Nulling Parameter Values
 

Throughout the S6 console, any touch-sensitive Encoders or Faders can have their parameter values returned to default by simply holding an Option switch while touching the controls. Use the Option switch located on any Fader Module while touching Faders on the surface or Encoders on a Knob Module (EQ Expand Zone for example) to Null / Set the parameter values to Default. The Option modifier can also be used while touching the Master Module touchscreen panner or Joystick Module panners to default the pan position to Front, Center. Hold Option while touching any Faders which are part of an Expand Fader Map to set their values to default.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7771csmzi3...718p.png?raw=1

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ykik1asqns...60718.mov?dl=0

Locking the S6 Transport to Pro Tools
 

Use the little round Setup button just to the right of the Jog Wheel on the Automation Module to Lock / Bind the Transport section to a given application. This is handy if you want to trigger the Pro Tools transport if you are frequently application switching (Command+Tab) to other apps like DADman, SoundMiner, iTunes, etc.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/krbfpgnizw...Lock.png?raw=1

Creative Transport Customization
 

Here's a simple way to reprogram the Back button on the Transport Section of the Automation Module to provide a bit more flexibility, should you find yourself commonly toggling Insertion Follows Playback.

The Back button in the attached appset has been modified to trigger the EUCON function Restore Last Selection, which will bring back the last selection or insertion which existed before hitting play. This can be used in combination with toggling Insertion Follows Playback ON, which advances the playhead. To get back to the previous position, simply press the Back switch.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zjbaebjghr...918B.gif?raw=1

Before loading this appset, (modified from current S6 v18.3 software) please save a copy of your existing set if you've customized the factory so you can retrieve the custom functions. This can all be accomplished from the Settings > Soft Keys page on the Master Module. Simply place the attached XML file on a flash drive, pop it into the back of the Master Module and Load it.


https://www.dropbox.com/s/ug32sfwjrb...60918.xml?dl=0

Displaying Preamp Controls on Process Module Encoder
 

With MTRX or any other PRE-compatible remote mic preamps, add microphone Gain control to the Process Module encoder by holding down the Back (arrow) button at the bottom of the Process Module while pressing the Input switch. The encoder should turn Red. Bank using the adjacent Arrow switches to get to the Gain parameter. As a shortcut, engage the ALL switch from the Master Module before performing this sequence to change the process module encoders on all channels. For higher resolution control of the preamp Gain, press Flip till the Process Module encoders glow bright white. Use Shift + Flip to exit back to the standard view.

Experiment by bringing other parameters to the process module encoder such as Threshold on DYN, Sends or HPF frequency for EQ.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zwssf0s4hd...61118.MOV?dl=0

Display Breaks on Track Color
 

Let's take a deeper look at some of the Local Options (Gear icon) from the Tracks Page. One particularly useful function is the option to "Display Breaks on Track Color" which automatically creates rows for each chunk of tracks by color. This can provide a more dramatic visual separation between track elements within your session. You can also optionally enable "Show Home Screen on Track Attention" to jump directly to the exploded Home page and access the function scroller when a track is Attentioned from the Tracks Page.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8fmdafdtqr...218a.gif?raw=1

Re: S6 Tip ‘o the Day
 

omg this is great :D
+1 for my nerves :)

Managing Inserts from the Home Page
 

On the Home page, the Function Scroller shows a row of blocks representing categories of functions that can be manipulated for an Attentioned track. For Inserts (teal), use a Pinch Out gesture to expose all of the inserts in the processing chain. To simplify the view of parameters in the center of the Home screen, access the Local Options (Gear icon) and and set Knob View to "Selected Function". Now when you touch any of the blocks in the Function Scroller it will filter everything else out of the view.

Use the little Lock icons to anchor the chosen (in this case Dynamics) parameters to either side of the Master Module encoders. Dynamics is anchored on the left then Insert parameters for Phoenix II can be anchored to the right side. Unlock the column to swap out Dynamics with EQ for example.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/abn8c2zwi7...318a.gif?raw=1

Managing Function Curves on the Master Module
 

Enable Auto Show Function Graph on Selection from the Local options (Gear icon) of the Home page to automatically bring down the curve for (EQ, Dyn or Pan) without having to perform a swipe gesture.

Enable Auto Show Function Graph on Knob Touch to display the appropriate curve when a parameter is tweaked for EQ, Dyn or Pan. We've set the value to be 1.0 seconds, which means that it will display the appropriate curve and then timeout back to the previous view after one second.

We've first docked Pan on the right encoders then Dynamics on the left. Grabbing the Threshold brings up the gain transfer curve then reverts back to the color-coded All Parameters view. Grabbing the Pan encoder displays the Pan Plot and then times out. Pan is then swapped out for the High Mid and High EQ bands.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9aoo4ur2nj...718x.gif?raw=1

Editing Macro Example
 

Here's another example of a simple macro sequence that I created for my own use when cutting VO. For demonstration purposes, I've created the following macro using the LOC switch on the Transport switches once again. (Please backup your customized soft keys before loading this set. This is based on the factory 18.3.0.244 set)

This is a simple operation that performs a Shuffle Edit Delete on a selection then returns back to editing in Slip mode. It's a combination of EUCON and QWERTY keyboard functions applied in sequence.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/o3wrun7hy8...61918.xml?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fwgqpkrahk...edit.PNG?raw=1

Returning the Soft Key panels back to Default
 

To return all of the Master Module and Automation Module Soft Key panels back to their Default pages, hold the Shift switch on any Fader Module while pressing 0 on the Automation Module numeric keypad.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6k527nwzzd...Jump.png?raw=1

Hold Control from any Fader Module to reveal additional functions relative to the workflow category of the Soft Keys.

Reprogramming QuickJump Functions
 

Let's explain how to reprogram the QuickJump functions on the Automation Module numeric section. We're going to change one of the automation presets - specifically key 3. For a little refresher, holding Shift on any Fader Module while pressing a numeric section key (on the Automation Module) will simultaneously change all of the Master Module and Automation Module soft keys based on various different workflows. Number 3 is one of the variations showing just Automation on the Soft Keys. Access the Settings > Soft Keys from the Master Module. Use the pop-up to toggle between the various soft key panels. Remember to hold Shift while programming the Page functions.

Let's modify this QuickJump to the following:
MTM-Left = Edit 1 (Editing functions like copy, paste, repeat...)
MTM-Right = Auto 1 (Automation Modes)
Auto-Left = Playlists (Playlist Changing, Cycling, Target...)
Auto-Right = Auto 2 (Advanced Automation: Preview, Capture...)

Now we can access essential Automation functions but also be able to flip through Playlists, access the target playlist and perform basic editorial operations.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/uf9w69a0ek...518B.gif?raw=1

Managing Multiple Workstations
 

Let's take a look at accessing and managing multiple Workstations from the S6. In this example we have the preference enabled for Display Breaks on Track Color which can be accessed from the Local Options (Gear) menu of the Tracks page.

We have 2 Workstations: HDX and HDNTB which have both been dragged from the left side (Network) of the Workstations page to the active (Connected) column. Touching a Workstation will give us access to all of the tracks for that connected system. You can either press Shift + WS to access the Workstations on the Master Module Touchscreen or simply press WS and use the upper left Soft Keys on the Master module to do the switching. Press Tracks to return back to the Tracks page after changing workstations.

If we enable the User Preferences for Show Track Number in addition to Show Workstation Number we will see the format 2|42 which represents Workstation 2 (HDNTB) | Track Number 42. The vast majority of the pages on the S6 Master Module will display this view, including the Tracks Page, Home (exploded) page and the Universe scroller.

If we access an aggregate Track Layout composed of tracks from multiple workstations, you can identify the Scroller at the bottom of the page with an array of tracks showing the Workstation & Track number plus the user assigned color.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rf3xf681z5...218a.gif?raw=1

Creating & Recalling Meter Layouts 1/2
 

For this TOD, let's examine creating a Meter Layout to be recalled and displayed on a Master Meter Module. Start by pressing the Tracks button to access the Track matrix. Now press Shift + Tracks to toggle the bottom scroller from Track Layouts to Meter Layouts.

