LAUNCHPAD mapping 4 decks 4 traktor (w/ leds)

[ju1c380x]

@ju1c380x: plz explain

• to the beat: did you mean react to the music?

• i mean for every down beat of the track playing.
  

• vol arrow: have no idea what you mean with this

  you dont know what the volume arrow is on the launchpad?
  

• pan arrow: same here

  these are the pointing arrows on the right side of the launchpad in a vertical column that are labeled. i dont know how i could make it any more clear.

and i know its not possible with just traktor. im not talking about a beat phase monitor, im talking about like on beat one the volume arrow LED on the launch pad would light up lets say red. then on beat 2 the first arrow LED would shut off and the one below it (the pan arrow) would light up red and they would continue to do that down all 8 arrows and then repeat (hence the sequencer) what i want to know is HOW is this possible and what do i need to do to get this to work. hope this clears stuff up and thanks for the help !

[ejac]

these are the pointing arrows on the right side of the launchpad in a vertical column that are labeled. i dont know how i could make it any more clear.

woops, i see now

and i know its not possible with just traktor. im not talking about a beat phase monitor, im talking about like on beat one the volume arrow LED on the launch pad would light up lets say red. then on beat 2 the first arrow LED would shut off and the one below it (the pan arrow) would light up red and they would continue to do that down all 8 arrows and then repeat (hence the sequencer) what i want to know is HOW is this possible and what do i need to do to get this to work. hope this clears stuff up and thanks for the help !

I think the main problem would be to detect the first beat, if you got that, then you should be able to use the midi clock output or beat phase to know when the next beat is coming.
The first beat might be associated by when a track starts playing, given you always start a track on a down beat.
I wouldnt know atm how to detect the midi clock signal. You could only use this signal if you use the master clock in traktor and sync your tracks to it.
The beat phase is dependent on a particular track, and can be output by a midi cc or note signal in traktors controller manager. (as you probably know, but that makes I would know how to receive this in another program)

You could use bome's midi translator or max/msp (maybe others i dont know about?) in combination with a virtual midi cable to receive these messages, and produce the appropriate output midi messages to your launchpad. But a complete explanation on how to do this in one of these would be a lot of work (i wouldn't know without making "a patch" myself). Also, these programs aren't free.

[Zac Kyoti]

and i know its not possible with just traktor. im not talking about a beat phase monitor, im talking about like on beat one the volume arrow LED on the launch pad would light up lets say red. then on beat 2 the first arrow LED would shut off and the one below it (the pan arrow) would light up red

Traktor can do what you're talking about using the beat phase monitor. The limitation is that it has a one bar range. This is kinda hard to explain, so bear with me. You can set up any number of outputs to flash at any time within that range, for any length you choose, up to a length of one bar. So it's pretty simple to set up a scheme where a different led flashes for each of four beats. The limitation becomes apparent if you wanted to light 8 leds in sequence. Since the limit is a bar, the timing overlaps when you are trying to light leds over a span of two bars. If you are cool with just using four sequential leds, it's no problem to program. Anything over one bar, and you're right, you'd need something like Bomes.

[ejac]

Afaik sequentially lighting the leds to the beat is not possible with traktor alone, even for one bar.

For this to work there should be a way to count the beats (probably using a modifier, so you can use it as a conditional, afaik there is no other way).
Beats could only be counted using the beat phase output, but afaik there is no way to use the beat phase to set/adjust a modifier.

The shortest way around this would be to use a virtual midi cable, output the beat phase to it, and receive it back in traktor again, where you use it to increase a modifier. Then use play/pauze to reset the modifier.
Then use that modifier as conditional to output the beat phase to specific pads on the launchpad, so that depending on the modifier state a certain led blinks to the beat. Or just use modifier output to set the led color, that way the led stays lit until the next beat, is more sequencer like.

Then there is the issue of loops, also a fun thinking exercise, and a lot of programming work to get that one right when I dare think about its implementation.

[Zac Kyoti]

@ejac: I have the sequential led lighting programmed into one of my tsi's right now. So I know it works. Granted it's only for one bar. No additional midi routing, no Bomes.

[ejac]

@Zac Kyoti:

If you find the time, I would like to know how you did that, and I think ju1c380x would appreciate an explanation also.

If you dont find time, then would you be so kind to attach that tsi, I will try to figure it out myself.

thx

[Zac Kyoti]

No problem. Set an output command of Beat Phase Monitor to the first led you want to light. Set the midi range from 0 min, to whatever maximum you want to designate as the color. The controller range sets when in the 1 bar cycle you want the led to light, and for how long. So if the first led is set to 0.00 min to 0.20 max, you get a flash starting on beat one for a duration of almost one beat. The next Beat Phase Monitor output will be set to the next note # you want to light, with a range for example of 0.25 min to 0.45 max. This would set off the next led 0.05 of a bar after the first, also with a duration of 0.20.

Get the idea? The ranges can overlap too, but the limitation of this command is data from one bar. So you could have 8 or more leds fire off in sequence, but the cycle would repeat after one bar. The range control is kind of weird too - it doesn't go from 0.00 to 1.00, but I think it's actually -0.50 to +0.50, so keep that in mind. But the cycle still starts at 0.00. Then it goes up to +0.50 (which is the same as -0.50), and counts back up towards zero. So a series of leds could be 1) 0 to 0.20, 2) 0.25 to 0.45, 3) -0.50 to -0.30, 4) -0.25 to -0.05

[ejac]

Thx, it seems though that my beat phase output makes one cycle per beat, not per bar ... which of course is essential for this to work.

Atm I have traktor pro 1.2.4.

[Zac Kyoti]

Dude, my bad- it's been ages since I looked at this. You're totally right, it's one beat, not one bar. I got the idea of sequential confused with when they were needed. (The tsi that I have this built into simply moves between 4 leds in a square pattern, so it looks like a rotation). As you said, something like a clock counter thru bomes could get the functionality how you want it.

[faeruithir]

Hey guys,

I've been thinking about getting a launchpad.
For you guys that own one, you know the demo video where the guy slides his finger across the launchpad effortlessly and uses the buttons like faders?

I just wanted to know if this was actually possible, or just something they kinda faked.

I've heard complaints that launchpad buttons were too clicky for this...whats the feel of the buttons?