Flexi-deck Support

ProTools Built-in macros

Dave Bhattacharjee — Sun, 02 Apr 2023 14:00:09 GMT

Due to the difficulty to access the currently selected track in ProTools we have added a number of built-in macros to provide a special function to aid clicking buttons on the currently selected track.

When used as a component in another macro, they allow making changes to the selected track, such as adding or removing inserts.

All the buttons on the selected track have a corresponding macro that will click them. The track's Inserts A-J and Sends A-J each have two macros:

- An "Assignment" macro that clicks the center of the button. This toggles the window for the current assignment to this send or insert.

- A "Selector" macro that clicks the left side of the button (containing the dot). This opens its pop-up menu for selecting a new insert or send.

It's not currently possible to author macros like these in Flexi-deck. They make use of some internal functionality that's specially made specifically for Pro Tools.

You can add these macros as steps to your own macros to get it to click the parts of the selected track as required, and then add more of your own actions afterwards, such as "perform keystroke" or "pick menu item", such as these examples:

ProTools Built-in Track related macros

Logic Pro Global Commands

Dave Bhattacharjee — Sun, 26 Mar 2023 13:04:41 GMT

One of the most powerful Flexi-deck actions related to Logic Pro control is the Logic Pro Key Command action that allows direct access to all the thousands of Logic’s Global command related functions to be invoked. These commands are normally invoked via key commands.

A Flexi-deck macro allows for any number of these commands to be called from within one macro, offering a very powerful control mechanism for Logic workflow.

The global commands are listed within appropriate categories in the Logic Pro Key Command macro action for ease of selection:

A macro can invoke any number of key commands, as seen in this Audio Editing example, to Remove Silence from a recording and then Normalize the level of the selected Region:

OSC Interface

Utilising the Logic Pro Key Commands Action requires the installation of a Logic plug-in called MIDI Device Script. The first time this action is invoked within a macro, it will pause the macro and display a prompt to install the plug-in:

This requires entering an administrator password. Once the plug-in is installed, it's necessary to restart Logic Pro to connect to the Touch-Base OSC Interface.

The connect dialog will open automatically when Logic Pro and FD are running at the same time:

This action is only compatible with Logic Pro 10.6 or later, so any macros within the library that use this interface will only work with 10.6 and above.

Once successfully loaded, the plug-in will show in the list of Control Surfaces:

MIDI interface

Dave Bhattacharjee — Sun, 26 Mar 2023 13:04:02 GMT

MIDI is a very well established interface used in some capacity within most DAW applications.

MIDI Events can be configured in DAW applications and associated with an application's functions, such that software and hardware that can generate MIDI events to trigger these functions.

Flexi-deck implements a MIDI interface to 'Send MIDI events' using a connected MIDI device.

This allows for the creation of macros that can interact with DAW applications via their MIDI interface, as shown in the MIDI configuration below:

Load the MIDI studio

Set the IAC driver in Flexi-deck preferences

Once the MIDI device is configured in Flexi-deck preferences, the Send MIDI Event action can be utilised in macros to send MIDI events:

UI Element selection

Dave Bhattacharjee — Sun, 26 Mar 2023 13:03:54 GMT

Where applications support the macOS Accessibility API, the Flexi-deck actions that target UI elements within an application's UI work really well and allow for the creation of very targetted and powerful macros.

This is especially true of Logic Pro, whereby nearly all UI elements can be identified and targeted during Macro construction and playback.

Device and application actions

Dave Bhattacharjee — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 16:51:00 GMT

Although Flexi-deck is a tool designed to automate application tasks using various general control techniques, there are a number of control methods that enhance automation of some specialist applications, specifically a number of Digital Audio applications.

This section highlights some of the techniques used to control these DAW applications.

Touchscreen utilisation

Dave Bhattacharjee — Sun, 29 Jan 2023 18:59:30 GMT

Although touchscreens are not natively supported by macOS, you can nevertheless use touch screens in this operating system.

Some touch screen monitors, that use USB connected touchscreens, are able to recognise they are not connected to a Windows system and switch to single touch mouse emulation when connected to a mac system and the macOS mouse driver is 'fooled' into offering single mouse mode support, clever but limiting !

Others stay in 'Windows HID' multitouch mode and incorrectly function when connected to a Mac system, as the macOS native HID driver does not correctly handle the HID touch data.

However, in all cases, the Touch-Base UPDD touch driver will run a modern USB touch device in multitouch mode and offer full multitouch gesture support on macOS, very much like a multitouch trackpad but with much improved and enhanced functionality.

