ArcControl + Gridlab for Ableton

shellfritsch · 2017-07-18T20:15:35.800Z

spotted via @stretta

ArcControl for Ableton Live – stretta – Medium

I’m developing a new ensemble at Berklee that features a group of musicians playing exclusively grid interfaces. This requires some new…

Reading time: 1 min read

looks great!
github download:

GitHub

stretta/gridlab

A suite of maxforlive monome devices. Contribute to stretta/gridlab development by creating an account on GitHub.

Leverkusen · 2017-07-18T21:06:33.197Z

Yeah, doe look great indeed -thanks a lot for pointing to this!

Rodrigo · 2017-07-19T00:59:31.746Z

Yeah really cool.

I’m curious about his jitter-based approach to arc animation. I especially liked how it rotates slowly when you change orientation, real slick.

I can’t figure it out from the code though, as it refers to static ‘movies’ named “arc_indicator.png”, but can’t seem to find the actual assets for them to see how/what they are made and oriented.

Screen Shot 2017-07-19 at 2.59.08 am.jpg1696×1040 185 KB

jasonw22 · 2017-07-19T02:41:11.091Z

I’m trying to find what you took a screenshot of, and can’t. Where is that?

Rodrigo · 2017-07-19T02:46:44.952Z

Inside the Gridlab ArcControl.amxd device. The graphic elements I added, in order to visualize what the matrix is dumping out. Just out of frame is a subpatch that contains all of the .png file names.

I presume the image itself is 64pixels wide, and from the labelling of the main matrix, I guess 500 pixels tall?

jasonw22 · 2017-07-19T02:55:36.460Z

I still can’t find this subpatcher with the filenames. Cmd-F for “png” returns 0 results. I bet I’m staring right at it and not seeing it.

Rodrigo · 2017-07-19T02:58:22.759Z

The files are only referred to inside coll arc_modes:

Screen Shot 2017-07-19 at 4.57.20 am.png2568×2084 644 KB

jasonw22 · 2017-07-19T03:12:17.768Z

Thank you! Wouldn’t it be nice if that was part of the Cmd-F scope? Sigh.

scanner_darkly · 2017-07-19T03:25:13.668Z

great visualization. it’s curious png files are used to store that - wonder how/why (but i have pretty much zero knowledge about max - perhaps it makes perfect sense).

jasonw22 · 2017-07-19T03:26:45.263Z

Well, I’m really curious about those PNGs too, but I also couldn’t find them. Wish I understood more about the amxd file format and how it embeds other binaries. On a hunch I tried renaming it to .zip to see if it’s just that, but no dice.

Rodrigo · 2017-07-19T11:19:55.333Z

Yeah I’m curious about it. I’ve done those kinds of visualizations using list management and interpolation, but I’m presuming it’s easier just having a matrix with the interpolation built in, that you then rotate.

The embedded assets is weird. I can’t find which devices have it now, but he does the same .png trick in the BEAP modules as well, and similarly, I can’t find the source png files anywhere.

pyrolator · 2017-07-20T19:10:36.145Z

Hi. I am not able to load the device into Ableton, what could be wrong?
Thanks, Kurt.

Rodrigo · 2017-07-20T20:06:02.503Z

Ah, totally forgot that @stretta is on here (just saw his mention in the newsletter), so maybe he can chime in with how/why the .png thing.

jasonw22 · 2017-07-20T20:12:42.776Z

Would be absolutely wonderful to see @stretta around these parts again!

chapelierfou · 2017-07-21T08:44:34.409Z

I encounter a lot of problems with ArcControl. I never used my arc with my computer so it might be a setup problem.
The Arc is sometimes recognized, sometimes not. Led feedback is most of the time not working.

Also i noticed that my Arc doesn’t have the same name depending on if it’s connected thru a usb hub or directly in a usb slot.

I just ran a fresh install of the serialosc package.

chapelierfou · 2017-07-21T08:53:28.466Z

Well, it seems to work super nicely with another computer so it looks like a setup problem.

Computer that works :
Os 10.10.15
Live 9.7
Max 7.3.1

Computer that doesn’t work :
Os 10.11.16
Live 9.7
Max 7.3.1

On the working computer (that has quircks as well in the end) i’ve got a lot of “changes cannot be triggered by notifications”.

pyrolator · 2017-07-21T08:57:24.074Z

My problem is solved: I had to download the whole “gridlab-master”-package - the download of the single “ArcControl” didn´t work.
Thanks a lot Stretta - great tool !

shellfritsch · 2017-07-21T17:27:06.821Z

just tried it out. i’m able send encoder data to the patch, but there is no led feedback. also changing the arc orientation doesn’t re-order the encoders.

i downloaded the whole gridlab-master.zip and loaded arcControl from within that directory.

ableton 9.5
serialosc 1.4
os x 10.11.6

any tips?

edit: updated to live 9.7 no dice.

jasper_ryder · 2017-07-21T18:11:57.690Z

I don’t own an arc yet but all of the grid patches have worked flawlessly for me so far. Great stuff from @stretta!

Drewsky · 2017-07-21T18:51:25.324Z

I got a similar response (though ableton 9.7). The led feedback wasn’t working for a while and then just turned on all of the sudden. Trying to figure out what cause the lights to turn on…still quite usable without the led though!