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Old 08-23-2013, 12:14 PM   #1
Vendetta V
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Default Ask me questions about Arturia or any midi controller assignments and workarouns

So yeah I consider myself a complex Reaper (or anthing for that matter) user. Not that I know a bunch but more that I like to find solutions to a lot of things that aren't common!

So if you have an Arturia (minilab most particularly) and you have questions, shoot it here.

I usually have free time when I'm online so I'll be more than happy to try and answer something. If I can't, I'm pretty sure there'll be plenty of people here who can also input their help!


Cheers, V


PS. I'm thinking of doing a demo on Arturia's Minilab as a controller for Reaper. are you guys interested?
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Old 08-26-2013, 01:31 PM   #2
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bump!

throwing in a new pic

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Old 09-15-2013, 05:54 AM   #3
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Hi Vendetta,
This thread looked to be in the ballpark for my question. I recently bought the Arturia V collection 3 and it contains a total of 10 of their products from Spark Vintage Drum to a bunch of synths. I would like to use them within Reaper. I have an M-audio keyboard for input and it works with the other synth software I have.
Within Reaper FX I have all that came with Reaper as well as a few others.
All of the Synth vst that came with the current version of Fruity loops show up there and my current method of using the M-Audio keyboard for input work as they should.
I've tried to find any of the Arturia products I'm now licensed with, within Reapers FX and they are not there. I've tried doing the "Search for new plugins" without success.
My question is this. How do I add the newly acquired Arturia products to my list of FX within Reaper so that they can be used for recording? I'm hoping it's an easy fix. Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.
I also looked at the Arturia Forum and it's not very helpful. It does not even have a search window to help one look for answers.
Cheers, Jeff

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Old 09-15-2013, 11:59 AM   #4
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Hey man, alright here's the problem: when you install new VSTi plugins you need to identify a folder for where the plugin will installed with it's sound library (or other files) and a different folder for where the .dll goes. Sometimes the plugin only needs .dll folder only.


What you wanna do is may be reinstall one of the plugins (or just start the installation and after finding the folder path just close the installation, no need to reauthorize or anything) and see where the VST .dll goes. Now find that on your explorer (finder if on mac) and copy that path. (I'm suspecting it'll be something like the ones below:

C:\Program Files(x86)\Steinberg\VstPlugins
C:\Program Files\Steinberg\VstPlugins


so when have the path copied already, start Reaper then options>preference
in the left, choose VST, and paste the path in that vst plugin path textbox, if you have anything there already, then jsut put a comma and paste after it.

hit clearcache/rescan and you're set.

Arturia's synths should appear immediately
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Old 09-15-2013, 06:32 PM   #5
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Thanks Vendetta. I had found a work around before you responded but I'm still not quite there. The files were under Arturia in the Program files. When I copied them into the preferences for midi file under preferences, then they showed up.

The problem I'm now having is that the M-Audio controller does not work within Reaper when opening any of the Synths in the FX window. It works when not using Reaper and just opening any of the Synth icons (I have them on-screen). But when trying to open them within Reapers FX I cannot get the midi controller to control them. I've tried under Options/Preferences/Audio midi devices, and then highlighting the "USB Audio Device" and making sure its enabled. The mouse can make sounds by clicking on the keyboard but the actual M-Audio midi keyboard does not work.

I know with Superior drumer I have to route the the output when looking at the Ez Player/Superior Drummer screen by clicking on midi and then output and then "route to midi bus". This allowed me to hear the midi sounds within Superior Drummer.

I'm assuming that because the M-audio midi keyboard controller works when using it without Reaper, that it's a routing issue not letting me hear it when I try to use it within Reaper. in that it works as a stand alone controller for any of the Arturia Synths. I now just need to figure out the routing problem.

Under Tools/Preferences, I also needed ASIO enabled when using this M-Audio controller. This is when I was using Sytrus in the past. I would have to select this option and "USB Audio Device" under tools/preferences. It worked in the past for the Sytrus that I could call up as a vst from Fruity Loops, but within Reaper, but it has been a while since I've used that program within Reaper. It's not working either. Again, I'm assuming it's a routing issue with the output similar to what I did to hear the midi when using Superior Drummer. Any further help would be greatly appreciated. I've played off and on with this problem all day without success. Thanks again kind Sir.
Cheers, Jeff

