Pre-sales questions

[khermann]

Hi Forum

Since I am based in Europe I will not have the normal return options and therefore I need to do an effort to understand Softstep before purchase.
Surely it is a very promising product and as such I do not mind being an "early adapter".
I hope you can and will answer my questions.

I intend to use Softstep mostly live to control my guitar as well as my keyboard in (Kore 2 + Komplete 7)

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It is claimed that Softstep is very solid.
But is it?
These very advanced buttons – will they continue to work even after months of steppings?
What are your experiences?


Regarding setting up presets and scenes:

I have read the manual a few times but still have issues to understand how to create presets for my, most likely simple, purposes and I really miss some good examples on the home page.

For my guitar I would like to dedicate buttons 1-4 to do simple program changes when pressed - if they are not already active.
I.e. when I first time press, say button 1, I would like the led to light up and stay red/ green until pressing button 2-4 (and do a program change).
Meanwhile I would like to use other buttons to turn on/off effects without impacting my button 1-4 and its leds.
How is this done – if possible?

Would it be possible to double the functionality of buttons 1-4 so that they do different program changes if they are “double-clicked” and also get another led colour?
If “yes” – how is this done?

Since there are no build in pedal (I want to use the external pedal connection for volume control) I am thinking to use a button to activate e.g. a wah-effect and with the same pedal control it through pressure.
When the button is “turned off” nothing should happen.
How is this possible?
Again – to double the buttons functionality with a double-click would be fantastic.

For my keyboard I would like to dedicate a button as a sustain pedal.
On top on that I would like to be able to control a leslie effect speed e.g. by pressing the same button to the right/left.
How is this possible?

Btw. - is it possible to use the navigator keys as a kind of a volume pedal?


I really appreciate your answers.

Thanks in advance
Kim

[danny]

It is claimed that Softstep is very solid.
But is it?

SoftStep is extremely solid, built from Carbon Fiber/Kevlar and Durable silicone keys.



These very advanced buttons – will they continue to work even after months of steppings?
What are your experiences?

We have used our SoftSteps day after day for many many many months with no wear on the keys.



Regarding setting up presets and scenes:
I have read the manual a few times but still have issues to understand how to create presets for my, most likely simple, purposes and I really miss some good examples on the home page.

There is a great preset making/saving tutorial we just uploaded to youtube last week which walks you through creating and saving presets.



For my guitar I would like to dedicate buttons 1-4 to do simple program changes when pressed - if they are not already active.
I.e. when I first time press, say button 1, I would like the led to light up and stay red/ green until pressing button 2-4 (and do a program change).
Meanwhile I would like to use other buttons to turn on/off effects without impacting my button 1-4 and its leds.
How is this done – if possible?

Yes this is possible! This is done by using Mod Lines in the Software to receive data when other keys are pressed, so if you want the current LED to turn off when another key is pressed, set "Other Key Pressed" as the source and setup the LED display accordingly. The Manual would be the best way to learn how to set this up.



Would it be possible to double the functionality of buttons 1-4 so that they do different program changes if they are “double-clicked” and also get another led colour?
If “yes” – how is this done?

Yes this is possible, there are different trigger sources such as "wait trig" and "double trig" which let you use a single key with multiple types of functionality at once.



Since there are no build in pedal (I want to use the external pedal connection for volume control)

There is a built in expression pedal input port so yes you can attach a volume pedal and use it along side the SoftStep.



I am thinking to use a button to activate e.g. a wah-effect and with the same pedal control it through pressure.
When the button is “turned off” nothing should happen.
How is this possible?

You can set this up several different ways, the easiest would be to assign one key to toggle the Wah-Wah effect on and off, and assign another key to pressure control the Wah frequency.

Second, you could combine both of these into one key, so when you press on the key the wah effect is turned on and you can simultaneously control pressure. THis is great because it only uses one foot key to control a wah-wah on/off and frequency.




For my keyboard I would like to dedicate a button as a sustain pedal.

I believe MIDI CC 64 is the standard for sustain pedal, so it would be very simple to set this up with SoftStep.



On top on that I would like to be able to control a leslie effect speed e.g. by pressing the same button to the right/left.
How is this possible?

For this you would combine 2 mod lines on a single key, one for sustain (triggered by foot on) and one for X-axis modulation.



Btw. - is it possible to use the navigator keys as a kind of a volume pedal?

Yes, this is possible!

Hope I answered all of your questions. It seems like everything you are interested in doing with SoftStep is absolutely possible! Just takes a little bit of time to learn how everything is done.

[khermann]

Thanks a lot for the answers.
It is good to know Softstep handles most setups.

I only had one question, for which I did not completely understood the answer - not even after reading the manual.

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For my guitar I would like to dedicate buttons 1-4 to do simple program changes when pressed - if they are not already active.
I.e. when I first time press, say button 1, I would like the led to light up and stay red/ green until pressing button 2-4 (and do a program change).
Meanwhile I would like to use other buttons to turn on/off effects without impacting my button 1-4 and its LEDs.
How is this done – if possible?

Yes this is possible! This is done by using Mod Lines in the Software to receive data when other keys are pressed, so if you want the current LED to turn off when another key is pressed, set "Other Key Pressed" as the source and setup the LED display accordingly. The Manual would be the best way to learn how to set this up.
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What I am after is a typical setup of guitar rigs, such as Line6's PodXT Live
With this control you will have 4 buttons, which will switch between 4 different setups where the active setup-button will light.
4 other button controls amp, stomp, modulation and delay and they will light if they are active but jumping on these buttons do not change anything for any of the four setup buttons.

In other words:
With Softstep I want the four setup buttons only to change the LED if some of the other setup buttons are pressed BUT not if any other buttons are.
E.g. Softstep’s buttons 1-4 shall work as a kind of group whereas buttons 6-9 works by themselves.
Looking in the manual I cannot see any source that will trigger for only some buttons and this is why I asked the question.

Best regards
Kim

[GeraldJ880]

I'm aiming to advertise my personal Stringport. Several inquiries:
- will it be as easy as advertising the equipment and also forwarding the service signal?
- anybody need any Stringport?

[gargas]

For complex switchings I've found that is best/easier to use a software named Bome's midi translator, which works flawlessly with softstep. Together they can do whatever you want.

Answering specifically your question (I also do play the guitar) I have a patch in softstep/bome midi that works the following way:

Buttons 1-4 - Each button alternates between red and orange led everytime you press it, and contains two amp presets (I'm using s-gear software), let's say, for button 1 two clean presets, button 2, two break-up point presets, button 3, two crunch presets, and button 4 two lead presets.
Everytime you press one of this buttons it switchs to the right amp and turns the previous amp led off. If you press the same button, alternates between the two prests. If you press different amps, it always recalls the last one used in that button.

Buttons 6-9 are "stompbox effects" (compressor, overdrive, reverb, and delay) and work independently of any amp choice. leds are green and light on/off individually.

button 0 gives me tempo feedback from DAW and works as tap tempo

Button 5 starts/stops songs in DAW

In my case, because I feel that midi translator is more flexible and easier to work for my needs, my modlines are pretty simple: basically they just send a simple CC or PC, and all led control, switching, etc is made via Bome's

so.... short answer, yes it is possible to make softstep work the way you want. and if there's something you can't do with the modlines, you can always go the Midi Translator route

[mocker]

'gargas' is so damned right Bome Midi Translator is THE way to go for "complex" setups. Typically those "if then" conditions you mentioned.