Why does automap suck?

OvertoneZero · Post by **OvertoneZero** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 12:01 am

So, i'm contemplating buying a Remote 61 SL but I keep reading bad things about the automap. What's wrong with it? It seems like a good concept.

On the ad page for the keyboard on Musician's Fiend it claims to contain Automap templates for: * Live Automap - Mixer/Navigation and Effects

Does the keyboard Automap to control whatever the front active window is? For example, I click on a Sampler instrument, and then the keyboard automatically loads the map template and the little LCDs above the little knobs show the parameter for each?

Is this not a convenience and progress? Am I wrong to value the technology?

brianbacio · Post by **brianbacio** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 12:47 am

I have a Remote SL 25, and Automap works exactly like you explained it. It's a great device and saves me hours of tedious midi connecting. Novation know their stuff, oh and the keyboard has an excellent feel to it.

D K · Post by **D K** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 1:30 am

i'm using a remote zero i recently purchased, automapping has been nothing but
awesome for me so far...

OvertoneZero · Post by **OvertoneZero** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 2:09 am

Cool.. well, sounds good to me..

Grappadura · Post by **Grappadura** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:17 am

same here (sl compact). I read somewhere somebody was complaining about the values that are displayed in the keyboard. They are sometimes translated to values that go from 0 to 1 instead of from 1 to 127. This is not always the case, I´m not sure in which cases it turns out like that, but to me its not a problem. "67" is then 0.5 on the display. So what.

creature · Post by **creature** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:32 am

I have a remonte 25sl and I think it is a great device. The itegration with Live is good too. Definately worth checking out these devices.

Steve

Cache · Post by **Cache** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:34 am

automap is great.

i don't know anything bad about it.

the only crappy thing is sometimes the VSTs have non-intuitive names for their faders, but thats the vsti issue, no REMOTE....

Alien Leg · Post by **Alien Leg** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:55 am

What if you want to control more than one plugin at a time via automap?

pat the dog · Post by **pat the dog** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 11:27 am

OvertoneZero wrote:Does the keyboard Automap to control whatever the front active window is? For example, I click on a Sampler instrument, and then the keyboard automatically loads the map template and the little LCDs above the little knobs show the parameter for each?

sort of... if you're using the live template, then you just make sure that the device you want to control has the blue hand tool activated. this sometimes involves clicking it with the mouse for example when it's not the first device in the chain.

but note that with the live template you don't have any control over which parameters are mapped to which knobs except with macro's but then you're limited to 8 parameters. so for vsts and au instruments, it's better to use the "universal automap" template with the plugin in the automap wrapper.

however then the answer to your question "Does the keyboard Automap to control whatever the front active window is?" gets a little more complicated...

on my mac at least, AU plugins function as you describe - i.e. the focussed plugin window gets automapped. but for VST's you first need to click a purple "A" icon in the wrapper, which seems to be only possible using the mouse (which to some extent defeats my objective of using the mouse as little as possible).

so in general it seems better to use AU plugins, but there's a catch - some plugins including Predator and Blue don't inform the host when you change presets, resulting in the SL not updating the parameters - the workaround is either to close/open the plugin window, or only change presets using live's hot-swap browser, or the preset up/down buttons on the SL.

also, you need to be aware that some plugins (such as semi-modulars like albino and zebra) have so many parameters which change depending on the patch, that you may find yourself having to remap parameters manually.

but for more simple instruments like Predator, it works pretty well.

another thing you should bear in mind is that live's 128 parameter limit means that you won't be able to automate all the mapped parameters - but that's the fault of Ableton, not novation.

there is a new version of automap (2.0) due in february, so if any of these issues are likely to bother you, then it might be worth waiting to see what this new version resolves.

pat the dog · Post by **pat the dog** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 11:35 am

Alien Leg wrote:What if you want to control more than one plugin at a time via automap?

then you're better off using traditional midi mapping. the live automap template leaves the 8 rotary pots free for this kind of mapping, or otherwise you could create a user template. but the SL doesn't respond to midi feedback, so in this case you don't get the parameter names or values showing up in the same way that you do with automapped devices.

otherwise you might be able to rack up multiple plugins and control them with macros, but then you only have 8 parameters to play with.

OvertoneZero · Post by **OvertoneZero** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 3:12 pm

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback and part especially for the detailed explanation of the quirks of automap. It sounds pretty cool to me, might have to check it out..

GDlux · Post by **GDlux** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 6:13 am

A quick question I thought would relate to this...

Can the Novation automap any part of the clips, tracks, or scenes??

Also, can it show each clip name of a scene in the LCD?

pieter · Post by **pieter** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 1:49 pm

Grappadura wrote:same here (sl compact). I read somewhere somebody was complaining about the values that are displayed in the keyboard. They are sometimes translated to values that go from 0 to 1 instead of from 1 to 127. This is not always the case, I´m not sure in which cases it turns out like that, but to me its not a problem. "67" is then 0.5 on the display. So what.

i recognize that problem... don't know what's wrong...

db2 · Post by **db2** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:47 pm

My SL wants to constantly revert to its automap template whenever live is open, even after selecting a user template.

Anybody else experience anything like this?

pieter · Post by **pieter** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:54 pm

pieter wrote:
Grappadura wrote:same here (sl compact). I read somewhere somebody was complaining about the values that are displayed in the keyboard. They are sometimes translated to values that go from 0 to 1 instead of from 1 to 127. This is not always the case, I´m not sure in which cases it turns out like that, but to me its not a problem. "67" is then 0.5 on the display. So what.
i recognize that problem... don't know what's wrong...

anybody can help?
when i use automap i have two values: 0 and 1. nothing inbetween. not even 0.5 as mentioned above.

it happens only in automap, with ableton and digital performer.

Why does automap suck?

Why does automap suck?

Re: Why does automap suck?