In the last 30 days, during a routine colonoscopy, my body (which I tried to explain runs VERY slowly already) reacted to the anesthesia they used the first time by my throwing up early on in the procedure and their having to stop me from drowning in throw-up (causing the procedure to be aborted and requiring it to be rescheduled), then in spite of that, thinking that my fasting an extra day would resolve all problems, the second attempt found my lungs nearly shutting down and a coughing spasm nearly asphyxiating me. You are not supposed to have to spend four hours on oxygen in recovery from a colonoscopy! I am now on the records that I may never use anesthesia again. (I’ll use the old fashioned “bite a stick and whiskey” technique should I need something painful done to me, with the wooden mallet method in reserve should I make too much noise.)

So, I’ve had a few brushes with death. The first, I was in the cavalier days of youth, invulnerable, and assumed all along I would actually succeed in surviving. The rarity of my spontaneously growing a new liver barely grazed my consciousness, as at that age, OF COURSE something would rescue me!

The second round, in my early 40’s, was not met by as-cavalier a person. The diagnosis was quite daunting, there was no cure that actually, reliably worked at the time, and I spent three years pretty much waiting for it to start getting really nasty. (A liver death is one of the nastiest ways to go, by all accounts.) I had to go through all of those things anyone diagnosed with a life-threatening and most-likely terminal disease has to go through – all the emotions, the remorse, the contemplation of future suffering, and of course, the intense dislike of the idea of not being here anymore. There were several epiphanies along the way, and several wrong turns as I worked out how to deal with it (like being angry about it early on), but as luck was again on my side, in the 11th hour (actually at 11:55), a cure that worked for me appeared on the day that I entered the hospital to accept whatever treatment was available at that time – because my time was up for waiting on a new cure, and it was either start a therapy then or it would be too late to be accepted for any therapy at all. Thankfully, Shearing-Plough (now Merk) had just that day brought into the hospital the combo therapy of Interferon with Ribavirin, called “Rebetron“.

(As it turned out, at Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, NC where I was treated, I was the only patient who completed the therapy to the end and was successful, due to side effects that could be averted by drinking a gallon and a half of water a day. I drank the water. In those days before “hydration” was a household word, Americans literally would rather die rather than drink water! So, I survived, but many, many patients did not, all because they quit due to side effects they could have averted with some water!)

I mention all of this because it has to do with the subject of the title. Having just recently nearly died while unconscious of the fact anything like that was going on, the aftermath has been sort of a “PTSD” effect, leaving me a bit shaken. The first event did not so much – it was understandable, though daunting –  but the second time definitely did leave a mark in reflection. My subconscious possibly was fully aware, even if my conscious mind was knocked out. So, which is worse – the anticipation of oncoming doom, or the reflection of narrowly escaped demise? In a way, they are both equally worse!

Complicating matters is that the cough I had before the “lung collapse” event turned into a full-blown issue that I am still recovering from, as my weakened and still fluid-filled and collapsed alveoli (the microscopic sacs that hold the air and transfer it to the bloodstream) and the bronchial regions caused even more coughing, difficult breathing with wheezing, and the threat of pneumonia. All this has affected my mood, I am certain. But it has caused me to reflect on the notion of a sudden death, as opposed to a prolonged and protracted one like I’d experienced before. Here I am, lucky again TWICE in a month to be here at all, but cannot help but be nagged by the question WHAT IF I hadn’t been so “lucky”? Well, of course, I would merely be dead now! But it does make today and every moment lately seem a bit more like a gift. It also is a reminder how far I am from feeling “done”, “complete”, “finished”. I have so much more to do – glad I made it so I can perhaps finish up!

Like I said, when I was in my twenties, even faced with the eminent failure of my liver succeeding in reproducing itself, I felt only inconvenience as my extremely weak condition kept me bed-ridden for an entire year, and disallowed me to work for another year, even though I’d been gaining strength. I assumed I would be well eventually all along, and was impatient with not being able to get back to living! (Out of that impatience came my becoming a street musician in Cambridge, MA who played daily in Central Square each day and Harvard Square every night.) Inconvenience was the key feeling, not mortality as much.

When I was in my forties – this time indeed contemplating dying soon – at first, yes, I was angry about the situation. I took on the persona of an old grouch. Hard to believe, it is so out of character in some ways for me – but I was the consummate curmudgeon, a true grumpy Gus, a “force to be reckoned with”. Thankfully, a few epiphanies took place that cured me of that, and I found deep, inner calm and learned to live in the present – the exact “moment-right-now.” So, the two years leading up to stumbling into a cure were actually very pleasant in spite of my worsening weakness – I even performed again in several public concerts of electronic music with my friend Laura Rohde, and recorded some new music. So, I had time to become a “different person” and be at peace with my upcoming death – only to not die after all! (An unexpected circumstance that actually took several years to get used to!!)

With this recent occurrence – and the reflection of nearly dying (twice) just lately – it is having a different outcome. It has made me return to those epiphanies I had from the Hep-C experience – a major one being not to bother pushing – yet a parallel nagging feeling that I haven’t pushed enough also exists. I feel I’ve been acting like I have all the time in the world to get things done I’d like to have done. Two mistakes by anesthesiologists in thirty days could have undone my doing of anything, and my “legacy” would be that of an unfinished life. I don’t like the feeling of that. Nobody would. But most people do not think about it much, taking on that same cavalier attitude I did in my twenties: everything will be ok – I have time – things will work out!

Unless, of course … they don’t.

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Capabilities Discovered So Far

Level Controls:

Volume sliders
Pans
Send Levels
Sends On/Off
A “FLIP” mode switching knobs with sliders

Selectors and Toggles:

Track Mutes
Track Selectors
Track Solo
Track Arm for Record
Metronome On/Off
Countoff On/Off
Overdub On/Off
Slave to External Sync On/Off
Link Playback
Link Selection To Memory
Pre-Roll and Post-Roll
Switch to Sequence Panel
Switch to Quickscribe
Switch to Mixer Panel
Toggles Clips window (intended for beneath Clippings panel)
Insert Marker
Opens Track Groups Panel
Creates Group that is added to the Track Groups Panel

Controls:

Play
Stop
Shuttle-play in forward and backwards direction
Start Recording on Record-Enabled Track(s)
Turn ON Auto-Record
Set Split Point (or Trim or Selection start point) at the play head position
Toggle between Snap-To-Grid and Free-form for all tools
Scroll Sequence View to start
Jump to end of the sequence
Move to BOTTOM of Sequence Panel
Move to TOP of Sequence Panel
Move leftwards or rightwards through the banks represented by the sliders
Move one-track-at-a time shifting to the left or right
Toggle Monitoring (Audible Mode) On/Off
Bring up top plugin editor for selected track

I am using the Mackie “Logic” emulation on the BCF2000 on a PC to test this. Just a quick note: When you are changing modes into Logic Mode [by holding down the third top button while powering up], watch the LCD and let go after you see “LC” right away — if you continue holding the button down you will go into “Global Edit” mode instead and nothing you expected to work will function. (That is, you will NOT be in Mackie Logic mode anymore. Here is some more information on the “Modes”.)

