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  3. Keyswitches? Controller? Which hardware controller do you use?

  • Keyswitches? Controller? Which hardware controller do you use?

    S
    S

    Hello,

    did some forum-search but didn't find anything adressing my question...

    16 months after purchasing VSL SE and Appass.Strings i finally found time to start figuring out how to use it and I made my first string arrangement. I watched a couple of tutorial videos and understood the workflow quite fast. Actually it's very easy to configure your favourite Matrix and the controllers to switch between articulations, use Expression etc.

    But working on the first arrangement, I thought that keyswitches are not very useful in most situations. I'm working in Logic and was using keyswitches to switch between articulations and between A/B variations.

    Working on the score and jumping back and forth in the peace, you often hear wrong articulations or sounds because logic doesn't know which keyswitch i recorded 5 bars before that position in the song. So I think it's better to use controllers for that as logic follows them and thus selects the right patch/articulation every time you hit the PLAY button.

    How do you folks do this? Which type of controller do you use to switch between articulations and sound variations?

    My masterkeyboard, a YAMAHA S90-ES (88 keys) has 4 control sliders. As I always use the MOD-Wheel for Volume XFADE, i can use the 4 sliders for all other swiching purposes - that's what I'm going to try in my next arrangement today.

    Or should I buy a new controller hardware, only with faders and buttons? Buttons (that the s90 es doesn't have) would be great for 1/2 and A/B switching things, also XFADE on/off and between 1st and 2nd row of the Matrix and so on...

    Would a controller with buttons be able to reflect its current state? I mean - if the button has a LED, can this LED go on and off when playing back automation of this controller?

    Sorry for blah blah and looking forward to read some opinions and experiences from other VSL users.

    Meanwhile scratching together some money... want SE Extended and also Appassionata Level 2 (Runs, Trills...!!)
  • J
    J

    Hello and welcome,

    I'm not quite sure what your asking but with regards to controllers, you're going to have to cut your own path.  Experiment a bit and see what works best with your set up, style of play, workflow, etc.  Some folks use one contoller for everything, switching matrixes, Vel Xfade, Attack, etc.  All you have to do is right click on the fader, move your favorite controller, play your piece, rewind your piece, right click on another fader, move the same controller you assigned before and there you go.  it's a little time consuming but if that's how they like to work.