Is there any written info on how playtime grid controllers work?

[robotronald]

I've just started using Playtime with a Launchpad mk1. I can see the Realearn config and the basic operation (triggering slots, arming, etc.) is fairly straightforward but I can't figure out how any of the advanced config works (use of shift keys, expression based modifiers, etc. for commands like clear, activate, etc.)

Is there any written information anywhere on how to use the Launchpad grid controller?

[helgoboss]

There's only the Playtime Wiki with its controllers page. But this only lists which controllers are supported and which features of them, without going into how the factory presets were built.

Anything specific you would like to know / are after?

[robotronald]

Thanks for the swift reply.

When I checked the main grid buttons on the Launchpad they're assigned to 'Trigger slot' by default but there are also mappings for activate, clear, quantise, duplicate and double. How can these alternate mappings be triggered?

[helgoboss]

With a full-featured Launchpad (e.g. Pro), those mappings would be activated with Shift buttons etc. But the Launchpad mk1 doesn't have them, so they are unmapped.

If you can spare some buttons on your mk1 or are okay with using other means to activate them (e.g. computer keyboard keys), you can activate those mappings by using normal ReaLearn features - namely "Conditional activation". That means those mappings become active in certain conditions, e.g. if a ReaLearn compartment parameter has a specific value. Just look in those mappings and see what's their "Active" condition.

You can learn about that in https://youtu.be/SGCLsnQiGwg?si=P6oEKPX85qPpT3q5. Once you master "Conditional activation", you can do a lot. It's the heart of ReaLearn's advanced usage scenarios.

[robotronald]

Ah ok, thanks. I thought I'd check as the Expression based modifiers I saw for some of these went a bit over my head!

I'm a big fan of the shift key/modifiers/conditional activation so I'm happy to start setting it up with the unused Mk1 buttons as modifiers :)

[robotronald]

I've been away and just coming back to complete the setup. All going fine so far but I had a question about the cursor/scroll behaviour using a pad.

I find it really easy to lose track of which set of playtime tracks the Launchpad is currently showing (when using the cursor keys). Is it possible to configure MIDI controller buttons in Realearn to:

Button 1 = show Playtime tracks 1-8 on Launchpad
Button 2 = show tracks 9-16
Button 3 = 17-24
Button 4 = 25-32

If the button could receive feedback to light up when viewing that set of tracks then it would be instantly clear which tracks I'm currently controlling on the Launchpad.