Axyz Gems v1.2
ROLI Lightpad Block code for running as a high-res multi XY surface.
This LittleFoot script will turn a ROLI Lightpad Block into a high-res multi XY surface. Multi as in five times... for five fingers... at the same time!
For every finger (touch) it shows a pulsing (on the beat if available) gem in a bright colour. The position of these gems are translated into MIDI Control Changes which can be mapped to anything in modern DAW's (Digital Audio Workstations) such as Ableton Live. A setup page on the device itself facilitates the easy creation of this kind of mappings.
I created this script because I really enjoy the plugins by U-he (Hive & Zebra2 in particular). These plugins have very nice XY controls which I map through Ableton Live (with Absolute 14-bit precision). These plugins also have CC 2 (breath) and CC 11 (expression) mapped as extra controllers, so the first gem (orange) uses these.
To see the gems operate bi-directional, make sure the mapped control values are send back to the device. In case of Ableton Live, ensure the Remote option is selected with your Output: Lightpad Block MIDI setup. If you like to see the gems pulsing on the beat, make sure Sync is selected as-well.
Control Changes
The arrangement of gems is as follows:
| Gem | Colour | Indicator | CC X | CC Y | CC Z |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | orange | none | 2 | 11 | 14 |
| 2 | red | NE | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 3 | green | SE | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 4 | blue | NW | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| 5 | pink | SW | 29 | 30 | 31 |
Operation
Use one to five fingers at once to place & move the gems on the pad. The first touch will correspond to the Primary Gem (default is 1: orange).Increasing the pressure will scale the gems outward (positive Z Scale) or inward (negative Z Scale).
Pressing the Side Button shortly will advance (and possibly wrap around) the Primary Gem, shown by the Indicator (see table above).
Pressing the SideButton a bit longer will open the Setup Page from which you can easily map your DAW's controls. Here selecting a dimension (X, Y or Z) and tapping one of the gems will only send out the corresponding the MIDI CC's (which prevents confusing the receiver). Press the Side Button again to leave this page, and return to normal operation.
Parameters
The Orientation give the (generally missing) option to have your ROLI Lightpad Block oriented in any way. This is especially handy if you combine the Lightpad Block with the Seaboard Block, and want to have it connected Seaboard Block left and Lightpad Block right. Without this option the Side Button would be obstructed.
The Primary Gem determines which gem is selected by the first touch (finger), the next gem is accessible by the second touch, etc.
If the option Z Scale allows pressure to influence (amplify) the actual position of the gem. The Z Threshold determines to amount of pressure needed before the scaling kicks in.
The High resolution option will (when selected) send out two CC's per dimension per gem, as such increasing the resolution. This is done according to the MIDI specification by sending out an extra CC (called LSB) for every value (called MSB). Most modern DAW's understand this mode (double CC's) as 14-bit CC's.
The MIDI Channel determines the MIDI channel used for sending the CC's.
Installation
To install this script save (only) the Axyz Gems.littlefoot script (here) in the default ROLI Blocks Littlefoot location of your platform (On Macos this is ~/Documents/ROLI/LittleFoot). Now whenever you start the ROLI Dashboard, you will see the Axyz Gems app next to the default apps. Select it, and start tweaking... Enjoy!