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Patchboard public release

While Patchboard itself is browser-based and therefore multi-platform, it only works with DAWs running on macOS. I wonder whether that is temporary (they had to start somewhere) or permanent (there's some technical reason why the inter-process communication involved is harder on Windows).

Also, only works with "any DAW that supports the EUCON protocol". What DAW's does that leave out?
 
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While Patchboard itself is browser-based and therefore multi-platform, it only works with DAWs running on macOS. I wonder whether that is temporary (they had to start somewhere) or permanent (there's some technical reason why the inter-process communication involved is harder on Windows).

Also, only works with "any DAW that supports the EUCON protocol". What DAW's does that leave out?
This release includes the Windows version in addition to macOS! It doesn’t support the custom Pro Tools integration on Windows currently—just Cubase, DP and EUCON (which would work for Pro Tools).

To do the DAW integration, I wrote a combination of a bunch of custom control surface plug-ins or reverse engineered stuff to make it work. For any DAWs that don’t support EUCON and I haven’t written a custom integration for (e.g. REAPER or Studio One), it’s a matter of finding the time and the motivation to create a new plug-in. That either means a bunch of users on that platform telling me they need it or someone wants to commission the integration directly and then it would be shared with everyone.
 
What is patchboard? I took a look at the website - is it a touchscreen controller like Metagrid?

The biggest feature of interest on the homepage is the idea of keyswitches automatically following the selected track. That's great. I tried this before in Cubase with Lemur and it took a very long time to set up a generic remote so each track could be tracked on the touchscreen. And if I added a new track it would often mess everything up. Does this app do things a different way and not require that setup?
 
tl;dr: reliable, transparent and feature packed, with minimal setup or downtime required. M.R. Miller is the man!

Here's a summary of my experience so far, I hope it helps!

My work as an assistant requires a great deal of template maintenance. Modularity is key since I'm responsible for sorting a vast collection of samples (commercial and private), while researching new libraries and rediscovering old ones, in order to keep things fresh for the next project.

I've used Lemur, TouchOSC, OSCulator, and ended up setting up my own controller in Open Stage Control (OSC), which is an awesome application. I had the dynamic articulation grid, Metagrid-like app switching with shortcuts, libraries/instruments navigation and MIDI controller. Having all that working per-patch is a pain in the groin when you are dealing with patches regularly rotating the main template. I still have nightmares about sends transformers and articulation scripts, if you are a Cubase user you probably know what I mean. What at first seemed like a nice DIY solution, became overwhelmingly impractical to maintain.

Patchboard solved all these issues straightaway. You install it, add a remote device in Cubase and done, instant-integration with all projects. That's priceless, IMHO. The only thing you have to do next is right click (or tap and hold) and pick a Patch Preset from an ever-growing list of libraries. Quick and dirty example:



I'm in the process of creating detailed presets for our entire collection and will share them with Mike so he can share them with other Indie/Pro users via app. Metadata, key ranges, colors, switches, faders, zones, notes, the whole shebang meticulously edited so folks can forget Kontakt, Play, Sine, Spitfire, Engine, Falcon, et al and focus on writing music. That's the cool thing about Patchboard, even if you use the DIY version, you get the same features commissioned by Pro users. This is a niche program targeted at working composers that anyone else can benefit from.

Still, the patch editor is a delight to use and create your own presets from scratch. I strongly encourage anyone buying Patchboard to do so, regardless of the tier. It's also possible to import Logic articulation sets and have half the work done for you. Additionally, you can automate the tagging process with a bit of creativity and json editing.

The app itself is very optimized and runs virtually on any device. There are no limits for simultaneous devices, so you can have assistants tweaking your template in real time while working on a cue, each with its own view settings.

And, finally, there's the man behind the app. Mike is a genius and I don't say that lightly. The dude builds robots, was the leading developer for MOTU's Digital Performer and is a ridiculously talented composer. I was Patchboard's first Windows user, so I experienced his support in full glory. There's a reason he's worked for composers like Danny Elfman, Jeff Russo, Austin Wintory and Brian Tyler. Not using Patchboard feels like going back to the dark ages of template building/management, I'm forever hooked hahaha

I barely scratched the surface so please check out the website! If you have any questions from an user perspective, feel free to get in touch, I'd be happy to help. This is a cool thing and I hope it grows into something even more special.
 
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Interesting! I'll definitely give this a try. I attempted something similar in Cubase once before but, as you say, it very quickly became overwhelming and impractical so I abandoned the idea. This sounds like it might be able to help!
 