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Old 09-16-2013, 03:35 AM   #6
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Hi Vendetta,
I figured it out. I'm mainly a guitarist and don't usually use keyboards much when recording. It's actually been a couple of years since I've last recorded some keys.
The inputs need to be selected for each depending on whether its the midi keyboard or the guitar. With the midi keys, I need to have it in ASIO mode and then select "audio midi device" all channels. When using guitar I go back to wav file and select my "guitarport" for input. These items need to be selected before trying to record. As well, my midi keyboard needed to be on before I opened Reaper and then ASIO was selected and then in the drop down menu where the vu meter is at, I had to select midi/all channels. Quite a few steps to do when going from a guitar track to a midi track, but I finally got it. Thanks again m8.
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Old 09-16-2013, 04:08 AM   #7
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Hey Jeff, glad you sorted it all out.

a few tips here:

if you get to open Reaper before turning on your keyboard, no problem, just hit ctrl+p (or the top right corner of the screen where it lists the sample rate latency etc. and it opens the preferences. now just click cancel or hit esc and Reaper will refresh the midi devices, meaning your keyboard is already working, no need to close and reopen Reaper.


as for the midi tracks. You may wanna insert a synth track the following way: on the top go to, track>insert virtual instrument on a new track. Then select your desired synth and youre set. It'll automatically select all the midi devices for you. Play at once.

also, It's not clear for me the bit about asio needing to be selected?


and yes, each time you wanna record something you gotta arm a track. seems like a weird task at first but when you're working with a lot of keyboards and other instruments, this makes so much sense. You just assign inputs to various tracks from various instruments, arm them and record, sometimes you need to record a single track at a time and sometimes more than 1. So arming is important really
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Old 09-16-2013, 07:27 AM   #8
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do you use reaper's native midi control path, or jeffos' miditoreacontrolpath?
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Old 09-16-2013, 10:24 AM   #9
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To be honest I'm not aware of 'jeffos' miditoreacontrolpath'

So I'm assuming I'm using Reaper's native midi.
And yeah it's worked pretty fine for me, And I do like to put some challenges in front of my daw and setup.


Could you give me more info on miditoreacontrolpath ?
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Old 09-16-2013, 10:32 AM   #10
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reaper's native midi control path/learn system is extremely limited.
let's say you have a midi controller and you want to use a fader to control a filter cutoff

however, you are not interested in the full range of motion of the filter param, only the upper 3/4ths

if you are using reaper's native control path, you cannot set an upper/lower threshold for your cc, even though the capacity is there via JS and VST. so, instead, you use jeffos' plugin like this:

in prefs/midi devices, turn off control option on your controller
create/arm a track for your controller
throw in midi FX as desired (CC threshold limiter, inverter, etc)
drop in MiditoReaControlPath
learn fx param as desired.

this way, you actually have control over what kind of messages are controlling your learned params. this provides a much higher degree of control than the "flat" native control path.

this way you can also set 1 rotary/fader to output 2 different signals: cc 74 and cc 71, perhaps, one inverted and the other with a raised floor.
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Old 09-16-2013, 11:57 AM   #11
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that actually sounds good. but to be honest I've never had the necessity to use it. I might pretty much stumble upon something like that and will definitely keep that in mind
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Old 09-16-2013, 01:32 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nym View Post
reaper's native midi control path/learn system is extremely limited.
Unfair nym.
Have a look at parameter modulation (one of the overlooked features)
What I do in this case, is link a controller to a "dummy parameter" and link that out to whatever I like. So one controller can control many parameters on different synths/fx.
You get full control over range, direction, whatever you like.

I usually use Schwa's JS MIDI examine as the "dummy controller" but you could use pretty much anything you like.

Steve
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Old 09-16-2013, 02:11 PM   #13
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what I do is usually assign the knobs to the plugin parameter and set that so that they reflect only when the window is in focus. This way same controls go to thousands of plugins and you control only the one that's in focus. I also have an encoder that scrolls thru the fx windows on the same track. Handy!


another thing I like to do is have preset default mapping for each plugin that I use a lot
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Old 09-16-2013, 04:20 PM   #14
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i LOVE parameter modulation, and i'm really happy you shared that tip because it had not occurred to me. it will help in the future, thanks.

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Unfair nym.
Have a look at parameter modulation (one of the overlooked features)
What I do in this case, is link a controller to a "dummy parameter" and link that out to whatever I like. So one controller can control many parameters on different synths/fx.
You get full control over range, direction, whatever you like.

I usually use Schwa's JS MIDI examine as the "dummy controller" but you could use pretty much anything you like.

