Button for channel select in Cubase SX

[Guest drummond]

I'm trying to develop a pots, buttons, faders design for the midibox I'll build. I have this doubt: is it possible to use two buttons to move forward and backward, selecting tracks in cubase SX? If it is possible, could I assign, as an example, 4 knobs for EQ and use only this 4 knobs to change EQ settings for the selected track? The same apply to the solo and mute buttons. Do I need one solo button for each track or can I have only one of those which will work in the selected track?

One more thing: if I only have 8 faders, but 32 tracks of audio in Cubase, can I assign a button to make this faders work for a different group of tracks each time it is pressed (tracks 1-8, 9-16, 17-24, 25-32) ???

Thanks!

Daniel

[LO]

not sure???

but I think one way to achieve this would be to use a bank stick and setup a bank for each track

The way I did my layout was to wait till all the electronics were complete then do some testing to check what I could and couldnt control once I had it sused then I designed my layout.

[Axel]

Hi Daniel,

with the build in "generic remote" both ways are possible: you can control a selected parameter or a fixed parameter. You can also define channel groups to switch between sets of fixed parameters.

But: (as far as i know) it is not possible to move through single channels with up/down buttons, so you have to make at least dedicated buttons for selecting every channel of a group.

For my experience it is a good idea to make dedicated buttons/LEDs for mute, solo and rec enable for every channel to get a good status overview.

It is a good idea to do like LO said: just build a test curcuit with some pots, encoders (much better than pots!), buttons, LEDs and test it with your application to see what makes sense for your layout/design.

Axel

[Guest drummond]

Ok,

I took a look at the walkthrough for the midibox 64 http://www.midibox.org/midibox64_walkthrough/index.html and the layour there has only 1 button for MUTE and 1 button for SOLO. He used one button for each track as "channel select" buttons. When the channel was selected he could use a single SOLO or MUTE button to control its output.

But I guess you're both right, the best thing is to build it with a few pots, knobs and buttons and see what are my possibilities and only then make a nice case for it, with a good layout.

It was nice to know you can control a selected or a fixed parameter. Guess that you make it easier.

One other question: when you say "encoder", you mean "knob" (I speak Portuguese)? Are they the same or differente things?

I was also wondering if it would be possible to build a firmware with double-click functions. Like this: click on a button and it will light up its led and, as an example, mute that channel. Double click on the same button and it will blink it's led and solo that channel. Would that be possible to implement? That could double the functions assigned to buttons! 32 would make 64 with good planning!

[Axel]

Encoder means "endless pot". These are used  in Midibox 16e. The advantage - espacially in mixing applications - is the possibility to edit parameters in a relative mode, i.e. after changing the channel group. Just have a look at the MB 16e site.

There are no doubleclick or shift+ functions in the current firmwares, but you could simulate a shift functions by using the bank feature of MB; i.e. button definitions in bank 1 for muting, in Bank 2 for soloing, so you only need one set of buttons plus some more for bankswitching.