I recently saw a post on the VI-Control forum where an AudioSwift user shows his custom design skin for the Magic Trackpad. It helps him with positioning the fingers through the different controller modes in AudioSwift. The design divides the trackpad into equal parts; it uses colors and line weights to visually differentiate the zones. He produced the skin using the site SlickWraps, where you can upload your custom design and they send it to you for about $20.
I like it because it covers the different types of controllers: 4 sliders, 16 trigger pads, many XY pad configurations and even the jog wheel in the Mixer Mode. Brian Norris (a.k.a MichiganMan on VI-Control) designed it, and he kindly shared the templates with me. You can download the zip file for free in the link below and tweak them to your taste. They are in PSD, AFPHOTO, TIFF, JPG and PDF formats.
Template uploaded to SlickWraps.com
SlickWraps only makes skins for Magic Trackpads generation 2 and 3, not the 1. There are other similar sites that do the same thing. I found this one DecalGirl that makes skins for generation 1.
I’m not affiliated with SlickWraps or DecalGirl, but maybe this is something you would be interested to use with AudioSwift. If you make a custom trackpad skin for AudioSwift, it would be great to see it and maybe you can also share it with the community. Tag me on either my Instagram or X (Twitter) profiles.
There’s popular video on Youtube “The Last Drum Rack You’ll Ever Have To Make” by Chris Petti, Ableton Live Certified Trainer. In the video he shows a technique in Ableton Live using Macros and Sampler, to group drum samples and easily go through them with the Macro knobs, instead of searching via the Browser.
I made a custom version inspired by this video. It’s an empty Drum Rack preset that you can download for free (link below). You can then populate the preset with the samples of your library, save it again, and it will be ready to use any time in your projects. The difference with his version is that I used Simpler instead of Sampler, which is only available in Ableton Live Suite edition. This preset should work with all editions of Ableton Live 11.
This Drum Rack is based on 8 drum pads. Each pad has 50 empty Simpler devices. You select each Simpler and drag and drop your samples there. Everything is already mapped to be used with the Macros. The Macros select the samples and volumes of the pads, plus I added additional settings like a Hi-Hat Doubler, an Offset and a control of the Velocity range of all pads. The preset doesn’t have any audio effects, but has four Return chains that you can route to the same Drum Rack or to the Returns in your project.
Watch the following video where I explained the Drum Rack in more details and download it for free with the link below.
If you want to try out AudioSwift for macOS for the first time, there’s a 15 days free trial and we have tutorials on how to set it up in you computer.
I’ve made a custom Ableton Live Script for AudioSwift to control the macros and device parameters directly from a trackpad with simple touches. This is great for quick access to the devices or for write automation in real time, specially when working mobile with a MacBook.
If your are new to AudioSwift, it’s a macOS app that transforms your trackpad into MIDI tools like sliders, XY pads, triggers, MPE and more. It has different controller modes, and one of them is the Slider Mode. It divides the trackpad into 4 touch sliders in 4 banks, for a total of 16 sliders. We activate AudioSwift with a five finger tap gesture, start touching the sliders to send MIDI and when we finish, we press the Esc key to turn AudioSwift off.
The Slider Mode can now communicate with Ableton Live via a custom script. The script updates the values of the device parameters to the AudioSwift’s Console and Trackpad windows, making it easy to know what we are controlling from the trackpad.
In the following video tutorial, we’ll go through the steps to configure the script and we’ll show how it works with AudioSwift. NOTE: One command that is missing from the video because it was included later, is to jump between tracks. Use the Left and Right arrows to change between tracks.
Quick Controls in Cubase give instant access to 8 different parameters in tracks, effects or virtual instruments using a MIDI controller. In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to set up AudioSwift with Cubase and access these Quick Controls remotely from your trackpad.
AudioSwift Configuration
In the AudioSwift Console, select the Slider Mode. Decide which CC numbers you want to assign as Quick Controls for Cubase and set each slider with a CC. In this example, I’m going to use CC 40 to 47. Since we can only have up to 4 sliders at a time in the trackpad, we use another bank to complete the 8 sliders. Use key shortcuts Z, X, Comma and Period to change between banks. The Console looks like this:
AudioSwift Console
As we can see in the Console, I changed the formats of every slider to Relative B. We’re going to use relative MIDI for the Quick Controls, specifically 2’s Complement. This way we can use the same sliders to control different parameters, without messing up with the initial value on screen.