In the image, I’ve renamed a few of the button names.

Here is the image, with the knob and button assignments listed below. Click the image to view full-screen in a new tab.

Download Link For Image – Right-click to download – Print in Landscape Mode

After starting up the BCF2000 in “LOGIC” mode and then starting Digital Performer, the default setup is to have the sliders control the mixer faders (you must have the mixer tab selected as the focus, that is, it must be clicked on) in banks of eight tracks at a time (move through banks using the “Preset” buttons I’ve renamed as “Bank” in the image); the knobs control the panning for each track and when pressed do nothing in this mode; the buttons just beneath the knobs are track mutes and the buttons just above the sliders are to select the track being worked on within the current bank (if you have the “Track Inspector” window open you’ll see it change according to which of these bottom-row buttons you press). All the text with white-backgrounds in the image are the defaults. Modify the action of the knobs and buttons by using the “Encoder Groups” top-left and bottom-left I’ve re-labeled in the image as SHIFT and CTRL. The Encoder Group button on the bottom-right is used with SHIFT as a FLIP button that switches the knob functions with the sliders.

——————————————————————
KNOBS

Three Knob modes – Edit, Exit, and Track with Learn.

Edit (renamed as the PANS button in the image above)
The default powerup mode

Assigns the Knobs to control PAN. Pressing down on this knob does nothing.

Exit (the SENDS button in image above)

Changes Knobs to affect DP’s Send levels
You can also press on a knob to enable/disable the associated track’s send.

Sliders still control the volume faders and all buttons follow normal conventions with their SHIFT or CTRL modifier keys.

Note:
Press “Flip” to allow controlling the send or pan settings with the sliders and the tracks’ volume with the knobs instead. (Press Upper-left “Shift” with lower right “Option” key – or following image labeling above, Shift-FLIP.)

Learn (PLUGINS in the image above)

See bottom of the post – I’d be careful with this one!

—————————————————————

BUTTONS

Buttons for each track:

Upper-Button Row are Mutes
Lower-Button Row Selects Track
Shift-Upper-Button Row are Solos
Shift-Lower-Button Row [RECrdy] arms track for recording

Toggles

CTRL plus the lower row of buttons toggles on/off various features of DP.

CTRL-Lower-Button-1 — Metronome On/Off

CTRL-Lower-Button-2 — Countoff On/Off

CTRL-Lower-Button-3 — Overdub On/Off

CTRL-Lower-Button-4 — Does Nothing

CTRL-Lower-Button-5 — Does Nothing

CTRL-Lower-Button-6 — Slave to External Sync On/Off (“Wait” if off)

CTRL-Lower-Button-7 — With Slave to External Sync off, Link Playback and Link Selection To Memory are toggled On/Off
With Slave to External Sync on, only Link Selection to Memory is toggled.

CTRL-Lower-Button-8 — With above selected, enables/disables Pre-Roll and Post-Roll in the toolbar.)

–> Occasionally, toggling off Link Playback and Link Selection To Memory using the CTRL-7 key will switch to Auto-Stop and/or Auto-Rewind being toggled on. The only way to turn them off after that happens is by clicking them, it appears.

View Tabs

CTRL with various upper-row buttons switches tabs.

CTRL-Upper-Button 1: Opens Sequence Panel

CTRL-Upper-Button 2: Opens Quickscribe

CTRL-Upper-Button 3: Opens Mixing Board

CTRL-Upper-Button 4: Toggles Clip Settings Window beneath current window (intended for Clip window pairing).

CTRL-Upper-Button 5: Insert Marker

CTRL-Upper-Button 6: Opens Track Groups Window

CTRL-Upper-Button 7: Creates Group that is added to above Track Groups Window

CTRL-Upper-Button 8: Unknown as of this writing

If coming from the Tracks Panel to the Mixer Panel, only the track previously selected as the focused track will appear. Pressing “Preset Left” or “Preset Right” (the bank switch buttons) brings all the desired sliders back into view. This is not an issue when returning to the Mixer from the Sequence Panel. However, in DP 11.3 being tested today, the left-preset button suddenly now offsets by 7, forcing the first slider to be slider 8, and the next preset to begin with slider 2. It works fine upon initial loading, and is only offset if you touch the preset L/R buttons.

Bottom-Right four buttons: (See Image Above)

PLAY does just that, and
STOP stops.

FORWRD shuttle-plays in forward direction. Tapping second time speeds up playback.
BACK shuttle-plays in reverse direction. Tapping second time speeds up reverse playback

Shift-PLAY Starts Recording on Record-Enabled Track(s) IMMEDIATELY from the playhead position.

Shift-STOP Turns ON Auto-Record (does not turn it off).

Shift-FORWRD Sets Split Point (or Trim or Selection start point) at the play head position. If no tracks (or the conductor track only) are selected, it selects all and marks all tracks. Otherwise, it only applies to the selected tracks. You still need to perform the split (CTRL-Y) or Trim (Win-U) or shift-click using the I-beam to complete a selection.

Shift-BACK Toggles Snap-To-Grid and Free-form for all tools. Especially useful for the I-Beam (which becomes “whiter” in the Free-form mode).

CTRL-BACK Scrolls Sequence View to start. (labeled HOME – Does not affect Playhead position)
CTRL-FORWRD jumps to end of the sequence. (labeled END – Does not affect Playhead position.)
CTRL-STOP moves to BOTTOM of Sequence Panel
CTRL-PLAY moves to TOP of Sequence Panel

PRESET/BANK Buttons (Relabeled as “BANK” – See Image Above)

PRESET-LEFT moves leftwards through the banks represented by the sliders
PRESET-RIGHT moves rightwards through the banks represented by the sliders

SHIFT-PRESET-LEFT moves one-track-at-a time shifting to the left.
SHIFT-PRESET-RIGHT moves one-track-at-a time shifting to the right.

CTRL-PRESET-Left Toggles Monitoring (Audible Mode) On/Off.

CTRL-PRESET-Right Does Nothing

A couple odd ones:

Pressing the upper-right encoder group button and “Learn” at the same time brings up the topmost plugin editor window for the selected track (you seem to need to have closed all open plugin windows first for this to work). Be super careful when the “Learn” button is selected. Turning a knob seems to make it get “creative” inserting plugins into the selected track with no apparent rhyme nor reason. Turning it VERY slowly you can see it moves to the next preset about ten seconds after you’ve moved the knob. I’d avoid this one other than to bring up the top plugin edit window.

—————————————————————————–

Please let me know of additions or corrections to this document and I will keep this first post and the image updated.

Terry

The post BCF2000 Mackie (LC) Mode functions for MOTU Digital Performer (tested with DP 11.33) appeared first on Terry Leigh Britton.

I am using the Mackie “Logic” emulation on the BCF2000 on a PC to test this. Just a quick note: When you are changing modes into Logic Mode by holding down the third top button while powering up, watch the LCD and let go after you see “LC” right away — if you continue holding the button down you will go into “Global Edit” mode instead and nothing you expected to work will function. (That is, you will NOT be in Mackie Logic mode anymore.)