Next, press the Local Options (Gear icon) from the Tracks page to adjust the desired formatting and number of channels (up to 32 possible) on the Master Meter Layout. For simplicity, we will chose Large Meters and 2 Meter rows for a total of 16 channels. Touch Assign to begin the process of creating a Meter Layout. Use the benefit of the filtering by Type at the top of the Tracks page interface to show only Aux tracks. We will choose the Submasters from sDrums to sVox contiguously. Now touch the location to anchor them in the meter grid. Next we will grab our Cue Masters by filtering track type to Master and grabbing CUE A - D and placing them on the second row. Now just for fun, let's application switch over to DADman with the tracks grid set to All and add the monitor outputs (MonA - D) corresponding to the Cue talent mixes which are part of our Monitor Profile. Application switch back to Pro Tools. Press Store, name it "Cues Subs" and finish by pressing Store once more.

Meter Layouts can be recalled in 3 different ways: from the Recall switch on the Master Module touchscreen, by pressing the Layouts button while in the Shift + Tracks mode (access on the same Master Module soft keys for Track Layouts) , and finally by using the User QuickJump (Shift + /) to access User Page 2 on the Soft Keys for quick access to Track and Meter Layouts.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/k9zzoltxbu...518a.gif?raw=1

S6 Tip ‘o the Day
 

For this example let's take a closer look at controlling a Dolby Atmos object track from Pro Tools on the S6. We've already attentioned Object 29 and accessed the Home (exploded) page which includes our function scroller currently looking at Pan. In 2D view, the pan puck is Orange to indicate positioning of an Object (vs a bus: green) and the Front and F/R parameters on the bottom right encoders default to operating in a 2-Knob panning state (IN = linked) where the front and rear axis are linked. The Size parameter is represented as an expanding grid as the target spills the sound source into surrounding speakers. The pan puck in 2D view indicates increased elevation as the diameter increases. Touch the 3D button to enable Theater view. Hold the SHIFT key while using a 3 finger gesture to position the virtual theater. Let go when you find the desired angle for the room. XYZ correlating to Front, F/R and Height can easily be controlled on the touchscreen (hold SHIFT for Height) or by using the right column encoders.

The special height modes can be accessed from the nested pop-up menus under the Theater view. We've chosen Sphere mode which approximates the architectural geometry of a domed ceiling. Use the IN switch associated with the Height encoder to disable Height/Elevation (Z).

Swipe down from the function scroller Bus (orange) to grab the Object Control parameters and lock them to the left column. Swipe down Pan once again to add those parameters to the right column. Objects can be chosen with the Object encoder and confirmed with the IN switch. Toggling (and automating) between an Object and a Bus can be accomplished with the bottom Object Toggle encoder. While the left column is occupied with Object Control parameters, hold the SHIFT key while pressing the Back or Config buttons on the bottom of the Master Module encoders to access additional pan parameter pages.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/roxlhu0bbx...618a.gif?raw=1

Contextual Automation
 

One of the most powerful modifier combinations that can be used on the S6 is Command + Control, either from the Fader Module modifier switches or on a QWERTY keyboard. Command + Control combined with any switch or touch-sensitive encoder or fader on the surface will change the view for those channel(s) to look at the touched parameter values.

If the Settings > User are enabled to Show Automation, holding Command + Control while touching a fader will display volume automation breakpoints on the display module of the associated fader. Adding the Option key to the mix will do it for all channels.

You can easily use the same modifiers to display Panning, Sends or Plug-in parameters overlaid onto the scrolling waveforms on the display modules simply by touching a touch-sensitive encoder which is actively displaying these parameters.

Lastly, Command + Control can be used in combination with the Fader Module Select switch on any channel to switch back to waveform view (assuming you were in an automation breakpoint view) and also to justify the track to the top of the Pro Tools edit window.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fj2y8q1bae...text.png?raw=1

Multiple EQ & DYN Plug-Ins
 

Let's briefly examine a scenario where you may want to access multiple EQ or DYN plug-ins on a single track from the S6. Current versions of Pro Tools include a preference "EUCON Surfaces EQ Dyn cycling Starting at Insert X" which allows you to designate a preferred Insert letter for the EQ/DYN plug-in in the signal flow.

Let's say you have a Channelstrip plug-in on Insert a - doing basic filtering and subtractive EQ. Downstream on Insert c you have a Fabfilter Pro-Q2 performing additional sculpting and notching. You would prefer to have the surface always access the Pro-Q2 first and then with additional presses of the EQ switch on the Process module - cycle through to Channelstrip. Setting the cycle pref to Insert c will accomplish this.

Channels containing just a single Channelstrip or Pro-Q2 EQ plug-in (on any insert location) will automatically be accessed with a single press of the associated EQ switch.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8i6krgp5au...UCON.png?raw=1

Working with Memory Locations
 

Let's take a look at working with Memory Locations on the S6. The simplest way to access Markers and Locates is by pressing the "Mem Loc" switch on the top row of the numeric section of the Automation Module. This will bring up Locates on the right side Soft Keys in chunks of 10, which can be paged through - up to 100.

Press a Locate Soft Key to recall it.

Press a Locate Soft Key, Hold Shift, then press another Locate to create a range spanning the two locations.

Use the Down Arrow to clear an existing range selection.

Use the "Edit" switch to modify an existing locate.

Use the "Enter" switch to quickly add a new locate.

To borrow all of the Soft Key panels to display up to 48 Memory Locations per page, hold Shift while pressing the "Mem Loc" switch. The locates are formatted in a vertical orientation so the Left Master Module and Left Automation Module make up a column of 24 locations. Dedicated switches for managing the Memory Locations Window can be found within each quadrant. Use Shift + 0 or the "Close" buttons to get back to the Default Soft Key panels.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6207kh3kau...eric.png?raw=1

Managing the Monitoring Page
 

Let's take a closer look at the Monitoring page on the Master Module. We are monitoring with a Pro Tools | MTRX bound to the monitor section of the S6. This is also applicable for XMON - however the sources and assignments are more fixed. So for this example - this will be dedicated to MTRX and S6. We are also going to create a scenario where by default, no sources show up in the top Source row scroller.

We're first going to touch the little arrow on the first source block to choose which of my Control Room sources from the MTRX (Set EuCon Mode = Control Room) are going to be associated. Simply select Sources from the list which appears in the center area of the monitoring window. Sources turn Blue to indicate that they are Active. Choose the order to arrange your source inputs into. Blanks and duplicates are allowed. Swipe the horizontal source row from Right to Left to expose more blocks if you have a large number of sources. In summing mode, press the ALL switch to enable summing of all sources. Head down to the Local Options (Gear Icon) to change the Source Mode logic from Summing to Intercancel.

Touching one of the yellow blocks for Monitors A - D will allow you to feed sources into these monitors. These 4 monitors in the column correlate to the monitors in DADman that are assigned with "Set EuCon Mode" to Monitor A, B, C, D. These can be discrete talent mixes for example. Each of the monitors in my example are set to logic mode Sum so multiple sources can be fed to talent simultaneously.

The bottom row of blocks represents the primary Control Room speaker outputs. For this example, I am representing a 7.1 set where in Sum mode individual speakers can be enabled and disabled simply by touching the blocks. Again, visit the Local Options (Gear Icon) to change the logic mode for Speakers. Select Enable Speaker Label Editing to alter the default names of your individual speaker channels. We will shorten "Low Freq Effects" to "LFE". For Dolby Atmos or configurations with more speakers than are visible in the interface, simply swipe the speaker scroller from Right to Left to expose the additional channels. Finally, the bottom yellow buttons will populate if you have assigned Fold Down presets to your Control Room outputs created from the Fold Down tab of the DADman monitor profile window.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ol7sjitjs6...918a.gif?raw=1

Re: Managing the Monitoring Page
 

Let's take a closer look at the Workstation page on the Master Module. The left column shows the S6 network where any Workstations running the same WSControl version on the same subnet will be listed. Simply drag from the Network column over to the Connected column to connect a Workstation to the surface. Once a session is opened in Pro Tools, the S6 will show a progress bar indicating the number of EUCON objects to cache onto the surface. This will be performed at the time of connection for each attached Workstation.

