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Lightpad block M as pitchbend/modulation controller?

Hello.

I wonder if I can use Lightpad block M as a simple pitchbend/modwheel controller together with my MIDI keyboard that doesn't have pitch/mod wheels (Kawai VPC1)? Unfortunately, documentation is very scarce and it's hard to understand possible functionality of Lightpad block. I see that there is option to use it as XYZ Pad or simulate RISE controller, however I'm not sure if it can be configured to send pitch bend messages, since only MIDI CC's are mentioned?


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I'd hate to know a little synth is unhappy, so I sat down a while and am pretty happy with the outcome. Hope your Prophet likes it too.

You can now enable the z-axis for the three sliders independently via Dashboard. When you do so, an extra column of LEDS next to each slider indicates the applied pressure. Yay! I also rearranged Dashboard's EDIT page for this script quite a bit, because it became a bit unwieldy.
I left all original settings (apart from the default page) as they were, so you'll need to set the slider CC's to your liking and enable the Z axes where you want it.

Because of Lightpad's microkeywaves it's hard, if possible at all, to keep pressure steady when moving on the x-axis. I tried a filter's resonance on X and cutoff frequency on Z and that was very wobbly. The other way 'round however is fun :).
If I were good at math I could probably smooth stuff out, or even get a handle on sensitivity curving, but I'm not.

Hope it works out for you

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Lightpad can be scripted to do that using Littlefoot scripting language. I'll attach a modified version of the "Rise Controller" Lightpad program to this post, where I added a page with virtual pitch wheel and mod   wheel. They are accessible by pressing the mode button on the side of the Lightpad. I also added Z-axis (pressure) support to the XY pad page.

On Windows the file has to be stored in "C:/User/[user name]/Documents/ROLI/Littlefoot". Then just load it to the Lightpad via Dashboard. I don't know where Dashboard would look for it on OSX.


Mind that I am not an experienced scriptwriter. The mod works fine and doesn't hurt anything, but it sure is not elegantly written which is why I was too shy to share it until now.


Also, because of an issue with how Seaboard and Lightpad Blocks work when you set them to single channel mode - they send pitch reset messages with each new note even when Glide tracking is disabled - you can't as of now expect this script to work nicely with a Seaboard in single channel mode. That's sad, considering this is what I wanted to do in the first place. I reported this issue in February this year, but it hasn't been addressed by now.


But as a global pitch/mod wheel in MPE mode and as a complement to a MIDI keyboard with no such wheels it works flawlessly for me, so I hope you'll have success getting it to work for your purpose, too.


Have fun :)




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Thanks, Jared.


All I do is mess around with the scripts ROLI provided, really.

My lines are neither elegant nor efficient, I'm afraid. I just keep hammering on and bend it until it puts out what I want. I'm sure this leads to some redundancy, convoluted approaches and bad readability/manageability for follow-up tweaks. If someone with more scripting experience than me had some input on how I could improve my tweaks in these regards, that'd be nice :)


If there was a Littlefoot Scripting class, I'd be first in line to sign up, because all the typing, head scratching and lost hours put aside it is great fun to make an idea become a working reality!


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Dear Frank, it works like what i dream of now!  Seriously, your script should be included as default in Dashboard app. I believe there are some ppl out there finding this solution too.


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Dear Frank, it works perfectly now! my fault to let Bitwig recognize songmaker kit as Seaboard Rise, after set it as Generic Midi device. Tested and works well for both Reaper 5.95 and Bitwig 2.4.3 now.


Are there anyway to make the Pitch Bend + Mod Wheel as the first display when it start up? currently the start up display is the orange 3 stripes.


Thanks a lots! 


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Well, really appreciate the effort. I just found this Littlefoot tutorial while googling: https://ask.audio/articles/how-to-hack-roli-lightpad-block-into-an-8step-midi-sequencer


Everyone should also checkout this incredible script: https://github.com/jorisroling/axyz-gems


Turns the Lightpad into a 5x multi-touch XYZ pad!



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Yeah, that Axyz-Gems script is super nifty!


Meanwhile I found an unintended behaviour in the implementation of Z-axis in the sliders of my script:

If you apply some pressure on a slider and then move sideways away from it, then the pressure won't return to zero until you go back onto the slider's area.

After I got aware of this, I realized that a similar thing happens on the pitch wheel as well. There you can slide sideways away from the "wheel" and the last pitch value will be kept until you lift your finger off the Lightpad.


I need to tackle that at some point, or decide to call it a feature... There's benefits in this possibility, but I'd rather have it implemented in a less unintentional way ;)


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That's great to hear :)


Changing the default page is a good idea and is actually dead easy in this script, done.

While in there I added a widget to the EDIT tab that comes up in Dashboard where you can set your preferred default page (and save that as a mode). I also removed the inoperative Pitch Range widget. And I went and changed the pic for the script in Dashboard's APPS tab, just for giggles. Which took far too much time, because that part of the editor is super clunky...


I attach the updated version to this post. There should be a place in the support area where we can share, maintain and - not least - find things like this instead of burying them in random forum posts, methinks.


Have fun :)


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Yeah, some feedback would definitely be appreciated. It absolutely does the trick for me and should work for you, too. But understandably you won‘t base your purchase decision on that alone :) Of course it‘s not the same as having real world wheels with their tactile feedback. Also, I f your finger pressure gets too low or your finger slips off the upper or lower edge of the pad the virtual pitch-wheel will spring back to center. So it does take a little getting used to. But it’s worlds better than no pitch-wheel. It‘s what I use for playing non-MPE VSTi when I travel with my Surface and Seaboard Block + Lightpad.

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You’ll need to tweak the script for x-axis on the sliders. IIRC from tweaking the XY-Pad, that’s not very difficult. I might tackle that at some point,at least for the original 3-slider page of the script. Also, the pitch wheel is fixed to send pitch bend messages as of now. To try whether it conceptually works, you could activate z-axis on the XY-Pad (it’s off by default) in Dashboard’s Edit Page under “Send” and set the Y-axis to an unused CC. That gives you a (square) fader with pressure sensitivity to test whether Lightpad’s pressure handling is good for this purpose in the first place.

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Hmm, it works for me. Are you sure your synth is supposed to do something with it? Equator's presets for example do nothing, as far as I know. Or maybe my script  defaults to a wrong CC number when installed elsewhere? It should default to send CC1 Modwheel on Channel 1.

When you go into the EDIT tab for this script in Roli Dashboard, there should be a widget under the label Wheels, called Modwheel CC. It should be set to 1. If it isn't, set it and save as default.

(The widget above it, Pitchbend Range, does nothing currently. I don't think I get it to work any time soon.)


If this doesn't help, can you verify if it sends MIDI messages in the first place, with a MIDI logger or somesuch?

Or do you mean "with no response" as in "the fader is not reacting to touch at all"?


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Wow, Thank you so much for creating this Frank.

It works perfectly!

I have spent a few hours this morning trying to hack bits of code

from your previous script and playing with some

other scripts I found on GitHub to sort this out but failed miserably,

So you saved me more wasted hours.


I agree with your earlier comments that all the scripts

should be stored in a central location for everyone to access.

I did get some good results searching "Roli Blocks" on Github

I found a few interesting sequencers


Thanks again Frank

In reply to my own post, I figured it out after downloading the Blocks Code app and it works exactly as stated.  Thanks Frank!

Abraham

Thank you Frank! Sweet script. Great work.

Thanks a lot for sharing! Just loaded it, I'll give it a try later.

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