8 column slots wide instead of 6 for sequencer purposes?

In some cases, especially for sequencers, it would be nice to set up pages with 6 rows of 8 slots instead of 6 rows of 6 slots. In such case the way of working would remain the same (although the slot numbering should be different). The screen would then be divided into 6 instead of 3 sections: each current section of 6 by 2 would then be divided into 2 sections, a left and a right, each 4 by 2.
The middle 8 encoders would then be used to control such section.
The most upper left and upper right encoder would serve to select the left or right section.
The most lower left and right encoder would then serve to move back and forth to other pages that are 8 slots wide.

Is it possible to do experiments that way?

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rather than try to do those kinds of gymnastics, I opted to just use 2 rows of 4 and then I could use the “free” slots on the far left/right for things like master clock, etc.

Once you get away from the ‘one control maps directly to one encoder’, things can get ugly (IMHO)

Yes, that ‘s how I do this as well currently. But still would be great to test if it’d be an improvement

2 Likes

It is the web editor on app.electra.one that forces users to use 6x6 grid. The editor uses the grid because it establishes a strong relationship between on-screen controls and physical knobs.

The hardware controller is not limited to the grid, it supports placement of controls by defining their x, y position and width, height. Also, any control can be linked to any knob, more knobs, or none of them.

I’d say, if you wanted to experiment, generate a preset with a few pads. Export the JSON and play around with the bounds object in the preset. Note, it is all fully documented at docs.electra,.one.

You can upload your own presets to E1 using the Sandbox tool.

just made a quick test:

This is the preset source:

{
   "version":2,
   "name":"My Preset",
   "projectId":"ury8UbVL4PrzDL3q6eLq",
   "pages":[
      {
         "id":1,
         "name":"Page 1"
      }
   ],
   "groups":[
      
   ],
   "devices":[
      {
         "id":1,
         "name":"Generic MIDI",
         "port":1,
         "channel":1
      }
   ],
   "overlays":[
      
