Mainstage 2 and SL.....Sweeeeeet!

[Stavros]

Just bought Logic 9 and Sooperlooper appears to work beautifully with mainstage 2!
No need for any other software...like jack or midi patchers etc.

Load Sooperlooper into an Aux channel strip and bus the signal to it from any input strip.Allows for multiple inputs.
Then create a button on screen....Go to the screen control inspector in edit mode and select Sooperlooper.
Sooperloopers bindings show up in the mappings window.Select the function you wish to map to.
If you do this at the concert level...SL is available on all patches and sets...BRILLIANT!

I am having a bit of trouble though....some help with this please Jesse.
The bindings appear to dictate some of the available peramtters depending on what they do.
I say this because the available peramiters in the mapping window change depending on the selected binding.

The "Selected_Loop_Num" binding for example gives me some peramiter settings which allow the input of numbers to designate the selected loop.Works great.
I have 4 buttons....When I select any particular loop num the button remains lit and the other loops turn of like a toggle.
The "Record_Sel" command however does not behave this way. When I assign Rec_Sel to a button I do not get the same peramiters available.
So I cant specify a record button for a specific loop. Am I using the wrong binding to do this? I cant see any other record bindings.
Example...4 record buttons...each for loops 1-4
Any thoughts on how I can do this in mainstage2?

Finally there is a very important binding missing IMHO.
Some kind of RECORD EXCLUSIVE command which would allow me to start recording on the NEXT or SEL loop while switching the the currently recording loop into play mode.
The Exclusive refers to fact that only one loop is recording at a time.
For example....
I lay down a guitar part on loop 1.
I press Record_Exclusive_Next (or Record_Exclusive_Selected)
Loop 1 stops recording and starts playing back and loop 2 starts recording.
Its kind of like overdubbing onto separate loops.

This seems like a very obvious implementation and practical function.
Is there a way to do this already that I am missing?
If not is it possible to create such a binding....PLEASE

Anyway...Im blown away at how versatile Mainstage is and to be able to essentially customise SL interface is awsome.

Please share some info on how you are using SL with mainstage...would love to hear it!

Happy looooopin'

[jesse]

The "Record_Sel" should actually do a Record operation on whichever loop you had previously selected (using selected_loop_num for instance). If you want to bind a record to specific loop, you should see bindings available further down to do that. I'm not sure how mainstage presents the parameters to you, but you should see a bunch of repeated blocks of parameters the first ones ending in "(sel)" then maybe "(all)", then parameters starting with a number which represents the loop #. This obviously adds up to a crap-load of parameters, hopefully MainStage show them all to you. Live has been known to only show the first 100 or so. If you can post a screenshot of the parameter selection window, I would be curious.

As for the record exclusive next, etc.... I think you are correct that SL doesn't quite have the feature as a single binding. It is very close to the RecordSoloNext function, except that you don't want to mute the current loop, if I understand correctly.

[Stavros]

Hey Jesse
Happy to see this forum is alive. Thanks for the response.
It appears that there are roughly about 260 bindings available.
The first set appears with a 1- in front. I assume they are specific to loop 1?
After that everything is alphabetical.
Ive included a screen snap of the mapping screen and the difference between the
Sel binding and the Rec Sel binding.
I figured that I was using the wrong command for the specific loop record...what shoul I be using?

As for the Record_Exclusive_Next or Record_Exclusive_Sel
Thats exactly what I meant.
Start recording on Loop 1
Hit Record_Exclusive_Next
Loop 1 stops recording and starts playing back.
Next loop starts recording. etc

This kind of opens the door to the idea of working with multiple loops but only one is active at any given time.
In sequence instead of parallel......a sequence mode perhaps...where only one loop can play at a time.
Would be easier to build songs in such a mode....Just a thought.

Anyway ..have a look at these screen grabs and let me know what you think.

ps- To have SL working in this flexible mainstage enviro opens up a whole new world

Thanks kindly
S

[Stavros]

Heres a bunch of screen grabs of the bindings Mainstage shows.
Thats pretty much all of them.
Any thoughts.
Cheers

[jesse]

Yes, the 1-record is the binding to record on the first loop. The record (sel) should record for the selected loop. A question, did you create more than one loop using the SL gui's session menu? If you had, I would expect to see sets of parameters with 2-,3- etc. That could be the source of your confusion regarding the loop bindings, if you don't have them created. Once you do create them with the SL gui and you save your setup in mainstage, they should be restored the next time, so you won't always need the SL gui.

As for your wish for a mode where only one loop plays at a time, that is exactly the intention of the solo, solo_next/prev, record_solo, and record_solo_next/prev commands. They basically let you pick one loop to solo while muting the others, or start recording on another loop while muting the others. The thing that isn't there is the command to finish recording on one and start recording another immediately *without* muting the first one. I think the lack of the other loop instances may be the sticking issue here too?

[Stavros]

Yes I have 4 loops setup using the SL GUI. I have 4 buttons in mainstage to select each loop. Works great. Recording on selected works fine too.
But the numbered bindings for 2,3,4 do not show up in the mappings window. Only loop 1's bindings show up as you saw in the screen grabs.
I have saved the SL setting in the plugin window and saved the mainstage concert and setup. Still the same...no numbered bindings...hmmm

As far as the request for a new binding goes...its really just to accomplish a simple task that is not really possible right now, but is extremley useful.
Continue recording onto a new loop without stopping....and hear the previously recorded loop while recording the next.
The only problem with the existing bindings is the SOLO part...it doesnt let you hear what you just laid down on the previous loop.
This kinda possible right now with Record_Next_Solo but Id have to unsolo immediatley...not practical.
If you watch this beautiful little video of Imogen Heap playing Just for Now....you'll see what I mean. Its breathtaking!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25VGdNU3nrU

Ive included some screen grabs of my Mainstage SL setup...

Please let me know if you have any more suggestions about why the other numbered bindings are not showing up in mainstage.

Thanks kindly Jesse....SL is a beautiful thing...a privelage to be able to communicate directly with you...cheers

[Stavros]

FYI...
I also tried changing the defaults in SL preferences from 1 loop to 4
and the default loaded session but it doesnt seem to make a diffeence.

[Stavros]

Hey Jesse
Sorry to bug....last question really
Most of the bindings seem to work fine
but Im not getting anything from the Loop Position binding
which makes it rather difficult to see whats happening.
Funny enough the Scratch Pos works fine... as do Rate and pitch.

[jesse]

OK, thanks for the tip on the loop position... it is different from the rest in that it is a read-only display parameter, whereas the other can be changed. I will check on how it is defined in the code. I will also check to see if there is some missing notification that mainstage needs in order to reload the available parameters after the loop count changes. AU Lab (a plugin host included with Apple's XCode development package) sees all the parameters fine when more loops are defined....

[Stavros]

I just checked SL in AU Lab2 and yes the additional loop peramiters do show up...interesting?
They are also arranged quite nicley!

I figured the Loop Position binding was different from the others somehow.
Be nice to get that one working to get some visual feedback.
Thanks ever so much Jesse!

Heres some picks of the AU Lab window