I’ve renamed a few of the names used in the manual, like changing “Cycle” to “Loop” for the button that turns a region into a loop and engages loop playback, and for “Enter” (now “Sel-All”) and “Replace” (now Reg-End, though I cannot find how to do the region beginning, as I cannot find the equivalent “Drop” button). Instead of “CH >>” and “CH < <” I have “Shift <” and “> Shift” for shifting the sliders; and “CR Up” and “CR Down” are now “Next” and “Prev”, since they cycle through the tracks.

Here is the image, with the knob and button assignments listed below. (Click image to see full-size in new tab.)

Download Link For Image – Right-click to download – Print in Landscape Mode

Five modes – Edit, Shift-Store, Store, Exit and Shift-Learn.

These only become available after selecting a track via the second row of buttons beneath the knobs (without any modifier). The row above that are mute buttons. (Refer to image…)

Edit (default) (the PANS button in image above)

Assigns Knobs to control PAN. Pressing knob enables/disables send to Master.

Shift-Learn (Shift-COMP in image above)

Knobs control compressor settings.
Knob-1 — Threshold
Knob-2 — Ratio
Knob-3 — Type
Knob-4 — Makeup Gain
Knob-5 — Compressor On/Off
Knob-6 — Low Cut Freq
Knob-7 — High Cut Freq
Knob-8 — Hi/Lo Filters on/off

Store (the EQ button in image above)

Knobs control EQ Parameters from bottom up

Exit (the SENDS button in image above)

Changes Knobs to affect Mixbus Send levels
Press knob to enable/disable associated send.
Note:
Press “Flip” (Upper-left “Shift” with lower right “Option” key – or by image above, Shift-FLIP) to allow instead controlling the send levels with the sliders and the tracks’ volume with the knobs.

Shift-Store (Shift-CONTROLS in image above)
Controls the input/output and solo routing
Knob-1 — Not sure what it does!
Knob-2 — Input/output (Sweeps through Non/In/Disk/Both – turn slowly!)
Knob-3 — Solo Isolate toggle (ISO light at top of track)
Knob-4 — Solo Safe (Locked) toggle
Knob-5 — In V4, lights up blue dot at top of channel strip – no idea what it is for!

Buttons for each track:

Upper-Button Row are Mutes
Shift-Upper-Button Row are Solos
Lower-Button Row Selects/Deselects Track
Shift-Lower-Button Row arms track for recording and switches to monitoring Input rather than Post-Fader

Bottom-Right four buttons: (See Image Above)

PLAY does just that, and STOP stops.
BACK shuttle-plays in reverse. Multiple taps speed up playback
FORWRD shuttle-plays forward. Multiple taps speed up playback.
Shift-PLAY enables all armed tracks for recording upon pressing PLAY.
Shift-FORWRD turns metronome click on/off
Shift-STOP sets “region-end” at playhead position
Shift-BACK turns on looping for a selected region.
CTRL-BACK returns play head to start. (REWIND)
CTRL-FORWRD jumps to end of file. (FF)
CTRL-STOP moves to/selects NEXT track
CTRL-PLAY moves to/selects PREVious track

Bank Buttons (See Image Above)

CTRL-BANK-Up selects all.
CTRL-BANK-Down is supposed to be “Undo” but I’ve not seen it work yet.

VIEWS

(Portions excerpted from the Mixbus manual):
CTRL plus the lower row of buttons takes you to different “Views” of the sliders.

CTRL-Lower-Button-1 — MIDI Tracks: this shows only the MIDI (instrument) tracks on the surface. Audio tracks and buses will be skipped over, if you adjust the Channel or Bank buttons.

CTRL-Lower-Button-2 — Global View (ALL): this resets the view to showing channels in sequential order, with the first available mixer channel on the far left of the surface.

CTRL-Lower-Button-3 — AUDIO Tracks: this shows only the Audio tracks on the control surfaces. Midi tracks and buses will be skipped over, if you adjust the Channel or Bank buttons.

CTRL-Lower-Button-4 — Audio Inst (MIDI): This operates the same as MIDI Tracks button.

CTRL-Lower-Button-5 — INPUTS: This shows “buses” that were created with the New Track dialog. Buses are often used as live inputs to the mixer. MIDI tracks, audio tracks, and mixbuses will be skipped over, if you adjust the Channel or Bank buttons.

CTRL-Lower-Button-6 — BUSSES: This shows the mix buses.

CTRL-Lower-Button-7 — Outputs: Currently unimplemented; this will show the Click (metronome), Auditioner (solo bus), and Monitor buses in the future.

CTRL-Lower-Button-8 — User (SELECT): This shows the first 8 channels that are “selected” in the mixer GUI. This allows you to select a discontiguous collection of channels, and control them side-by-side on the control surface.

—————————————————————————–

Need to find out what is the button for “Drop” for the region selection options to be useful.

Please let me know of additions or corrections to this document and I will keep this first post updated.

Terry

The post Behringer BCF2000 Mixbus 4 thru 8 Mackie Mode (LC) Controller MAPPINGS appeared first on Terry Leigh Britton.

Enter into the picture Dragon NaturallySpeaking! I had almost completely forgotten about it. Though I had it installed on the living room computer, I never used it there because the living room was always too noisy. So I installed it on the two computers upstairs after uninstalling it from the living room computer. (Hot tip: as you only are permitted two installations, make sure you have the antivirus turned off temporarily when you uninstall your copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking that you are not using, or it will not be able to “phone home” to free up the activation used so that another computer may use it instead.)

One of Dragon NaturallySpeaking’s greatest strengths is how well its commands work with browsers. You can tell it to “go to first tab” through “eighth tab” (beyond the eighth tab use “next tab” and “previous tab” instead), click on any link on the page. In Gmail click on the various tabs at the top (“click updates”, “click inbox”, etc.), use page down, page up, “start scrolling down”, “stop scrolling”, and many other commands found in the Command Browser. Using Dragon NaturallySpeaking’s dictation box, it is easy to use the program to compose emails. Do watch out for homonyms and other uncaught misspellings. Careful proofreading is REQUIRED when using any voice recognition/dictation software!

In Microsoft Word and many other programs it works like a dream, even allowing you to change the font and font size, to bold and italicize, change the styling (“click heading one”), and a whole host of different commands found in the Command Browser. What command I did not find in the Command Browser but that does work is “insert date”, which brings up the date format box, whose list you can move down inside of using the command “go down X number of lines”. Then say “Click Ok”.

Now, though I’m singing the praises of Dragon NaturallySpeaking quite profusely, one should be aware that – hidden away in the accessibility section of the settings – is Microsoft’s own speech recognition software, which also has a command structure and even a virtual mouse. I’ve not used the latest version of this program, so I cannot comment on how it compares with Dragon NaturallySpeaking. It would have to do pretty darn well to compete!

In closing, though it has its own learning curve at first, using some kind of voice recognition software is definitely a boon to anyone who’s taken on a physical disability and is not able to use their hands, but surely is a very good preventative measure to take to avoid getting a repetitive stress injury in the first place. Highly recommended!

