Automation, works here but not really good with sliders

malc · 12 Sept 2005

Hi FRitz,

Sorry about this. It doesn't help that our example sliders are not configured correctly. This will all change when we update them 😊 .

You need to make sure that the slider sends data to the VST Parameter that runs from 0 to 1. Data coming from the VST Parameter will also be in this range so you'll need to convert it to the 0-7 range before using it to set the Y Drag Accumulate.

If you are still struggling with this I can try and knock something up for you.

oddson · 12 Sept 2005

malc wrote: ...You need to make sure that the slider sends data to the VST Parameter that runs from 0 to 1. Data coming from the VST Parameter will also be in this range so you'll need to convert it to the 0-7 range before using it to set the Y Drag Accumulate...

I get the math part, but are we talking about a connection to the VST host?

I thought slider automation would be done through MIDI CC and then the range would be 0-127.

EDIT - removed rambling insanity...

fritzman · 12 Sept 2005

malc wrote: Hi FRitz,

Sorry about this. It doesn't help that our example sliders are not configured correctly. This will all change when we update them 😊 .

You need to make sure that the slider sends data to the VST Parameter that runs from 0 to 1. Data coming from the VST Parameter will also be in this range so you'll need to convert it to the 0-7 range before using it to set the Y Drag Accumulate.

If you are still struggling with this I can try and knock something up for you.

Hi Malc,

man, I don't get it. It would be cool if you could knock me up something. I tried a lot today and there are various problems with everything I tried. As much as I like the abilities and depth of SM, why is it so overly complicated at such a simple point? I mean after all it's only a slider ... 😉

Best wishes, FRitz

malc · 12 Sept 2005

I tried improving the example slider but in doing so realised that the VST Parameter component needs an extra output connector to give you all the controls that you need. So I'm going to add the connector and put it in the release that I had already been preparing today. I'll then post an example.

Regarding the complexity of this - I think if we had an example that you could customise you wouldn't have to deal with the complexity. The reason it is complicated is that you have to deal with changes that occur both due to user interaction, automation or presets. You also need to be able to handle the redraws, preferably in the most efficient way possible. That's why the low-level gets a bit fiddly.

We could easily build a high-level module with properties for customising the slider that would avoid you having to bother with the low-level stuff. Problem is we haven't done it yet, but we will 🙂

@oddson: automation is done through the VST interface not through MIDI CC. The VST standard requires parameters to be exchanged as floats in the range 0-1.

If you can wait for my example then hopefully that will clear things up.

Sorry for any frustration caused.

oddson · 12 Sept 2005

malc wrote: ...oddson: automation is done through the VST interface not through MIDI CC. The VST standard requires parameters to be exchanged as floats in the range 0-1

Yah! Thanks Malc - another example of me not getting the big picture.

A search of the forum on 'automation' gives me enough to go by.

fritzman · 12 Sept 2005

Yoh Malc,

thanx for the cool answer. You're really cool in handling such stuff and it's fun to get such good feedback on my questions. Not much frustration here, I learned some things on the way. Now I know how to make my knobs automatable. That was enough fun for me today besides the work. 😀

Hey oddson,

sorry for not answering, had a lot stuff going today. Cool that you jumped in to help. 😉

All the best, FRitz

malc · 13 Sept 2005

Ok, here's an example of how the slider would work. I created a module inside the V Slider Control module (this is the one that does all the interaction and value control stuff) called Slider Preset. This encapsulates the VST Parameter component and handles the mapping between the slider values (running 12-0) and the preset values (running 0-1).

Inside the Slider Preset module you can see that the values coming in are adjusted to 0-1 range and then converted back when the preset parameter changes. Triggers are sent before and after changes so that we can compute the redraw rectangles.

Download Schematic

fritzman · 13 Sept 2005

malc wrote: Ok, here's an example of how the slider would work.

Hi Malc,

you're da man!!! Thanx a lot. Works cool now. Very clever to make a SliderMax input, this way I was able to use it easily with the mini sliders. 🙂

All the best, FRitz

Tom7777 · 13 Sept 2005

Thanks for the example Malc 😀