Steve
you've still gotta reach outside the box if you want to have deeper midi control through reaper, though. bidule + loopbe has been perfect for this, so i'm happy and would rather devs do other things.
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Old 09-16-2013, 04:23 PM   #15
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vendetta, those tips are cool, especially. i recently moved to sequencing entirely in reaper from my mpc, so now that i'm not dealing with discrete channels all the time, this is an option for me.
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Old 09-17-2013, 01:21 AM   #16
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nym, how do you do the sequencing on Reaper?
I'm still thinking of a comfortable way to route everything so that I can use it in a step sequencer/drum machine style.
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Old 09-17-2013, 02:47 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vendetta V View Post
Hey Jeff, glad you sorted it all out.

a few tips here:

if you get to open Reaper before turning on your keyboard, no problem, just hit ctrl+p (or the top right corner of the screen where it lists the sample rate latency etc. and it opens the preferences. now just click cancel or hit esc and Reaper will refresh the midi devices, meaning your keyboard is already working, no need to close and reopen Reaper.


as for the midi tracks. You may wanna insert a synth track the following way: on the top go to, track>insert virtual instrument on a new track. Then select your desired synth and youre set. It'll automatically select all the midi devices for you. Play at once.

also, It's not clear for me the bit about asio needing to be selected?


and yes, each time you wanna record something you gotta arm a track. seems like a weird task at first but when you're working with a lot of keyboards and other instruments, this makes so much sense. You just assign inputs to various tracks from various instruments, arm them and record, sometimes you need to record a single track at a time and sometimes more than 1. So arming is important really
Hi Vendetta,
Some great tips there, especially when closing out Reaper to use the midi keys. Usually the keys are added after the drums and guitars. I've used Reaper for 6 years now, but mainly with Superior Drummer, guitars and bass. Keys are usually an afterthought, and required some tweeking to be able to record them.

The ASIO solves a latency issue when using midi. I have an 04 version of Windows XP Pro, dual processors, but the original soundcard. I know that a better soundcard would solve my latency issues, but ASIO does it quite well for me.

When I'm playing, I've settled into a pattern that works for me and that is to arm a track, set the whole song to loop, and then hit record. I record multiple takes without stopping, which helps me get a feel for the melody I'm trying to develop. If I play 10 takes in a row without stopping, I may not get into the groove of it until I've played to it a few times, and as I approach playing to it for the 10th time, I can become bored and get tired of playing to it at this point. Somewhere in the middle of all of these takes, I can find something that agrees with me on the playback. This is where I split item at cursor and go for the best of all takes involved. I finish by adding Reafir to round down the lower and especially the higher frequencies, and then top off each track with BBE Sonic Maximizer. This works well for me and is very easy. The hardest part is finding the "best" parts of all takes involved and splitting the take at the right spot to "seemlessly jump to another take. Sometimes as well, after all of the mixing is done of the "best of" all takes, I'll then duplicate the track. Then I'll pan one track to the right, usually 60 to 80 percent, and one track to the left the same amount. I'll then add just a few ms of delay to one or the other. Not nearly enough delay to hear it as such, but rather just enough to "fatten" up the sound. Usually 3 to 10 ms.

Adding midi keys just expands my horizons with Arturias V colletion 3. I still have not seen the included Spark Vintage Drums that came with this collection show up in my fx list even though I added it the way I added the other synths I bought from them. I may have to hook up my Korg controller which would allow me to input the drum sounds in real time. I'm still working on that one. It's not Superior Drummer, but there are some very usable sounds there and it would be nice to have it available as well. I very much appreciate this thread, as I'm sure others will as well that get onboard with any Arturia product. Thanks for the tips and the help m8
Cheers, Jeff

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Old 09-17-2013, 04:55 AM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by belleswell View Post
Hi Vendetta,

The ASIO solves a latency issue when using midi. I have an 04 version of Windows XP Pro, dual processors, but the original soundcard. I know that a better soundcard would solve my latency issues, but ASIO does it quite well for me.
yeah Asio does a pretty good job for latency. The thing with midi keyboard is that you dont have audio input latency added to the audio output latency. That is if you were to have say 10ms latency, with audio/guitar you would get 10ms (input) + 10ms (output) = 20ms which is not sufficient for realtime playing anymore. With midi keyboard/vst instruments you would only get 10ms output since midi input is instant and you get 10ms which is close to the 7ms which is considered the realtime latency after which you don't feel it. (that is 7ms>awesome for real time playing even virtuoso classical music)

