Strange Knob Behaviour

CurlsOnKeys wrote:
Even if you don't use it: would anyone care trying to setup a relative midi knob controller in their hardware controller, learn it in Mainstage, map it to channel strip volume and check how it works?

I've had a go. Which relative do you use? I have a choice of:
2's Complement
Sign Magnitude
Direction & Speed
Direction & Speed Inverse

I've tried with all the relative settings. You are right. Either nothing happens or they jump from maximum to minimum.

It looks as though you are stuck with Absolute controllers. I use that with all my controls but have them all set to pickup. After that, I set Maximum & Minimum values for controls that need them. It works for me, but looks as though that doesn't work for your set up.

CurlsOnKeys wrote:

Absolute and pickup doesn't work for me, because, if my channel strip volume would be, let's say, 95 and my absolute controller has a value of 50, I would first have to twist my controller to the right ("raising" (not actually of course) the volume while I actually want to lower it), untill it reaces 95 and THEN I can lower it... When I'm playing live I want this to be as obvious as possible: if a sound is to loud, I want to turn my knob to the left to lower the volume...

That is exactly how I do it. My volume controls are all faders usually set from a max of +6dB to a min of silence. As all my synths are Logic software, I have no conflicts with other control settings. One thing I do is to set my screen layout to match my controllers. These are: an Evolution UC-33 & a Roland FC-300.

Here is a screen shot of a typical layout for both controllers. The two expression pedals & the ten buttons above them are for the FC-300, the rest is for the UC-33.



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CurlsOnKeys wrote:
Hi gilapuki,

thanks for the help and screenshot, looks nice 🙂
I also set my screen layout to match my controllers and synths I use are also just Logic. I'm just wondering, in your case, let's say for example you want to lower the volume of your purple wah-chorus. The volume of the fader is now +0,6 dB, which corresponds to, let's say, a midi value of about 102 (just guessing here). You lower the volume to -5 dB, a midi value of, let's say, 70.

Then you load your next patch and in that patch your chorus-volume-fader is set to +3dB, let's say midi value 113. Now if you want to lower your chorus-volume here, you first have to raise your hardware-controller from 70 to 113 before you can "pick-up" and lower the volume.

For me that seems very hard to work with, unless I'm not seeing something or unless you don't have a lot of different patches with different volume settings (which I unfortunately have)...

Thanks for your help!

That is exactly what I have to do. One thing I do that does help is to have the Output volume control at Concert level. That way it is always set at the 'correct' level when I change patches.
All Patch volumes are set to a uniform Output level. NB. This doesn't mean that all guitar or synth patches have the same Channel Strip volume setting. It means that the level I see on the Output meter is the same for all patches. That way, most of the time, all I have to do is to adjust the master volume control. This works for me, as most of the time I play solo through MainStage.
For the Trio, I am lucky enough to be able to use one patch only.

In the Preference window, I set 'On Patch change' to 'Reset to saved value'. For my setup, that is the most useful setting, although occasionally it does create a few minor difficulties with some of my more 'creative' sound effects.

Another thing I do is to ignore my controller settings & work entirely from what I see on the screen. With a bit of practice, it becomes very easy to make the adjustments you describe.

To sum up: I think the best thing for you is to adjust all your volume settings to the same output dB level (on the meter) & control the final output via a Master fader.
I hope that makes sense.