Hi,
I would love to see an expander with 24 encoders that could connect to the Electra One MK2, so that all on-screen functions have their own dedicated encoder—without switching between sets of 12.
Would something like this be technically possible?
Thanks,
Peter
We have added and later extended the Remote Knobs and Midi Control features. These allow users to use virtually any MIDI controller as the E1 expander. Unfortunately, we are not planning to produce our own expander at this moment. It may, of course, change in the future…
Hi Martin
I hope you’re well
Im new to your community and dont have a lots of coding experience..
I have a question about the remote knobs ..i have a Mackie C4 pro a 32 knob extension to Mackie hui setup, i am asking if it can be used with the Electra one ,if so could you or someone in the community point me in the right direction on how to integrate it ..
Regards
John
Let’s check.
Can you cc control each knob individually? Can you show the received setting on a scale from 0 to 127? Can each knob send out cc message with the same cc number as received?
Then you can use this controller as an extension to the E1. You could use the 6 knobs per row to control 4 rows on the E1 and then control the other 2 rows from the E1 itself.
Hi Newlgnis
Thank you for your reply
I did a test last night to see if i could do what you suggested ..it sees the controllers but not 0 to 127
It’s either 1 or 65 ..i think its an impossible task to integrate this unit with th E1 .. ill need a LUA programming god make it work , im wondering if anybody in the community has come across a Mackie C4 and got some script, i think it would be awesome to get it working.
Regards
John
It is likely operating in “relative mode" where it sends a pulse of values indicating the rotation direction, not the knob position.
Thank you Quelecta
Yes you’re right ,if i turn it CW its 1 or CCW its 65..
Check if you can pull it out of “relative” mode and into standard MIDI absolute mode. The “relative” mode was never a real MIDI standard, you know, rather a convention made by manufacturer (typically by softsynths and DAW manufacturer) to allow for control wihtout jumping from systems that cannot read the current value / sources that do not tell the actual value.
In the case of the E1 expansion, E1 can tell exactly with absolute value each of the 36 slots is on when it has a remote knob-system connected.
I’ve tried this with the Behringer BCR-2000 and that works, but for me it’s too mouch real estate, so I’m selling it.
The current documentation for the Electra One Mk II remote knobs feature is shown below. It does say you can configure to use “Relative mode”. I don’t know if that means it is designed to work with the 1 or 65 values coming from your C4. Have you tried to configure it yet using “relative” type as described here .. there is a 1 in 100 shot it might just work ? Let us know what happens …
I also read this somewhere in a Mackie guide : " You can also download the Mackie C4 Commander software from our website
www.mackie.com/products/c4commander ). The C4 Commander lets
the C4 work with other hardware and software,
providing more functionality for the C4. C4 Com-
mander comes with an extensive library of the
most commonly used MIDI synths and instru-
ments, and translates the controls on the C4 into
the correct MIDI commands to control the exter-
nal devices."
So I think you may make it work!
EDIT : if you can find the software somewhere on the internet…
Thank you both for your advice
I think the project is way out of my reach to do ..i will have a look at Phommed suggestion tomorrow
@ newlgnis yes the commander software only works on Intel Macs and wasn’t updated or supported
Again thanks guys for your help it irks much appreciated
Regards
John
Will try to write more later in the week
UPDATE: you’ll find the values here MackieC4_P3/wip/MackieC4/consts.py at 12e4ddeb43741ecc16adf86cca640a179d2d8111 · markusschloesser/MackieC4_P3 · GitHub
buttons and push encoder are midi note on
display is via sysex
Clockwise and CCW are via relative CC
all this is fixed and cannot be changed
@ Phommed hi mate ,I tried your suggestion with no Joy ..it also wont recognise the first knob because its value is 0 so every other knob is ascew 1=2 and so on..arggghhhhh!!!
@ Marcus ..WOW !!!thank you so much for that ,.I can see you put a lot of work into it ..as i said im not a coder and i have come to the conclusion that my programming skills are not up to the daunting task, maybe one day when i get me head around LUA, but until then If you ever get your c4 working within electra I would love to know..
Thank you all for your advice and input.
Regards
John
I think the main draw for such an encoder bank, at least for me, would be to have it physically match up with the E1mk2 hardware. Sure theres options out there, but having one that matches the E1 pages 1:1 makes it intuitive to use, as opposed to having a secondary controller with its own layout.
could even go more modular: bank of 8 encoders (slim!), full 24 page, 8x 45-65mm faders (of high quality to match the encoders… something like the motorized ALPS? )
I’ve had some success with the AKAI MIDI MIX, mapping its pots (not encoders) to either specific control IDs of the E1 via direct incoming CC intercept in LUA, or to a “grid slot”, using the Remote Knob function.
Since Akai MIDI MIX knobs are pots, not encoders, there’s this “parameter jump” effect if its controls are mapped via the Remote Knob feature and I flip between pages, which is fully expected. However, this can be viewed in some scenarios as a “feature”, where you can make this parameter “jump” intentionally, especially since the MIDI Mix has this funny and useful feature of “SEND ALL”, where at the push of a button it dumps all of the current programmed CC values out via USB MIDI.
Next project is to see if I could somehow “mate” OXI E16 as an “expander” to my E1, with some bi-directional data exchange so that OXI E16 encoders “sync” with control values on various E1 pages. E16 does support relative CC, but this is not what I want: I want E16 to pick up current state of controllers on an E1 page, and change its LED rings’ readout accordingly.
Haven’t tried yet, I just borrowed E16 from a friend yesterday.
If anyone has successful experience of pairing E16 with E1 - I’d be grateful if you could share it!
