[AZ, Symetrk, Gswitz and Frankjcc] Frontier AlphaTrack

[Rhenn]

Outstanding! I don't know which is more impressive - your very clever work, or the fact that I was able to follow your excellent instructions without missing something! It all works flawlessly! Very, very cool. A new workflow has been born. LOVE the functionality and the ease of switching from CC mode back to "regular" mode. Also having CC1 & 11 on the right encoder is brilliant and very handy. Hmmm, ....wonder what else this baby can do???

Now, if I can figure out what ACT is supposed to do, versus what it actually does/doesn't do, and write it down, I will pepper you with more questions on a new thread. Stay tuned...

In the meantime, a couple notes: FYI, I wound up installing "LoopBe1" because it had a smaller footprint and an auto mute feature to prevent me from setting up an endless loop and perhaps bringing the entire world to a hasty end. So far so good! Second, the AlphaTrack sometimes hangs when exiting Sonar. No big deal, just unplug it, and it wakes up fine. Just for the heck of it, I increased the Display Update speed to 5 and so far it's behaving itself. Don't know if that a coincidence or otherwise. That reminds me - Can you help me understand the Plug-in Control, Page1 mode options in the Preset settings dialogue - focus/no focus/ACT? I may be sorry I asked, but what does the ACT option do in this case?

One final question - something I've always wondered: You mentioned you could add a midi channel select function on an encoder. Let's say I have Sonar track #1 set to external midi ch1, and track #2 set to midi ch2.  Now, I sequentially record midi parts on both tracks, using my main controller set to ch1 for both. So all events on both tracks are "ch1" events. Including CC events, etc. That's my usual way of working, sometimes up to 100 tracks or more. So all events in the entire sequence are "Ch1" events. Does it matter? Should I care? (I used to use the interpolate function to find/change all the events and force them to match whatever actual midi channel the track was assigned to.) But it didn't seem to make any difference, and I decided I was wasting time for no reason. SO, is there any reason to concern myself with the channel number of individual events as long as I'm getting the desired musical result?  Long question - hopefully short answer!

Thank you again so much!!!   

[azslow3]

Second, the AlphaTrack sometimes hangs when exiting Sonar. No big deal, just unplug it, and it wakes up fine. Just for the heck of it, I increased the Display Update speed to 5 and so far it's behaving itself. Don't know if that a coincidence or otherwise.

What you mean by "hangs when exiting Sonar": Sonar does not exit (hangs) or you can not use AT after?

That reminds me - Can you help me understand the Plug-in Control, Page1 mode options in the Preset settings dialogue - focus/no focus/ACT? I may be sorry I asked, but what does the ACT option do in this case?

Important! As soon as you use this dialog, the preset is "regenerated". So the changes for CC are no longer there. I will need to modify the code to add changes into auto-generation. Simpler you say  me the settings your prefer I and update modified preset.

"No-focus/focus/open UI" controls what happens when you change plug-in with AlphaTrack. Either "does not inform" sonar about that fact, inform by changing focus (like you click on this plug-in in FXbin) or open plug-in GUI.

ACT - all 3 encoders function as "3 knobs" for ACT Dynamic Map (can be "ACT Learned").

One final question - something I've always wondered: You mentioned you could add a midi channel select function on an encoder. Let's say I have Sonar track #1 set to external midi ch1, and track #2 set to midi ch2.  Now, I sequentially record midi parts on both tracks, using my main controller set to ch1 for both. So all events on both tracks are "ch1" events. Including CC events, etc. That's my usual way of working, sometimes up to 100 tracks or more. So all events in the entire sequence are "Ch1" events. Does it matter? Should I care? (I used to use the interpolate function to find/change all the events and force them to match whatever actual midi channel the track was assigned to.) But it didn't seem to make any difference, and I decided I was wasting time for no reason. SO, is there any reason to concern myself with the channel number of individual events as long as I'm getting the desired musical result?  Long question - hopefully short answer!

It is better to keep everything on ch1 as you do. There was several long discussions about that topic on Sonar forum.

[Rhenn]

What you mean by "hangs when exiting Sonar": Sonar does not exit (hangs) or you can not use AT after?

Sonar closes normally. AT is unresponsive; displays keeps showing track info after exiting Sonar. If I unplug and re-plug USB cable, all is fine. No big deal.

Important! As soon as you use this dialog, the preset is "regenerated". So the changes for CC are no longer there. I will need to modify the code to add changes into auto-generation. Simpler you say  me the settings your prefer I and update modified preset.

Mostly just curious about how this works and what options are available. No need to customize further. Works great.

It is better to keep everything on ch1 as you do. There was several long discussions about that topic on Sonar forum.

Ok thanks - good to know!

 

[azslow3]

What you mean by "hangs when exiting Sonar": Sonar does not exit (hangs) or you can not use AT after?

Sonar closes normally. AT is unresponsive; displays keeps showing track info after exiting Sonar. If I unplug and re-plug USB cable, all is fine. No big deal.

There is no special "cleanup" programmed in the preset. So when you exit, AZ Controller is not cleaning display nor LEDs. But AT should work again when you restart Sonar (or start other program which work with it). You can try to close project before exiting Sonar and see if that change anything (probably not). I can try to program some "good by" logic if you want (to display something like "Have a nice evening!" )

[db]

This looks like amazing software, especially if I can get it to resurrect my Alphatrack.  I tried the Alphatrack "tweak" with AZ Controller (Version .5r10b415, Sonar: 28.2r0b19 [CbB 2022.02]). It seems like the buttons and three encoders work, as well as the scroll strip, but I don't get anything on the LCD screen, the LED's don't work, and the motorized fader just sits at the bottom and doesn't change the value in CbB. If I try to move it, it returns to the bottom.

I have both Sonar Platinum installed and Cakewalk by Bandlab, though I am trying to use it in Cakewalk by Bandlab. I also tried installing the Frontier Sonar software, but removed the alphatrack dll's from the Shared Surfaces folder.

I know this is an old controller, but any ideas?

Thanks.

[azslow3]

Are you sure you have assigned proper MIDI output port to AZ Controller? From your observation, Alphatrack does not receive messages from AZ Controller.

[db]

It works! Amazing! Thank you.

[db]

Well, I spoke too soon. After about a minute, I don't seem to be getting any midi messages from the Alphatrack's motorized fader. If I close Cakewalk, unplug and re-plug the Alphatrack, and start Cakewalk again, I'll get another minute. All the other buttons and encoders still work.

This doesn't seem to be an AZ Controller issue. I installed a midi monitor and the same thing happens: about a minute of usage from the fader before no midi messages, while all the other controls on the Alphatrack continue to send midi.

>>>>>Update...

I may have the answer... After performing a calibration on the controller (Shift + Stop + F4), things have been stable.

[azslow3]

The unit can be broken... But you still can try 2 things. First try re-calibrate the fader. Read original user manual how to do this.

Check your USB port and cable, many be change to different port and use another cable. The device is bus powered, in case USB power saving options are active, the device can malfunction. Try disable USB power management in Windows settings.

As third, use MIDI monitor to check touch sensor is working. There must be a message when you touch the sensor, before you move it. And there must be another when you release your finger.