Quote:
When I'm playing, I've settled into a pattern that works for me and that is to arm a track, set the whole song to loop, and then hit record. I record multiple takes without stopping, which helps me get a feel for the melody I'm trying to develop. If I play 10 takes in a row without stopping, I may not get into the groove of it until I've played to it a few times, and as I approach playing to it for the 10th time, I can become bored and get tired of playing to it at this point. Somewhere in the middle of all of these takes, I can find something that agrees with me on the playback. This is where I split item at cursor and go for the best of all takes involved. I finish by adding Reafir to round down the lower and especially the higher frequencies, and then top off each track with BBE Sonic Maximizer. This works well for me and is very easy.
That's a pretty good way of approaching it. A lot of people I know do it that way. I tend to add the post-processing at the mixing stage though. I do exclusively tracking, then exclusively mixing (which can take part after awhile. Even weeks).

I am by the way at the conundrum of deciding if I like my Sonic Maximizer. I have the 482 unit and I gotta either buy it off the guy who lent it to me or give it back to him. I'm a bit iffy about it's bypass stage which is a very tricky design, look it up on youtube. You'll see the wave on the oscilloscope and get what I'm talking about. in bypass it totally eats your bass.

Quote:
Adding midi keys just expands my horizons with Arturias V colletion 3. I still have not seen the included Spark Vintage Drums that came with this collection show up in my fx list even though I added it the way I added the other synths I bought from them. I may have to hook up my Korg controller which would allow me to input the drum sounds in real time. I'm still working on that one. It's not Superior Drummer, but there are some very usable sounds there and it would be nice to have it available as well. I very much appreciate this thread, as I'm sure others will as well that get onboard with any Arturia product. Thanks for the tips and the help m8
Cheers, Jeff

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Spark is a nice tool if you want drum machine sounds. I tend to use Battery 4 most of the time for my electric drums but Spark is still a nice tool. It has the step sequencer thing which is handy. I've even considered investing into a SparkLE controller but I think if I get that far for drum machine controller I'd get the Maschine Mikro by NI. The pads on that thing are phenomenal!
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Old 09-17-2013, 02:08 PM   #19
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Thanks again Vendetta,
Your very helpful and knowledgeable. I want to thank you for your help. It's greatly appreciated. Some great info. I had the same BBE unit for my rack but got rid of it. I now use the Sonic Stomp on my pedalboard and when recording, I bought Sonic Suite which has 3 of their products. I hardly ever use the other two, but the Sonic Maximizer gets used quite regularly. I thought you might like another thread I started.
http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=128499

Cheers, and thanks for the listen,
Jeff

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Old 09-18-2013, 03:11 AM   #20
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Seriously -- what do you think of Arturia as a company? Ever have any REAL dealings with them up close?
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Old 09-18-2013, 03:32 AM   #21
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Seriously -- what do you think of Arturia as a company? Ever have any REAL dealings with them up close?
I had emailed their tech support a few months prior to actually buying the V collection. My questions were fairly simple involving compatability issues with Reaper, and whether or not they were the full product or just a small sampling of each. I did not convert this to their French language for there benefit but sent it in English. I did not hear back from them. From what I've read at another forum, (theirs), they have a very poor tech support record. I also must say that I'm no slouch when it comes to licensing a new product for my use. Toontracks products and their registration was a little fustrating but once I got the hang of it, no big deal. On the other hand, trying to register my newly purchased Arturia product, was horrendous. Took quite a few hours of trying before I got it. This is the main issue as well at their forum. The elicenser most have needs to be updated before one can get the license. One needs to completely close out the registration process, and then go to the update page for licensing, upload it, and then go back to the registration process. Not an easy task,the way they've designed the registration process.
On the other hand, guitar center price matched this for me, and I got it for 300 vs the normal 399 price most try to sell this for.
My 2 cent opinion is that they could work on their customer support as it seems non-existant at times based on my reading others complaints at their forum.
Cheers, Jeff

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Old 09-18-2013, 04:12 AM   #22
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I dealt with Arturia only briefly, I wanted to demo one of the V synths and the demo license download button was broken. So I submitted to tech support mostly expecting their support group to ignore the issues of non-customers. Instead they hooked me up with a 15-day V package demo and I was able to demo a few of them.

