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Add slew limiter function to ROLI Dashboard

With the latest Cypher2 release, we now have a great collection of patches that very effectively take advantage of ROLI Touch parameter. Major kudos to the programmers!


After examining these new patches, it seems they're all doing the same thing to overcome current limitations in our ROLI devices' output. In addition to applying the same basic response curves — which is another issue — virtually all the new Cypher2 patches that manage pressure really well on the ROLI controllers apply slew limiting to smooth out the response.


If slew limiting were available in the ROLI Dashboard, ALL existing synths and all synth libraries would benefit from a smoother pressure response when working with the ROLI controllers — including EQUATOR! (As you probably know, most synths don't have slew limiters except when they're used to implement the keyboard glide/portamento function.) Maybe some like that glitchy response but I, and apparently whoever programmed the latest Cypher2 sound libraries, find everything works better when the response is a bit smoother. I find even 5 or 10ms lag makes a world of difference smoothing out the response for any patch, but if someone mainly used Touch for swells on pads, a setting of up to 100ms or more might work best for them. Please add a slew limiting function to the ROLI Dashboard so everyone using any synth with a ROLI controller can benefit.


Note the purpose of adding slew limiting to ROLI Dashboard wouldn't be to replace the slew limiting function on synths like Cypher2. Instead, it would be used to allow players to smooth out and adapt the pressure response at a nominal level for all their synths, in a way that generally felt good to them. Synths like Cypher2 could then it's slew limiting for intentional effect, instead of having to always use a certain amount just to make the pressure easier to control.


I think some players might also enjoy having slew limiting control for the Glide and Slide parameters.



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Hi there,


Indeed, the slew controls on Cypher2 (and Strobe2) can be really helpful in smoothing responses to the five dimensions of touch. This – like the idea for more elaborate curves in ROLI Dashboard – has generally been considered the domain of the synth in question, although I hear you and can definitely see how more customizable general slewing could be useful in Dashboard itself.


2 people like this

Hi Red,


Thanks for the quick response and for your openness to this idea. Please be clear, I'm talking about the slewing that device manufacturers use to turn glitchy, aliased, and hard-to-control sensor output into signals that are smooth and easy to control. I'm not talking about adding functions to achieve certain effects in synth patches.


I have similar thoughts about how response curves might ultimately be used, but maybe I should address them on the post for that issue.


Cheers

Its been almost a year, and I don't see any improvements on this front. What's so hard about this?

This was mentioned in the post about improving the Rise's pedal implementation, but it's even more applicable here so I'm reposting this link here, showing how Audiofront's latest MIDI Expression software release has a very nice smoothing implementation for each pedal's response:


https://www.audiofront.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=420


Notice they've implemented both a variable smoothing and smoothing rate control to help manage data flow? Similar controls would go a long way toward smoothing out the press response on Roli devices. This could also benefit the slide and glide parameters.

This is an absolute must-have in the Dashboard! Initially I bought Seaboard Block for patching in Softube Modular and VCV Rack. Both have slew limiters, but I don't want to add them each time for each patch for each dimention of touch, except velocity on and off.

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