From the Local Options (Gear Icon) you can enable "Show Custom Name in Available List" and simply double click on the top of a Workstation rectangle to give it a unique name. In this example I might have 3 HDX rigs - and for this system I will designate it HDX-SFX. If a custom name is not added - the Workstation will simply reflect the Computer Name as shown in the Sharing panel of System Preferences on OSX.

Press the "Graphs" button to display CPU, Memory and Network graphs for the attached workstation. These values are pulled from the Workstation - in this case Pro Tools - and are not reflective of the Master Module computer itself.

Finally, just a refresher on designating the specific Workstation and Application to store Auto-Load data back to... This applies to Layouts, Preferences, Expand Faders and all of those data types under Auto-Load that can be found under the System Settings of the S6. Once an application has been associated, a Blue Star will appear just to the right of the application name -> Pro Tools 18Mac *.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/k3yy938xuw...018a.gif?raw=1

Function Scroller Curves
 

Let's examine a bit of workflow and managing the views and curves from the function scroller. To start, we have a Dolby Atmos session with a single 7.1.2 Bed track and many Object tracks. The Objects are grouped into chunks of 16 and assigned to a group paired to a VCA Master for easy access. A master Objects VCA has control over all of the individual VCA's (nested). Using Auto-Spill we can simply attention vO 11-26 to get into that Object range which dumps the channels neatly onto the right side of the desk. Now I can simply attention any of those first few Objects by pressing the Attention (triangle) switch from the Fader Module.

I've first Attentioned Object 11 as you can see and I'm showing the traditional method of swiping from top down on EQ to access the EQ plot. If we dig into the Local Options (gear icon), you can find some other ways to access curves and specific parameter pages. We are going to enable "Auto Show Function Graph on Selection" which allows me to simply touch a function block without swiping to bring down the associated curve.

We are also going to tweak "Function and Knob Page Selected on Attention Page". That's a mouthful! Let's set it to EQ - so that anytime I press an Attention from the Fader Module or Master Module it's going to bring up EQ as the first function for me to tweak. And since we also set the previous preference, it is also going to automatically bring up the EQ curve. Lastly, if we want to get tricky and access a specific set of parameters - such as page 2, which on Channelstrip gives you access to the filters, you can specify the page number in addition to the function to jump to on Attention press.

Now we press Attention on Object 12 - and bam, we have EQ, the curve, and you see it jumped to page 2 as I specified so I can easily tweak the HPF and LPF. Touching the blocks on the function scroller for DYN, EQ or PAN now will also bring down the plot based on that same preference.

One last thing.. Let's touch Sends (orange) which docks my sends to the adjacent 2 columns of encoders on the Master Module. Any Send name with an @ symbol indicates that the path is inactive. The strategy is - put everything plus the kitchen sink you need into your template and simply use COMMAND + CONTROL + SEL on the Send to Activate it on the fly when you need it, thereby preserving CPU / DSP resources.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/31aa41zdfp...318a.gif?raw=1

Surface Configuration
 

For this TOD - let's take a look at S6 Surface Configuration. Although it's not a terribly sexy topic, it is essential and important to know, not only how to configure a basic S6 surface, but also how to add customizable zones and perform calibrations.

We begin by accessing Settings > Surface - and you can see I've set up a scenario where we can build a configuration from scratch.

We first need to define the frame Width and Depth. For an M40 system (which we have for this example), you can specify Width as the number of modular frame pieces (buckets) which house modules. For Depth, if you currently have a 5-knob system with displays, the value will be 4. For a 9-knob system with displays, the depth will be 5. Hit Next to advance to the next page.

The module icons listed at the top can be scrolled simply by dragging left or right to expose more options. Grab and drag the module stacks appropriate for your configuration down to the frame sections you just defined. For this example, we are going to start with a Fader, Process, Knob stack. Even if you are doing the trick where you go Fader, Knob, Process - choose this same stack. The surface doesn't differentiate. Next, let's choose an Automation Module, Master Module stack. Then let's grab another Fader, Process, Knob stack. And lastly, we will scroll to find the lonely Master Joystick Module which I have tethered, but for these purposes it is represented as the fourth bucket. Hit Next. All of the modules you added should light up like a rave.

Referencing the modules on the surface page, Touch any touch sensitive encoder on the flashing module to finish the configuration association. Remember, if you have swapped your Process and Knob module (which I recommend), touch each module as it flashes on the surface page. Press Next.

Drag the Display Module icons printed with a number to the same number shown on your actual display modules. Number 2 in this case will be a Master Meter Module - but more on that later. Hit Done.

Next, we will add some Spill Zones and Expand Knobs. For Spill Zones - simply go Config > Surface > L Spill or R Spill. Press the Attention switches to define the Zone. Done. For Expand Knobs - simply go Config > Expand > Knob then Touch up to 2 Knob Modules to allocated Knob Zones 1 and 2. You will see little triangles with the zone numbers next to them.

Touch any module to check the status, IP Address, Firmware Version, Temperature and more. Touch the Joystick Module and press Joystick to calibrate it. Touch a Fader Module and touch Fader to calibrate it.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/g5hoyn7ot9...418a.gif?raw=1

Layout Creation Shortcuts
 

Let's examine one way to speed up the creation of Track Layouts. For this example we will leverage a few preferences which can be accessed from the Local Options (gear icon) of the Tracks Page including "Auto-Bank to Attentioned Track", which automatically banks the console faders into the range based on the touched track. We will also enable the option to "Double Tap Assign to Copy Tracks from Banking Mode into Current Layout" which pretty much does exactly what it says.

Auto-Bank to Attentioned gets you into a track range and fills the faders with the adjacent tracks and the Double Tap pref allows you to quickly dump those tracks on the faders into a Track Layout then Store it.

From the Tracks page we are going to touch the track Trem Swell which is the first of a series of magenta keyboard tracks. Doing so will left justify Trem Swell and place all 16 of those keyboard and synth tracks on the faders. Next, we'll double tap "Assign" which opens up the Layout creation dialog and populates tracks 1-16 with those same keyboard tracks. Press "Store" to save it, give it a name and finish with "Store". Obviously that was too easy as we had a nice contiguous grouping of 16 tracks of the same color lined right up.

Next example...the drums. Touch kik.01 which banks to the drums - including the trailing parallel compression subs for the kick and snare. Again, double tap "Assign", pop into Delete mode and remove the Jingle track which landed in 16, which is not related to drums, and save this 2nd Layout as Drums.

Last example...subs. Scroll down and touch sDrums which is the clean drums submaster followed by all of the other subs in the session. Double tap "Assign", clean house in Delete mode, and Store.

Even if you need to subtract one or several tracks from an auto-populated Layout using this preference, it can often be faster than adding tracks one at a time from the tracks matrix down to the destination scroller. Experiment and find the best process to match your workflow.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/blve6bk617...518a.gif?raw=1

Examining Track Layouts
 

Let's dig a bit deeper into Track Layouts: storing, editing, reordering, and deleting.

Recalling Layouts can be accomplished in a few different ways:

(1) Press the Recall button from the Master Module. Touch any Layout square.
(2) Press the Layout Mode switch: Choose a Layout from the Master Module Soft Keys.
(3) QuickJump: Shift + / to access Track & Meter Layouts on lower Soft Keys.

To Edit Layouts (rearrange, delete) press Edit then drag Layout squares around on the grid to reorder. Swipe from Right to Left to expose the full grid of 96 Layouts. Drag a Layout square off of the grid to delete it.

To modify an existing Layout, first recall it with any of the methods above. Let's access the Local Options (gear icon) to increase the maximum number of channels saved in the layout using the preference Number of Strips in Layout. Again, my S6 has 16 physical faders but I know I am going to take this project to a stage that has a 32 fader console. So let's tweak the preference. Now you will notice that there are 32 destination tracks at the bottom scroller (in addition to the Joystick slots). Pop into Assign mode to start your modifications. Let's also enable Insert mode which allows you to add and shuffle the existing tracks down without overwriting anything.

Feel free to leave gaps (blank strips) for spacing and organizational purposes. When you finish making the changes simply hit Store again, touch a new slot (or optionally overwrite the source Layout), name it, then Store once more to finish.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/irra9s4tpk...618a.gif?raw=1

Paging Docked Parameters on the Home Page
 

Let's take a look at some options with the Home page on S6.