PS – this entire post was written using Dragon NaturallySpeaking via Word’s “Blog Post” feature. It was such a huge surprise when I went in to proofread the post again to find that WordPress itself worked flawlessly with the program, very much integrated with Dragon NaturallySpeaking so that I did not have to use the dictation box and transfer into the posting area! Though I could not use the “select that” and “correct that” commands, I could still use the “scratch that” and “undo that” commands, and if I manually selected a word I could say “Select That” or “Correct That” and choose among the options. I found one quirk that in order for “click update” to work the Update button had to be visible on the screen. I used the command “go to top” so it was just visible, and then the command worked.

The post Repetitive stress injury cured by Dragon NaturallySpeaking appeared first on Terry Leigh Britton.

"Ahh, back in the days when a kretna was a kretna,
unless you changed it, and that wasn’t very often."

Prefatory Poem –
Wrong Way

He said, "Are you well?" with a Pincke in his eye.
She said, "Yes, is there cause for concern?"
He said, "No, it is just I’m confused now, you see,
And thought I might happen to learn…"

"Learn WHAT!?" She exclaimed in poignificant tones
While holding her toe high as dew.
"I simply was wondering if it was me,
Or possibly if it was you."

Chapter One – A Lot of Nothing

At that he turned to me and asked, “How many Bangles in a Twiddle-twaddle Tree?”

“17 as the crow flies,” I answered, remembering my days in the Puddle School of Everything.

Satisfied with my answer, he took me by the dauble of my jacket and led me to a huge Nothing-Vat which, as usual, was full of Nothing.

“Do you know what this is?” he asked me with a pembulant wave of his hand.

“Yes,” I said, feeling proud to have had the experience, trivial as it might be.

“Do you know what it’s for?” He looked at me seriously. He had me there for I hadn’t the slightest idea.

“It’s for Nothing, of course!” he exclaimed. “And it’s good for nothing!” He glared at me with flaring nostrils. I felt utterly ridiculous.

“Uh, where did you get all that Nothing?” I asked.

“Oh, from Nowhere in Particular, but it seems that is the most Nothing we can have, for even if we add two or three times as much, we still end up with the same amount of Nothing.”

“Can’t you add something to the Nothing to make the Nothing multiply?” I queried.

“Well, we’ve tried adding other things, but no matter what we add, it always turns out to be something else being multiplied instead!!”

By now he had me quite confused, so I tried to change the subject.

“Uh, have you changed the culoform in the ballast-kettle yet?” I asked him while he caught his breath.

“No, no, glad you reminded me. It seems you do have Something in that vacuum between your ears!”

I could not understand what he meant by a vacuum being between my ears, not being able to picture a vacuum with Something in it. All logic told me that it then no-longer would be a vacuum. I was about to ask him about this point, when suddenly he leaped into the air onto a Froodle Bush.

He appeared to be in great despair. “Why, oh why are we so limited?” he asked.

“Limited how?” I answered, willing to be of assistance.

“In climbing!! Why are we limited to climbing either up or down and not allowed to climb in any other way?!”

He started to cry. I wanted to do something but I wasn’t sure what I could do. “Come on down from there,” I said. He was blubbering like a child. He jumped down.

“I want to go for a short walk,” he told me, still wiping his eyes.

“Alright, I’m just glad you don’t like tall walks or we might never get it back.”

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll bring along a crowbar.”

And so, we were both off to take a walk, and soon disappeared in a krumple of Toad-willows.

Chapter Two – Logmole Logic

"Aha!" he exclaimed, holding up a worn-out gear-wheel from a Snip-or-snatch Bush.

"This," he said with a rather occulent smile, "reminds me of a time I was for a walk with the Great King of Billingsboro. There we were, walking peacefully under the sand, when suddenly, the King disappeared, and the sand particles began to swirl around and around my body. They started swirling faster, till I felt I was in a huge tunnel, moving through it at an increasing rate of speed, the sand particles becoming multi-colored specks that grew and grew, till they blended into each other to form a picture of some different kind of reality. Then, all at once, I fell into the wheelbarrow!! I got quite carried away with this, and soon found myself carried to a glimmering land with shimmering lavender skies, deep-purple grass, dark red-orange trees, and yellow pump handles strewn all around. The pump handles began to expand all over the place, until the entire area was drenched in rich yellow. I then heard yells over the hill of some people watching a game, as the ball came flying through the air toward me, white against a field of yellow. Suddenly, its wings turned a deep-blue, so deep, in fact, that – when I fell in – I would have drowned had not the windows opened to let in some air! I was then hurled by a huge gust of wind through a Great Door, and I landed on a plot of grass, which walked away quite disgusted with me. I did not know what to do! Turning around, I noticed that the round didn’t want to be turned!!! So I started walking, thinking to explore this strange land where it seemed I could do nothing right. Soon, I came upon a roadsign with two arrows on it. The first said, "To Willot." The second said, "Not to Willot."

"Decisions, decisions. I sat down upon the rumplot at the base of the sign and proceeded to decide. Just then, a small logmole came upon me and asked what I was doing.

"I’m trying to decide to decide which way to go – To Willot or Not To Willot," I explained.

"Why?" he asked.

"I’m exploring," I answered, "and wish to learn as much as possible about this strange land of yours."

"Well," he said, "if that is your goal, then I suggest you go To Willot."

"Why To Willot?" I asked him.

"Well, you see, if you were to go To Willot, you’ll be finding out something about all the other places by seeing what they’re Not! It would be silly to go anywhere else, for then you’d only be seeing what Willot was not like."

"Satisfied he had supplied me with all the information I’d need, he rolled himself under a piece of moss and fell asleep. Something about his logic bothered me, but I decided to go To Willot anyway, on his suggestion."

Chapter Three – Still Not Here

Just then, a Mulett faced us off in the road ahead, its hulking body surging with energy with its every step towards us. We greeted it with rhythmic gyrations of our hands and arms as we walked by, the older man making a circular motion with one foot as he passed. The large animal responded to this with a warm cracking of vertebrae in its thirty-foot long spine, sending out a dancing splay of pleasant and percussive reverberations into the woods surrounding us. I was seized with a feeling of pride at being seen with the old man, when a bright green light suddenly seemed to glint out at my face from the roadside over to our right.

I joggled up to the overgrowth at the side of the road there to find a large green stone, the only unusual object in the area (since I had never seen a large green stone anywhere else in my lifetime until this moment). The old man walked up to me, having decided to circle both legs at the same time by now, and he took the stone from me.

“Oh, well, glad you noticed this!” he said, wiggling his eyebrows in such a way that I wasn’t sure which thing I was being congratulated for noticing. I took a chance and responded, “Yes, of course!” and began wiggling my eyebrows in a similar manner to show the level of my understanding.

He pondered away, wandering into the road as he contemplated the stone and its implications. I was startled when he turned to me and asked with a knitted brow, “Are you feeling any different? Are you sure you’re still here?”

I wasn’t sure at all, for I wasn’t feeling very still just then all at once and for a time!

Chapter 4 – Time!

TIME!! That’s exactly what if felt like – it was just like feeling Time, I think! But where was I? It didn’t feel like much time, and yet here I was, while the old man, and the trees, and the green rock and the road were not! And this place in which they weren’t was indeed different from the where that it was once only just a few minutes ago.

