Description
Smart XL is a Max4Live device that can be used to control up to 16 individual parameters at a time. Each parameter gets it’s own Smart Graph where you can draw how you’d like the parameter to be modulated as the main dial is turned.
Like Macro Mapping in an Effects Rack you can define the minimum and maximum value for the parameter range, however uniquely you can define when the parameter begins and ends reacting to a master dial being turned. You can even plot a specific path for the modulation which can also be curved…
“Smart, is a mind-numbing rack that allows you to redefine how a parameter is modulating from a linear signal path. The modulation redefinition is achieved through the use of 8 Smart Graphs which make up a bank. And, the craziest part is that all of these modulations route back to one ‘Smart Dial’. Basically, one turn of a Smart Dial can wreak some serious havoc. Throw a few of them into your set and well… you’ve got a nuclear meltdown.”
In just one use case you could map the Track Volume, Bass, Mid and Treble so as the master Smart dial is turned the treble of the track will be brought in straight away, the mids coming in at a quarter turn and the the bass from the halfway point whilst the volume increases steadily…
With the actual values of mapped parameters displayed in the device setting up is simple, and when using with an Ableton Push TWO you’ll benefit from seeing the correct names on Push’s screen. Just click on a parameter in Live then click on an un-mapped Smart Dial, choose whether to have the progress as standard or reversed and set the Min & Max. It’s as simple as that to get up and running
NOTE: Also available as part of the Modular Series XL
John DeWitt –
Extremely next level device. I had been looking for something like this for awhile and existing devices made by other people were wonky, buggy and not nearly as well thought out as SMART. Rather than modulation working as A to B,B to A or somewhere in between, SMART allows one gesture of a knob movement to go from a-b-c-b-d-a or anything else you can imagine. It opens doors to audition sound design ideas on the fly in a dynamic way that is only otherwise possible through static tedious manual automation in Ableton. Supremely useful to audition what multiple parameter automation will sound like across multiple channels, instruments and effects alike. The GUI is clever in it’s execution. It’s easy to use and it’s only limited by your imagination. Good stuff!
Tim Grant (verified owner) –
Excellent, has improved my workflow in some very fun ways.
Mose Cagen (verified owner) –
Super useful, allows me to accomplish some ideas I had no other way of doing. Thanks.