Cubase Configuration
Go to Cubase > Studio > Studio Setup. Then go to Remote Devices and click Track Quick Controls (not VST Quick Controls). For the MIDI input, select AudioSwift 3 port. For each Quick Control, type the same CC numbers we set in AudioSwift (40 to 47) under the column Address. Also click each one under the column Flags and make sure both Receive and Relative are checked. As I mentioned before, we are going to work with Relative MIDI. See image:
Cubase > Studio > Studio Setup > Remote Devices > Track Quick Controls
Insert a plugin in the track. I’m using Compressor as an example. Open the Inspector and go to Quick Controls. We’re going to map the plugin knobs to each Quick Control (see image below). Click the QC Learn Mode (orange button below), select the first of the 8 slots, and then click a knob in the plugin. It will be mapped. Go to the next slot and repeat the process with another knob.
Inspector > Quick Controls Mapping
After mapping all the knobs we need, disable the QC Learn Mode button. Click the triangle in the top right corner of the plugin to uncheck Always on Top. This will prevent the plugin window to disappear when AudioSwift is activated. Another way is to go to Cubase > Preferences > VST > Plug-ins and uncheck Plug-in Editors “Always on Top”. This will apply to every plugin that you insert.
Now let’s try the setup. Tap the trackpad with a four/five finger tap gesture to activate AudioSwift and start moving the sliders. The corresponding knob should move. Press Esc when you finish.
Controlling Quick Controls from the Trackpad
Differences between Track and VST Quick Controls
Cubase offers Track Quick Controls for general audio plugins and VST Quick Controls for virtual instruments. You set up a different group of eight CCs for each one in Cubase > Studio > Studio Setup > Remote Devices.
The VST Quick Controls has multiple pages (banks) to use the same eight CC defined to control more parameters in the VSTi. The setup for each plugin is set in the Remote Control Editor. You go to the VSTi panel, look for the plugin, right click and select Remote Control Editor. Map the parameters for the plugin using the Learn button in the top right of the Editor. See image:
Remote Control Editor
What you change in the Editor is applied to the plugin in every project and track you use it. Unfortunately, in Cubase there is no way to remotely change the pages other than go to the panel and click it with the mouse pointer (see above).
The Track Quick Controls don’t have pages or banks. The only way to call a setup for a particular plugin is by going into the Inspector and look for a preset in the Quick Control that was previously saved. Or save the track settings and call it.
But here is the tricky part where Track and VST Quick Controls merge. If you have a VSTi in the track, you can call the parameters of the first page of the VSTi plugin by clicking Get Default QCs from plug-in button in the inpector. See third button in the image:
Get Default QC’s from Plug-in
It puts the same parameters from the Page 1 in the Remote Control Editor for the VSTi plugin to the Track Quick Controls. Now you can control those parameter with either the CCs from Track Quick Control or the CC’s from VST Quick Control. You can use this feature or just have the Track and VST Quick Controls separated.
The VST MultiPanner & AudioSwift
You can use the trackpad as a surround controller by mapping the parameters from the VST MultiPanner to Quick Controls . Then in AudoSwift, select the XY Mode and use a view with an XY pad and sliders. Set the CCs for the X axis, the Y axis and the rest of parameters mapped. For the Y axis you should change to Control Change (Inv) or otherwise when you use the controller, the Front-Rear parameter will move in contrary motion. See image:
The new version of Logic Pro 10.7 comes with support for Dolby Atmos. In this video tutorial, we’ll go through the steps on how to use a trackpad with AudioSwift as a touch controller for the 3D Object Panner. We’re going to use the XY Mode and map the parameters with Logic Pro’s Controller Assignments window.
If you’re new to Dolby Atmos, I put some additional links below to get you started with immersive audio.
AudioSwift requires a permission in your computer before running the app for the first time. If we don’t do this, the app will appear on the menu bar and then it will go away. We need to give access to AudioSwift to the security preferences on macOS, so it can monitor the trackpad gestures. Follow these steps:
When running AudioSwift for the first time, the following window will appear. Click Open System Preferences. NOTE: if this message window doesn’t appear automatically, go to the Privacy tab under System Preferences>Security & Privacy>Privacy Tab.
Accessibility Access
In the left column, go to Accessibility and add AudioSwift to the list by clicking the plus sign. You’ll need an administrator password to add it.
Security & Privacy
Once AudioSwift is added to the right column, close the window and open the app.
The Trackpad MPE Pack is a free collection of 12 MPE Instrument Racks for Ableton Live 11 Suite, originally designed to be used with a trackpad and AudioSwift. AudioSwift for macOS transforms your MacBook or Magic Trackpad into a grid-style MPE controller for expressive sounds. It’s a great handy tool that takes advantage of Live 11’s support for MIDI Polyphonic Expression or MPE.
