Control Series Installer and manuals

Welcome to the Control Series! Here you will find the installer that includes all of the support elements that make Control Series work, and the latest versions of the manuals.

The installer includes:

  • Launch Projects, containing the instruments already set up on tracks, with stereo and multi-out versions
  • Custom Expression Maps, embedded in the Projects, for the instruments and for the Full Ensemble
  • A Keyboard Maestro macro for selecting articulations in the Key Editor - (requires Keyboard Maestro, available separately)
  • Track Presets, for each section and the Full Ensemble section
  • A startup Profile containing Workspaces set up for various Track Offset settings, with grids pre-set to load on selecting a track via Dynamic Focus Tracking
  • The GridIron app, for installing your grids to your main Workspace, and for editing timing offsets all at once across all instruments or individually, set up to your taste, and reimporting them into your Workspace
  • Kontakt patches and multis
  • Vienna Ensemble Pro Server Project and Instance Project, with their own Cubase Launch Project

Be sure to have a look at the manual for the installer - it’s a little different from other installers you might have used. It never deletes any files - it makes backups so you can restore to any point you want via dat-and-time-stamped backup files. So if a software update doesn’t work for you, you can immediately return to where you were at an earlier point.

Control Series Cinematic Studio Strings Cubase Manual v1.0.pdf (5.5 MB)

Control Series Cinematic Studio Strings Nuendo Manual v1.0.pdf (5.5 MB)

GridIron - Control Series Grid Installer - Offset Editor manual.pdf (1.7 MB)

Control Series Installer Instructions.pdf (1.3 MB)

Control Series Installer

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Hey there! Been so excited to get this profile ever since it was announced. Right away, I’m seeing an issue. None of the LE based commands appear to be working when I trigger them in MGP. For example, I’ll highlight a series of notes in the Key Editor, tap ā€œpppā€ under the Velocity section in MGP, and there is no apparent change.

I do have both of the metasystem_macros.xml files in generic editors in the Studio Setup, as well as in the MetaServer setup, and it looks like the continuous controller action (CC 1, Val 127, Ch 10) does not correspond to any of the macros in these files.

However, in my Cubase/User Presets/Logical Edit folder, I do see a folder called ā€œMGP Control Seriesā€, but it is empty. I tried running the installer again and target only Logical Edit files, but no apparent change.

I’ve been beating my head against a wall trying to get this to work for a few hours now, cuz I really think this will speed up my process, but I’m at my wit’s end. Lemme know what I’m missing. Thanks!

Mac Studio M4 Max 128 gig // OS 15.7.1 // Cubase Pro 14.0.10

First off - welcome! And I’m sorry to hear that you aren’t immediately up and running! When you ran the installer, those things should have been installed, so if they haven’t there is something wrong. I’ll DM you the Logical Presets. Are you using the MIDI Remote for commands as well? And are you by any chance in Cubase 15?

[EDIT:] you will need to use the MIDI Remotes from MetaSystem and from my installer to get this to work - it has moved on from Generic Remotes, though I lament their sundown. But the MIDI Remotes will as far as I have experienced run alongside any Generic Remotes you have. And if you have some that you want to turn into MIDI Remotes, let me know - I may be able to assist you there.

I’m happy to say I found the issue and there will be a new version of the installer up within a day. (Due to the fact that it’s three am at MetaGrid HQ.) The files I sent you should handle any issues you were having, and the new installer will make certain those files are installed.

New version of the installer is online!

I was just about to post on VI Control about this Control Series because someone said that Cubase’s PLE should assign arts. But then realised it was thus far only for CSS on Mac.

There are literally thousands of popular orchestral libraries (not just string libraries) out there. It will take 10 years to create a Control thingy for all of them.

This is why I contacted Metasystems about 2+ years ago and offered up a solution which was a generic grid and generic Expression Map with Bome that could easily be adapted to whichever library the user has.

Bome can a) click on the arts in the Key Editor and b) arrow down or up to the correct articulation then c) send Enter.

Honestly mind blown that is has taken another 2+ years to get one string library on Mac only.

So, unfortunately I won’t be posting on VI Control to advertise this anyway.

Thanks for your continued interest.

I have no intention of providing editions for every library - that would be kind of ridiculous to try and do, I think, but I don’t think I suggested that I would. I’m a composer who develops things for the Metagrid Pro platform, not a Metasystem employee, so these things I’m putting out are my take on a way that some workflow issues can be approached, and they are for instruments and libraries that I think would benefit from this kind of treatment - so any ire - if necessary - about what I release and when should be directed purely at me, and not the hardworking folks who make the Metagrid Pro software.

And the beauty of Metagrid Pro is that people can do things their own way - set things as they want and in ways that work best for them. It’s great that you have a system that you like and apps that you like, and I strongly encourage you to continue to use it in whatever way you see fit - if you are doing it better than anyone else, then that’s insanely cool, and I hope you benefit from it. Maybe if you didn’t have a system that you liked that did everything you wanted, you might like this one, but maybe not. I didn’t want a generic approach - there are other systems that do that already. I wanted something very specific to a library. That’s what this is. I might do a more generalized grid in the future, but that’s not really my focus right now.

I’m not certain why development time has any bearing on functionality - though you do make it sound like it took 2+ years to do this, and it didn’t by a large margin - or why supporting one platform first is a broad-spectrum deal-breaker, but there you go. Remember, I’m not an employee of Metasystem. During the period of time when I began thinking about doing this and what it would take to do it in a way I liked, I developed a lot of tools - some for just development and some that might end up out in the world too. It certainly wasn’t just a matter of making grids, which is fairly easy already. And it gave me a certain amount of understanding for what developers of software that I use go through - that things take time, and software changes, and sometimes things that really look like they would work just…don’t. But in spite of that I have ended up with a bunch of code and apps and functionality that I’m pretty happy with. And again - it’s a way that I do it. It might be frustrating to see things done differently for some, but so much of that has to do with one’s comfort level with one’s own system. If it’s that I didn’t choose companion software you like, fair enough - that maybe puts me out of the running to make things you will use. And that’s too bad. But it’s a big world, and I can’t give everyone what they want.

If you want to talk further about this, feel free to DM me.

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How is key switching (not articulation assigning) handled in Project View?. I ask, because I had to hack my way around this dilemma in Bome. What I mean is:

If I am in Project View and want to try a few different ideas with playing different articulations, I need to send the key switch via the art grid without the AHK firing off the art assignment macro.

The way I have designed this, articulation selection works when you tap the button and the track is selected and in record or input monitoring. That means key switching also.

So just to clarify, if you are in Project View (not Key Editor), and tap ā€˜Staccato’, AHK won’t fire off the art assignment macro, it will only send the key switch?

Correct. If no note is selected, it won’t assign anything, just change the articulation you are playing.

1 Like