The Modular V is quickly becoming my bread and butter synth. It's a total pain to 'dial' in (as you would expect because of what it is) but I find it to be a very meaty emulation of that old Moog sound. I like it far better than other vintage moog emulations I've tried (though to be fair most of them are aiming at the Mini and I probably at least partially just prefer the sound of the old modulars to the Minis). If they run another blowout like the recent one I'll buy the rest of the V package without question, I find several of the other synths useful; but the Analog Lab patches that came with the Minilab do well enough for providing me with a fair amount of variety in the interim.
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Old 09-18-2013, 04:15 AM   #23
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I have a question that's probably simple but I can't figure it out:

Is there a way to setup patch changing on the Minilab? I'd like to take all of my patches that I keep in a bank or sub-bank and be able to toggle between them without taking my hands off the instrument. I can do it in Analog Lab in standalone mode but not as a VST and I can't figure out a way to assign it on the Modular at all.
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Old 09-18-2013, 05:14 AM   #24
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Reason I asked is because I have their Minimoog V Original on a laptop I don't use for recording anymore. It's a great synth (the model became the Mini V last year). Anyhow, it was part of that one-day giveaway tribute to the memory of Bob Moog on his birthday, and it was a no-dongle, no eLicenser call and response code thing afair. I wasn't able to register it on their site at all -- no box to click, etc. So I am concerned I won't be able to get them interested enough to send me a new code to move it to another PC. Time will tell.
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Old 09-18-2013, 06:35 AM   #25
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Quote:
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I have a question that's probably simple but I can't figure it out:

Is there a way to setup patch changing on the Minilab? I'd like to take all of my patches that I keep in a bank or sub-bank and be able to toggle between them without taking my hands off the instrument. I can do it in Analog Lab in standalone mode but not as a VST and I can't figure out a way to assign it on the Modular at all.
I'll have a look at it, im not in the studio right now. My first thought about it is the Live Mode. Not sure how it works in the VST mode. Will check back soon after I try it on my studio machine.

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Reason I asked is because I have their Minimoog V Original on a laptop I don't use for recording anymore. It's a great synth (the model became the Mini V last year). Anyhow, it was part of that one-day giveaway tribute to the memory of Bob Moog on his birthday, and it was a no-dongle, no eLicenser call and response code thing afair. I wasn't able to register it on their site at all -- no box to click, etc. So I am concerned I won't be able to get them interested enough to send me a new code to move it to another PC. Time will tell.
to be honest what has already been said about Arturias teh support was kind of true for me too. I was asking them something about the Minilab and they never got in touch with me. That sux. But I never had any issue licensing any of their software. I've never had issues with licensing to be honest so may be that's just me having better skills than an average user? I doubt it's that though. But yeah I was gonna license the Analoglab software and was afraid already it's gonna take a lot of trial and error from what I had read on the web. but apparently it took me a few clicks. Matter of two minutes really.


hope that helps. I figured we need an arturia thread here also for the reason that they odnt have a good tech support. Wish I could actually work for them haha
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Old 09-18-2013, 01:34 PM   #26
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Thanks for your feedback. I didn't have any issue licensing the first time, but moving it to another PC will require them -- Arturia -- to cough up a new call and response I believe, i.e., invest a moment helping me with this Moog memorial (quite excellent) synth.

Now, one point to make and a question! First, I think it's friggin' awesome that you are offering to STAFF a thread such as this. Can't hardly believe it, and wouldn't it be great if there was a pro or expert in each of various popular softwares for some of the other brands?

And now the question, which ought to be perfect for you. I think Arturia products are some of the best available software and hardware instruments made today, and they have been around for a while now. Love my Mini more than a Diva because it is more purely focused on being a Model D, even if someone should argue that Diva does the filter a bit better in some respects. This is not the issue here anyway. I'm asking about Arturia's future. Even though they were among the first to heavily nail down the full VA thing, thanks much to their T.A.E. Oscillators, I have heard some knowledgable sorts state that Arturia is somehow in serious decline and its 'day' has passed. The several many times I have heard complaints about their customer support may simply be a symptom of this. Question: What do YOU think? Have you heard any of this assertion?

