PXT-General User Manual
PXT-General User Manual
User Manual
Version 1.0.9
2 GENERAL OVERVIEW
3 SETUP
3.1 Installing PXT-General
3.2 PXT-General MIDI Settings
3.3 Other Software MIDI Settings
3.4 Additional MIDI Settings/Options
4 CONTROL LAYOUT
4.1 Pads
4.2 8 Display Encoders
4.3 Track Selection and Track State Buttons
4.4 Resolution and Stop Buttons
4.5 Other Controls
5 THE APPLICATION
5.1 Main Window
5.2 User Scales Editor
5.3 User Assignments Editor
5.4 Pad LED Editor
5.5 Settings Storage
6 TROUBLESHOOTING
7 SUPPORT
- Added new Poly AT Translation setting to allow for translating polyphonic aftertouch to MIDI CCs.
- Added new Drum and DrumFix Scale Types that are more suitable for playing drum instruments.
- Added new settings to the Pad LED Editor to allow the selection of LED colors to use for the new Scale Types.
- Updated Scale Type selection so that it now wraps around. This way, if you’re on the first Scale Type (Major), you
can get to the last Scale Type (DrumFix) and vice versa with a single button press.
In order to use the functionality described in this document, the PXT-General application needs to be running and properly
set up. Also, Push needs to be turned on before starting the PXT-General application.
3 SETUP
This section covers the initial installation steps you will need to complete in order to use PXT-General. Please take your
time when completing these steps. If you should run into trouble when performing any of these steps, please refer to the
Troubleshooting section.
For Windows users, you will also need to install virtual MIDI ports for use with PXT-General. We would recommend
loopMIDI:
http://www.tobias-erichsen.de/software/loopmidi.html
Once installation is complete, please launch PXT-General to complete the setup process.
NOTE: The User Controls settings are only necessary if you’ll be assigning controls
via the User Assignments Editor to control parameters in the software you’re using with
PXT-General. If you’re not using this functionality, these settings are unnecessary and you
should skip steps 2 and 3 listed above.
1. (Required) Set up the software to not use Ableton Push (Port 2) or Ableton Push (User Port).
2. (Required) Set up the software to receive MIDI from the virtual MIDI port you selected as the Instrument
Output in PXT-General (from PXT-General 1 is recommended).
3. (Optional) Set up the software to send MIDI to the virtual MIDI port you selected as the User Controls
Input in PXT-General (to PXT-General 2 is recommended).
4. (Optional) Set up the software to receive MIDI from the virtual MIDI port you selected as the User Controls
Output in PXT-General (from PXT-General 2 is recommended).
NOTES: The User Controls settings are only necessary if you’ll be assigning controls via the User Assignments Editor
to control parameters in the software you’re using with PXT-General. If you’re not using this functionality, these settings
are unnecessary and you should skip steps 3 and 4 listed above.
When using PXT-General with Live, you can keep your usual settings for Push in place and use the settings mentioned above
for PXT-General. You can then switch between Push’s default functionality and PXT-General functionality via the User
Button as described in the next section.
The Relative Type menu in the MIDI Settings Editor selects the type of Relative values that user assignable Encoders
should use. The two available types both send the same values for increase, but use different values for decrease. Signed Bit
uses 65 and up for decrease. 2’s Comp uses 127 and down for decrease.
The Create Log button in the MIDI Settings Editor will create a log file to assist in troubleshooting problems.
The Live Mode button in the MIDI Settings Editor determines whether Push’s Live Mode (intended for use exclusively
with Live) will be enabled. When using PXT-General with Live, you should leave this button on so that you can switch
between Push’s default functionality (Live Mode) and PXT-General functionality via the User Button. When using PXT-
General with other software, you can optionally turn this button on or off.
In order to use this User Mode for controlling parameters in the software you’re using PXT-General with, you will need to set
up the software to receive MIDI from and send MIDI to Push’s first set of ports, which are named Ableton Push or Ableton
Push (Live Port).
