Pulsar Cubase automation. A sad story.

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Jivers
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Pulsar Cubase automation. A sad story.

Post by Jivers »

I've had my pulsar for twelve years. I still haven't been able to work out how to automate the big mixer from cubase. (pulsar two, two pulsar cards, and cubase 3.6)

I know that sounds sad. I am fairly bright, but I have had some awful troubles setting it all up. Must be a block or something.

Please, how do I automate the Big Mixer? I cannot get the controller settings to work, the instructions are very sparse. I want to automate Pan.

Any help will be like a shining light. Thankyou.
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spacef
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Re: Pulsar Cubase automation. A sad story.

Post by spacef »

Big mixer is a bit outdated. I remember people talking about bugs.
You should update your scope or use another mixer.

To make midi CC, you right-click on a parameters, move a fader of your hardware controller, and click the " + " sign when the right CC number appears in the Midi CC display.
If this does not work, then the device is not midi CC compatible for a reason or another.

When done, you save a preset in the "MIDI" bank of the preset list, and then save the preset list to disk... but it is more secure to also save a project (because presets can bring a discrepancy between the actual value of the parameter, and the apparent value of that parameter (example: a fader will have an actual value of -in dB, but the fader will show another value... some devices will however show the actual value of the parameter in any case. This happens on faders, as i have noticed myself, on some devices, not all, because it depends on midi implementation). So to avoid this kind of stuff, it is better to save a project (+ it makes your default project sexier if it is like "launch scope and automate immediately").



other tips:

Additionally, BEFORE doing any midi CC assignment, you should save a preset with zero CC assignment, because it allows to switch midi mapping easily between devices (ie, "reset" or "re-map" at will).

When you save a preset, it is a good idea to save different presets (like, save the first 32, then another preset with 64 CC, then another with more etc...).
Because you can't have more than 119/120 CC by default (if you exclude CC"0, CC64, and the ones above 119, but this is more relevant for synths (64 is sustain), and by saving your work progressively, you have a chance to "undo" the last steps if you find something that does not work (or if, later, you find yourself wanting to change the assignments to other parts of the same device, but need to come back to your original mapping, or need to change some parts only, so also think about what you are going to assign first). you can't assign every parameter due to the limit imposed by 120/127 max CC per device.). Excluding values that are used inside synths to perform features like sustain and so on, seems not relevant for a mixer, but it actually allows building a single midi template (in your hardware) that you will be able to map to any kind of device, be it, mixer, fx, synth....


Here, I just have a single page of a Zero SL "user template" assigned to the most used features of my mixers (that's 54 parameters in total, but i use 32 only, and if I need more, i can add another page in the template, but I never need more, in fact, I don't need more than 24 to have that i need to play, mix and master). I use this template for everything including, devices, cubase, vstis, dj apps, whatever i need to remote control, that's just one single midi template for everything.

Happy mapping :-)
Last edited by spacef on Thu Aug 04, 2011 6:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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yayajohn
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Re: Pulsar Cubase automation. A sad story.

Post by yayajohn »

Great stuff there, thank you for writing all that out. I think I will print that out for future reference when I eventually get around to really using my Remote SL. I vote that gets placed as a sticky in the tips and tricks section.
dawman
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Re: Pulsar Cubase automation. A sad story.

Post by dawman »

Man Or Myth..................SpaceF.
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astroman
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Re: Pulsar Cubase automation. A sad story.

Post by astroman »

agreed ... and what Mehdi describes is exactly the reason why I don't bother about it.
Instead I draw the curves on sequencer automation tracks.
But if a hardware device would be a must-have, I'd simply switch to Wolf's Mixer and a Mackie Control.

cheers, Tom
(just my 2 cents)
Jivers
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Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2011 12:45 pm

Re: Pulsar Cubase automation. A sad story.

Post by Jivers »

spacef wrote:Big mixer is a bit outdated. I remember people talking about bugs.
You should update your scope or use another mixer.