Cheers!
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Old 09-18-2013, 01:50 PM   #27
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Quote:
Now, one point to make and a question! First, I think it's friggin' awesome that you are offering to STAFF a thread such as this. Can't hardly believe it, and wouldn't it be great if there was a pro or expert in each of various popular softwares for some of the other brands?
I try to manage all FaderPort requests as an FYI. Got Faderport issues, lemme know I'll try to help. I have it operating my studio lighting as of last night for gosh sake so hopefully I have something of value to offer.
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Old 09-18-2013, 01:53 PM   #28
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I don't think that was addressed to me but I have two observations:
1. People talk about how old the Arturia V synths are. Yes, it's true, but they've been extensively updated (I think all of them but certainly most of them) several times already. The Modular is at like version 2.5 or something and apparently 2.0 added not only new modules but also upgrades to the sound/emulation. So the current offerings aren't as old as the titles they're sold under.
2. The Minibrute would appear to be a HUGE success. I don't have sales figures but people on GS gush about that thing and I've seen a truly extraordinary number of people in threads claim to have one (while that doesn't mean that they do it's a cheap enough synthesizer to be believable). If they're planning to continue down this analog route (my understanding is that it's effectively an analog synth with VCOs though I admit I know little about it) I think that would demonstrate the right direction for what people seem to be buying today. While there will always be a call for full sized, big ass expensive synths there's also a HUGE market for the ~$1000 or less crowd; actually there are probably a lot more people buying <$1000 synths than >$3000 units (that's a totally wild speculation on my part).
ETA:
3. It's trendy right now to bag on soft synths. There are some very good ones right now. Tons of people use them with great result. Do I long for the tactile feedback of knobs and wires? Hell yes (which is why I'm eyeballing a Mos-Lab system). Will an incredible modular replace my soft synths in a work context? Sometimes probably but there will be lots of things it doesn't do too well (until I add more modules...I wonder what's down this rabbit hole...) and if you're talking about needing to repatch instantly forget about it. That's kind of my take on soft synths. I'm not Rick Wakeman or Jordan Rudess, it's not feasible or likely that I'll own a fleet of great synths. Soft synths are where I can reasonably get a lot of variety at a fairly high quality while still investing in an instrument or two.
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Old 09-18-2013, 02:50 PM   #29
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For you, too, ngarjuna!


[edit] My question about Arturia's synths comes from a substantial thread I read somewhere this summer from some experienced Arturia users debating specifically the Big Five softsynths of theirs. It seems to me the Minibrute was not discussed, though it should have been I think. Haven't played one but I hear they are tops. For hardware synths, it seems small or tiny is the rage. Seen that pocket-sized Waldorf or Blofeld (is it) yet? $245 USD I think.

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Old 09-18-2013, 03:40 PM   #30
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For you, too, ngarjuna!


[edit] My question about Arturia's synths comes from a substantial thread I read somewhere this summer from some experienced Arturia users debating specifically the Big Five softsynths of theirs. It seems to me the Minibrute was not discussed, though it should have been I think. Haven't played one but I hear they are tops. For hardware synths, it seems small or tiny is the rage. Seen that pocket-sized Waldorf or Blofeld (is it) yet? $245 USD I think.
Haven't seen that one yet; Korg's got a couple new sub-$250 units now too I think. Smaller, less expensive analogs are definitely all the rage. Even Moog is scoring big with its Phatty line (they're less expensive than...well a voyager heh).
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Old 09-19-2013, 01:01 AM   #31
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Originally Posted by The Telenator View Post
Thanks for your feedback. I didn't have any issue licensing the first time, but moving it to another PC will require them -- Arturia -- to cough up a new call and response I believe, i.e., invest a moment helping me with this Moog memorial (quite excellent) synth.
ouch

Quote:
Now, one point to make and a question! First, I think it's friggin' awesome that you are offering to STAFF a thread such as this. Can't hardly believe it, and wouldn't it be great if there was a pro or expert in each of various popular softwares for some of the other brands?
that'd be awesome, I'm tryin to catch up with this thread, later might as well wanna do something for Superior Drummer or some other software that I know pretty well already.

Quote:
And now the question, which ought to be perfect for you. I think Arturia products are some of the best available software and hardware instruments made today, and they have been around for a while now. Love my Mini more than a Diva because it is more purely focused on being a Model D, even if someone should argue that Diva does the filter a bit better in some respects. This is not the issue here anyway. I'm asking about Arturia's future. Even though they were among the first to heavily nail down the full VA thing, thanks much to their T.A.E. Oscillators, I have heard some knowledgable sorts state that Arturia is somehow in serious decline and its 'day' has passed. The several many times I have heard complaints about their customer support may simply be a symptom of this. Question: What do YOU think? Have you heard any of this assertion?

