I am very excited to share my new beta testing-ready “VCV Rack 2” instrument preset which provides 2-way hardware module parameter control of VCVRack patches and display of rich parameter value feedback using an Electra One Mk II controller. It works together with my new VCVRack RSBATechModules plugin, which also includes an feature-equivalent TouchOSC - based controller preset.
I have been working on this preset and VCVRack plugin since May 2024. @martin has been incredibly supportive and responsive in squashing 3.7 / 4.0 beta firmware bugs I have encountered along the way, and even agreed to add some of my feature suggestions which is awesome. I did intend to wait until the 4.0 version is finally released, but I now think it would be even better for any interested people other than me to try this out before the firmware is completed.
Thanks for the quick reply!
On the settings page of the electra template, should the fileds be highlighed or not?
Do I press Save top E1?
Do I need to restart the Vcv patch or the template?
Thanks for your support!!
The “Double Tap” button should be shown highlighted (with the left-hand vertical bar) - that means the button is in the “on” state. That’s all you need to do. No need to restart the E1 preset or the VCVRack patch. If you want to ensure the same settings are applied the next time the preset is loaded (e.g. after you turn your E1 off and on again) then you can also tap the “SAVE TO E1” button.
Unfortunately you will need to remember to manually change this setting on the app.electra.one page each time you use the VCVRack preset (if you actually want to use the built in double tap action on other E1 presets) … as far as I know, it is not possible for my (or any) preset to programmatically turn that built-in double tap action off.
Hi, unfortunately not with the current Metamodule firmware. I have a MM in my Eurorack case also, and would love to be able to get the same module control as the RSBATechModules plugin provides in VCVRack.
I understand from posts on the MM forum that they might be working on enhanced 2-way midi feedback embedded directly in the MM firmware (for the Rotocontrol). If and when that is released, rest assured I will be digging into that to see if that fills in any of the missing technical gaps.
So I have been using this for a frew days, great job!
I have some questions if you dont mind:
*When I map orestes one to patchmaster modules (that are already mapped to certain controls over the patch):
*How Do I scale values to be shown on the electra faders? For example I want to see in a fader the number of steps in a sequencer. This value shows correctly on the Patchmaster module.
*How do get rid of the unmaped faders on the Electra? I can see on your youtube video that when you map a device and you save it to library this unused faders dissapear.
*I cant rename the pages from the Orestes modules .
*How can I add some of this controls to electra´s performance page?
*Sometimes when im playing a level rack mapping, it seems to go into specific module mapping. How do i change between level rack and module rack from electra?
Hi, thanks for the thanks… I wil try my best to answer your questions below, in a different order which I think makes sense…
*How Do I scale values to be shown on the electra faders? For example I want to see in a fader the number of steps in a sequencer. This value shows correctly on the Patchmaster module.
A: Unfortunately, this is not possible with the Patchmaster module. It only reports a number between 0 and 1. I assume this is because you can map one Patchmaster knob to up to four different module controls, each of which would have a different display value range. The Patchmaster module can show these in its own tooltips, but it does not report them to the VCVRack API afaik so that other modules, like Orestes One can access them.
How do i change between level rack and module rack from electra?
There are two ways of doing this - you can use one or the other, or both:
From the setup page (page 11 of the “VCVRack” E1 preset), enable the multi-pot touch for “RACK-LEVEL MAPPING” (Pots 1,2,7). Thereafter, tapping pots 1,2 & 7 simultaneously will switch to the current rack - level mapping (if any). It should take care of removing unused faders when you do this (which answers your other question)
Switch on the new v4 firmware “Preset Menu” feature on your E1 device (see instructions here, item #3) by mapping it to one of the 6 hardware buttons (I use the bottom left-hand one for this purpose). Once you have done this, pressing the hardware button will show the “VCVRack” E1 preset’s Preset Menu. This has several functions which includes the “Rack” option .. touching this on-screen button will do the same thing as tapping pots 1, 2 & 7 described above.
At any time, to return to the module mapping grid, select “Page 12” of the preset (or enable the “SELECT MODULES” multi-pot touch combo)
*I cant rename the pages from the Orestes modules .
It should be be possible to set up named control pages for both module and rack mappings (note that I have only set custom pages for a few mapped modules in the factory mapping library - e.g. Mixmaster). There is a basic help description for setting custom pages in the help wiki (see “Set control page names”). Please note the important “Remember…” in that paragraph!
If this doesnt help you further, can you please describe in more detail what “cant rename” means ?
*How can I add some of this controls to electra´s performance page?
Good question - I haven’t tried that myself yet. I am waiting for @martin to complete this feature by adding a performance page editor to the app.electra.one web editor see Performance | Electra One Documentation
once I apply rack level mapping, is there a way to go back and add/delete/edit some of the controls ?
Yes, once you have applied the current rack mapping, you can delete / edit any of the existing mapped rack-mappings using the Orestes One parameter list (right-click on an entry in the list to see edit options). Then remember to select the context menu “Save rack-level mapping” to save the changes.
If you want to add new parameter mappings, you need to use the E1 “VCVRack” preset’s “Reset” function (multi-tap or via the Preset Menu”) to show all of the hidden unmapped E1 controls first, then apply the current Rack mappings, then you can map more controls (remembering to use the “Save rack-level mappings” again afterwards).
This is the same process for editing existing module mappings also, the only difference is you would load a module mapping for editing, and use the “Add module to library” context menu option to save the changes instead.
I am trying to figure out how to actually set it up with orestes and was wandering if someone could help me out with the E1 internal midi routing… is it possible to only use the USB connection for all the data between E1 and Orestes Module? and if so how is the midi routing in the E1.
right now i have loaded it up in VCV rack and loaded the preset on E1 but no matter what combination of ins and outs i try in the orestes module the E1 just says searching for orestes-one.
So my guess is there is some routing or something i have not understood.
On that page, there is also a link to a YouTube tutorial video I created, which also shows the setup.
I hope that helps. If you are still learning your way around the E1 itself, there is some good user guide content in the E1 website.
do let me know if you are still stuck, perhaps then let me know how far you were able to get through the getting started guide, and I will try and troubleshoot as best I can.
I would recommend you start with only trying to connect E1 to VCVRack via usb, without any other midi devices sending or receiving data from the E1. I haven’t actually tried that myself tbh. In theory, it should be possible if you keep the midi channels segregated. But it could equally break my preset code!