To make midi CC, you right-click on a parameters, move a fader of your hardware controller, and click the " + " sign when the right CC number appears in the Midi CC display.
If this does not work, then the device is not midi CC compatible for a reason or another.

When done, you save a preset in the "MIDI" bank of the preset list, and then save the preset list to disk... but it is more secure to also save a project (because presets can bring a discrepancy between the actual value of the parameter, and the apparent value of that parameter (example: a fader will have an actual value of -in dB, but the fader will show another value... some devices will however show the actual value of the parameter in any case. This happens on faders, as i have noticed myself, on some devices, not all, because it depends on midi implementation). So to avoid this kind of stuff, it is better to save a project (+ it makes your default project sexier if it is like "launch scope and automate immediately").



other tips:

Additionally, BEFORE doing any midi CC assignment, you should save a preset with zero CC assignment, because it allows to switch midi mapping easily between devices (ie, "reset" or "re-map" at will).

When you save a preset, it is a good idea to save different presets (like, save the first 32, then another preset with 64 CC, then another with more etc...).
Because you can't have more than 119/120 CC by default (if you exclude CC"0, CC64, and the ones above 119, but this is more relevant for synths (64 is sustain), and by saving your work progressively, you have a chance to "undo" the last steps if you find something that does not work (or if, later, you find yourself wanting to change the assignments to other parts of the same device, but need to come back to your original mapping, or need to change some parts only, so also think about what you are going to assign first). you can't assign every parameter due to the limit imposed by 120/127 max CC per device.). Excluding values that are used inside synths to perform features like sustain and so on, seems not relevant for a mixer, but it actually allows building a single midi template (in your hardware) that you will be able to map to any kind of device, be it, mixer, fx, synth....


Here, I just have a single page of a Zero SL "user template" assigned to the most used features of my mixers (that's 54 parameters in total, but i use 32 only, and if I need more, i can add another page in the template, but I never need more, in fact, I don't need more than 24 to have that i need to play, mix and master). I use this template for everything including, devices, cubase, vstis, dj apps, whatever i need to remote control, that's just one single midi template for everything.

Happy mapping :-)
I can't do any of that because I don't have a hardware external controller. I had one but it was too complicated so I sold it.

*I want to control the Big Mixer from Cubase.*

I can't do the most basic things with my pulsar card, like changing values in the Big Mixer.


I have my FS1R connected via the analogue inputs to pulsar. I want to be able to control its pan from cubase. Changing pan in cubase does not change the pan in the Big Mixer.
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next to nothing
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Re: Pulsar Cubase automation. A sad story.

Post by next to nothing »

Right click the Pan knob on the mixer. select a CC number and press "+"

Draw an automation line in Cubase, using the same CC.

Done.
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
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Mr Arkadin
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Re: Pulsar Cubase automation. A sad story.

Post by Mr Arkadin »

I often just do the automation in Cubase and leave Scope's faders up.

You should really look at updating you system a bit - BugMixer is old - the newer ones are much better. Doesn't sound like you're even using Scope, is it Pulsar 3.1c or something? Maybe Cubase could do with a bit of refreshing (although I liked 3.7 myself).
minipax
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Re: Pulsar Cubase automation. A sad story.

Post by minipax »

next to nothing wrote:Right click the Pan knob on the mixer. select a CC number and press "+"

Draw an automation line in Cubase, using the same CC.

Done.
To be a little more specific for you in case you need to get to that point...
First connect your Sequencer Midi Source 1 output to the bigmixer input.
Draw your automation on a midi channel 1 in cubase, and press play to let the automation generate midi events.
In big Mixer, right click on the pan fader and hit the plus button as next to nothing said.

If you want to assign CC numbers manually, press the 'diamond' button after you right click and there you can select channel and doubleclick on a cc number (be sure to stop the sequencer playing at this point as it automatically jumps to the incoming midi CC number)
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