"Excuse me, what time is it?" I asked a passerby on the street on which I was for who knows how long or how much longer that the street may be in fact… (I was thinking aloud). The person looked at me disdainfully as if I had asked him ‘how wide is something very narrow?’, so I asked him if he knew the date. He nodded then and pointed across the way to a large fru-it stand, where many fru-its stood large and small and in a great many varieties and postures.

I entered briskly, asking for a calendar, for I wished to know the date. I was handed a date-fru-it confectionery-condiment to taste, as ‘the best way to know the date!" Frustrated, I insisted that I really wished to see a calendar, for whatever reasons, as that was my own business why I would wish to see one. From the back, an older man emerged with a chef’s-strainer with large holes in it, which he beckoned me to look through. Putting this colander to my face obligingly, it seems they had me now, and I was dragged with the colander held to my face to court before the town judge (in more time than I knew was happening, the view through the holes being both vague and at the same time rather interesting, and, strangely, safe-feeling).

"How do you stand?" asked the judge. I was standing like a carrot.

The judge looked at me angrily. "It is obvious. You were arrested in a fru-it-stand, yet you are standing like a carrot!" He motioned to the guard; "To the Tower of Babblers!" he commanded him.

I could stand what was happening, but fru-its would have been better if applied, possibly.

As I was being led out, one person caught my eye with a puzzled expression on his face. Obviously, I didn’t really carrot all..! But he did for some reason. "Lettuce discuss this matter," I pleaded, "I’ve been misunderstood!" Angry scowls reminded me I had just made matters worse. What could happen next?! Nothing, I reckoned…

* * *

Chapter 5 – Day of Reckoning

He stood me on the platform and pointed. Where he directed me to look I saw a Deep Blue Ball of Light descending towards us. It entered the tall, gleaming structure which had stood in waiting, patiently, and in its trail the structure dissipated to pure nothing-ness. It entered the ground, and nothing showed to mark its entrance.

"Get ready, this may be your last chance to…"

All at once the ground opened up like a sieve, and an intense Pink and Yellow (you couldn’t tell which) Light streamed up from below.

"What is it?" I asked.

"No one knows what it is or why it is. Most people won’t even come near here," he answered.

"Why?" I asked.

"Well, there have been incidents of people caught by the light, and they have come away profoundly amazed and raving about impossible things. But this was long ago, and no one has gone near them for generations."

This excited me terribly for no reason I could pinpoint. I suddenly knew that I must look into the light, yet there was no thought present.

I looked up suddenly – the streams of light were blinking off!

"The holes are turning to Nothing," the man informed me.

I darted into the field towards the nearest beam. The number of beams were decreasing rapidly. I jumped to the ground and looked directly into the source!

* * *

I saw no beginning and no end. I saw all of it at once. My being was spread through the universe, evenly, infinitely. I was there for no time and all time.

And it ended.

He shook my arm. I looked at him. He was worried by what he saw in my eyes, even frightened.

"You would have to see it for yourself," I told him.

Epilogue Poem

Twas’ noonish, and the buttered loaves
Did twist and crumble in the drawer.
All tipsy were the apple groves
From the fru-its that they wore.

The madness now is rushing back:
"I know I’m crazy." This he thought.
The table folded up its legs
And sat as it was taught.

The record-player hummed its best
Quite proud to make the loudest noise.
The bottles tints invited squints
And sat in quiet poise.

"But wait!" the author cried alarmed
(Quite to himself – he is no fool…)
"I’m getting too excited here!
I’ve got to keep my cool!!!"

And so he wrote of simple things
Like taping reels that spin and spout
And music bouncing off the walls
And knocking all about.

But then the chair lifted its leg
And wet upon the brown machine
And all the men came off the wall
And tried to keep it clean!

"It just won’t work!" the head man cried,
The notes were shooting madly back.
The twelve came hurtling at my brow
And hit me with a SMACK!!

Twas’ noonish, and the buttered loaves
Did twist and crumble in the drawer.
All tipsy were the apple groves
From the fru-its that they wore….

The post The Willot Papers appeared first on Terry Leigh Britton.

How to find a job that doesn’t exist…
(at least, it isn’t visible yet!)

Before we get started, I’d like to ask you a few questions, the first of which being: if you apply for a job being advertised in a newspaper or job service or agency, will you be the only person being interviewed at that time?

“Well, DUH, Mr. B. ,” I hear you saying.

OK, here’s another one. If you call a company when they are not advertising for anyone, what is the most likely answer you will receive if you ask them if they are hiring? Like, “Hi, I’m looking for a job. Are you hiring?”

I am still receiving those looks, you know…

Question three: How will a company respond to this question? “I’m interested in working for your company. What kinds of jobs are open right now? I’ll do anything!”

I certainly hope you are very good at doing everything, in that case. Including cleaning bathrooms.

Four: “Hello, I’ve heard you are in the [fill in the blank] business. Is that true? If so, I’d like to work for your company!” Will this go over very large?

Five: Do employers only hire people who are qualified for a certain position? Or, do they hire people whom they like? Or both?

I know, that was a bunch of questions thrown in there.

Six: Will an employer create a job that formerly did not exist – just for you – if they like you?

Lastly, Seven: Can you get hired because you have figured out how you could be useful to the employer in ways that they themselves hadn’t thought of yet?

Now I’ve got your brain a’bubblin’!

Truth is, although everybody has ideas how to create a resume, how to dress for an interview, how to send a thank you note or write a cover letter, nobody ever tells you that you do not have to do any of that stuff, and you can still land a better job than those who do all those right things.

This takes more work in some ways than just preparing for a job interview for some advertised job, but it can lead to good paying, soul-satisfying employment much faster than any other method there is. And here is the secret.

Preparation and Moxie

First, let me warn you, I will be telling you that you will have to make so-called “cold calls” to companies whom you wish to work for. That said, how do you know what companies you would like to work for?

Research!

I know that sounds a bit too much like homework, but it is essential homework. It would be very wise of you to know more about the company you are considering working with than they even know about themselves.

Before you allow them to consider you, you consider them! Ask yourself: Would you consider hiring these people to be your employer? Do you feel strongly enough that they’d be a good fit for you to spend some of your valuable time to interview them?

Now, of course, companies do not mail out resumes to prospective employees … exactly. But they do provide information about themselves, and it is up to you to unearth this information. It is up to you to find answers to the following questions before you pick up the phone to call them.

1. Do their employees like working for them? Is there a high turnover rate? If so, why? (Beware of sour grapes as well as ‘company man’ answers.) Ask the employees themselves. And the receptionists. The receptionists are your best friend.

2. What does the company really do? It isn’t enough to know so-and-so is a printing company, for instance. Who are some of their major clients? What are their specialties, if any? How many employees work for them? Are they the only branch, or are there other branches elsewhere? Might they be looking at moving some operations overseas? Might they be looking at moving you overseas? (… at least, look into their policies and practices regarding relocating employees.)

3. What successes have they had that they might be proud of? Have they invested largely in new equipment or facilities lately? Have they recently landed a big contract?

4. Who would you actually be working under as your supervisor? Who does that person report to? Who makes the actual decisions for hiring people in the particular department(s) you are interested in? You want to talk to these people!