Listen to some of these instruments in the following demo video:
These Instruments Racks are built with Wavetable as the main sound generator and no samples. They come with macro variations and include the MPE Control device to tweak the response curves of the controller.
Variations and MPE Control
The MPE presets vary between drones, pads, leads and rhythmic patterns. They can also be played with any MPE controller besides AudioSwift or with a regular MIDI keyboard using the mod wheel, aftertouch and pitch bend.
If you want to try these sounds with your MacBook or Magic Trackpad, download AudioSwift’s 15-days trial demo. Check out this tutorial on how to use AudioSwift with Ableton Live devices and third party instruments:
Be sure to download Trackpad MPE Pack for Ableton Live 11 Suite and have fun!
AudioSwift for macOS transforms your trackpad into a MIDI CC controller for your virtual instruments. With a compact and wireless format, it can give you better CC curves than other hardware or iPad solutions. In this video tutorial we’ll go through the steps to configure AudioSwift and we’ll share some tips to improve your workflow.
Ableton has announced Live 11 coming next year. It has new features including comping, improved clips view, more Macros, new devices and finally MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE) support. This is good news for AudioSwift users and other MPE controllers because we don’t need to have five separated tracks for MPE and edit the MIDI in different clips. Just one track and a single MIDI clip to edit the performance.
I downloaded the Ableton Live 11 Beta to test my Magic Trackpad in Trigger Mode (you can also join the beta program here). They updated Wavetable, Sampler and Arpeggiator to support MPE and we can use third-party MPE compatible plugins. It also comes with a new Max For Live device dedicated for MPE control.
AudioSwift Configuration
To set AudioSwift for MPE in Live, go to Live > Preferences > Link-Tempo-MIDI. There is a new MPE column to enable the AudioSwift 3 input port. Inside the Live’s MPE device, there is also a section where you can set the MPE settings like velocity, pitch bend, pressure and slide, which is control change 74 (CC74). They are per note and they’re transmitted using different MIDI channels.
AudioSwift uses MIDI channels 2, 3, and 4 for this, and it sends global aftertouch (channel pressure) messages using Force Touch on channel 1.
AudioSwift in Trigger Mode (Keys type) sends pitch bend when moving the finger horizontally and CC74 moving vertically. These MPE settings can be changed in AudioSwift > Preferences > Trigger tab. Here is a video demo using Wavetable:
In the Clip Editor there are now three tabs: Notes, Envelopes and Note Expression. We can edit the MPE parameters in the Note Expression tab. Ableton added special lanes to edit the velocity, pitch, slide and pressure envelopes of each note. When using AudioSwift, the pressure information won’t appear here because the trackpad doesn’t send it per note. It will be in the Envelopes tab > MIDI Ctrl > Channel Pressure.
Note Expression View
One thing I found different from using MPE in other DAWs, is that in Ableton Live 11 the pitch bend and slide don’t return to its default value when the finger release the note. The MPE controller will continue sending the values but Live will ignore them after the note-off, which is good depending on the situation.
Third-Party MPE Plugins
After inserting the third-party MPE compatible plugin into a track, go to the device header, right click and choose Enable MPE Mode.
Enable MPE Mode
I tested Audio Damage’s Continua and u-he’s Repro 5. U-he plugins in particular don’t use CC74 as a default parameter control — they use CC1 or Modulation as the polyphonic expression control. This became an issue when trying to edit a MIDI take in the Clip Editor, because I couldn’t find the CC1 envelopes for each note. Although the clip plays well in playback, the CC1 is not under the Note Expression tab or the Envelopes tab. The Envelopes tab will only shows global Modulation on MIDI channel 1. I hope this could be addressed in coming Live 11 beta versions.
In a previous post, I showed you how to set up a trackpad with AudioSwift and MIDI2LR to edit photos faster in Adobe Lightroom. Now, we’re going to apply the same concept with Final Cut Pro X (FCPX) to color grade videos with simple touch gestures in our trackpads, instead of clicking each individual parameter with the mouse pointer. We’ll be using virtual MIDI sliders and XY pads with AudioSwift and a free macOS application called CommandPost.
This is how it works— we call AudioSwift with a four or five finger tap. The mouse pointer freezes and a small Console window appears on screen. The trackpad is transformed into a MIDI touch controller with different sliders and XY pads. Using keyboard shortcuts, we choose a Color Wheel or Color Board and start touching the trackpad to change a FCPX parameter like saturation, brightness, temperature, etc. AudioSwift sends MIDI messages that CommandPost translates into FCPX actions. Once we finish, we press the Esc key to turn AudioSwift off and unfreeze the mouse pointer.