I've started from the Tracks page and immediately accessed the Local Options (gear icon) to go and enable the preference for "Show Home Screen on Track Attention". Depending on your workflow, you might enjoy this preference. If we are in Attention mode on the Tracks page and simply touch a track in the grid, that track is Attentioned and we are brought to a user specified function on the Home page - in this case EQ.

What you won't be able to see is the fact that I am taking advantage of the lower circular buttons on the bottom corners of the Master Module. On the Left - (Home and Swap), and on the Right - (BackArrow and Config). Using these round little switches in combination with the Shift button can be pretty slick. Let's first dock Sends on the Left side and EQ on the Right side.

You can see that this allows us to independently page through the docked parameters - either chunks of 4 Sends, or the various bands of the EQ. We can also use the little lock icons to make sure that we don't accidentally focus a different function to the attention knobs. Let's swipe down on the EQ function to get the EQ graph.

While keeping sends where they are using Shift + BackArrow / Config (bottom right section of Master Module) we can page over to get to the High Pass Filter. Let's engage it with the "In" button on the Slope parameter which activates and you see an inner circle appear inside the Slope encoder. Play with the HP Frequency. Let's page back over to the High Mid band. Press "Sel" on Hm Freq to toggle it into Hm Q mode.

Tweak some sends starting with Send a - FVerb A (which you know because of the thumbnail in the Sends function scroller). Again, if the center is not filled, then the send is muted, if it is filled - the send is active. Page to the second chunk of 4 sends using the Shift + Home / Swap buttons on the bottom left section of the Master Module. Page again to get to the BadpipeV Send, which is on the 3rd page.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0ljigvkupm...718a.gif?raw=1

Modifying a Factory Soft Key
 

Let's take a look at the process of modifying one of the Soft Keys located on the User Pages of the Automation Module.

First, let's navigate over to Settings > Soft Keys and then click on the pop-up menu which allows you to choose the module and section you want to edit. For this example, we want to make sure we are looking at the Automation Module Soft Keys.

Next we want to locate to the specific page which contains the function we want to modify. There are (2) ways to do this:

(1) Navigate with the Soft Keys panel to the page you want to work on.
(2) Use the arrows as shown to incrementally jump through every page for that particular soft key panel.

In most cases (1) is the easiest. Once you have found the page you want to edit (in this example we are going to modify a function on User Page 1), touch the virtual Soft Key switch adjacent to the function to modify.

At the bottom under "Soft Key Editor" there will be one or multiple squares representing the EUCON, Page or Key functions for the selection Soft Key. Let's delete the existing function for "Docked MIDI". Next touch "Add" then "EUCON" to add a new EUCON function. Scroll through the nested menus to find the function you want. In this example we are going to use File Menu > Bounce > Bounce to Disk. Hit "Done". Now you need to associate an icon for the Active and Inactive states. Touch the blank box under Active then touch "Pro Tools" and find the icon for Bounce to Disk (alphabetical sort). Do the same thing for State: Inactive. Touch the User Page 1 virtual quadrant on the screen.

Let's also show how to save a user set since we just modified the Factory set. This will be store on the Master Module SSD. Touch "Save" and give it an appropriate name. Press "Save" once more to finish. If another operator has mucked with the Soft Keys you can always press "Factory" to revert all of the Soft Keys back to the shipping defaults. Press "Load" to load any user Soft Key sets.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3koyfn0kek...018a.gif?raw=1

Track and Meter Scroller Preferences
 

Let's take a look at the first four preferences of the Local Options (gear icon) located on the Home page which pertain to the Meter and Track Scrollers. For reference, the Meter Scroller is at the top of the Home Page and can be scrolled left or right to view the track or tracks you want to see high resolution metering for. The bottom of the Home page is where the Track Scroller lives which allows you to see a color-coded representation of all the tracks in your session. It's simple enough to touch a track on the Track Scroller in order to access all of the parameters on the Function Scroller, the horizontal row of function blocks which includes Inserts, Sends, EQ, Dynamics, and more.

Let's start with the first Preference which is Attention Tracks from Meter Scroller. This one is pretty self explanatory. When enabled, you can see we are scrolling and simply touching some of the drum track meters to Attention them. The function scroller lights up to focus on the meter that we Attention.

Next, Display Selection/Attentioned Track Border on Meter Scroller. This option is going to use the gold and blue color conventions for Select and Attention respectively. As you can see, Elec Gtr Chr.02 (track 25) is currently attentioned and you can see a blue outline around its track meter on the bridge. You can see the same outline with Elec Gtr Ch Dbl.01. Let's select a few guitar tracks just to the left of these and you can see the selections are outlined in gold on the meter scroller. If we happen to have an Attentioned track that is also Selected, as you can see with Gtr Loop, it shows up with a gold top and a blue bottom.

Next, Track Scroller Follows Attentioned Track. This is a very nice preference that always justifies the Track Scroller to ensure that the track you have Attentioned is visible by scrolling to make it the first of the eight tracks in the scroller. Whether you Attention from the channel strip or from the Tracks page, the Track Scroller is going to scroll left or right to make sure you can see the group of tracks adjacent to the Attentioned. If you look closely you can see a small blue rectangle representing the Attentioned track on the universe color scroller.

Lastly, Link Meter Scroller to Track Scroller. This is one is pretty obvious. Whether you swipe left/right on the Meters or the Track Scroller, they are going to both be in sync. If you want to ensure that you are seeing meters for the tracks in the Attentioned range as described in the previous preference, then this is a pretty useful option. If you want the flexibility to see chains and submaster metering independent of the channels feeding them, then this option should be disabled. As always, experiment and see what options are best for your particular workflow.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5yt53lxigb...118a.gif?raw=1

S6 Tip ‘o the Day
 

Greetings and Happy Friday!

This one is simple, clean and fun. The image below shows all of the default transport section soft key functions that can be triggered by simply holding down any Shift key on a fader module while pressing a transport button.

The only caveat is for Retrospective MIDI Record, since we changed the shortcut function shortly after it was introduced. So, if you are currently running Pro Tools 2018.4 or 2018.7 and want to play with the correct function, either modify your Stop button (Shift + Option + Z) or simply load the modified appset below.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/v6b2fzjih5...Altb.png?raw=1


https://www.dropbox.com/s/7n7z7ae03h...80318.xml?dl=0

Expand Fader Mapping: Altiverb
 

Howdy. Expand Faders. This one keeps coming up, and for a very good reason. They are extremely cool. So let's make a map! First, thanks to Jankoen and the good people at Audioease for being incredibly receptive to help improve the pagetables for Altiverb - which just happens to be the plug-in we are going to take a look at.

I noticed that the Exp button is just slightly out of frame. So, when reaching up on the Process Module please understand that I am pressing Exp.

We have a 5.1 track in our session. You can just as easily do this on a stereo version of the plug-in, however I thought it beneficial to show the additional controls for Front, Rear, Center and LFE levels.

We start with the 5th track on the Fader Module labeled AV currently sitting in Insert mode which includes a 6-Channel Altiverb followed by a multi-mono Sonnox Oxford EQ. We're going to press the encoder for Altiverb to get to Insert Parameters, still in a channel view. Next, press Exp on the very top of the Process Module to Expand the Altiverb parameters to the Knob Module.

To create the map, we are going to hold down the Attention switch (triangle) on AV track while pressing the Exp button above. A few things should happen to indicate that you are in Expand Fader Map mode: Exp flashes blue, Clear (above Exp) is lit red, and the Faders drop to - INF. Now that we are Map mode we can begin.

We are going to start by touching the bottom left encoder for Reverb Time then touching Fader 1. Next, Size to Fader 2, EQ Bass Level to Fader 3, Low Damp, Mid Damp and Hi Damp to Faders 4 - 6, Master Input Level to Fader 7 and finally, Dry/Wet Mix to Fader 8.