Interesting! I'll definitely give this a try. I attempted something similar in Cubase once before but, as you say, it very quickly became overwhelming and impractical so I abandoned the idea. This sounds like it might be able to help!
To add a little bit more context, Patchboard's core "magic" is the DAW integration. Because Patchboard knows exactly which tracks are in your session at any moment—order, name, type, state like record armed or muted, etc.—it can do all sorts of fun stuff. For example, Patchboard links your patch definitions to the track by name instead of relying on sending specific MIDI messages via MIDI Transformers. That integration means things like bidirectional control: click a patch in Patchboard to enable, scroll to and record arm the track in Cubase; or record arm a track in Cubase and Patchboard will notice and automatically show the dashboard you've linked to that track.

One problem I noticed with a lot of tablet solutions is you always have to remember to record a snapshot of your controls into your track or you risk your articulations and state not recalling correctly. So I built an automatic snapshot function (toggleable) that watches the transport and whenever you hit play or record, transmits a snapshot for you.

In many ways, I see Patchboard as a platform for these workflow tools that are tightly integrated with the DAW. The instrument dashboards for tablets, the patch catalog, etc. are kinda like mini apps built on top of this platform. There are some new "apps" coming down the pipeline I'm excited about too, requested and designed by other composers.

The other goal is to make the thing as stupidly easy to use as possible. I want even the least tech savvy of composers to feel at home. Lemur solutions are great and stuff like Composer Tools Pro is really powerful and cool! It's much more customizable than Patchboard is (though there are lots of things it can't ever do). That customizability comes at a cost. It's a really high technical hurdle for most... or you pay someone a lot to build and maintain it for you.

I want to get rid of as much fiddly nonsense as possible. Everything's automatically laid out for you; there are layouts for creating consistent views across all your instruments; no separate editor application; edit everything inline on whatever device; no complicated networking and MIDI setup; no coding required, etc. I want it to be a turnkey workflow platform with features directed by its community of users.
 
This looks interesting, though I'm still a bit unclear about what its main function is. It seems to be focused on finding the right patches for someone who has lots of sample libraries, and it can help someone who has loads of tracks (in the hundreds) -- for finding and editing track parameters.

Some questions:

Does it provide articulation management? Or are you still recording keyswitches into your instrument track? I was happy to see that the developer had worked for MOTU. DP is my favorite DAW but lacks articulation management.

More crucially, will it work with VE Pro? Most of my libraries are on slave machines.

Thanks for any info.
 
This looks interesting, though I'm still a bit unclear about what its main function is. It seems to be focused on finding the right patches for someone who has lots of sample libraries, and it can help someone who has loads of tracks (in the hundreds) -- for finding and editing track parameters.
Fair! I've had trouble describing what it exactly it is because it's a bunch of different things in one. What you've described is one aspect—quickly and easily navigating large templates. It was built for Brian Tyler initially to work around his Pro Tools template with literally thousands of tracks, before there were any track search features too back in PT 10.

Some questions:

Does it provide articulation management? Or are you still recording keyswitches into your instrument track? I was happy to see that the developer had worked for MOTU. DP is my favorite DAW but lacks articulation management.
That is another aspect, yes. It supplements any articulation management like Cubase's Expression Maps or Logic's Articulation Sets if available. Otherwise, it's for controlling the instruments directly. The basic gist is you define how to control your instrument along with some metadata and info about the instrument like the library, what types of instruments are in it, etc. You'll enter all the articulations it provides and how to trigger them via some sequence of notes, CCs, program changes, etc:

patch-editor.png

Once you've done the data entry, it will be part of your catalog and linked to a track in your template based on that track's name. If you click the patch, it will pull up the track in your DAW and record arm it for you. Or if you record arm the track in your DAW, it will pull up the patch in Patchboard. The Dashboard shows you controls for the instrument you entered for easy, unified control of all your instruments:
dashboard.png
More crucially, will it work with VE Pro? Most of my libraries are on slave machines.
Yup! It integrates with your DAW but then it talks to your instrument via a virtual MIDI port. When you tap one of those buttons or slide a fader, it sends whatever MIDI you've defined down the port, into your record armed track and onto the instrument itself. It doesn't matter whether it's hosted directly in your DAW or in VEP. It could even be an outboard synth for all Patchboard cares or knows. You've told it the MIDI to control it so as long the MIDI can get there, you're good to go!
 
so are you saying by design Patchboard is supposed to keep track all the keyswitch/channel assignments for articulation maps and that Patchboard will actually send the keyswitches from patchboard to the instrument, bypassing for example, LogicPro's articulation set, or Cubase's Expression Map facilities? If so...then it seems like you're saying that while recording tracks all the keyswitches would be recorded to the track?

