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  #31  
Old 08-10-2018, 01:05 PM
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Default 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.

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  #32  
Old 08-14-2018, 03:21 PM
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Default 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.



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
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  #33  
Old 08-18-2018, 08:16 AM
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Default 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.

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  #34  
Old 08-20-2018, 04:58 PM
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Default 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
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  #35  
Old 08-24-2018, 02:00 PM
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Default 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.



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.

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  #36  
Old 08-28-2018, 07:12 PM
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Default 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.



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
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  #37  
Old 08-31-2018, 11:04 PM
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Default 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.



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
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  #38  
Old 09-04-2018, 08:04 PM
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Default 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.

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  #39  
Old 09-16-2018, 07:26 PM
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Default 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.

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Old 09-19-2018, 08:31 PM
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Default 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.

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