Press the illuminated teal fader switch to bank to the second bank of 8 faders.
Now we are going to add some secondary parameters to the second page map.
Let's start with the multichannel level parameters. Front Level to Fader 1, Rear Level to Fader 2, Center Level to Fader 3 and LFE Level to Fader 4. Let's add EQ Lo Gain to Fader 5, EQ Lo Freq to Fader 6, EQ Hi Gain to Fader 7 and EQ Hi Freq to Fader 8. Jump back to page 1. Press Exp one final time to save the Map.

Now let's check out what we did...starting with Page 1. Reverb Time can be flipped to Reverb Length using the Select switch (Sel switch dropped from the associated encoder parameter), Size can be toggled to Brightness with Sel, EQ Bass Level can toggle to EQ Treble Level. Next are Low, Mid and Hi Damping - with the crossovers accessible on Low and Hi by using Select. Master Input Level can toggle to Master Output Level, and finally Wet/Dry.

Page 2. Front, Rear, Center & LFE levels are Faders 1-4. Next, EQ Lo Gain and EQ Lo Freq - which can be toggle into Q mode with Select. Lastly, EQ Hi Gain and HI Freq - which can be toggled into Q mode with Select as well.

You can decide what parameters make sense to place on your faders in your mapping. You can either cross-map, like I did using Select to jump between two like-parameters, or explicitly map the parameters - for example Input and Output Level - on dedicated top level faders. Experiment and see what works for you.

Lastly, this video pairs well with a smoked goat cheddar from Carr Valley:
http://www.carrvalleycheese.com/Appl...ductinfo/3044/


https://www.dropbox.com/s/9dw5at2baj...rs_LA.mov?dl=0

Re: Expand Fader Mapping: Altiverb
 

Too soon, too soon. . . . :p

S6 Tip ‘o the Day
 

It's actually an incredible cheese if you've never had it. They've been making cheese in central Wisconsin since the late 1800's and are known for their cave-aged, mixed-milk - sheep, goat and cow. I seem to have digressed!

Back to S6. Expand Faders. If you looked at the previous video and mapping descriptions, I've included a Pro Tools Session file as well as an S6 Title for you to play with. Here's what it contains:

8 Mono Audio Tracks Assigned to a 5.1 Path containing Fabfilter Pro-Q2, Avid Pro Compressor and several sends feeding both internal busses for effects as well as Cue's. HEAT is enabled.

Expand Fader Maps to explore on 8 Audio Tracks:

EQ - Pro-Q2.
DYN - Pro Compressor
Sends - Effects and Cues
HEAT - Individual and global settings
Pan - 5.1 panning parameters

6 Aux Inputs for Effects Returns are included with processing from Audioease (Altiverb as discussed in last post), Valhalla Plate, ReVibe, Little MicroShift, Mod Delay 3 and Tape Echo. Each one of these includes a 2 page Insert Parameter (teal) Fader Map.

1 lonely VCA Master assigned to the group which includes the effects returns. You can look at an example of going into Bus mode on the VCA and pressing Exp to access the VCA Slave Expand Fader Map. I recommend enabling the preference (User settings) for Auto Expand Faders which will give you instant access to the Expand Fader maps after choosing the function from the Process Module.

My maps are an attempt to bring consistency and predictability to the parameter sets of like processors. Decay time, Size and PreDelay, for example, will typically be found first in the fader map for Reverbs. Have fun and experiment.

Pro Tools Session:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wd7dmi5473...80918.ptx?dl=0

S6 Title:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/h8y88h8dnz...80918.xml?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7992mzhq7m..._EQb.JPG?raw=1

Attention Expand Knob Zone 1/2
 

Let's take a look at the idea of creating an Attention Expand Knob Zone. This one will be split into two parts to show creation and usage.

An On Attention Knob Zone is a way for a user to customize the S6 and place a focus / attention control area anywhere on the desk that makes sense ergonomically. This can be either a dedicated knob module or a traditional knob module living within a bucket of Process, Knob and Fader Modules. One of the cool things about this feature is the ability to enable and disable the zone on the fly - which means it can act as your go-to module for tweaking EQ for any Attentioned track, and then when you need to get to sends or pan on that Knob Module you borrowed, you can simply suspend the On Attention Zone.

Let's first add a single Attention Expand Knob Zone to my existing M40 S6. Note that M40 systems can add two dedicated knob zones while M10 can add just one.

Access the Settings > Surface menu and touch Config to start. Next touch Surface then Expand then Knob. All of the knob modules on your console should illuminate (similar to when you were first creating your surface configuration). Touch any knob module to declare it as your primary / 1st Expand Knob Zone. Press Done.

You will notice an Attention triangle with a 1 in the center appears to indicate the location of the Expand Knob Zone on your surface. The zone can be enabled / disabled by two different methods:

(1) Access the Local Settings (gear icon) of the Home page and tick the Enable Attention Expand Knob Zone. This same menu is where you declare which function you would like to populate into the zone by default. You can see that we currently have Dynamics set for the 1st Expand Knob Function and Backup Function Selected on Attention Change. That's a mouthful. So any track I attention either from the channel, the tracks page or from Pro Tools is going to bring up Dynamics parameters within my right side knob module, assuming it is enabled.

(2) From the Automation Module (Extras) Soft Keys, there are dedicated functions for enable and disable of On Attention Fader and Knob Zones. The Knob Zone, as you can see, is on the bottom right. Experiment with enabling and disabling the zone as well as targeting different functions into it by attentioning. We will look at a few applications of how this can be applied in the next TOD.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dr1kfvt46g...018a.gif?raw=1

Re: Attention Expand Knob Zone 2/2
 

Let's continue by first setting up a few of the preferences which will determine the function views that get populated into the Expand Knob Zone on attention. The image below is taken from the Home page Local Options (gear icon). Knob View is currently set to All Functions which says that all of the various functions will be represented as columns of virtual color-coded knobs in the center area of the Home page. As always, Dynamics are green, Pan is blue, EQ is magenta, Inserts are teal, Inputs/Pre are red, and so on... Alternatively, setting this preference to Selected Function will filter the view so that only the virtual encoders from the selected (touched) function will be visible in the center area.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gf4lxol4m6...ions.png?raw=1

Next, as discussed in the previous entry, Enable Attention Expand Knob Zone is one of 2 possibles ways to enable the zone that we defined for the knob module on the right side of the console. The dedicated Soft Keys located under the Extras page is definitely a more efficient way to toggle these zones on and off.

The preference for Open Plug-Ins on Workstation When Knobs Assigned is currently set to look to a channel attentioned to the 1st Expand Knob Module. This could alternatively be set to Expand Knob Zone 2, Expand Faders or the Master Module. This preference determines which section (on attention) is given precedence with regard to plug-in windows. Finally, and most importantly, the preference for 1st Expand Knob Function and Backup Function Selected on Attention Change determines which function views by default will be displayed in the Expand Knob Zone when attentioned. The backup function will be used if the primary function type is not available for the attentioned track.

And now on to the practical... Don't be too concerned about my prototype modules or the patch cables strewn across the floor. It's a working room! I also left in the internal chatter as I take you through the workflow, which I will now attempt to describe.

We start by looking at VCA Masters in the Right Spill Zone and I'm going to press the Attention switch on vGuitars to Auto-Spill into that group, replacing the contents of the Right Spill Zone. We will attention one of the Electric Guitar tracks and you can observe me tweaking all of the various effects sends that are presented vertically on the Guitar channels. We will make some function changes to a few of the guitars and access Dynamics, which contains Fabfilter Pro-C 2 compressors. As you can see, we can also reach up and tweak the primary Pan encoder (front parameter) which is indicated in blue and living on the Process Module encoder.

From the Automation Module Soft Keys, the bottom right switches on the Extras page, we have a handy way to enable and disable the Expand Knob Zone we previously defined. When we enable the zone, you can instantly see the encoders light up magenta to indicate that we are viewing the parameters for an expanded EQ. Starting with the Guitar Loop track, on attention, DMG EQuality is brought up and accessed within the Expand Knob Zone. Attentioning the next Guitar track also brings up EQ - but this time for an Avid EQ III-7. The next attentioned guitar brings up a Fabfilter Pro-Q2 in the same manner. Finally, the GTR Out track doesn't apparently contain an EQ and so the backup function takes over and Dynamics is accessed instead.