Given that Flexi-deck macros are in most cases invoked from onscreen menus, then in some situations coupling these menus with a touch screen offers an enhanced and natural interface to interact with and control the macOS desktop and applications. This is particularly true when utilised with Digital Audio Workstation software and plugins, especially in a studio or live environment. The built-in 'Smart Magnifier' allows for accurate interaction with even the smallest of buttons, knobs, sliders and controls.

A number of the professional Flexi-deck libraries have been designed for dedicated monitor use, and work especially well with touch monitors.

Furthermore, the Touch-Base software is also Flexi-deck aware such that touch gestures can be used to load Flexi-deck menus or directly invoke a Flexi-deck macro, using the Flexi-deck Show menu or Run Macro action:

Show menu	Run macro

Further information regarding touch usage is available here.

Product licensing

Dave Bhattacharjee — Sun, 29 Jan 2023 18:14:51 GMT

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Plugin Launchers

Dave Bhattacharjee — Tue, 29 Nov 2022 01:38:06 GMT

Digital audio workstations (DAW) and audio editing software use audio plug-ins to generate, process or analyze sound.

Most DAW system are supplied with a default selection of plugins with the availability of 1000's of additional plugins from 3rd party developers.

This means that it's possible to have 100's if not 1000's of plugins in use on your system with the need to manage and launch plugins as needed.

The use of plugins is key to the recording process and are in constant use, and locating and launching plugins can be a frustrating process during track mixing and manipulation and a distraction from the task in hand.

Using Flexi-deck macros to locate and launch plugins can seriously help improve your workflow in this area.

To aid this process, we have created a set of plugin launcher libraries to load native and 3rd party plugin sets.

Loading and running one of these libraries at a time, does not require a library licence key and are free to use. However, to load two or more does require a licence key for the 2nd and sequence loaded library. These available for purchase from the Flexi-deck store at a very modest one off cost.

Most plugin launchers are available with two menu sets; layered menus that would normally be shown on top of the DAW UI and disappear once the plugin is loaded, or a menu set that runs on a dedicated monitor, preferable a touch screen monitor!

These are available for the following plugin sets and will be enhanced over time with other sets:

Plugin Set	Text	Touch	Logic	ProTools
Native Apple
FabFilter
Klevgrand
United Plugins
Waves ?

Logic Pro Utilities

Dave Bhattacharjee — Sun, 27 Nov 2022 20:11:33 GMT

Within the Logic Pro Core Libraries, there are a magnitude of very useful Logic Pro functions.

Some of these functions have been extracted from the core libraries to be made available as standalone utilities:

For more information about the individual utility, click on the utility name.

Utility	Description
Clipz and Fadez	Audio Region Clip Gain Editor with Region Fade In / Fade Out & Cross-fade Module
Stem Bounce	Bounce up to 48 of Tracks, Buses & VCA’s.
Panner	Automate Alternate Tracks Pan Positions
Magnifier	Enhance and enlarge the detail of your DAW and Plugins GUI without having to re-size the window.

Logic Pro Core Libraries

Dave Bhattacharjee — Sun, 27 Nov 2022 20:11:00 GMT

Logic Pro Core libraries are the beating heart of the Flexi-deck library support for Logic Pro and automate a vast array of Logic Pro functions.

The two main library sets come in two menu versions, Standard - suited to overlaying the Logic UI and Touch created for dedicated, full screen monitor usage.

The entry level Standard Free is offered as a free library that can be used in the 30 day Flexi-deck Creator trial version and thereafter with a licenced version of Creator or Player.

Library	Description
Standard Free	Overlayed menus with 500 macros
Standard Plus	Overlayed menus with 1200 macros
Touch	Full screen menus with 500 macros
Touch Plus	Full screen menus with 1200 macros

UPDD Touch screen support

Dave Bhattacharjee — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 15:56:43 GMT

The UPDD touch screen driver offers single and multi-touch support in macOS and converts the touch screens into a sophisticated on-screen trackpad with full gesture support.

Utilising touchscreens to interface with macOS desktop and application offers an intuitive system interface, especially in environments where mouse and trackpads are not the most convenient devices to use.

When using touch screens, it's important to bear this in mind when designing Flexi-deck menus to ensure they suit being used via the touch interface.

