Meet the Modulatorinator:
This Maxinator Device gives you the ability to easily modulate controls and effects with a press of a button. Modulatorinator is great for creating filter sweeps, dynamic delays, volume swells and fades, and distortion crescendos that activate at the touch of a button.
Up to Eight parameters can be mapped to Modulatorinator along with a Global parameter that kicks on whenenver any of the other parameters activate (perfect for turning a device on and off as you modulate it). If eight parameters isn't enough, you can chain Modulatorinators to your heart's content (or you run out of CPU cycles). Each mapped parameter is individually configured for direction (the modulation can sweep up, down, or up and down), range, and curve.
Curve adds nonlinearity to your modulations. A curve of zero is linear: the modulation procees from start to end at a constant pace. A positive curve causes the modulation to start slowly and then increase in speed at the end. Conversely, a negative curve causes the modulation to start quickly and then slow down at the end. Since Curve is set for each parameter, the modulations can create a varied texture.
Each parameter can either be triggered individually or it can be linked to the top parameter (parameter 1). Linked parameters retain their individual configurations, but fire whenever the top parameter is triggered.
Modulatorinator supports two modulation modes. In the auto mode (shown above), Modulatorinator automatically sweeps through all eight parameters according to their individual configurations. The length of the sweep is determined by the Modulation Duration. You set this value in beats, and it ranges from 1 to 32 beats. It can be extended or shortened using the Modifier percentage. If Modulation Duration is set to 4 and the Modifier is set to 25%, then the overall duration is 5 beats.
Auto mode also features three different looping modes. When Press is selected, the modulations run only while the trigger is active. As soon as you release the trigger button, the modulations stop. For best results, when you're in Press mode, use a controller with momentary-buttons or use Launchpad Mashinator, Midimashinator, or similar.
The Once looping mode will fire the modulation once and then stop until it is activated again. This is ideal for one-shot effects. A toggle button is best when in Once mode (I added a toggle setting to the Launchpad Mashinator to support Modulatorinator). The Loop looping mode is also a toggle button friendly setting that keeps looping the modulation until you press the trigger again.
The differences between the three looping modes, depends heavily on your actual controller. Toggle buttons interact with the modes differently than momentary buttons. Experiment to find what works best for you and your hardware.
Manual is the other modulation mode. Clicking on the yellow Auto button will switch to Manual mode. Manual mode looks like this:
The looping modes and the Modulation Duration and its modifier are inactive in manual mode. Instead the Modulation Dial is active. The modulation dial drives the modulations and can sweep up and down through the individuall configured parameters. All of the parameter configurations remain available except for Direction since you now control that with the dial. Also note that in manual mode all the parameters are linked to the top parameter. This is because the top parameter is controlled by the Modulation Dial and the rest of the parameters are controlled by the link.
Finally, at the bottom right is a field to set the Global Threshold. This value determines when the top parameter will fire the global parameter. The default value is zero which means that as soon as parameter one exceeds 0, the global parameter will fire. If you change the threshold to 64, then the global parameter won't fire until parameter one reaches 65 or greater.
The Global Threshold control is most relevant when all of the parameters are linked to the top parameter--which is the required configuration in manual mode. If you are in auto mode, and have not linked all of the parameters, then as soon as any of the other parameters exceed zero, the global parameter will fire. This may sound confusing, but it makes more sense when you see it in action.
I hope you enjoy the Modulatorinator. Download it here: http://www.maxforlive.com/library/device/1442/modulatorinator
Comments