We will jump back to attentioning the Guitar Loop track and show enabling and disabling of the Attention Expand Knob Zone once again.

Next, we are going to show how to swap out the default function populated into the zone for any other function. From the center section of the Home page, we can simply touch any color-coded virtual encoder, starting with green Dynamics, (brackets are presented) and then touch any physical encoder on the Expand Knobs to replace the zone with the new function. We can repeat the process for Sends, displaying all of our various effects sends for the attentioned track now within the Knob Zone. We could also choose Pan parameters, as in this session the attentioned track happens to be assigned to a 5.1 path.

Next, we swipe through all of the virtual encoders to get to the Insert Parameters - displayed in teal, to touch one of the encoders for SoundToys Decapitator, an example of a plug-in that is neither an EQ nor a Dynamics processor. Next, we dock Mic Preamp parameters (Input), then Dynamics again, and finally HEAT settings which include channel and global parameters. We end by returning back to EQ.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/eu96sp31hq...1418a.mov?dl=0

Managing Insert Chains and Parameters from the MTM
 

Let's take a look at managing tracks containing multiple Inserts beyond Dynamics and EQ from the Master Module.

We'll start by Attentioning Gtr Loop on the Home page. This track contains the following plug-in insert processing chain:

Fabfilter Pro-C2
Fabfilter Pro-Q2
Sonnox Inflator
Cranesong Phoenix II
SoundToys Decapitator

If we access EQ from the dedicated (magenta) function we're going to get the predictable 7-band controls that we've explored in previous tips. On the Function Scroller, if we swipe over, you can see the Inserts block (teal) contains within it the first 4 Inserts living on the track. If we simply touch the Inserts function, the 5 plug-ins listed above are docked to the adjacent columns of encoders on the Master Module. If we push the encoder for the 2nd Insert, Fabfilter Pro-Q2, you can observe the following:
(1) The Inserts block on the function scroller is expanded into 5 blocks of alternating teal tones to show the individual plug-ins in the processing chain.
(2) The selected Insert (Fabfilter Pro-Q2) is accessed and its parameters are spilled into the center section with the first few bands docked to the Master Module encoders.

As mentioned previously, the dedicated EQ model supports 7-bands. Fabfilter Pro-Q2 supports up to 24 individual bands. We've gone and docked bands 15 and 16 as an example to the adjacent encoders on the Master Module. Using the Shift + (Home Swap) or Shift + (Back Config) switches at the bottom of the Master Module (as shown in a previous tip) we can alter the attention of the left and right encoders on the Master Module. We can press the lit Back button (looks like an arrow pointing left) at the bottom right of the Master Module to collapse the Pro-Q2 insert parameters and return back to the Insert Chain view.

Let's explore a different way to select and dive into Insert Parameters. On the function scroller, perform a Pinch Out gesture on the Inserts block to once again expand the Inserts Chain into 5 individual plug-in blocks. You can see by touching any of the Inserts (now expanded) the appropriate Insert Parameters are displayed in the center section among a sea of teal virtual knobs. To simplify this view I propose we go and explore the preference for Knob View: Selected Functions from the Home page Local Options (gear icon). Essentially this is going to filter the center section view to only show parameters for the touched Insert. Now you can see the center view is much cleaner and easier to identify and select a parameter we might want to dock to one of the side encoders. If you are intending on aggregating parameters from two different plug-ins, then I would keep the Knob View set to All Functions. For example, if you wanted to have the Input, Output trim and Process level from Phoenix (left encoders) while you had Drive and Tone controls from Decapitator (right encoders), you would need to have all the Insert Parameters accessible to dock both sets. To return back to the Insert Chains view, you can perform a Pinch In gesture on any of the Insert blocks of the function scroller.

When an individual Insert is selected on the function scroller the In buttons next to the locks can be used to toggle bypass for that plug-in only. In Insert Chains view the In buttons will bypass the entire processing chain. Once you've expanded the Insert Chain into individual plug-in blocks, selected one of the Inserts, you can then select the specific groupings of parameters to dock to either side of the Master Module encoders.

There may be situations where you want to access extended parameter controls for a Dynamics or EQ plug-in. As an alternative to the dedicated green and magenta modes, experiment with accessing and docking additional parameters in teal mode that are not otherwise represented from the standard views. Within the Home page Local Options (gear icon) there are even ways to automatically jump to a specific page of parameters within a chosen Insert number. As always, experiment and find an appropriate workflow.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/oby3tpu824...818a.gif?raw=1

Assigning Multiple of Process Module Encoders to HPF
 

Let's take a look at the single encoder on the Process Module. The Process Module determines the function that is displayed and accessed on the Knob Modules including EQ, Dynamics, Sends and Inserts. The Process Module encoder will always display Pan parameters (blue) by default, however it is possible to individually or globally change the encoders to any available function. For this TOD, we are going to look at an example of assigning the High-Pass filter from a Fabfilter Pro-Q2 to each of the Process Module encoders. This can be a great way to provide quick access to filtering in combination with Sends or Dynamics on the channelstrip when you don't need immediate access to pan.

We start with the left side of the console displaying VCA Masters and spill the Keys VCA into the same (Left) Spill Zone that we are currently looking at.
You can see the Process encoders are currently displaying Pan parameters as they do by default. To accelerate the process of assigning all of the Keys group Process encoders, let's first enable the All switch on the Master Module.

To change the Process Module view, hold down the Back switch (arrow pointing left) while pressing any function switch. For this example, we are pressing Back + Inserts. You are going to see the top level Inserts displayed (Insert Chains) for this view by default. We need to push in (press any encoder) to get into Insert Parameters view. On either side of the Back switch are Page switches to advance through the Insert Parameters. We are going to page until we get to B1Freq. You can see in All mode all of the encoders should be ganged and advancing together. Band 1 Frequency for Fabfilter Pro-Q2 in Insert Parameters mode for our default Flat-7 Preset is going to give us a HPF.

Just to validate that the filters are working - we switched the Process function to EQ - and you can see the Display and Knob Modules change to EQ as well. This is not necessary in your normal workflow. I would rather have sends, Inputs or Dynamics on the Knob Modules while I had the HPF docked above on the Process Module. This is simply to illustrate the behavior and operation of the encoder. Each encoder is controlling the HPF and if we engage any Sel switch for that encoder we can vary the Slope from 6-96 dB per octave with this particular plug-in.

Again, let's pop out of EQ mode and head to Sends mode on the Process Module function. You can see that the encoders we assigned will always stay where you left them (in this case on HPF) even when you toggle the Process Module function. Just for fun we can engage the Flip function from the Master Module to contiguously drop rows of encoders from the Knob and Process Module down to the faders. The flipped row will always be indicated by bright White LED's. Keep flipping until you see the Process Module encoder light up white. Now you can see that the faders are controlling the Frequency parameter on Band 1 of Fabfilter Pro-Q2 which is the HPF. Use Shift + Flip to jump out of Flip mode without having to cycle all the way back around.

To get back to the standard Pan view on all of your Process Module encoders, enable All, hold the Back switch while pressing the Pan function switch on the Process Module.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9z5eq2da56...82018.mov?dl=0

Monitoring with MTRX on S6 1/2
 

Let's take a closer look at controlling the monitoring functions of MTRX from the S6 Master Module touch-screen and via the Soft Keys on the Automation Module. For this first TOD we will focus only on the Monitoring page of the Master Module.

We start with a blank Monitoring page indicating that the MTRX and DADman monitor profile is currently not bound to the S6. With S6 Version 3.6 and later, when WSControl is running and you application switch (focus) over to DADman, the surface will automatically bind the monitoring section and the hardware control room panel on the S6 will illuminate. The image below shows the top right Setup button lit to indicate the monitor section is bound. You will also notice the two OLED sections will be populated with Monitor source and level (top) plus Control Room source and level (bottom). The Control Room is indicating with the + that you are currently monitoring the PTHD source plus additional sources in a sum mode.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/eeiiot2nzp...itor.JPG?raw=1

To manually unbind the monitor section press the top Setup button. The two Setup buttons below will both access the Monitoring page on the Master Module that we will be looking at below.