Cheers!
Gotta be honest I haven't heard the rumor of them going down. They had new products this year too. They are quite affordalbe as opposed to other controllers for instance and some deals such as Minilab with it's software. You can't beat that. I think as long as Arturia maintains that affordable price tag they'll be good. As far the the tech support goes, if they fix that, things will get even better with them.
All that aside I've seen a lot of unsatisfied users bashing Minilab because outside Analoglab software it's useless and the encoders don't work. The actual reason for that is people not knowing the difference between relative and absolute modes, not reading manuals, just plain being ignorant. And well Arturia will get shit because they're not EXPENSIVE. While people who usually buy expensive gear are mainly people who know what they're doing, beginners tend to start off cheaper gear. And while the cheaper gear is good, whatever doesn't work cause of the user, gets blamed on the unit itself.

Aaaand on the other hand when the more expensive stuff breaks, everybody's like 'yeah well that could happen, 1 in a million) whereas the cheap gear gets that "piece of shit I should have payed more for a better unit"

Quote:
Originally Posted by karbomusic View Post
I try to manage all FaderPort requests as an FYI. Got Faderport issues, lemme know I'll try to help. I have it operating my studio lighting as of last night for gosh sake so hopefully I have something of value to offer.
cheers, that's some awesome stuff
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Old 09-19-2013, 01:06 AM   #32
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ngarjuna View Post
I don't think that was addressed to me but I have two observations:
1. People talk about how old the Arturia V synths are. Yes, it's true, but they've been extensively updated (I think all of them but certainly most of them) several times already. The Modular is at like version 2.5 or something and apparently 2.0 added not only new modules but also upgrades to the sound/emulation. So the current offerings aren't as old as the titles they're sold under.
2. The Minibrute would appear to be a HUGE success. I don't have sales figures but people on GS gush about that thing and I've seen a truly extraordinary number of people in threads claim to have one (while that doesn't mean that they do it's a cheap enough synthesizer to be believable). If they're planning to continue down this analog route (my understanding is that it's effectively an analog synth with VCOs though I admit I know little about it) I think that would demonstrate the right direction for what people seem to be buying today. While there will always be a call for full sized, big ass expensive synths there's also a HUGE market for the ~$1000 or less crowd; actually there are probably a lot more people buying <$1000 synths than >$3000 units (that's a totally wild speculation on my part).
ETA:
3. It's trendy right now to bag on soft synths. There are some very good ones right now. Tons of people use them with great result. Do I long for the tactile feedback of knobs and wires? Hell yes (which is why I'm eyeballing a Mos-Lab system). Will an incredible modular replace my soft synths in a work context? Sometimes probably but there will be lots of things it doesn't do too well (until I add more modules...I wonder what's down this rabbit hole...) and if you're talking about needing to repatch instantly forget about it. That's kind of my take on soft synths. I'm not Rick Wakeman or Jordan Rudess, it's not feasible or likely that I'll own a fleet of great synths. Soft synths are where I can reasonably get a lot of variety at a fairly high quality while still investing in an instrument or two.
well said. I do also think minibrute is quite popular these days.

The thing with softsynths that I like is the versatility, You can have a few instances of each, different patches throughout the projects,affordability, many many other reasons... Is it better than the actual analog world? well I'll just stop it right there since I think it's wrong to compare one to the other. To each their own, But i've heard VERY IMPRESSIVE sounding Softsynths and quite surprisingly bad sounding analog synths. so Yeah. There's good and bad in both.
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Old 09-20-2013, 11:04 AM   #33
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Alert Alert! Minilab and AnalogLab got updates.

Software update for Analog Lab (currently donwloading)
Firmware update for Minilab (already isntalled, not sure what it does)

Midi Control Center update too. (guess better stability)


plus a pic from me

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Old 09-20-2013, 11:16 AM   #34
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plus a pic from me
Dude, you should see somebody about that skin condition.
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Old 09-20-2013, 12:14 PM   #35
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Dude, you should see somebody about that skin condition.
hehe. Me and my colleague Dr. Zachary T. are conducting a research on finding a cure for what is known Newspaper Skin Disorder
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Old 10-16-2013, 03:35 PM   #36
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So yeah I consider myself a complex Reaper (or anthing for that matter) user. Not that I know a bunch but more that I like to find solutions to a lot of things that aren't common!

So if you have an Arturia (minilab most particularly) and you have questions, shoot it here.

I usually have free time when I'm online so I'll be more than happy to try and answer something. If I can't, I'm pretty sure there'll be plenty of people here who can also input their help!