5. What kinds of plans do they have for the future? Do your detective work to discover where this company plans to go in its future endeavors.

6. This may seem silly, but not to them. When was this company founded and by whom? Has it changed hands through buyouts or mergers? Has it gone public, and if so, when did it do so? What are its stock prices currently? Would you consider them a good investment? Would a broker?

7. Who has won awards within this company, and for what? Be able to name names alongside their accomplishments. Bring notes to the interview with such information.

8. Do they have benefits? What are those benefits, and how does one qualify? Are there company ‘perks’ that, although largely unofficial, are enjoyed by many of the employees there? (like a golf club membership, an annual trip to Disneyland for the whole staff, reduced rates for flights or hotels, generous vacation time, etc.) Are there probation periods one has to pass before benefits kick in?

9. What hours of operation do they have, and how do their shifts run? Two or three shifts? Can you start off in a day shift, or do all new employees have to take the 2nd and 3rd shifts? Do they have four-day workweeks (usually four 10-hour days and three days off) or three-day workweeks like they have in Europe (usually three 12-hour days and four days off)? Are people expected to work overtime – nearly all the time??? (Overtime pay gets old after a whole summer of lost weekends, believe me!)

You may be wondering by now, “Where the heck am I supposed to find all the answers to these questions???” And although many of the questions asked above seem understandable, some may seem to have nothing to do with you anyway. Why would you need to know about any of their recent successes?

Okay, for the first question: we have three sources – the public library, employees of the company (the most important of these being receptionists and secretaries!), and the company’s Human Resources Dept. (PS – NEVER, EVER leave a resume with the Human Resources Dept., even if they ask you to. Simply tell them that you are not seeking a job there right now, but are merely doing research. Custom build a resume for the employer/dept. manager you’ll be interviewing with after the interview, if need be, and send it directly to that person.)

As to why you would need to know any or all of this information, it is to arm you to the teeth with information about their company so you can totally blow their minds that their company actually interested you that much that you would perform so much research about them!

It also will help you verify any assumptions you may have made about what it may really be like to work for that company and what kind of work you can expect to be available from them, or perhaps point out any other assumptions you’ve made or missing spots that you need to clear up.

Another question: Would you rather find out that a particular establishment could absolutely never offer you work that you could enjoy or be happy doing after working for some ill-fitting company for months or years before you finally concede to the hard truth that working there is doing nothing for you and will do nothing for you (except perhaps contribute towards stress-related illness!) or would you prefer discovering this fact before taking a job with them?

And one more: Is it very likely that the very first employer who says, “We’ll hire you!” can really be ‘The One’ and offer you a job experience that enriches you, allows you to grow, and gives you happiness? Most people just take a job and are happy they got one, without ever looking into themselves to question whether that job is actually good for them.

Happiness? Enrichment? Personal growth?

Believe it or not, I am talking about a real world here, not an impossible fantasy. But attaining this kind of pleasant work experience will require your asking the right questions, of yourself as well as of the potential employer. Here’s the toughest question in the whole world: What do you really want? Give me as many details as you can. Good! Now you are ready to call some potential employers and ask them for an exploratory interview.

The Exploratory Interview – Setting one up

Hello, my name is Terry Britton, and I am
a student—- a recent graduate—- changing careers

and wanted to setup some time with
Company Owner—- Dept. Manager—- Area Supervisor

for an exploratory interview. I’ve researched your company, and it looks like a very good place to work! I’d like to see better what’s needed of an prospective new employee to work at a company such as yours, especially in the xyz department. I assure you I will take only ten minutes of their time.

“One moment, and I’ll connect you.”

Thank you!

“Hello, Dick Grayson here.”

Hello, my name is Terry Britton, and I am
a student—- a recent graduate—- changing careers

…interested in establishing a career in [graphic arts] and would like to setup some time with you for an exploratory interview. I’ve researched your company, and it looks like a very good place to work, but I’d like to learn better what I’d need to know in preparation to work at a company such as yours. Could we possibly get together some afternoon or morning? I promise you I will take up only ten minutes your time, but I’m certain it would be worthwhile, and besides, I would like to meet you. If you can schedule some time where you could arrange a quick company tour as well, that would be all the better!

“Sure I can, but let me have Stu Kirkwood meet with you first for that tour, as he is the plant manager. I’ll happily join you afterwards.”

Question: Does the scenario this script portrays sound like it could actually happen? Well, what kind of employer wouldn’t give you ten minutes of their time to help you out? Not any kind you would ever wish to work for!

The Exploratory Interview Itself

In the interview, offer a review of what you know already and ask questions based upon what you have researched about the company. Ask about that reward they received. Ask about items on the person’s desk or on display in their office or elsewhere. Ask them what they consider to be the most valuable features of a prospective employee to work for their kind of company. Get them talking! You should do little talking except to ask questions, and to show your familiarity with what the company actually does along with other things about the company.

That “ten minutes” will turn into a one hour interview without your even trying. Owners, managers, and even supervisors really love to talk about their company and their successes, if they are happy that they work there. If they do not show such enthusiasm, read that as a definite sign. Sure, you may only be hearing some ‘sour grapes’ or gripes, but you may be picking up on the fact that this person is not happy working there themselves! Perhaps ask why. Dig as deep as you can without being prying. But always, stay alert for cues such as these!

One added perk to using the exploratory interview technique is that the employer will likely be more honest with you than they likely would be in a job interview or starting up a new hire. In those cases, they are under pressure to put on the company’s best look. So, you may experience less ‘snow-jobbing’ in the exploratory interview than you’d see in a normal ‘job interview.’

Closure

“Well, thank you for your time! I’ve really enjoyed talking with you, and if I find you advertising for a position, I will certainly apply!”

“Actually, when could you start working for us? We could use you right now!”

Question: Does this scenario sound at all possible? Oh, I see you’re finally catching on! Yes indeed, it is not only possible, but, in my experience, happens often. After all, you have just shown this prospective employer that you have many of the best qualities an employer always prefers to see in their employees! Genuine interest, organizational skill, the ability to do research and learn on your own, self motivation, good people skills, good character, willingness to work and to do the best that you can (a work ethic), and prior knowledge of the workings of the company, shortening the time it might take to train you for that environment. And I’ll bet that if you think about it some more from an employer’s point of view, you probably can add many other positive traits you had just demonstrated to this list.

Of course, a company cannot always simply place you right away. So, followup is now the next very important step. Like sending a letter thanking the person for giving you their time, mentioning some specific things about the conversation that you found particularly interesting or learned from. Then, watch for ads from this company (the only reason you should ever bother with reading the classifieds, in my humble opinion). Occasionally call their human resources dept. Drop by to see the owner/ manager/ supervisor themselves to bring them up-to-date with your job search, and feel free to ask them for any company referrals they could think of during that repeat visit. (“I was just driving by and thought I’d drop in and see if you had a second to see me again!”) Two weeks after the interview, send another thank you letter that brings them up to date with your progress, and drop names of other owners/ managers/ supervisors you have talked to and the names of the companies they work for. You already have made a very good impression – one that will stick in their minds, setting you apart from other prospective applicants. Now, you must keep that impression shiny and fresh in their memories. And it certainly will not hurt to contact them with the news that someone else has made a job offer to you, and what they are offering to pay you, along with other perks and benefits. They will appreciate the update and feel like they’d been a real help for you, but they also may ask you to come by to discuss a future at their company instead!

