Press and Hold MIDI bindings

Discuss future feature requests. All ideas welcome.

Moderator: jesse

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JeffHendricks
Posts: 48
Joined: Tue May 11, 2010 11:07 am

Press and Hold MIDI bindings

Post by JeffHendricks »

First off, I have to say I'm surprised SL isn't more widely used in the music industry. It's fantastic! So much stuff packed into it.

That being said, I'm finally going to suggest something I think might be very helpful. I've been studying the manuals of all the new hardware loopers out now, and thinking about how their workflow fits into what I want to do. Specifically, I'm looking at how their button configurations work.

Most if not all of the commercial looper pedals use long-press functions to maximize functionality of limited buttons. It would be easy to emulate button configurations of these pedals, with only 1, 2 or 3 buttons. Digitech, Boss, Pigtronix, EHX, and so on all have this functionality built-in.

It wouldn't be trivial to add a "press and hold" trigger, I understand. It would also require making all regular presses work on note off/release, not note on. There's already some of that functionality in the GUI interface (like the Undo button). Not sure how easily that would translate into MIDI bindings.

I think that's something that would be worth adding, though. It would make the program more new-user friendly, as most people have experience with hardware loopers and how they work. It would also make it cheaper to find a usable controller with fewer buttons.

I'm working to get my hardware sorted out, and if I can't figure out a way to do it in software, I'm going to build a controller with an Arduino and code the long-presses into hardware.
jesse
Posts: 554
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 9:46 am
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Re: Press and Hold MIDI bindings

Post by jesse »

A lot of the SL commands use the long press for something useful, Undo (as you mentioned, for undo all), but also Record, Overdub, Multiply, etc... a long-press and hold will put it into a "sustain" like mode where the command will finish on release. Some of the more esoteric midi bindings (record_or_overdub, etc) were put in as a way to do some of the minimal button configurations that hardware loopers have been doing. We don't cover all the bases yet, and a more flexible binding setup would be good, but it may be further down that road than you realize?
JeffHendricks
Posts: 48
Joined: Tue May 11, 2010 11:07 am

Re: Press and Hold MIDI bindings

Post by JeffHendricks »

Thanks for the reply! I wasn't aware of the other long-press commands... I knew you've been adding the combination commands (which are fantastic!) but I hadn't gone as far as to actually try to use long-press MIDI bindings. :?

I know we don't get a lot of interaction here on the forum, but I just wanted to add that SL is fantastic, and it's very much appreciated. :)

I'll play around some more with the existing stuff and see what "hidden treasures" are in there. ;)
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