NOTE: Unfortunately, Push does not internally store LED states. When switching to User Mode, all LEDs will be turned
off, even if there were on before switching out of User Mode.
All of the other controls on the controller are editable via the User Assignments Editor.
4.1 Pads
The Pads play the Notes of the assigned Scale. The Scale settings can be adjusted via the Track Selection and Track State
Buttons and the Octave Down/Up Buttons. Among the Scale settings are two Drum Scale Types named Drum and DrumFix.
Both of these set up the Pads into 4 quadrants that are suitable for playing drum instruments. When DrumFix is selected, all
other Scale settings are either inaccessible (in the case of Octave Down/Up) or have no bearing (in the case of Root Note
selection).
By default, the Pads will output Notes with velocities equal to the velocities they receive (by your pressing/hitting the Pads).
When the Accent Button is turned on, the Pads will output Notes with fixed velocities.
The type of Aftertouch messages the Pads will send out is determined by the AT Type setting made via Display Encoder 7.
TIP: The LED color of the Pads can be edited via the Pad LED Editor.
MIDI Ch – Selects the MIDI channel that the Pads, Resolution Buttons, Touch Strip and Footswitch 1 will use.
ProgChng – Sends out MIDI Program Change (PC) messages on the selected MIDI channel. By default, this Encoder
offers relatively fine adjustment. Holding down the Shift Button will offer coarser adjustment.
AddNote1/AddNote2 – When set to anything other than Off, adds a Note above/below the Note being played from the
Pads. This allows individual Pads to play Chords or Octave Stacks easily. By default, these Encoders will
increment/decrement by 1. Holding down the Shift Button will increment/decrement by 12.
Accent – Selects the velocity that the Pads will use when the Accent Button is turned on.
TS Type – Selects the type of MIDI message the Touch Strip will send out. Bend sends out Pitch Bend. Mod sends out
Mod Wheel. Mod Snap is similar to Mod, but sends out a value of 0 when you remove your finger from the Touch Strip.
This functions like a spring-loaded Mod Wheel.
AT Type – Selects the type of Aftertouch messages the Pads will send out. Mono sends out Channel/Mono Aftertouch.
Poly sends out Polyphonic Aftertouch. Poly CC translates Polyphonic Aftertouch into MIDI CC messages. The translated
MIDI messages will be sent to the User Controls Output.
AT Thres – Selects the threshold that needs to be reached before the Pads will start sending Aftertouch messages. The
higher the threshold, the more pressure needs to be applied before the Pads will start sending out Aftertouch messages.
The two Buttons on the far left side select the Scale Type. The selected Scale Type is indicated by an arrow in the Display.
TIP: Five User Scale Types are also accessible, which can be edited via the User Scales Editor.
The two Buttons on the far right side modify the layout of the Scale. The upper Button switches between 4ths (where the
rows of Notes ascend by 4ths) and Sequent (where the Notes are laid out sequentially). The lower Button switches between
In Key (where only the Notes of the selected Scale are accessible) and Chromatc (where all Notes are accessible).
When the Scales Button is turned off, these Buttons and the lower two lines of the Display are assignable. When the Repeat
Button is turned on, these Buttons can be used for sending user-defined keyboard Macros.
The Resolution Buttons can play all of the Notes assigned to them at the same time (Chord) or can cycle between the Notes
and play them individually (Sequence). This behavior can be selected by holding down the Shift Button and pressing a
Resolution Button. Resolution Buttons set up to play Chords will use green LEDs while those set up to play Sequences will
use amber LEDs.
The Notes assigned to the Resolution Buttons can be transposed down/up by one semitone by holding down the Shift Button
and pressing the Octave Down/Up buttons.
NOTE: It is not possible to Learn Notes or Clear Learned Notes when the Scales Button (described below) is turned off or
when the Repeat Button (described below) is turned on.