   ],
   "controls":[
      {
         "id":1,
         "type":"pad",
         "mode":"toggle",
         "visible":true,
         "name":"",
         "color":"ffffff",
         "bounds":[
            20,
            28,
            56,
            56
         ],
         "pageId":1,
         "controlSetId":1,
         "inputs":[
            {
               "potId":1,
               "valueId":"value"
            }
         ],
         "values":[
            {
               "message":{
                  "type":"cc7",
                  "offValue":0,
                  "onValue":127,
                  "parameterNumber":1,
                  "deviceId":1
               },
               "id":"value"
            }
         ]
      },
      {
         "id":2,
         "type":"pad",
         "mode":"toggle",
         "visible":true,
         "name":"",
         "color":"ffffff",
         "bounds":[
            96,
            28,
            56,
            56
         ],
         "pageId":1,
         "controlSetId":1,
         "inputs":[
            {
               "potId":2,
               "valueId":"value"
            }
         ],
         "values":[
            {
               "message":{
                  "type":"cc7",
                  "offValue":0,
                  "onValue":127,
                  "parameterNumber":2,
                  "deviceId":1
               },
               "id":"value"
            }
         ]
      },
      {
         "id":3,
         "type":"pad",
         "mode":"toggle",
         "visible":true,
         "name":"",
         "color":"ffffff",
         "bounds":[
            172,
            28,
            56,
            56
         ],
         "pageId":1,
         "controlSetId":1,
         "inputs":[
            {
               "potId":3,
               "valueId":"value"
            }
         ],
         "values":[
            {
               "message":{
                  "type":"cc7",
                  "offValue":0,
                  "onValue":127,
                  "parameterNumber":3,
                  "deviceId":1
               },
               "id":"value"
            }
         ]
      },
      {
         "id":4,
         "type":"pad",
         "mode":"toggle",
         "visible":true,
         "name":"",
         "color":"ffffff",
         "bounds":[
            248,
            28,
            56,
            56
         ],
         "pageId":1,
         "controlSetId":1,
         "inputs":[
            {
               "potId":4,
               "valueId":"value"
            }
         ],
         "values":[
            {
               "message":{
                  "type":"cc7",
                  "offValue":0,
                  "onValue":127,
                  "parameterNumber":4,
                  "deviceId":1
               },
               "id":"value"
            }
         ]
      },
      {
         "id":5,
         "type":"pad",
         "mode":"toggle",
         "visible":true,
         "name":"",
         "color":"F49500",
         "bounds":[
            20,
            118,
            56,
            56
         ],
         "pageId":1,
         "controlSetId":1,
         "inputs":[
            {
               "potId":7,
               "valueId":"value"
            }
         ],
         "values":[
            {
               "message":{
                  "type":"cc7",
                  "offValue":0,
                  "onValue":127,
                  "parameterNumber":5,
                  "deviceId":1
               },
               "id":"value"
            }
         ]
      },
      {
         "id":6,
         "type":"pad",
         "mode":"toggle",
         "visible":true,
         "name":"",
         "color":"F49500",
         "bounds":[
            96,
            118,
            56,
            56
         ],
         "pageId":1,
         "controlSetId":1,
         "inputs":[
            {
               "potId":8,
               "valueId":"value"
            }
         ],
         "values":[
            {
               "message":{
                  "type":"cc7",
                  "offValue":0,
                  "onValue":127,
                  "parameterNumber":6,
                  "deviceId":1
               },
               "id":"value"
            }
         ]
      },
      {
         "id":7,
         "type":"pad",
         "mode":"toggle",
         "visible":true,
         "name":"",
         "color":"F49500",
         "bounds":[
            172,
            118,
            56,
            56
         ],
         "pageId":1,
         "controlSetId":1,
         "inputs":[
            {
               "potId":9,
               "valueId":"value"
            }
         ],
         "values":[
            {
               "message":{
                  "type":"cc7",
                  "offValue":0,
                  "onValue":127,
                  "parameterNumber":7,
                  "deviceId":1
               },
               "id":"value"
            }
         ]
      },
      {
         "id":8,
         "type":"pad",
         "mode":"toggle",
         "visible":true,
         "name":"",
         "color":"F49500",
         "bounds":[
            248,
            118,
            56,
            56
         ],
         "pageId":1,
         "controlSetId":1,
         "inputs":[
            {
               "potId":10,
               "valueId":"value"
            }
         ],
         "values":[
            {
               "message":{
                  "type":"cc7",
                  "offValue":0,
                  "onValue":127,
                  "parameterNumber":8,
                  "deviceId":1
               },
               "id":"value"
            }
         ]
      },
      {
         "id":9,
         "type":"pad",
         "mode":"toggle",
         "visible":true,
         "name":"",
         "color":"529DEC",
         "bounds":[
            20,
            208,
            146,
            56
         ],
         "pageId":1,
         "controlSetId":2,
         "inputs":[
            {
               "potId":1,