The UPDD Commander application, supplied as part of the driver software, contains Flexi-deck related settings such that the menus can be moved and resized via touch and also invoke actions to show/hide menus or run specific macros:

Menu control gestures

Invoke menu and macro actions

In this example, a three finger tap on the screen is being set up to run a Flexi-deck action, such as invoke a FD menu or directly call a macro:

In addition to the above, you can also add in an application to the Application list and tailor the gestures performed on to of the application to invoke application specific functions

Terms

Dave Bhattacharjee — Sat, 03 Jul 2021 16:52:36 GMT

Terms used within the Flexi-deck software are as follows:

Creator allows you to create onscreen menus with the Menu Editor and define actions using the Macro Editor that are used to control the automation process.

Player is background process that loads the menus and runs the macros when triggered to do so.

An Action is a single step performed as part of the task automation procedure.

A Macro is a set of Actions used to perform all or part of a task.

A Menu refers to an onscreen menu that is constructed of a number of Buttons that can be associated with various functions, such as invoke a Macro or perform specific menu functions.

The Macro Editor is used to define the Macros from a predefined set of Actions.

The Menu Editor is used to construct the onscreen menus and define the function of each button.

The Hotkey Editor is used to defined keystroke shortcuts to invoke macros.

A collection of Macros and / or menus are held in a Project file.

A collection of macros and menus created to control a specific application is known as a Library file

A Standard Project is an open project that can be modified within the Creator

A Premium Library is a protected library, that cannot be modified, and in some cases requires a library license key before it can be used.

Project UUID manual modification

Dave Bhattacharjee — Wed, 05 May 2021 11:04:39 GMT

Projects with the same UUID can cause issues (created by copying an existing project)

To update the UUID to make it unique, open up the fdproj file in a text editor (and it might need to be one that handles large files well if the project is several megabytes in size!) then at the top you'll see a line that looks like:

uuid={xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx}

Each one of those x's should be a hex digit, i.e. 0-9 or A-F. You can use this to check if two projects have the same UUID.

You can change its value if you like, though you'd want to use a UUID generator to make sure it's properly unique. This one seems like it would work: https://www.uuidgenerator.net

After you change it, the first time you reopen the project in FD you'll get a warning that reads "Flexi-deck is unable to determine the source of this project..." because the file's checksum will no longer be correct. All you have to do is re-save the project and FD will automatically fix that.

Macro definition

Dave Bhattacharjee — Sun, 25 Apr 2021 16:18:52 GMT

In the Macro Editor you can organise your macros within a folder hierarchy and in more complex scenarios you are likely to use folders to contain specific sets of macros.

However, in this simple example we are going to define four macros at the highest level, rather than create a sub-folder.

The macros will be used to close the application and switch between the Basic, Scientific and Programmer modes and so it makes sense to call the macros by these names.

Use the Add Macro button to add the four macros and name appropriately:

For the three mode changing tasks we simply need to add the appropriate key sequence needed to invoke the calculator mode

For this we use the Add Action button and select the Perform Keystroke action as follows:

This will add the Perform Keystroke action into the Macro Action list:

to define the keystroke sequence you simply select Set Keystrokes... and type the keystroke sequence on the keyboard:

The macro is now listed as:

In this simple example only one action is required. A macro can contain any number of action or nested macros (sets of actions held in macros).

This is repeated for all three modes, defining Command +1, +2 and +3.

Finally, we are also going to use a macro to close the application.

For this we select the 'Close' macro, Add action button, select 'Quit Application' and select Calculator on the Finder window:

We have now defined the four macros needed to switch the Calculator modes and quit the application.

Menu usage

Dave Bhattacharjee — Sun, 28 Jun 2020 14:51:06 GMT

Most projects will contain at least one or more menus and these will at some point be shown on the screen depending on how they are set to be invoked as defined within the Menu Editor.

The initial placement of the menu is also defined within the Menu Editor but once on screen the menus can be moved and resized in realtime.

Menus by default fade in and out with the fade speed based on a hidden preference setting that has a default value of 100ms, so menus almost appear and disappear instantly. This internal setting can be changed with the terminal command:

defaults write com.touch-base.flexi-deck menuFadeMS -int nnnn where nnnn is the number of milliseconds for the fade.

When a menu is on view you can use command + shift + click on the menu to load the menu in the Menu Editor, or command + click on a button to load the associated macro in the Macro Editor (as long as the button has an associated macro!).

Move menu

Menu buttons can be configured to trigger actions/macros on clicks and double clicks.

To allow the manual repositioning of a menu we have implemented a number of methods that do not interfere with the button triggers.

To move any menu you can click and drag on the menu whilst holding the 'option' key.

For circular menus you can press on the centre X until it turns to a four way arrow

For rectangular menus you can click and drag on any menu button that has been set to Close the menu (Close Current, Close All). The menu changes colour when it can be moved.

