netguyjoel wrote:How does the Automap work. I just got an AKAI MPK49, and I am have to assign all the controllers manually, one at a time. Does the feature in the Novation really work that fast...I might just have to buy one myself...
Any input would be valuable..
Thanking you in advance....rhythm section first!

Automap works instantly. You have your original VST .dll's. Automap has a plugin manager which you point at your various VST directories, wherever they may be. AM then produces a list of all the VST's and VSTi's that is has scanned. Then you choose which ones you want to function with Automap. Those are then wrapped by AM and another version of any .dll is produced which will show up in your host's VST menus, alongside the normal ones. The normal ones can be removed manually by invading the VST directories and, erm, removing them if required.
When you then load an Automapped version of any plug a display pops up on the screen showing the mappings in a template layout of the hardware and any control assignments. This display can be toggled from the hardware at any time in the proceedings to show what's what and where. AM will use any parameters that are VST automatable, any that the plugin developer has written into the software. Which, on the whole, is almost all of them. Very, very few controls are missing and that depends on the individual plugin. When an AM plug is first loaded the controls are assigned to the hardware in the order that the developer put them in which might not suit how you want to have them. So you'll probably want to adjust them to taste, but changing them is very easy and rapid. Because.........
The Zero SL Mk2 comes with Automap Pro, which normally costs about $30 unless it's bundled with a Novation hardware product. Many have wrent their garments about having to cough up 30 shekels for this extra but it is well worth it. The really good thing about the Pro version is that is supports drag and drop. So instead of labouriously fiddling around with each individual control desperate not to make a mistake because you'll have to go through it again if you change your mind; you can move things around quickly in a jiffy with grace and good humour. Most excellente. Saves a great deal of time and hassle. Pro also supports keyboard commands and keyboard command strings. So you can assign keys to controls or whatever you can find. Also this mouse thing when you press the Speed Dial and whatever the cursor is over on the screen can then be controlled by said Speed Dial. Speed Dial is normally used for whizzing through presets or changing the various templates when in normal CC control mode.
You also get a free Bass-Station, so I can be a rip hopper and hang with the brothas. And, amazingly, a free Xcite. No, really. Now this is really going to piss off the early adoptors,
Xcite+ bundle ships free with SL Mk II and consists of the following:
Ableton Live 7 Lite software (DAW)
502MB of Mike the drummer drum loops - Quality live drum loops -
Novation Bass-station synth
Loopmasters Samples library consisting of1GB of royalty free samples
See, no expense spared. Mike the drummer, no less. With "Quality" loops, none of yer average, ragamuffin loops. And Ablecrumb with a whopping 8 tracks to go at.
The Zero is good. I was thinking in the car after I picked it up, "I bet this won't work." Works fine. I mean, I loaded U007 as a tester and there it was ready to go. All the parameters are displayed on the blue LED across the top. Let the tweaking begin. Automap is hot because it saves literally days of mapping on my other controllers.
ns