You can either use a Magic Trackpad 1 or 2, or the built-in trackpad in MacBooks for a portable solution. AudioSwift works from macOS 10.11.6 and up, however, CommandPost needs a higher macOS version to work with FCPX.
Just to let you know, my background is in music and I developed AudioSwift for music production. I’m not a FCPX, CommandPost or color grading professional. What we’re going to do here is to get you started, by showing you how to set up everything using configuration files, that you can tweak later to your preferred workflow. So let’s start…
Download AudioSwift from here. Open the installer and move the application to the Application folder as it says. Launch AudioSwift and if you’re on Mojave or Catalina, it will show you the following message. Click Open System Preferences. NOTE: if this message window doesn’t appear automatically, go to the Privacy tab under System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy Tab.
Accessibility Access
In the left column, go to Accessibility and add AudioSwift to the list by clicking the plus sign. You’ll need an administrator password to do it. Once AudioSwift is added to the right column, close the window and open the app again. The app icon will appear in the top menu bar.
Security & Privacy
If you’re new to AudioSwift or MIDI, let me give you a quick overview. AudioSwift transforms the trackpad into a MIDI controller and it’s an app that works in the top menu bar waiting to be called. With a four or five fingers tap, AudioSwift is turned on and the Console window appears. We touch the trackpad to send MIDI messages and hit the Esc key when we finish. AudioSwift comes in five controller modes, but we’re going to only use two: the XY mode and the Slider mode.
AudioSwift Preferences Window
MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface and it’s a communication protocol that connects electronic musical instruments and computers for making music. The MIDI messages are transmitted from AudioSwift via three virtual MIDI ports, and each port has 16 MIDI channels. The ports are then connected to CommandPost that translates the messages to FCPX actions. There are different MIDI messages and we’re going to use two of them: the trackpad will send Control Change (CC) messages and the keyboard will send Note On messages.
IMPORTANT: if you’re already an AudioSwift user, save your current settings before we continue or otherwise they will be lost!
Let’s import one of the configuration files we downloaded before. Go to the AudioSwift icon in the top menu bar and click Preferences > General Tab. At the bottom under General Settings click the Load button, look for the file AudioSwift.plist where you saved it and select it. AudioSwift will restart.
The main window in AudioSwift is the Console, which appears every time we tap the trackpad with a four or five finger tap and disappears when you hit Esc. Go to AudioSwift and click Show Console. If you want the console to be always on screen, click the top right star.
AudioSwift also has a utility window to learn the different MIDI zones in the trackpad. To open it, go to AudioSwift > Show Trackpad. Place both windows in your screen where they won’t interfere.
Let’s check out the CommandPost setup.
CommandPost Configuration & Overview
CommandPost is a free macOS application that allows you to speed up the workflow in FCPX with customizable tools. You can read some of the professional features it has in its website. One of them, is control surface support for many devices including MIDI controllers.
Download the latest CommandPost beta version for this tutorial (1.0.7 beta 22) instead of the official download file from their website, because it has the MIDI enhancements needed for AudioSwift. When you run the installer, it will ask first for your permission to let CommandPost control your computer. Just like you did with AudioSwift, it’s the same process as before. If for some reason it shows you an error message, click continue, close the debug window that appears and proceed with the permissions process. Then restart your computer.
Once the computer restarts, launch CommandPost. A setup window appears with a couple of more instructions to follow. When you finish, close the window and restart the computer one last time.
CommandPost Setup Window
When CommandPost is launched, there is one icon in the Dock and one in the top menu bar. If you click the one in a Dock it will only show you a Debug window. We won’t use it, just close it. Click the icon in the menu bar and go to Control Surfaces > MIDI tab. Although there is a dedicated AudioSwift tab, it’s only for information purposes; all the settings will be made in the MIDI panel.
CommandPost > Control Surfaces > MIDI Tab
Make sure to check the Enable MIDI Support box. Then, under Application choose Final Cut Pro. Click Import Settings, select Replace or Merge and look for the configuration file CommandPost.cpMIDI you downloaded before. Close the window.
Color Wheels
Launch Final Cut Pro X, AudioSwift and CommandPost in that order. NOTE: in the top menu bar, the CommandPost icon should always be first before AudioSwift. If it’s not, click CommandPost, select Restart and wait until it relaunches. Click FCPX anywhere in the workspace and add a Color Wheel to the project.
For the Color Wheels, we’re going to use AudioSwift in XY Mode and View 3. We can see the current mode in the top of the Console window and the view in the bottom. With our configuration files, it’s already set by default but both can be changed by clicking the menu or with keyboard shortcuts when AudioSwift is on. Press 4 for the mode and Z, X, period or comma for the view.