We start and application switch (focus) over to DADman and the Monitoring page is populated. We will first look at the sources for the Control Room listed in the top horizontal scroller. Swipe from right to left to expose additional sources. We can simply touch a few sources while we are currently in sum mode and they illuminate in blue. You can see that the source LIVE is duplicated, which we will explain in a moment. First, let's jump to the Local Options (gear icon) to access the monitoring preferences. To toggle from Summing mode to Switching, simply choose Source Mode > Intercancel. Now only a single source can be active at one time.

Now let's take a look at that duplicated source labeled LIVE. Any of the source rectangles on the horizontal scroller can be populated with a source, or no source, and it is possible to have duplicates. Simply touch the very top of the name (which is yet another rectangle) which should populate all of the available sources in the center section of the Monitoring window. Drag and touch to choose a source. In this case, we've changed the first LIVE into Dolby RMU. Next, we'll assign that blank source to MonD which is a clever way to QC and monitor exactly what the talent is hearing on our Monitor D. To take advantage of this functionality, make sure your MonD is set to Cue (right click on monitor), your Control Room is set to Master, and in the Control Room Sources -> Choose Add Existing Source and MonA - MonD should be available to add to your Control Room sources.

Next, let's touch the first green MonA block on the left column of the interface. This is our first cue and in EUCON, considered Monitor A. When we touch the block we again see available source for this monitor populated in the center section. We can select various sources, which again tells us that this monitor is also currently in Summing mode. Monitor B is not illuminated indicating that there are no sources currently assigned. Let's perform the same operation by touching the Monitor B block. Again, we can choose a variety of sources including CUE B, which is a discrete talent mix composed from Sends in my Pro Tools template. Both Monitor A and Monitor B were previously using a pair of Focusrite AM-2 Dante interfaces. I've since changed these to an 8-channel KLANG quelle interface that uses the same Brooklyn II chipset that the MTRX uses. So let's go and rename these on the monitor interface so we know what gear we are using. Return back to the Local Options (gear icon) and make sure that Enable Speaker Label Editing is ticked. Rename the Monitors. If we quickly look at Monitors C and D you can observe that sources indicate these monitors are currently in Switching mode. Toggle the mode for these monitors from the DADman interface.

Let's continue down to the horizontal speaker scroller. Based on the speaker set chosen from the main hardware monitoring controls (above image): Main, Alt1 and Alt2, the speaker scroller will change to show the appropriate format and number of speakers. We start with the first set which is shown as L C R. Let's rename these speakers to show the correct names. This is actually a 2.1 path leveraging a Left and Right speaker plus the subwoofer from my surround setup using the bass management functionality of the new SPQ speaker processing card. Again, ensure that Enable Speaker Label Editing is ticked, and let's label them Left, Sub, and Right for our 2.1 path. Just like the sources, touch a speaker (lights in blue) to enable it. Press All to activate all speakers. To isolate individual speakers, access the Local Options (gear icon) and set the Speaker Cut Mode to Intercancel. Now individual speakers can be switched / soloed. Next, we will press the Alt1 switch on the main monitor controls to access the second speaker set which is a 5.1 path. Any fold-downs assigned to the outputs will show up below the speaker scroller. We can easily touch 5.1>St to fold down to Stereo for example.

Let's access our final speaker set which is a Dolby Atmos example in a 7.1.4 format. You can see the individual speakers labeled appropriately. Swipe from Right to Left to access speakers beyond the first eight. Again, fold-downs can be engaged, speakers can be enabled or cut, and speaker sets can be toggled. In the next TOD we will take a look at the same controls, but this time from the Automation Module Soft Keys.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wmjrqn4iyo...418a.gif?raw=1

Re: Monitoring with MTRX on S6 2/2
 

Let's finish up this TOD by examining the Monitoring functions of MTRX from the Soft Keys on the S6 Automation Module.

We begin by discussing the two different ways to display Monitoring controls on the Soft Keys:

(1) Use the QuickJump Shift + . key on the numeric section. Hold any Shift switch on a Fader Module while pressing the period switch on the numeric section of the Automation Module.

(2) From the default Soft Keys, access the Extras page on the right quadrant of the Automation Module and press the Soft Key for Control Room.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cot3ek4t9c...818p.png?raw=1

The Control Room Sources are populated in the left quadrant of the Automation Module, with 10 on the first page and 6 on the second. Simply press one or multiple source switches to enable them while in Sum mode. The bottom left Soft Key allows you to toggle between Sum and Intercancel / Switching mode. While in Sum mode, press All On to enable all source inputs.

The right quadrant of the Monitoring Soft Keys includes speaker selections, cut, dim, fold-downs, TB and monitoring preferences. If we jump to Speakers we can see all of the individual speaker channels for our 2nd set (Alt1) which is a 7.1.2 group. While in Sum mode, press individual speaker switches to mute individual speakers. To Solo individual speakers, switch from Sum mode into Intercancel / Switching. Press the center Control switch to return back to the primary Control Room functions. We can easily toggle between our Main, Alt1 and Alt2 speaker sets from the primary page. Main in this case is a 2.1 path, as we discussed previously. Alt1 is 7.1.2 and Alt2 is a 5.1 path.

For the third set (Alt2), which is our 5.1 speaker group, we have access to the first two fold-downs applied to the outputs in the monitor profile. We have 5.1>St and 5.1>LCRS in our profile. To access additional fold-downs, we can press the Folds Soft Key below. On the FoldDowns page you can see we have additional fold-downs beyond the first 2 mirrored from the main Control Room section including an upmatch from LCRS>5.1.

Next, let's access each of the Monitor A-D controls on the right quadrant of the Automation Module Soft Keys. First, Monitor A which gives us 10 sources (either in Sum or Switching mode), but by holding down Shift on any Fader Module we can access an additional 6 source inputs for this monitor. We also have Dim and Cut switches accessible next to the Monitor sources. We can jump to any of the other Monitors B, C or D in the same manner. With Monitors (unlike the Control Room) the Sum vs Switching setting needs to be tweaked directly from the DADman application currently. Monitor A and B are currently set to Sum while C and D are set to Switching (Intercancel).

Back on the right quadrant Soft Keys, we have access to the main Cut, Dim, first 2 Fold-downs, and Talkback for the Control Room. Listenback is currently only available on XMON, TB can be triggered, and Auto-Talkback can be engaged. Additional Monitoring settings can be tweaked by pressing the Monitor Prefs switch where you can toggle preferences including Talkback Latching, Speaker Label Editing (which we looked at in the last post), GPI TB Latch, and more.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/701u22dvor...82818.mov?dl=0

Master Joystick Module Part I
 

Let's take a closer look at the Master Joystick Module. This dual touch-sensitive Joystick can be added to any M10 or M40 S6 system. We'll examine a bit of the interface, both for panning and when controlling other custom parameters, such as Insert Parameters for plug-ins.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mvkkw0qg64lak9x/MJM.png?raw=1

To populate tracks onto the Joystick Module, Attention a track either from a channel strip or from the Master Module Tracks page (in Attention mode). You can also use any of the various other methods to Attention including having a Pro Tools selection trigger Attention. The Left Joystick will always be populated first followed by the Right Joystick. The User Preference Assign Right Joystick Timeout (currently set to 2 seconds) defines the amount of time to wait for the operator to press Attention on a second track. After 2 seconds, the newly attentioned track will once again populate only the Left Joystick.

With a mono track loaded into the Joystick Module, Press Shift + Y to access that track's Elevation (Z) value on the Right Joystick plus the Size parameter on the Right Encoder. Both of the encoders can be paged between all of the available panning parameters.

Press the center Setup button to toggle the Pan interface between 2D and 3D (Theater) mode. Hold Setup while moving the Joystick to rotate the virtual room.

The panner puck color always indicates whether you are controlling a Dolby Atmos Object (Orange) or a Bed/Bus (Green). The diameter of the puck in 2D mode increases as the Height (Z) increases.

The HeightModes can be toggled from the encoder between FreeForm (independent Height) Wedge, Sphere and Ceiling modes. These make it easy to perform XY moves with a single panner while the Height (Z) is automatically handled based on the attributes of the different modes. When the Height parameter is accessed on the encoder, the IN switch allows you toggle Height (Z) On and Off.