Cheers, V


PS. I'm thinking of doing a demo on Arturia's Minilab as a controller for Reaper. are you guys interested?
I'm definitely interested! I need all the help I can get with this thing (the Minilab). Managed to install Analog Lab and Midi Control Center as well as update the firmware without problems, and after realizing that you need to start MCC *before* Reaper for it to be able to find the device the MCC seems to be working fine (although I'm not sure exactly *how* you're supposed to use it). The big problem I have is with MIDI learn. I nudge/click the desired parameter, choose "Param", "Learn", tweak the control (usually a knob) I want to, and it seems like it should be working, but it never really is. No matter what settings I choose or what I do, the best I can manage is to nudge the corresponding envelope a little in a semi-random fashion when I turn the knobs. This is making me crazy, partly because I don't know if there really is a problem with the Arturia/Reaper combination, or if I'm just missing something embarrasingly obvious. Any help would be much appreciated either way!

Edit: I've managed to use relative mode to get better performance out of it. Still not satisfactory though. The automation control is jittery/choppy rather than smooth, and sometimes it changes direction (almost, but not quite, predictably). It's definitely a lot better than what I managed to achieve before, but still far from ideal. Not very usable. I'll keep working at it, but if you have any bright ideas, I'm still all ears.

Edit #2: Never mind, I think I solved it. Not entirely sure, I'll have to do some more testing and possibly tweaking, but it seems to be working fine as long as I behave exactly as it wants me to, as opposed to the other way around. I feel like a trained seal by now. Anyway, I might be able to help now as well, if anybody else has trouble getting the Minilab to work with Reaper.

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Old 10-17-2013, 11:46 AM   #37
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Good job figuring it all out. Yeah, basically relative vs absolute mode is where the complaints come from for this awesome unit.

Basically people, not fully understanding about these mods.


I'd recommend you use Absolute mode for controlling reaper. Or you can use Relatvive 2 on Arturia (you select it in the MCC) and relative 1 in Reaper (you select it when assigning/learning to an action)


This works the best according to my experience.

Anyways thanks for chiming in


PS. I had a major system crash and I had to reinstall my OS. to those who are interested. I emailed arturia at once for a new activation code and they answered me within a day. Not bad if you ask me, it was then matter of a few minutes of getting the new activation codes. Hopefully this is an advancement in their support team! that's their weakest point atm imo
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Old 10-17-2013, 12:23 PM   #38
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Thanks, mate!

It was a bit of a hassle, even though I knew about the modes, partly because Reaper is a little capricious about accepting the signal (sometimes I need to deactivate/reactivate record or click on the envelope or just keep twiddling the knob before Reaper reacts, which isn't very troublesome when you know how it works, but when you're totally lost and trying to find a way that works through trial and error that kind of inconsistency can be very frustrating), and partly because I didn't know how to get it to work with Reaper's track controls (apparently through the Action menu is one way; I'm sure there are others).

I use Absolute mode in Reaper so far, it seems to work the best. Also worth mentioning to other readers is that *all* the modes on the Minilab except mode 2 are in fact absolute. Mode 3 (Shift + Pad 3) seems to work best for me, not mode 1, surprisingly. Maybe there's no real difference and I just didn't figure it all out before I tried mode 3, but anyway... I'll keep experimenting. And I agree that the Minilab is quite the little gem once you get used to it.
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Old 10-17-2013, 12:39 PM   #39
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I use Absolute mode in Reaper so far, it seems to work the best. Also worth mentioning to other readers is that *all* the modes on the Minilab except mode 2 are in fact absolute. Mode 3 (Shift + Pad 3) seems to work best for me, not mode 1, surprisingly. Maybe there's no real difference and I just didn't figure it all out before I tried mode 3, but anyway... I'll keep experimenting. And I agree that the Minilab is quite the little gem once you get used to it.
I knew about Mode1 vs. all the others but I never thought to try a different absolute mode than 1, thanks for the tip! I don't have any real complaints about the Minilab other than it turns out I hate mini keys; but that's not the Minilab's fault.
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Old 10-17-2013, 01:02 PM   #40
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I knew about Mode1 vs. all the others but I never thought to try a different absolute mode than 1, thanks for the tip! I don't have any real complaints about the Minilab other than it turns out I hate mini keys; but that's not the Minilab's fault.
What do you guys mean by Absolute mode 1 and all the others?

there's three modes for relative but only a single mode of Absolute
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