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Pressure latch?

Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 8:36 am
by gzap
Just migrated from a softstep 1 to softstep 2 and trying to figure out a couple of things.

First, pressure latch seems to have some issues.

The lowest value I can get it to respond to is 22, but even that is inconsistent.
Is there a trick to using it, or a preset that works with this seeming lowest number?

Pressure live works, gives me 0-127 fairly cleanly, but pressure latch won't give me the same range and response seems quite dodgy, with faders jumping all over the place in Live.

Re: Pressure latch?

Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 11:20 am
by TheOtherSupport@KMI
Working really well over here with my SS2 in both standalone and hosted modes. If pressure Live works fine, it might be something in how you have it setup.

What do you mean 'the lowest value you I can get it to respond to"? Does that mean you can't get it to engage until after you pass 22? Or you can't get it to latch lower than 22?
Are you in Hosted or Standalone Mode?
How are you monitoring the data? Just looking at Live's faders?
Have you messed with the on/off thresholds? Any of the gain/offset settings?

Re: Pressure latch?

Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 12:40 pm
by gzap
I'm getting it to work better now, using these settings as a start.
download/file.php?id=301&mode=view

With the softstep v1 I didn't need to have the fast trigger step in the programming, still figuring out what that does and how to run it.

Now I've put in an offset of -20 (since that was the lowest value I could get it register with my foot on the pedal) and then put a gain of 1.5 to get it to max out around 0db in Live.

I've also had to relearn the foot moves to use it like this, since you need to hold on your desired value for 50 milliseconds for the fast trigger to lock onto it (if I have that correct in how it happens with it). Again, just using latch pressure worked smoother with the softstep 1, but this works.

The switches are much faster and more reliable now, just have to figure out the programming and footwork to get pressure and x/y to work for me. I'm finding the new button shapes make it harder to use the full range of the button. With V1 you could put your foot down on the button and get the full range, but with V2 if I put my foot on the front or one side it requires a foot move to get the full range. It really feels like two pedals, L 0=63 and R 64-127 and hard to smoothly work across that break.

Makes me wonder about footwear and technique. I've been using the V1 barefoot as the only reliable way to hit the pressure and control it, and am trying that with V2 but its not easy to cover the full pedal. And with the sneakers I've got they seem a bit soft and big to get x/y or even pressure accurately. Might have to bring in a pair of hard soled shoes to try.

Was going to trade in the V1 pedal, but maybe I'll need to keep it for those moves.

Re: Pressure latch?

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2015 5:59 am
by gzap
I've been running the softstep in Hosted mode, watching both the parameters on the pedal and the fader moves in Live and still haven't found a setting that works 100% for me.

I can get fairly good results using pressure live, but pressure latch is problematic. I can't reliably get the fader to move smoothly, stick at the position I want it to and be able to turn the fader off. And this is while sitting in rehearsal for hours tweaking settings, then trying to use them or learn the foot moves to use them. I've tried putting in a very high offset, -50, to try to get the pedal to be able to latch onto a 0, I've tried messing with the smoothing to get smoother pedal moves, otherwise the fader in Live jumps around like crazy, but then I'm battling with the fast trigger time to get the pedal to latch.

Another issue is that once you latch onto a parameter there is no way to smoothly adjust it. Live allows you to use takeover mode with controllers, but its not really much of a help when you can't control the pedal. If I aim to slowly raise a 45 to around 80, I just can't do it. The pedal just doesn't have that control for me yet, it just jumps around too much trying to get close.

Its odd, I used a softstep 1 in a similar setting (playing live for a theatre, doing the one man band Ableton/Qlab/instruments thing) and I could get version one to do pressure latch in a reliable and usable way. I could control it quite accurately, but not the Softstep 2.

The pedals are much better as buttons then the softstep 1 but the new shape and sensors have yet to work for me.
I'm hoping I don't have to go back to version 1.

Any other ideas for programming?
Am I missing something basic?

Re: Pressure latch?

Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2015 2:41 pm
by emmett@KMI
I think the offset is lowering your resolution. The latch is made to hang where the internal firmware code "thinks" you ware wanting to release. To me it seems like it's not doing the best job and so it's hard to get to zero. The best you can do is go really slow and gradual when lifting up your foot.