TTS-1 Automation

[Simon C]

Hi All bit of a newbie here so bear with me. I don't seem to have any options for automating parameters (eg cutoff, resonance) on TTS-1. With any other synth, I open a automation lane, click on the dropdown and the synth name is there with all the parameters available. On a track with TTS-1 this isn't there.

Am I doing something wrong? 

Thanks in advance

[user 905133]

I don't use automation but I have used CCs with TTS-1.  If those will give you what you want, maybe the MIDI implementation will help.  Click on Help in the lower right corner. Sorry for the old school answer. I control parameters with a usb/midi keyboard and if needed just record the CCs directly.  Maybe someone else can explain how to get them into automation lanes.

UPDATE: Maybe these will help:

   

I usually use CCs in the 70s and 90s with Roland GS modules (and TTS-1). The Midi Implementation in Help should tell you the correct CCs to use for each parameter. Again, I don't use automation; so, apologies if this method doesn't work with the lanes.

Edited March 25, 2020 by User 905133
to add images from automation lanes/MIDI

[Simon C]

Hey user thanks for the quick reply. I just don't get those choices in the menu's like you have above. I mapped all the CCs in TTS-1 and can even see the numbers assigned when I right-click on each dial but they just don't show on menus on the lanes. It think it must be the way it's reading MIDI data because if I record a few notes while twiddling one of the dials I can hear it change while I'm playing but when I play it back all I get is the notes. Just weird it's only on TTS-1 because the parameters for a couple of other synths I've got show up just fine.

[user 905133]

I think I see the difference--I have those with a separate midi track.  My TTS-1 softsynth track looks like yours--no MIDI Envelopes Break out menus. Again, the result of my old school training.

I did some tests and you can add a MIDI track and point it to play the existing TTS-1 track or you could split the instrument track using one of the right-click track options. There is also a way to insert a synth that lets you choose to include a MIDI Source.

There might be other ways, but those come to mind readily. 

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There must be easier ways to do this, but these are some methods I just tested to get the MIDI  CC automation options I initially suggested.

Starting fresh, (1) from the menu bar, Insert > Soft Synth to create a MIDI Source track and a  First Synth Audio Output , or (2) from the Track View open area , right-click Insert Instrument and select Split Instrument Track from the Advanced options.  You can also do (1) from the Synth Rack with  [+] > Insert Synth.

(1)         (2)  

 

From an existing track, (3) from  the open area in the existing track header, right-click and choose Split Instrument or (4) right click in the open area of the track pane and choose Insert MIDI Track.

(3)          (4)  

All of these methods allowed me to add CC using the MIDI... > MIDI Envelope dialog system. There's got to be an easier way  but I didn't find it in the online help.

 

 

 

Edited March 26, 2020 by User 905133
to add images for methods to set up/add a MIDI track

[Simon C]

Hello again user.

1,2 and 4 work perfectly. It seems ok adding a MIDI track but not quite so happy splitting an existing track. But I've now got the menu options, drawn in some automation and it works exactly as I'd hoped. Many thanks for all your help.

Any ideas why this would be? Could it be that TTS-1 is a multi-track synth where the others are single track? It's weird because I'd searched the web like mad but couldn't find any info or any other people having problems with it. If not don't worry, we've got it working now and that's what matters.

Thanks again.

[user 905133]

Glad it helps. Looking for that helped me gain insights into how I might someday start using automation lanes.  So, thanks for pointing me in that direction.

As for why it is that way, I will defer to others with more detailed knowledge of the workings of Cakewalk and others who make more use of automation lanes with different soft synths.**

BTW, in a quick reading I didn't see this issue mentioned in an article by Craig Anderton on Automation in Cakewalk, but the article is now on my reading, so maybe I will explore automation lanes sooner than I would have otherwise.

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**EDIT: Just a guess--it has to do with how the soft synth was created.  I see people who know more than me use a phrase like "what the plug-in exposes."  So, I looked at the automation lane options for the Z3ta+ FX dll which I use for live control of TTS-1 -> Z3ta+ FX effects.