When using a touch screen with UPDD Commander and a multi-touch touch screen you can, by default, use two finger drag motion to move the menu. Any drag gesture can be configued to move the menu as long as the action is set to click and drag with the keyboard modifier 'option' enabled.

Resize menu

To resize any menu you can click and drag at the edge of the menu whilst holding the 'option + shift' key.

When using a trackpad or multi-touch touch screen with UPDD Commander you can use 2 finger pinch and zoom to resize the menu.

Touch screen control

When using a touch screen with UPDD Commander there is a preset for Flexi-deck menus that defines the defualt set of gesture and action settings for the FD menus:

Magnifier

Alba Martin — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 11:16:29 GMT

The Flexi-deck Magnifier tool literally brings into focus the detail of Plugin and Software GUIs (Graphic User Interface).
You can choose between rectangular or spherical magnification. There is also a plus and minus symbol, which allows you to increase and decrease the magnification to suit your needs.

Magnification Examples


Rectangle Magnification			Spherical Magnification		No Magnification

Tools

Alba Martin — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 11:16:25 GMT

From automation to zooming, Logic Pro X has developed a suite of tools to help shape the detail of your production.
Please read the Logic Pro X documentation to fully comprehend the possibilities in Audio and Midi Editing.

Editing Tools


The powerful Logic Pro X editing tools can be invoked by clicking on the circular icon or by typing the letter 't' on your keyboard. The icon remains onscreen until the Zoom button in the Main Menu is clicked.

Logic Pro X Browser

Alba Martin — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 11:16:18 GMT

Clicking on the Logic Browser will invoke the Logic Pro X browser / library window on the far left of the arrange window.
The Content of the browser / library reflects the type of Track selected and the User's search input criteria.

The Browser / Library contents reflect the Track selected and the User input data.

Logic Pro X Inspector

Alba Martin — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 11:16:11 GMT

The Inspector tool invokes two faders on the left of the Arrange Window. If the browser / library is also open, this position will move to the right.

It is mandatory that the faders are visible for Macros to fully function. Failure to display the faders will result in an 'Error Window'.

Having the Inspector tool open is crucial for the full and correct completion of many macros.

Utility

Alba Martin — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 11:16:02 GMT

This section addresses three Logic Pro X workhorse features, plus the Flexi-deck Magnification tool for precise plugin manipulation.

Groups

Alba Martin — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 11:15:28 GMT

Many modern Music Productions have a track count of over 100. Film score track counts can sometimes be over 500!

Groups is a utility to help you keep a manageable overview of your Project.

Simply select all of your Tracks except the Master and assign them to Group 1.

Then, sub divide your Tracks into further Groups by holding 'ctrl + shift'.

See the below screenshots and also read Logic Pro X Documentation for further information on Groups and their properties.

Groups Sub Menus


Hide / show and disable / enable and edit properties from here.	Logic Pro X Groups Window.	The Logic Pro X Mixer. The Groups drop down menu is highlighted.

Markers

Alba Martin — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 11:15:22 GMT

Navigating a session with ease helps keep the mind focused on the content of the production.
Strategic markers at key points in the Timeline help you easily move to where your attention needs to be.
Flexi-deck works together with Logic Pro X to provide you with the overview of your preferred locator points.
Please refer to Logic Pro X documentation for further detail on Markers.

Markers Menu

Logic Pro X Marker List Window

This can be opened from the second to last button in the Markers Menu.

Markers Menu

Navigate at speed to predefined locations in the Arrange Window Timeline.

Organise

Alba Martin — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 11:14:27 GMT

Song arrangement markers and the grouping of tracks can be found under the Organise section.

Region Inspector

Alba Martin — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 11:10:11 GMT

Logic Pro X Region Inspector
Please refer to the Logic Pro X Manual for more details about this powerful properties Edit Tool.

Region Inspector - A Logic Pro X floating audio and midi region properties window.

The Nudge Wheel

Alba Martin — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 11:09:55 GMT

Whether you work in Music Production, Movies, Television or Jingles, there are instances in the course of production when timing is everything and needs to be finely tuned.

With the Nudge Wheel you can quickly select a timing division that suits your project and nudge the region, cue or vocal part into prime position.

The Logic Pro X Event Float window provides additional information about the exact location in your Timeline.

The Nudge Menu


Nudge menu - Manipulate the position of the audio and midi regions with subdivisions including bars, milliseconds and ticks.	Event Float - A Logic Pro X window that displays information such as region name, position and length. Invaluable in conjunction with the Nudge Menu.