But none of these things are as likely to happen if you look for a ‘job’ in the usual ways people tell you. Believe me, the advice in this article is not common knowledge. But now you know about this approach, so I hope you will try it out, even if in conjunction with traditional job-search methods. Your life is more in your hands than you had ever imagined.

I sincerely hope you take-on your own happiness, personal-growth, and life in general with the spirit embraced in this article. You may not always succeed, but that is the price of success! One has to learn to accept failures and convert them into something useful.

Personally, I’d rather look back at several months of failures trying to find a really, really good job, working with great people in a positive and healthy environment, with excellent benefits and vacation times, than to look back at several years working at jobs that never were a good fit in the first place, but those happened to be the first employers who said, “Can you start Monday?” Answer that question from now on with, “I hope you don’t mind, but I’d like to think that over (or discuss that with my spouse, etc. ) during the weekend and get back to you. Is that alright?”

Last word: Always quibble pay rates. If asked how much you’d like to be paid, ask them how much they think you are worth! Also, always ask what kind of career track is possible for you if you do accept the job they are offering. (That is, can it lead to promotions you would enjoy, or is it a dead-end job, or worse, a promotion that would only lead to a heart attack!) It is perfectly alright for you to make them answer your questions, and it actually shows them that you are serious about wanting to do a good job for them. Be serious about whether you would hire them to be your employer – more serious than they are about hiring you! Be brave! Say “NO THANK YOU!” if there are negative signs. Above all, very, very, very seldom accept the first job offer made to you. Treat those first ones as practice!

Enjoy Great Success!

Terry Leigh Britton

* * *
“Adventure is worthwhile.” Aesop
* * *
“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.”
Henry David Thoreau
* * *
“No legacy is so rich as honesty.” William Shakespeare
* * *
“Chance favors the prepared mind.” Louis Pasteur
* * *
I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.
Thomas Jefferson
* * *
Do, or do not. There is no ‘try’. – Yoda
* * *

Terry Leigh Britton is a retired Graphic Arts and Imaging Technology college professor, and this article was originally written by him for his students. One of those students encouraged him to make it public, and so here it is. See more of his articles at http://terrybritton.com

Originally Posted: 2005/9/17 15:52 Updated: 2005/9/17 15:52
This is excellent advice, indeed!

Another thing to consider is that networking is one of the very best ways to find a job. If you’re looking for a job, let everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, know you are looking. Heck, even if Grandma is retired, a friend’s grandson could be hiring and she’d tell you about it. Job leads can come from the most unexpected places!

Be mindful and seize every opportunity you have to following every lead.

Kat

The post How to find a job where they aren’t appeared first on Terry Leigh Britton.

Hangouts-On-Air have a far better option for the audio for sharing musical content. Its “Studio” mode is far, far superior to either an HOA’s “Voice” mode or Skype’s compressor for audio, so though it takes up the last half of this video, I felt it was important to show how to set that up also.

If you do not have Hangouts-On-Air (which now is only offered to subscribers to the Google G-Suite), Zoom is a good alternative, but you will want to view this video to learn how to set up Zoom to pass original, uncompressed audio in stereo (it requires settings changes in both the Zoom web-portal in your profile AND in the Zoom application) : https://youtu.be/dMu3C3cpVLg

You could use the exact same setup to teach someone how to use any audio-producing program that uses ASIO where you need to interface with either video-conferencing software or recording/streaming software (like OBS) that only accepts WDM style inputs. Give lessons on using DAWs, Cantabile, standalone instruments and VST plugins, etc.

Here is the link to the Voicemeeter setup file mentioned in the video:
http://terrybritton.com/Piano_Lessons_Settings.zip

Thanks to Lee Rouse for getting this conversation started, which led to the making of this video.

For Hangouts-On-Air – CHECKLIST

1) Set up a YouTube channel if you haven’t already

2) Click your user icon at the top right and select “Creator Studio”

3) Click at the left into “Live Streaming” and click on Events

4) Click on the far-right on “Create new event”

5) Select “Quick (Using Google Hangouts On air)” from the radio buttons toward the right near the bottom – that sets up a Hangout-On-Air as the format

6) Set it from “Public” to “Private” or “Unpublished”.

7) Start the hangout by clicking “Go Live Now” — that does not mean you need to start calling now, it just lets you get the viewing links and set up the audio and video in advance. (You can also schedule events to happen in the future in advance… even after this step!)

8) At the lower right, click the “Links” button to get the link to the YouTube video to share, and also an embed code for putting it on your blog page (which can be a private page, of course, only visible to your student), and then DEFINITELY copy the link from the top address bar that leads back to this HOA, which you can email to yourself and to the other person(s) so they can join it. When you return to it, just hit the “Join” button and you are in. Up to 10 people can participate in a normal hangout. (Up to 25 if you have a “G-Suite Basic or Business” account.)

9) Click the gear at the top and set your microphone to Voicemeeter Output and your speaker to Voicemeeter Input. I advise changing the audio from “Voice” to “Studio” and keeping your levels at or below -12dB. Click “Save”.

10) This HOA is now set up – clicking the “Start Broadcast” button will begin the recording. You can continue without recording by just leaving this open and not hitting the “Start Broadcast” button. When finished Recording (that is, “Broadcasting”), hit “Stop Broadcast” FIRST and then hit the red-phone button at the top to hang up. If you do not hit “Stop Broadcast” before hanging up, it will continue recording for four hours then disconnect itself.

11) Once all this is set up, hit the Red Phone to hang up and shut the hangout window if you are not making the call right away. This all stays available as long as you don’t use it (so retain that link from the address bar you got – makes it a pseudo “Skype” for you and your student to use, with better audio!). This now also appears in the list of your scheduled events at https://www.youtube.com/my_live_events?filter=scheduled at the bottom, where you can change the time so it is scheduled for a specific date by editing the “Basic Info” page, or you can alternatively start the hangout from there on your end, and get the address bar link and other links to share if you had forgotten to earlier. It will stay there until you use it, so if you don’t ever broadcast and stop-broadcast, it stays around to use again and again. You can get rid of unused ones by checking the box to its left and going to the top under “Actions” and selecting “Delete”.

12) Extra: You actually can view the live stream from the tab to the right of the “Basic” one which now shows a “Live Control Room” link. View the stream from the “Preview” section by hitting the play button in the middle of the video there. The “Public” view will not be active until you show up to start the broadcast.

That’s it! Seems like a lot the first time, but it is really quite simple. This checklist will always be handy, though!

When ready, click the link you saved to enter the hangout, hit “Join” and optionally start the broadcast (begin recording) when you are ready. Or just re-use this as a hi-fidelity version of Skype by having students join at the proper time with their link.

