Tascam US-428 User Manual
US-428 Control Surface Environment
This environment links the US-428’s mixer-like MIDI control
surface to Logic’s Audio mixing environment.
Features
•
Up to four banks of 8 audio channels each
•
Volume and pan for each audio channel
•
Global master volume
•
Four parametric EQ inserts for each audio channel
•
Four Aux send levels for each audio channel
•
Four Aux bus return levels for each bank
•
Mute and solo grouping across all banks
•
Mute and solo ‘flip’ function for each bank
•
Full memory of all parameters when switching banks
•
Null mode for aligning sliders to bank volume memory
Overview
Tascam’s US-428 has three independently functioning units: a 2-port
USB MIDI interface, a 4x2 USB audio interface, and a MIDI control
surface with its own (third) USB MIDI port. This environment affects
only the US-428 control surface; you are free to use (or not use) the
Swiftkick.com
1
audio and MIDI interfaces in any way you wish. In particular, the
Logic Audio objects you link to the US-428 control surface via this
environment can be assigned to any combination of devices for which
you have installed audio drivers. This environment also does not use
either of the US-428’s two USB MIDI interface ports—those ports are
free to service other MIDI devices.
What It Is And Is Not
Although the US-428 control surface looks suspiciously like a mixer it
has no audio functionality aside from its input trim controls, line &
phone output levels, and input monitoring switch & level. All other
controls send MIDI messages to a dedicated USB MIDI port. (This is
in addition to and separate from the two MIDI ports of the US-428’s
MIDI interface.)
The control surface does not use the standard MIDI controller messages associated with mixing (e.g. controller 7 for volume, controller
10 for pan, etc.) and it sends all messages on MIDI channel 16. Furthermore, the control surface LEDs are not directly controlled by the
control surface buttons and knobs; they can only be turned on and off
by MIDI SysEx messages sent to the control surface’s dedicated MIDI
port. Therefore, incoming MIDI must be translated, routed, and in
order to control more than eight audio channels, must be remembered on a bank-by-bank basis. Also appropriate SysEx messages
must be generated and routed back to the US-428 to control its LEDs.
These are the reasons for this environment.
This environment is an interim solution until dedicated support for
the US-428 can be integrated into Logic. There are some limitations
to what can be accomplished in the environment and some further
restrictions dictated by the desire for simplicity and ease of use. Here
is a list of things to be aware of:
•
There is no provision for remotely controlling an audio track’s record status from the environment. Therefore, so as not to waste those pretty, red
record LEDs, they are used to indicate a track’s solo status. (See section
below.)
•
There is no provision for controlling Logic’s transport from the Environment except for stopping playback. Therefore, the Transport buttons and
LEDs (except for STOP) have been converted to MIDI messages and
routed back through the Environment’s Pysical Input to control Logic’s
Transport via MIDI Remote commands.
•
This environment treats the US-428 as the master and Logic’s Audio
objects as the slaves. On-screen changes will not be reflected in this environment’s bank memory and will therefore throw those settings out of
alignment with the US-428. Bottom line: use the 428, not the mouse.
•
Automation (see section below) requires a little extra effort and is
‘destructive’ of the US-428’s initial settings. (I.e. once you’ve recorded a
pass you must return to the initial settings manually.)
•
The four bands of EQ controls are routed to control up to four EQ inserts in
Logic’s Audio objects. The EQ select buttons select these inserts from the
top down. For the selected strip and EQ band, the SET button turns the EQ
on and off.
•
The Master slider functions globally and sends out the same value through
all banks simultaneously. This is intended for simultaneous control of a
separate master Audio object for each bank or control of Logic’s new over all master Audio object through one bank. The idea is that grabbing the
Master slider will control the audio output no matter where you are. (Note:
2
US-428 Control Surface Environment Swiftkick.com
this is not the same as grabbing the US-428’s Line Out knob which services only the 428’s USB audio interface.)
Getting Started
USB Setup
Environment Modules
I will assume the US-428 USB drivers are installed and working properly on your system. The US-428 manual contains detailed instructions for this on both the PC and the Mac.
There are three modules (i.e. Environment Macros) in this environment: ‘From US-428’, ‘US-428 Bank’, and ‘To US-428’. The ‘From US428’ module receives all incoming MIDI messages; the ‘US-428 Bank’
modules (you can have up to four of them) convert and route the
messages to Logic’s Audio objects; and the ‘To US-428’ module reacts
to the messages by sending SysEx back to the US-428 to control its
LEDs. The basic hookup for a single bank is shown above on page 1.
The incoming USB outlet serving the US-428 Control Port is cabled
directly from the Physical Input object on the Clicks & Ports Environment Layer into the ‘From US-428’ module. This captures all incoming
MIDI from the control surface and incidentally prevents it from reaching the main MIDI stream into Logic’s sequencer where it could
potentially wreak havoc.
On the Mac you must use OMS for US-428 MIDI input and output
via USB. Once you have set up the US-428 ports in your OMS setup,
you can assign these to whatever Physical Input port you wish using
Logic’s Preferences/OMS Input Connections window.
On the PC, ensure the US-428 Control Surface Port driver is
installed as indicated in the US-428 documentation.
Cabling
Outlets of the ‘From US-428’ module should be cabled to each of the
‘US-428 Bank’ modules as well as to the ‘To US-428’ module. The
order of cabling doesn’t matter.
Each of the ‘US-428 Bank’ modules should be cabled to the ‘To US428’ module as well as to its own Channel Splitter object. Also each of
these modules should have a different bank setting. (You can create
new ‘US-428 Bank’ modules simply by Option-dragging or copy/pasting an existing one. You can set the bank using the menu which displays “Bank 1” in the illustration.)
Although the Bank modules react to different incoming data from
the US-428 (determined by their bank setting and the bank selected
on the US-428), they all send out identical information. You route
that information to the correct Audio objects for each bank by cabling
the outputs of the Channel Splitter into Audio objects whose MIDI
channel matches the Channel Splitter’s outlet.
Because Audio objects have both a parameter named “Cha” and one
named “MIDI Cha”, this can be confusing. You use the “Cha” parameter to select how the Audio object behaves (e.g. Track, Input, Bus,
etc.) and which device (i.e. audio driver) it serves. You use the MIDI
channel to select what MIDI messages the object responds to. When
you change an Audio objects “Cha” setting, this will automatically
change the “MIDI Cha” setting. Bottom Line: first set the “Cha” then
set the “MIDI cha”.
US-428 Control Surface Environment
3
Loading...