User – This Button is only functional when PXT-General is used with Live or when Live Mode is disabled. When used
with Live, it will switch between Live Mode (Push’s default functionality in Live) and User Mode (PXT-General
functionality). When Live Mode is disabled, it will switch between PXT-General functionality and a User Mode.
Repeat – When turned on, the Track Selection and Track State Buttons will send user-defined keyboard Macros. When
turned off, the Track Selection and Track State Buttons will be assigned back to their previous functionality. If this Button is
pressed quickly, the Button’s state will toggle either on or off. If held down, the Button will be turned on only while the
Button is held down.
Accent – When turned on, the Pads will output Notes with fixed velocities. The fixed velocity the Pads will output is
determined by the Accent setting made via Display Encoder 5.
Octave Down/Up – Transpose the Notes assigned to the Pads down/up by one octave. When the Shift Button is held
down, transpose the Notes assigned to the Resolution Buttons down/up by one semitone.
Touch Strip – Sends out Pitch Bend or Mod Wheel messages. The message type is determined by the TS Type setting
made via Display Encoder 6.
Opens/closes the Key Viewer, which provides an onscreen keyboard for viewing the Notes that are played from
the Pads and Resolution Buttons.
The Keyboard allows you to edit the Scale by turning on/off the
Keys that should be included in/excluded from the Scale. Keys to be
included will be green while Keys to be excluded with be either
white or black.
When done editing a Scale, click the Save button to save it.
The User Assignments Editor allows you to edit the properties of controls not used by PXT-General (collectively referred to
as Global Controls and displayed on a gray background) as well as the 8 Display Encoders, Track Selection and Track State
Buttons, Encoder Mode Buttons (Volume, Pan & Send, etc) and Display (collectively referred to as Upper Controls and
displayed on a white background) when the Scales Button is turned off.
Each Button and Encoder in this editor (aside from those reserved by PXT-Live and labeled with amber or red text) displays
an overview of the Button or Encoder’s assignment. Clicking on a Button or Encoder will select it for editing. The Display
Edit 1 – 4).
can be selected for editing via its associated edit buttons (Edit 4 The lower middle section of this editor (section
displayed on a beige background) changes depending on which control was selected for editing.
The Edit Macros button will open the Macro Editor for editing the keyboard Macros the Track Selection and Track State
Buttons will send when the Repeat Button is turned on.
When Free Assign is selected, the Upper Controls can have 6 assignments. These can be switched between in the editor
Mode 1 – 6)
via the Encoder Mode Buttons (Mode 6 and from the controller via the associated physical buttons.
When Fixed MCU is selected, the Upper Controls will be assigned to fixed MCU emulation. The functionality of the
Upper Controls is shown in the editor when Fixed MCU is selected.
The editor will display this panel when a Button is selected for
editing. The name of the selected Button (or group of Buttons)
will be shown at the top of the panel.
Edit Single/
Single/Edit
ingle/Edit All – Select whether the menus in the
panel will edit the single Button that was selected or all the
Buttons in the group.
Type – Sets the type of MIDI message (CC, Note or MCU Button) the Button will send/receive. Off disables the Button so
that it will not send or receive any MIDI message.
Channel – Sets the MIDI channel (1 – 16) the Button will send/receive on.
Note/CC
Note/CC Number – Sets the note/control number (0 – 127) the Button will send/receive.
Action – Sets the type of action (Momentary or Toggle) the Button will perform. When set to Momentary, the Button will
send an on value when pressed and an off value when released. When set to Toggle, the Button will toggle between sending
on and off values when pressed.
LED Control – Sets the type of LED control (Internal or External) the Button will use. When set to Internal, the Button’s
LED will be controlled by your pressing/releasing it. When set to External, the Button’s LED will be controlled by incoming
MIDI data (from the MIDI port selected as the User Controls Input).
LED On – Only accessible for the Track Selection and Track State Buttons. Sets the LED color the Button will use when it’s
On.
LED Off – Only accessible for the Track Selection and Track State Buttons. Sets the LED color the Button will use when
it’s Off.
