loads it seems (not only with PK[sq but also with the original template).

evernaut · Post by **evernaut** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 5:04 pm

Big big thanks for the osx port...made my day.

Am still stabbing in th dark with it all though...having fun, but not sure wtf I'm doing really. Still, fun is fun eh?

Manual/ tute would be splendid when you find the time

hoffman2k · Post by **hoffman2k** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:31 pm

The manual will be for tomorrow guys.
Our new monitors arrived and a text editor is the last thing I want to play with now

I'll be working on it tomorrow and maybe simplify the setup process if possible.

The feature requests are noted and appreciated. I'm afraid we wont get much patching during the holidays though.

So for those having trouble setting this up, stay tuned or glance over Timur's posts. He already found a way to use it with a step sequencer.
http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=80628

Cheers

- Bjorn

jhawk · Post by **jhawk** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:32 pm

nobbystylus wrote:Also, rather than having another midi track you can Group your device on your track and create another chain below it with an external instrument set to output to the IAC bus and this does the same thing

How do I "group my device" and create a chain?

evernaut · Post by **evernaut** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 10:03 pm

hoffman2k wrote: Our new monitors arrived and a text editor is the last thing I want to play with now

Damn right

Anyway...one thing I'd like to say I'm really enjoying is the holding of note pitch on the XY pad ( despite other comments...) I find it very expressive and - coming from a 'playing a physical instrument' background....very...musical.

In fact, the whole app has just made the PK a no-brainer for any Live user thinking of buying a pad controller. Looking forward to really putting it all to use on my new record!

Timur · Post by **Timur** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 10:20 pm

hoffman2k wrote:Our new monitors arrived and a text editor is the last thing I want to play with now

Hehe, did I mention yet that I sometimes write reviews about TFTs for a web-site? ... erm... yes, I'm as geeky with these as I am with the audio related stuff.

evernaut · Post by **evernaut** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 10:25 pm

Timur wrote:
hoffman2k wrote:Our new monitors arrived and a text editor is the last thing I want to play with now
Hehe, did I mention yet that I sometimes write reviews about TFTs for a web-site? ... erm... yes, I'm as geeky with these as I am with the audio related stuff.

I thought he was referring to MONITORS...not monitors...

Timur · Post by **Timur** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 10:52 pm

Oops! And I thought they wanted to "play" something like video-games for recreation instead of playing with text-editors. But speakers can be fun as well.

nobbystylus · Post by **nobbystylus** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 9:29 am

jhawk wrote:
nobbystylus wrote:Also, rather than having another midi track you can Group your device on your track and create another chain below it with an external instrument set to output to the IAC bus and this does the same thing
How do I "group my device" and create a chain?

Right or Control Click on the device > choose Group from the contextual menu
then open out the device chain (the middle button on the left of the group) and Right or Control click and choose Create Chain.

hoffman2k · Post by **hoffman2k** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 4:16 pm

Timur wrote:Oops! And I thought they wanted to "play" something like video-games for recreation instead of playing with text-editors. But speakers can be fun as well.

Yeah, I did mean speakers

I wrapped up the manual so I can play with them some more!

hoffman2k · Post by **hoffman2k** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 4:19 pm

Here's the manual:

http://covops.dreamhosters.com/dropbox/PK%20Manual.pdf

It might have some errors, but I hope not. Let me know if there's something not working out.

- Bjorn

supamonsta · Post by **supamonsta** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 5:20 pm

that seem really cool,

thank you very much all of you covert.ops that twist your brains to let us all enjoy harware hacking!!

can't wait to test this all

cheers and merry christmas