After we brought the Noiz track onto the Left panner by Attentioning it, you can hold Attention + Menu to Lock the track in place. Any new tracks which are attentioned will now ignore the Left panner and only load into the Right panner. Stereo tracks will load into both the Left and Right panners. There are dedicated linking switches accessible for stereo tracks.

Custom Mapping allows you to take parameters from the Attentioned track for both the Left and Right panners and map each of them to X and Y for creative control and automation. On our design track, we have a GoodHertz Lossy plug-in to add packet repeat and reverb effects to our stereo wind elements. The knob module above is showing Insert Parameters for this plug-in and we can jump into Expand Mode to spill all of the parameters across the module. Press AssignX AssignY (flashes) and touch an encoder to map to X then a second encoder to map to Y. Repeat for the Right side X and Y parameters. A purple puck will always indicate that you are in a Custom Mapping mode. Press the lit AssignX AssignY switches to toggle between custom mapping and standard panning modes.

Experiment with Custom Mapping to control reverbs, delays, sends, Dopplers or any other parameters for the attentioned track.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/w0apqu9b1e...90118.mov?dl=0

More on Panning from the Master Module
 

Let's jump back to the Master Module integrated touch-screen panner to explore a few more panning functions.

From the Home page, we'll swipe down on Pan to access the same Stereo Object track named Design we used in the previous example. We can differentiate the 2 channels with Green indicated as Left and Blue as the Right channel. We start with the channels unlinked and currently not displaying the visibility controls. The visibility controls can be set to Left, Right or Both and include trajectory, size and divergence views. We'll enable it for Both, and you can immediately see the Size grid appear on the two pan pucks.

Next, we'll move down to adjusting just the Right channel, and discuss 2-Knob Panning. The default behavior with current versions of Pro Tools and S6 is for both the Right Front axis and Right Rear axis to be linked. This allows a user to simply grab the R F/R knob (Front/Rear for Right) and the R Front knob in an etch-a-sketch fashion to efficiently place the Right channel puck anywhere in the space. To return back to an unlinked state, for example when automating a precise diagonal trajectory, you can simply press the In switch next to R Front then toggle between R Front and R Rear controls with the Sel switch. Again, the visibility controls allow you to visualize the trajectory that is created by an offset between R Front and R Rear. Press the In switch once again to link the playlists and return back to 2-Knob Panning.

Just to the left of the visibility controls are all of the standard toggles which mirror Pro Tools for linking stereo channels: Link, Front and Rear Inverse and F/R Inverse. The bottom right set of pop-up buttons we're accessing represents the Zone Mask controls. You can see the LCR speakers in the pan interface are currently grayed out, depicting that this mask was only allowing sound sources to the sides, rear and top. We can choose from six different configurations to help isolate or allocate sound elements to specific groups of speakers. Like the majority of the Dolby Atmos parameter controls, these Zone Masks can also be automated.

Lastly, we return back to the User Preferences to show the Assign Right Joystick Timeout value, discussed in the previous TOD. After 2 seconds, on Attention, the Right Joystick channel will be replaced.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2kenyboh2z...418a.gif?raw=1

Creating Custom Soft Keys for Workflow Automation 1/2
 

Let's revisit the idea of modifying Soft Keys on the Master and Automation Modules. For simplicity, we can jump straight to the User Pages on the Automation Module and start creating some new custom functions.

We'll start by going to Settings > Soft Keys then choosing Automation Module Soft Keys from the pop-up. From the Extras page, we can simply press the Users button and the Soft Key editor will jump to the appropriate page. Let's click on the button for "Docked MIDI" in the upper right, touch the Key function and press Delete.

We're going to build an Auto-Bounce function using a series of EUCON commands. The idea is that if you create a Selection based Memory Location within your Session or Template, it's simple enough to recall the program in and out, invoke the Bounce to Disk function, (settings are sticky - so if you previously did Offline Bounce all of those properties will be repeated) and finally press OK to start the Bounce process.

Press Add to put our first command in, touch EUCON below, then dig into the nested command menu to find Project > Memory Locations > Bounce (or whatever you've named it). Next, press Add and EUCON once again, then find File > Bounce > Bounce to Disk to add the most important command of this macro. For the final command, we simply want to add an OK or Enter command to trigger the bounce. Once again, touch Add, EUCON then Global > Enter. For this last command there is a final consideration. Depending on the speed of the computer, the speed of and number of attached storage (including network attached storage), there will be some amount of delay for Pro Tools to fully bring up the Bounce to Disk Window. On my (Cheese Grater) system, a value of 500 ms worked consistently. To access this, simply touch the Options button to bring up the additional properties which includes the ability to trigger commands on multiple attached Workstations, Display Feedback when a function finishes, and add the necessary delay value BEFORE triggering the function. Add in 500 ms and hit Done.

The last task for us to complete is to give this new Auto-Bounce macro a name and an appropriate icon. Since it is a EUCON function, we need to perform this operation for both the Active and Inactive states. For Inactive, touch to label the function Auto-Bounce. Next, touch the blank rectangle area to go and search for an appropriate icon. Filter the sort by touching Pro Tools, and let's use the preset icon for Bounce to Disk. Press Done. Now go to the Inactive pop-up and choose Active. Repeat the process of labeling the function Auto-Bounce and add in the same icon we chose previously for Bounce to Disk.

Test your newly created Auto-Bounce macro to ensure that the timing works. Customize to add various Memory Locations with selection boundaries. Again, this is simply a way to use the previous properties established for path, format and general bounce name (Pro Tools will append) to expedite the process of re-bouncing a selected piece of program material.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2zpeobk0jc...1618.gif?raw=1

Re: Creating Custom Soft Keys for Workflow Automation 2/2
 

Let's wrap-up our examination of creating custom Soft Keys on the S6. Again, the whole idea is to create custom solutions to workflow problems by combining multiple EUCON, QWERTY, or Surface functions together.

For this example, I wanted to share a very simple idea that I created for my own use: moving a clip between tracks in a session, either Up or Down. Let's start by once again jumping to the User pages from the Extras on the right Automation Module Soft Keys. Start by deleting the existing upper right function which is Docked MIDI.

Once we have a clean slate, we will first add a EUCON function for Edit Menu > Cut. Next, we will add a EUCON function for Editing > Selection > Move Selection Down. Finally, add the third and final EUCON function for Edit Menu > Paste. Next, we need to repeat the steps found in the previous TOD for assigning an icon and naming the Soft Key command for both the Active and Inactive layers.

Continue naming the command Move Down and choose a down arrow from the icons collection under Pro Tools. Repeat the exact same steps now for the Inactive layer.

Next, we're going to add a slight level of complexity to the Soft Key concept. Any of these Soft Keys that we create can also have alternate functions underneath by simply holding down any of the modifier switches (on any Fader Module) before pressing the Soft Key. So, for this example, I though it appropriate to create the inverse function on a modified layer. We will use the Shift modifier (the very first, leftmost switch on a Fader Module) to enable a Move Up command on the same Soft Key location that we defined Move Down on.

Start by holding down the Shift switch while performing all of the assignments. You can see the previously created chain of EUCON functions disappears since we are effectively on a new layer. Add the first EUCON function for Edit Menu > Cut to start. Next, add EUCON functions for Editing > Selection > Move Selection Up. Finally, add EUCON function Edit Menu > Paste. Again, make sure that you are actively holding down the Shift switch while programming these functions. The only tasks left are to label the Active and Inactive layers and choose icons. We'll label the command Move Up and choose an up arrow from the icons list under Pro Tools for the Inactive Layer. Repeat the same process for the Active layer.

Now let's test the newly programmed command to Move a selected clip on the Pro Tools edit timeline Down or Up by one track. The Soft Key Editor will show an indication in the middle right for Active Modifier: Shift when you are holding down the Shift switch to trigger the custom Move Up command. Now, let go of the Shift modifier and press the same Soft Key to access Move Down. As an alternate variation, you could even use different modifiers besides Shift to vary the number of tracks up or down that you choose to move the selected clip. Experiment and come up with custom functions that are appropriate for your workflow.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2tortsd7b3...1918.gif?raw=1