PARAMETER CONTROLS
I also made a SoftStep 2 Preset Called KNB1 for the H9’s 1 through 10 “Set Parameter” CC numbers in “Assign MIDI CC messages to pedal functions” section of MIDI Settings in H9 Control. There are ten of these MIDI Controls and ten Keys on the Softstep so that works out pretty cleanly, although in performance they can be annoying because sometimes stepping on the Keys moves the value back to zero when I adjust the parameter. But it works to twist the knobs with my feet to find a sound in practice. As above, I made a clone of this SoftStep Preset and then edited the values for Channel 2 for the second H9’s parameters.
I based the KNB1 layout on the TIMELINE Algorithm, so the Text Hints, by the keys, follow the GUI layout for TIMELINE. I had to do some experimentation to figure out which MIDI CC# to assign to which Key so the physical layout of the SoftStep Keys would match the way the knobs are placed in H9 Control. There are six knobs in the H9 control on top so it’s offset by one, which means that the top right knob is controlled by the bottom left key, which isn’t ideal. Now that I think of it, I should try putting FEEDBACK B on Key 5 all the way to the bottom right and sliding the others over to the left so the left most Key matches the left most bottom Knob. That’s not how it will be in the screenshots though.
One of the things I’m trying to improve with my setup is the response of the pressure sensitive SoftStep2 keys when used as a kind of Expression Pedal or H9 parameter knob turner. The SoftStep 2 will interface with an actual expression pedal but I don’t have room on my board for another one and I’d never have room for ten, which is kind of what the KNB1 Preset idea, above, is going for. As I wrote above, sometimes the knob’s values jump to zero and then increment again. But, to be more specific, other unwanted behaviors are that the knobs go instantly from lowest to highest value with no in-between or that they don’t go to the top of the range, even when I’ve got all my weight on the key.
On the SoftStep2 Advanced Editor side, there are sensitivity, offset and gain parameters I can tweak and posts have been made on their forum describing similar issues with Ableton Live, for instance. So far, my tweaking hasn’t yielded much improvement- but I’ve only begun to experiment. It seems, from those Keith McMillan forums, that I might not be able to expect fine grain control but I’d like to better understand what I can do to make the controller interface with H9 better than my current results.
My big ask here now is, if the SoftStep2 is outputting MIDI CC messages as linear values 0-127, how does that relate to what the H9 parameters 1-10 listen for? i.e. In H9 Control/ SpaceTime, the parameter MIX shows a value 0-100, MOD RATE shows 0.05 -12.50 Hz, DECAY & DELAY B’s values aren’t really linear as they activate different modes.
Ideally, I’d like a sweep of the SoftStep key to bring the H9 parameter from 0-100 or through it’s non-linear progression of options, i.e ModFactor SHAPE. Do I need to; is there a way to program or account for the difference between 0-127 and whatever incrementation the H9 parameters have?
Secondly, for H9 parameters that have their Expression Pedal Patch programmed, limited to a set range, how does that interface with the MIDI values 0-127? Is 0 the start of the range or would H9 ignore all pressure states that send a message less than the value of the patch’s floor and above its ceiling?
I can’t believe I have thought about this so much, especially since the H9 Control App is so easy to use. Except that it’s fun to play with stuff with my feet and the iPhone interface is split between two screens, so it’s a couple extra touches to see everything.
