Tested with MaxMSP v5, v6 and v8 on mac OS 10.15 Catalina.
The sequencer comes with an emulated padKONTROL interface and therefore works in standalone without an actual padKONTROL hardware connected through USB / MIDI.
- Turn on your padKONTROL. (optional. Only required if you need hardware control)
- Launch Max.
- Open _padkontrol.maxpat. This GUI can be used to emulate the padKONTROL hardware and display settings for the sampler / sequencer
- Click the Set button if the ports has not been set automatically or set them using the dropdowns to padKONTROL PORT A for input and padKONTROL CTRL for output.
- The 7 segment LEDs on your padkontrol should now go off.
- If you turn the knobs or touch the x-y controller the maxmsp patch should follow.
- Launch _sequencer.maxpat.
- Inside the _sequencer.maxpat click the speaker icon on the top-right. If you have set your dsp settings in maxmsp properly (Options->DSP status) then your sequencer should start up.
- If it doesn't, switch it off then on again.
- Who-whoo! Your LEDs should blink on the padkontrol.
- Drag and drop a folder containing audio samples to the [folder] drop area on the first channel(samples in subfolders wont load sorry).
- Click your pads on the padkontrol and you should hear them playing back. Success!
One instrument is a channel, each represented by one of the 16 radio buttons on the left of the _padkontrol patch and by 16 channel in the _sequencer patch.
- Sequencing mode
- Pad mode
- Fx mode
You can switch between modes by pressing any of the mode buttons. The default mode is the sequence mode.
The sequencing mode is where you start. You can add notes by pushing them and delete pressing again. If you are in Sequence mode, the rotary and the knobs change the values of the selected instrument. The selected instrument is displayed on the left of the _padkontrol patch. You can change instruments or go back to Sequencing mode by pressing the inst button. You can change instrument channels by pressing and holding the inst button and pressing a pad at the same time. Instruments go from 1-16 the same way as pads on the padkontrol (top-left to bottom-right).
When you are in pad mode, you can change the properties of individual pads. One pad corresponds for one note in the sequencer triggers. You can go into pad mode by pressing the pad button(message on the padkontrol hw). Holding the pad mode button while pressing a pad on the padkontrol switches to that pad/note, as displayed on left side of the padkontro patch. You can go back to the Sequencing or inst mode by pressing the pad mode button again, or by pressing the inst mode button.
This mode is a work in progress, you need to be able to edit the patch to use this with your own vst (full version of Max/MSP). I am using Effectrix from sugarbytes. If the FX button is pressed the pads will send a 127 - 0 MIDI CC toggle to the vst. I use it for switching on and off pre-programmed effects, a better implementation would be nice at some point...
The rotary button is changing the values depending on what you have assigned to it next to it:
- samp changes the sample loaded in for the selected channel or instrument (one rectangle on the _sequencer patch corresponds a channel)
- dj changes the BPM, a bit like a CDJ jog wheel, well, not quite yet, but definitely useful for syncing to other audio material
- r.pitch changes the pitch of the selected sample/channel/intrument or sequence note if the pad button is pressed
- r.amp changes the velocity of the selected sample/channel/instrument or sequence note if the _pad button is pressed
The Knobs are "hardwired" to velocity and pitch. Knob 1 is for velocity and Knob 2 is for pitch. If in Sequencing mode they change the velocity and pitch of the instrument | channel, if in pad mode they control the selected pad, same as with the rotary.
The XY pad controls the pitch, the x dimension controls coarse and y the octave of the selected pad/note if in pad mode or the instrument/channel if in sequence mode. Just as with rotary and the knobs.
The BPM buttons change the BPM up and down as displayed on the 7-segment LCD on the padkontrol. Alternatively you can tap the tempo with the tap tempo button, or adjust with the rotary if in dj mode. You can reset the playhead to starting position by pressing the playhead rst button making it easy to beat-match with existing audio material.
By Pressing and holding down the copy button and a pad, you can copy one velocity or pitch sequence of all 16 pads or notes of the currently selected instrument/channel into an internal memory. Sorry no visual representation of this... Then by pressing and holding the paste button and one of pads or slots you saved a sequence will restore and overwrite the currently active instrument's velocity or pitch sequence.
The gate button simply mutes the output.
The solo and mute buttons are for err...soloing and muting :) Pressing the solo will mute all other channels/instruments, just like on mixers. The mute button is muting the current channel/instrument.
Enjoy!