Here are useful links:
Voicemeeter setup file: http://terrybritton.com/Piano_Lessons_Settings.zip

Voicemeeter Pro “Banana”
https://www.vb-audio.com/Voicemeeter/banana.htm

Cantabile 3 (Demo download includes free “Lite” version)
https://www.cantabilesoftware.com/

The post Remote Piano Lessons via Skype, Zoom, or Hangouts-On-Air in “Studio” mode Tutorial appeared first on Terry Leigh Britton.

Before I do, here are my notes – the outline thus far. I would appreciate any suggestions for improvements to these before I commit this all to a video format! 

Samplitude Hardware Controller Mapping

To get started, first open the mixer and at by clicking the icon at the top-left of the mixer screen, make certain you do NOT have “Hardware Controller Easy Learn” checked as in the following image as you begin. We will check that later, but having it checked as you are setting up a new controller can mess up all of your efforts to do so.

MAKE SURE THIS IS UNCHECKED!

Now, hit “Y” to get to the settings, then click “Hardware Controllers” and once there on the Basic Settings page, add the controller as a new controller by clicking “Add New”, choosing “New” from the list (or perhaps a preset if you have an included controller).

At this point I usually go into the Options page right away and check “Ignore SysEx Input Data” and “Do not send SysEx data” if working with a CC-only controller that does not send or receive SysEx, as this stops the program from repeatedly asking me about this.

Now, back at the Basic Settings page, select its input (and output if it can react to messages sent to it) and use Save As to give this setup a name. All done here.

Next, again returning to the Options page, set things up as follows:

Protocol = Generic MIDI
Internal Mode = Default Set
Tracks = 8
(for most controllers, equals number of sliders. Arturia Keylab series would use 9.)
Bank Switch Count = 8
(for most controllers, equals number of sliders in each bank. Arturia Keylab series would use 9.)
Output to Disable
Display Mode, Time Display Mode, Peak Meter Mode all to OFF
Check Ignore Sysex Input Data
Check Do not send Sysex Data
Un-Check Use Assignment Display
Un-Check Use Knob LEDs

Now to the Customize Controllers page. We are going to use the “Hardware Controller Easy Learn” process to add our controllers.

Note: The manual does not, at the time of this video, show the “MIDI Learn” checkbox shown below. The MIDI Learn checkbox is not needed for the “Hardware Controller Easy Learn” approach to add controls from the Mixer, but it MUST be checked to use the Hardware Controller Easy Learn from any plugins for that menu item to appear as “checked” and work at all. Best to just leave it checked if you are doing MIDI Learn operations, IMHO. (In Pro X4 they seem to have improved things where this box now checks itself if you select “Hardware Controller MIDI Learn” from the Mixer drop-down menu.)

You can check that box now, and then close the Hardware Controllers dialog for the time being, as we will be first working with the Mixer.

The following image shows a Mixer menu with Hardware Controller Easy Learn enabled – the very item you made certain was UNCHECKED when we began. Show this menu by either right-clicking the mixer menu bar or by left-clicking the system icon on the left of the mixer, or for plugins by clicking the word “Plugin”. This item will already be checked if you have “MIDI Learn” checked in the Customize Controllers page (required for plugins). You can still access it here in this menu to un-check Hardware Controller Easy Learn in order to terminate the selection and the controller adding process.

Again, you do NOT actually need MIDI Learn checked to assign the Mixer controls – that only applies to plugins.

(As an aside, one can simply add all of your controllers without assigning them to anything first from within the Hardware Controller “Customize” dialog by checking the MIDI Learn box and just moving each controller. Then you can assign them later using the “Select Function” box or by using Easy Learn.)

With Hardware Controllers Easy Learn checked, you move the screen item you want controlled first, then move the physical controller, and in a few seconds turning the knob or moving the slider will work to move the screen item.

(If it is not working with certain sliders or knobs, see “If you have some incorrectly sensed items” a little ways down below, as once in a while a knob will be seen as a switch and a switch as a knob, so you need to repair that issue manually.)

Now enter the Customize Controllers page and you will see in the Easy Learn column on the right all of the assignments that actually worked. Click the title “Easy Learn Function” to sort them, and shift-click the topmost and bottommost ones to select all the ones having assignments, and then right-click on those and select “Adopt Easy Learn Function” to make it permanent. THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT!!!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Although you have now created some “permanent” assignments, you can use to same “Easy Learn” technique to assign temporary replacements of different items controlled with the same physical controllers, like a plugin, for instance. You can also remove individual temporary “Easy Learn” assignments via a right-click (“Delete Easy Learn Function”), or go into the Options page and hit “Restore Modes” to clear them all in one swoop.

If you have some incorrectly sensed items, right-click in the offending control’s “Type” column and select the correct one from the list. Usually the mis-identified ones are sliders or knobs mis-identified as buttons. Simply assign “Fader” in most cases. There are also assignments for two kinds of knobs available, “Absolute” for knobs having a bottom and top position, and “Relative” for encoder-type infinite turn knobs.

About the Button types:

My Akai’s buttons are mostly “toggle” style by default when using the “MIDI Out” preset, meaning they send 127 when pressed the first time and zero when pressed the second time, which Samplitude calls a “State Button“.

It also can be set to send a “momentary” button press, which sends a 127 when pressed and a zero when released, which Samplitude calls a “Button“.

The third kind of button Samplitude can assign is called a “Push Button” – a button that sends a signal when pressed but nothing when released.

Of the knobs and sliders, make sure the knobs and sliders are set on your physical controller to “Controller” for output, and not to “Inc/Dec”.

Lastly for this video. most of your controls will want to be set to “Global track”.

“Active Track” will allow one set of controllers that will work on the selected track upon whichever control item is in that same “slot” or position.

Items like the Master Volume and Monitoring Volume will be of the “Master” type.

This part I am not entirely clear about:

If you use the “Controller Track” type shown above the others, you can change the assignments between “Mixer” and “Active Track” from the Options page.

Synchronize with Active Track: If the active track is changed, the controller area will be adjusted so that the active track is within the controller area.

Synchronize with Mixer: If a change is made to the controller area, the beginning of the mixer area will be adjusted according to the beginning of the controller area.

Also, I could not find any reference in either the Pro X2 or the Pro X3 manual as to what the “Absolute” checkbox shown in the image above actually does.

The biggest “gotcha” for me that was not clear in the manual was that you needed to check the “MIDI Learn” checkbox before the dropdown “Plugin” menu at the upper-left of any plugin would allow me to select the “Hardware Controller Easy Learn” item. (True in both Pro X2 and Pro X3.)

Also, the manual does not actually SHOW the “MIDI Learn” checkbox at all, nor is there any mention of it that I can find.  

(I believe that has been fixed in the Pro X4 manual.)

The other major “gotcha” was the unexpected situation of the “Hardware Controller Easy Learn” mis-identifying only CERTAIN knobs and sliders as being buttons. One needs to fix that right away for them to be useful, of course, but at least this IS mentioned in the manuals. 

The Hardware Controller section of the manual begins on page 435 of the Pro X4 Suite manual, starts on page 445 of the Pro X3 manual, is on page 498 of the Pro X2 Suite manual, and is on page 360 of the Pro X manual I downloaded. (Check the table of contents under “Hardware Controllers” for your version of Samplitude if not found on those pages…)

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