AudioSwift Console, Trackpad Layout & Color Wheels Key Shortcuts.
Tap the trackpad with a four finger tap to turn AudioSwift on. Select a Color Wheel by pressing one of the key shortcuts shown in the image above and start touching one of the sliders or the XY pad with only one finger. The desired parameter will move in FCPX. Press the SHIFT key while touching the trackpad to move in small changes. To reset the parameter, move the slider or XY pad just a little bit while pressing OPTION—the parameter will return to its default value. Press de S key to reset the all settings of the current color wheel.
Change to another color wheel with the key shortcut and now the trackpad will control those parameters. Once you finished color grading your clip, hit the Esc key to turn AudioSwift off and unfreeze the mouse pointer. It’s a good practice to turn AudioSwift off when you are not using the MIDI controller, to avoid changing a color wheel parameter accidentally when you really want to do is move the mouse pointer.
Color Boards
For the Color Board, we’re using AudioSwift in XY Mode View 2 for the Color section and in Slider Mode Bank A for the Saturation and Exposure. To change quickly between modes when AudioSwift is on press 4 for XY and 5 for Slider. To change the view or bank, press Z, X, period or comma.
Console, Trackpad Layout and Color Board Key Shorcuts
Add a Color Board to your project and tap the trackpad with a four finger tap to turn AudioSwift on. Press 4 to use the XY mode and then Z or X to select View 2. Press Y to select the first two pucks of the Colors section.
Start touching the left XY pad; horizontal movements change the percentage and vertical movements change the angle. Use SHIFT for fine tuning and OPTION to reset the puck. Repeat the process with the right XY pad and then press U to control the next pair of the Color section. When you finish, press the Esc key to turn AudioSwift off.
For Saturation and Exposure, we’re going to use AudioSwift in Slider Mode Bank A. Tap the trackpad again with four fingers to turn it on. Press 5 to change to Slider Mode. By default, it’s already on Bank A.
Press I for Saturation or O for Exposure. AudioSwift has 4 Sliders for each parameter. Move your fingers to change them. Use SHIFT for fine tuning and OPTION to reset the parameter. Press Esc to turn AudioSwift off.
Customizing AudioSwift & CommandPost
The XY Mode and Slider Mode in AudioSwift allows different MIDI configuration setups. You can read the user guide for more details. What is important to know, is that each MIDI controller has a CC number that is shown in the AudioSwift Console. This number is assigned to each action in the CommandPost MIDI panel and cannot be repeated in the same CommandPost Bank.
Also important is that the sliders and XY pads can work with Absolute MIDI or Relative A MIDI. Without going too much into details, with Absolute, when you touch the trackpad the FCPX parameter will jump to the corresponding value. With Relative A, the movements are relative to the current FCPX value on screen. This can be changed in the Console window, but not all the actions in CommandPost support Relative A.
AudioSwift can also be activated by taping the trackpad with five finger or using a key command. You can set this in AudioSwift > Preferences > General tab.
In CommandPost, I separated the FCPX parameters in different banks. Each bank has a group of Color Wheels or Color Board actions, plus a group of actions to change from one MIDI bank to the other using key shortcuts. This last group is repeated in all banks.
CommandPost > Control Surfaces > MIDI Tab
To add a new action, press the Select bottom. A window appears with a search box to type the command and select it. To map the MIDI to that action, click the Learn button, and tap the trackpad with a four finger tap to turn AudioSwift on. Move the slider, one of the XY axis or press a key to send a MIDI command and then press Esc to turn AudioSwift off. The controller will be mapped in CommandPost.
The only keys that can send MIDI commands with AudioSwift are from the letter Q to P, S, F and the Space Bar which has the same MIDI command as Q.
Troubleshooting
In case something is not working, check the following:
Always click FCPX anywhere in the workspace before trying to control anything from AudioSwift.
Remember that CommandPost should be the last app to launch. Restart it if it’s not the first icon in the top menu bar before AudioSwift.
AudioSwift restarts every time the computer comes back from sleep mode. If this happens, restart CommandPost.
When AudioSwift is on, it becomes the key app on screen. This means that any regular keyboard shortcut for FCPX won’t work.
Make sure that you’re using the right view or bank in XY mode or Slider mode.
Make sure AudioSwift is working in MIDI channel 1. You can check this in the bottom right corner of the Console window.
Try it for free!
CommandPost is free to use. If you find it useful in your workflow, I exhort you to sponsor the developers via GitHub and help them improve and maintain the app with your contributions.
A special thanks to Chris Hocking for developing the MIDI improvements in CommandPost that makes this tutorial possible. If you have questions about AudioSwift, please let me know via our support page, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