I lost count, but its somewhere around 500-600 listed "parameters." I'm not sure if all of them will allow for automation, but they do seem to be "exposed" in my TTS-1 Instrument track (not the midi track that points to TTS-1) because I have it in the FX bin.

     

The "Last Program" parameter? is either somewhere around 560 or 660 (+ or - 50 as it was a very quick counting and I lost track at times).

Edited March 27, 2020 by User 905133
(2) to add a track header image; (1) to make a guess

[Chaps]

 

9 hours ago, Simon Corbett said:

Hello again user.

1,2 and 4 work perfectly. It seems ok adding a MIDI track but not quite so happy splitting an existing track. But I've now got the menu options, drawn in some automation and it works exactly as I'd hoped. Many thanks for all your help.

Any ideas why this would be?

 

Think of the Simple Instrument Track as an Audio Track that lets you work with MIDI in it, but it's not a MIDI track. The Instrument Track has the same Automation Lane options as an Audio Track. Using a Simple Instrument Track can limit your options if you want to use MIDI controllers. You can do a bit more using the PRV to enter controllers in a Simple Instrument Track, but it's still limited compared to a dedicated MIDI track. My advice, when you insert a synth use the MIDI Source and First Synth Audio Output options unless you have a reason to need additional audio outputs, like with a drum synth.

 

[Roger Wicks]

Hi Simon -

   The TTS-1 is a multitimbral synth, which is different than the rest because it can produce up to 16 different voices at once.

   I believe it can use 4 different outputs max. When you load the TTS-1, check the box that will load all available outputs.

To use automation, it can only be on the 4 outputs. You might need to read up on the TTS-1 to learn how to do all this.

[user 905133]

On 3/25/2020 at 2:38 PM, Simon Corbett said:

I don't seem to have any options for automating parameters (eg cutoff, resonance) on TTS-1. With any other synth, I open a automation lane, click on the dropdown and the synth name is there with all the parameters available. On a track with TTS-1 this isn't there.

Am I doing something wrong? 

 

23 hours ago, Simon Corbett said:

1,2 and 4 work perfectly. It seems ok adding a MIDI track but not quite so happy splitting an existing track. But I've now got the menu options, drawn in some automation and it works exactly as I'd hoped. Many thanks for all your help.

Any ideas why this would be? Could it be that TTS-1 is a multi-track synth where the others are single track?

Just my opinion, I am not convinced you did anything wrong. I could be wrong, but I don't think TTS-1 makes those parameters available.

At first I thought, "Maybe its because TTS-1 is a DXi. " So I tested four others. Two did not "expose" parameters to the automation lane menu system; two did.

I tested them in such a way as to test the hypothesis that DXis with multiple outputs would differ from DXis with single outputs:

• One DXi with 16 outputs had no parameters exposed.
• One DXi with a single output had five categories of parameters with multiple parameters exposed within each category.
• One DXi also with a single output had eight categories of parameters with multiple parameters exposed within each category except for one.
• One DXi with a single output had no parameters exposed.

So far I did not break this down into which ones are mono-timbral and which are multi-timbral, but I am curious.** 

As for me, this exploration is giving me new insights into using soft synths within Cakewalk.  I tend to use the same ones that have served me well over the years, but as long as I am hunkered down, this is a great distraction!  (It keeps me from looking at the news of the day.)

Maybe (1) someone with expert knowledge of soft synth design and capabilities and/or (2) someone with expert knowledge of how Cakewalk makes soft synths work  internally can explain why some soft synths show up there and others don't.

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** Testing this is hard because some of the DXis I have are multi-timbral and some appear to be mono-timbral by default, but some have an option to make multi-timbral (such as but using different outputs or elements).  However, so far I have not seen that this makes a difference. 

Edited March 28, 2020 by User 905133
to add the results of some preliminary testing of the mono-/multi-timbral question.