Quite a long time with pyramid and recently I decided to test the touchpad assigned to smart pads in live repeat mode. I was expecting a note repeat effect like NI maschine has.
Yes the sliding rate on the touch pad is very nice but the velocity in the Y axis doesn’t get sent although it assigned.
Searched the forum and I didn’t find any references.
Anyone knows if this is a bug or a “feature”(limitation)?
Cheers.
Looks like a bug as you can clearly see the y-axis “change” in the screen.
I’ll send squarp an email about this.
This is a 1 year old thread.
I wonder if I should close it rather than respond, but I’ve been in Event Processor mode all day today so…why not.
I’m doubting there will be a native solution for this because the Touchpad is not the thing that is generating the notes. If I understand the situation you are requesting, you want to use the Touchpad to activate the Smartpads to trigger a beat repeat type of effect.
Except the Velocity Data is part of the Note Events that are in the Track/Pattern themselves and not connected to the Smartpad events. I think. I’m pretty sure. I might be misunderstanding the goal here.
Are you wanting to replace the recorded Velocities with the values from the Y Axis of the Touchpad? Or add/subtract to the existing values in the Tracks themselves? I’d think that was outside the scope of the Pyramid, although I’m figuring that with a MIDI Loopback and creative use of the EQ Fx you can simulate it.
Also, once the data has been sent from the Pyramid, you can intercept it and make other modifications, such as sending the Y Touchpad data on a MIDI CC to an Event Processor that adds/subtracts values from the Velocities of the Note Events. I have something similar to this in my rig, except I use a slider on my controller which can affect the Velocities of Note Events on certain MIDI Channels. Outside of the Pyramid you can achieve better scaling IMO and would be a far superior option.
1 Like
I don’t see why you should close old threads, unless they are really non-relevant at all
Unlike most “social media” nowadays, forums are a more persistent source of information, where people will search the archives and perhaps find the information they were looking for or wanted to discuss, without having to start a new thread.
It’s not a request, the reason for bumping this thread is that the manual seems to clearly state that it should work as described above:
Assign touchpad to smartpads
When assigning the touchpad, another option appears: SMARTPADSSelect the octave range of the touchpad X axis:
Assign the touchpad Y axis to a note parameter:
Now you can slide the touchpad X axis to:
- play with chords (if LIVE smartpads = CHORD)
- play with repeats (if the LIVE smartpads = REPEAT)
- play with scales (if the LIVE smartpads = SCALE)
For example, if LIVE smartpads = SCALE, X axis = 2 OCTAVES and Y axis = VELOCITY, slide the touchpad X to play notes (in the selected scale) and the touchpad Y to change notes velocity.
You can play smartpads with the touchpad in every mode, and record your performance. Notes are always sent on the current track, so you can use some midi effects if you want.
Quoting the relevant part only:
For example, if LIVE smartpads = SCALE, X axis = 2 OCTAVES and Y axis = VELOCITY, slide the touchpad X to play notes (in the selected scale) and the touchpad Y to change notes velocity.
So the issue is that the velocity y axis does nothing, while it should, or either I don’t understand what it really does.
I believe that is what our overlords desire. 
If you play the Smartpads, you can use the Y axis of the Touchpad for Velocity.
If you set the X Axis of the Touchpad to play Smartpads:Repeats, you are not playing the Smartpads therefore setting the Y Axis to Velocity is irrelevant.
That’s my understanding.
Apologies if my post was in error or divisive.
Here is a video demonstrating what I am talking about. In scale mode smartpads work as expected but in repeat mode velocity on y axis is not working.
it doesn’t make sense what you are describing.
You are still playing the smartpads in repeat mode. If you set on x axis pitch you are defining the repeat rate which works as expected. In order to get sound you also have to press the keyboard pads along with touching the smartpads(touchpad). What I was saying is that the y axis although its set to change the velocity it actually doesn’t. What you were technically saying about the running threads you might be right, but still this doesn’t classify this behaviour as not being a bug.
Since you are in repeat mode and have the x axis controlling pitch(repeat rate) the the y axis when assigned to velocity should control that instead of being inactive. If we had a third hand we could modify velocity with knob No 3. Unfortunately we don’t and that is were the y axis would come in handy.
I am not in a mood to ask squarp team to fix this, I am pretty sure I will get frustrated and possibly furious since they will possibly agree with you that it is not a bug.
I am glad that even one person(rv0) has acknowledged this as a malfunction(bug). Glad to know that there are people that think the same way that I do!
if you believe its a bug, its best reported to squarp via their contact page.
its necroposting…
generally you are correct. with discussion its fine.
however, the issue with necroposting on product forums is often old posts are raised, with comments like ‘yes, Ive just had exactly the same things’.
this is problematic for two reasons:
- newer firmware
often there have been firmware releases since the necro’d post, so software has change… so issue may have been addressed… or something may have been altered. - its lazy bug reporting
this is related to the first point - it’s important when there are bug reports to give precise information - what did you do exactly, what have you tried. ‘me too’ is really not very useful information, as its highly unlikely you did exactly the same as the other user … also if its not been addressed in one year, then the post was not that useful in helping resolve the issue - so perhaps a better description is useful.
anyway… forums have different ideas about necro-posting , and preference over when users should create new posts vs revive old threads… so this is squarps preference for their forum.
finally, as above… bugs and feature requests should be reported to squarp via the contact page. Squarp have made this very clear - this allows them to get better information, and to discuss with individuals and follow thru, and also track on their issues database.
this forum in primarily intended as a community forum to share ideas and to help each other.
1 Like
Both myself and the OP have reported this issue via the official way. See also the other topic where OP references this
As for what a forum is for: talking about if this is a bug or not seems like a constructive thing to do, it may help others who encounter this in the future
I just got an official reply from Squarp.
They confirmed the bug and said it is an easy fix, to be expected in an upcoming “Winter update” for the Pyramid.
Great support as always!
4 Likes
Great news! Heads up for the squarp team!
I have another bug that is present in Pyramid for ages. I will revert to trying myself through the bug reporting route.
1 Like