               "valueId":"value"
            }
         ],
         "values":[
            {
               "message":{
                  "type":"cc7",
                  "offValue":0,
                  "onValue":127,
                  "parameterNumber":9,
                  "deviceId":1
               },
               "id":"value"
            }
         ]
      },
      {
         "id":10,
         "type":"pad",
         "mode":"toggle",
         "visible":true,
         "name":"",
         "color":"529DEC",
         "bounds":[
            187,
            208,
            146,
            56
         ],
         "pageId":1,
         "controlSetId":2,
         "inputs":[
            {
               "potId":2,
               "valueId":"value"
            }
         ],
         "values":[
            {
               "message":{
                  "type":"cc7",
                  "offValue":0,
                  "onValue":127,
                  "parameterNumber":10,
                  "deviceId":1
               },
               "id":"value"
            }
         ]
      },
      {
         "id":11,
         "type":"pad",
         "mode":"toggle",
         "visible":true,
         "name":"",
         "color":"529DEC",
         "bounds":[
            354,
            208,
            146,
            56
         ],
         "pageId":1,
         "controlSetId":2,
         "inputs":[
            {
               "potId":3,
               "valueId":"value"
            }
         ],
         "values":[
            {
               "message":{
                  "type":"cc7",
                  "offValue":0,
                  "onValue":127,
                  "parameterNumber":11,
                  "deviceId":1
               },
               "id":"value"
            }
         ]
      },
      {
         "id":12,
         "type":"pad",
         "mode":"toggle",
         "visible":true,
         "name":"",
         "color":"529DEC",
         "bounds":[
            521,
            208,
            146,
            56
         ],
         "pageId":1,
         "controlSetId":2,
         "inputs":[
            {
               "potId":4,
               "valueId":"value"
            }
         ],
         "values":[
            {
               "message":{
                  "type":"cc7",
                  "offValue":0,
                  "onValue":127,
                  "parameterNumber":12,
                  "deviceId":1
               },
               "id":"value"
            }
         ]
      },
      {
         "id":13,
         "type":"pad",
         "mode":"toggle",
         "visible":true,
         "name":"",
         "color":"F45C51",
         "bounds":[
            20,
            298,
            146,
            56
         ],
         "pageId":1,
         "controlSetId":2,
         "inputs":[
            {
               "potId":7,
               "valueId":"value"
            }
         ],
         "values":[
            {
               "message":{
                  "type":"cc7",
                  "offValue":0,
                  "onValue":127,
                  "parameterNumber":13,
                  "deviceId":1
               },
               "id":"value"
            }
         ]
      },
      {
         "id":14,
         "type":"pad",
         "mode":"toggle",
         "visible":true,
         "name":"",
         "color":"F45C51",
         "bounds":[
            187,
            298,
            146,
            56
         ],
         "pageId":1,
         "controlSetId":2,
         "inputs":[
            {
               "potId":8,
               "valueId":"value"
            }
         ],
         "values":[
            {
               "message":{
                  "type":"cc7",
                  "offValue":0,
                  "onValue":127,
                  "parameterNumber":14,
                  "deviceId":1
               },
               "id":"value"
            }
         ]
      },
      {
         "id":15,
         "type":"pad",
         "mode":"toggle",
         "visible":true,
         "name":"",
         "color":"F45C51",
         "bounds":[
            354,
            298,
            146,
            56
         ],
         "pageId":1,
         "controlSetId":2,
         "inputs":[
            {
               "potId":9,
               "valueId":"value"
            }
         ],
         "values":[
            {
               "message":{
                  "type":"cc7",
                  "offValue":0,
                  "onValue":127,
                  "parameterNumber":15,
                  "deviceId":1
               },
               "id":"value"
            }
         ]
      },
      {
         "id":16,
         "type":"pad",
         "mode":"toggle",
         "visible":true,
         "name":"",
         "color":"F45C51",
         "bounds":[
            521,
            298,
            146,
            56
         ],
         "pageId":1,
         "controlSetId":2,
         "inputs":[
            {
               "potId":10,
               "valueId":"value"
            }
         ],
         "values":[
            {
               "message":{
                  "type":"cc7",
                  "offValue":0,
                  "onValue":127,
                  "parameterNumber":16,
                  "deviceId":1
               },
               "id":"value"
            }
         ]
      }
   ]
}

so, it is all good. Unfortunately, when you import such preset to the web editor, it will enforce the 6x6. Which will break the positioning. But not much work is left on getting this restriction out of the editor.

Of course, I have my ideas about the sequencer preset,. My thinking on that is:

Use the upper four rows of controls for the grid of pads, say 4 x 16 and the bottom part for 12 controls that would be used to manage the sequencer and edit the pads (notes, messages, etc). That way these 12 controls would be permanently assigned to the 12 knobs. Touch on pads would be used to select active pads that would be subject to modification. Just an idea :slight_smile:

4 Likes