How does it interact with LogicPro and Cubase exactly. What I would want is to select an articulation, using patchboard and then record a part...and have the articulationID encoded to the midi region in LogicPro...or in the case of Cubase...have the expression map lane assignment happen.

More info needed here.. I have put off getting a touchpad system at all so far, mainly because of the complexity I hear everyone working through, and so the idea of just getting something that works out of the box is appealing to me...but depends a lot on how it works.
 
For anyone wondering: I‘ve been using Patchboard for a while now (disclaimer: I bought a pre-release version at full price) and can vouch for it - Patchboard revolutionized my workflow. The ease to work with all my libraries (about 1700 patches) as well as having all articulations displayed on a tablet, always synced to your selected track as well as the great support (actually, the best I‘ve ever experienced) make this one of the best buys I‘ve ever made! And it just works and saved me so much headache after spending years on programming my controllers.

VERY MUCH RECOMMENDED!
 
so are you saying by design Patchboard is supposed to keep track all the keyswitch/channel assignments for articulation maps and that Patchboard will actually send the keyswitches from patchboard to the instrument, bypassing for example, LogicPro's articulation set, or Cubase's Expression Map facilities? If so...then it seems like you're saying that while recording tracks all the keyswitches would be recorded to the track?
Only if you're not using Articulation Sets or Expression Maps. Otherwise, you should set up your patch in Patchboard to trigger the articulation change via its remote control (I forget what Logic calls it).

If you've already got Articulation Sets, you can actually just import them into Patchboard and it will set it up that way for you. You'll still want to do some clean up of the colors and stuff, but here's an example. I picked a random Spitfire patch from the Babylon Waves articulations and imported it. Below is without absolute zero other configuration:
articulation-set.png Screen Shot 2021-04-17 at 2.50.11 PM.png


How does it interact with LogicPro and Cubase exactly. What I would want is to select an articulation, using patchboard and then record a part...and have the articulationID encoded to the midi region in LogicPro...or in the case of Cubase...have the expression map lane assignment happen.

As long as you've got an articulation set in Logic or expression map in Cubase on that track, and you've told Patchboard to send the MIDI to trigger the remote control, that's exactly what will happen. When it comes to the MIDI side of this equation, Patchboard isn't doing anything magical. It's just a virtual MIDI port that sends MIDI messages so the record enabled track will pick it up and feed it through to the instrument.

More info needed here.. I have put off getting a touchpad system at all so far, mainly because of the complexity I hear everyone working through, and so the idea of just getting something that works out of the box is appealing to me...but depends a lot on how it works.
That's the goal! Ask as many questions as you want!
 
@mrmiller Can you go over the various levels? I think I understand the difference between Indie and Pro, but the DIY and Indie is not as clear to me. Mostly it's not clear to me what the patch presets might contain.
 
Can I import Cubase expression maps or Logic sets only? Does it convert name, CC, velocity, channel, color? I've been looking for an alternative to X-DAW for moral reasons and this could be it. I totally forgot this existed!! And right before HO Opus... waiting for the walkthrough desperately looking for an excuse to not give EW money also for moral reasons and now this, fu me XD
 
@mrmiller Can you go over the various levels? I think I understand the difference between Indie and Pro, but the DIY and Indie is not as clear to me. Mostly it's not clear to me what the patch presets might contain.
The only software feature difference from DIY to Indie and Pro is basically just a bunch of pre-made patches. You'll likely have to adapt them to your workflow anyways, especially if we're talking Kontakt where most instruments let you change how they're controlled and people tend to change them from their defaults. Those pre-made patches can at least save you some typing. I would love to add more patches to the presets too as time goes on. Here's a quick view of the presets:

Screen Shot 2021-04-17 at 3.24.54 PM.png
If all you need is some presets, you could probably get away with the DIY version and buying some existing articulation sets from Babylon Waves or something to import.

The bigger aspects are the ability to commission new features and more hands-on support from me, in case you need it.

I'm pretty adamant about certain development principles:
1. Aside from the presets, no feature differences between the versions, ever.
2. No paid upgrades, ever.
3. No subscription service.
4. Any commissioned features will get rolled into the product for everyone else to use.

It's a kinda weird model but I'm hoping to effectively crowdsource custom software development and have the community dictate the future features and direction based on that.
 
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How does it handle the recording process with DP, since DP doesn't have any of its own articulation Management?
Patchboard would send notes, CCs or program changes that would trigger the articulation or parameter changes on the instrument. Those would get recorded onto the track and would play back properly. That's all that the articulation management in Logic and Cubase is doing under the hood anyways... they're just "meta" events that get converted to MIDI to send to the instruments. (I'm a DP user myself and have been using Patchboard for years for my own writing.)
 
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