Edit Single/Edit
Single/Edit All – Select whether the menus in the
panel will edit the single Encoder that was selected or all the
Encoders in the group.
Type – Sets the type of MIDI message/value (Relative, Absolute or MCU Encoder) the Encoder will send/receive. Off
disables the Encoder so that it will not send or receive any MIDI message.
Channel – Sets the MIDI channel (1 – 16) the Encoder will send/receive on.
CC Number – Sets the control number (0 – 127) the Encoder will send/receive.
Segment 1 – 8 – Edits the text of each Segment. The text (including spaces and punctuation) can be no longer than 8
characters and cannot contain special characters such as umlauts or commas.
The radio buttons in the upper portion of the editor select the Button to
edit. The DEFAULT and SHIFTED buttons select which Macro to edit;
the Default or Shifted Macro respectively.
Macro Name – Set the name of the Button’s Macro. This name will
be shown in the Display when the Repeat Button is turned on. The
name (including spaces and punctuation) can be no longer than 8
characters and cannot contain special characters such as umlauts or
commas.
Button Color – Set the LED color the Button should use.
Macros that contain multiple Steps will be triggered when the associated Button is pressed down.
Macros that contain just a single Step will function like regular keystrokes/keystroke combinations. For example, regular
keystrokes (such as Up) will scroll when the associated Button is pressed down. Modifier keystrokes (such as Shift) will be
pressed down when the associated Button is pressed down and released when the associated Button is released. Keystroke
combinations will just be sent once when the associated Button is pressed down.
Step 1 – 8 – Display the keystroke/keystroke combination assigned to the Steps in the Button’s Macro.
NOTES: Keyboard Macro functionality as well as the Macro Editor requires that a Java Runtime is installed on your
system. If no Java Runtime is installed, this functionality and editor will not be accessible. If you need help with installing a
Java Runtime or verifying that your system has one installed, please see the Troubleshooting section.
In order to access this functionality with the software that you’re using with PXT-General, you will need to set up an MCU
(aka Mackie Control Universal aka Mackie Control) control surface in your software. Please consult the documentation
included with your software for information on how to do this. The ports you’ve selected for User Controls Input and User
Controls Output should be selected as the output and input (respectively) of the MCU control surface you set up in your
software.
For more information on the MCU and some documentation on how it works with a variety of software titles, please visit the
following pages:
http://www.mackie.com/products/mcupro/ and http://www.mackie.com/products/mcupro/mcupro_software.html
NOTE: MCU emulation primarily uses MIDI channel 1 and uses almost all of the notes on this channel. If you’ll be using
MCU assignments, it’s recommended that you set up any non-MCU assignments to use a channel other than channel 1. This
will prevent conflicts between MCU assignments and non-MCU assignments.
Playing LED Color – Sets the color to use for Pads that are playing.
Root LED Color – Sets the color to use for Pads assigned to root notes.
In Key LED Color – Sets the color to use for Pads assigned to notes that are in key.
Out of Key LED Color – Sets the color to use for Pads assigned to notes that are out of
key.
DR Upper Left LED Color – Sets the color to use for the upper left quadrant of Pads
when the Drum Scale Type is selected.
DR Upper Right LED Color – Sets the color to use for the upper right quadrant of
Pads when the Drum Scale Type is selected.
DR Lower Left LED Color – Sets the color to use for the lower left quadrant of Pads
when the Drum Scale Type is selected.
DR Lower Right LED Color – Sets the color to use for the lower right quadrant of
Pads when the Drum Scale Type is selected.
WINDOWS (you may need to show hidden files/folders to access the following location):
ProgramData\PXT-GeneralSettings.pxgs or Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\PXT-GeneralSettings.pxgs
OS X:
Users/Shared/PXT-GeneralSettings.pxgs
If you find that your settings are not being stored, please refer to the Troubleshooting section.
PXT-General does not appear to connect to Push. No LEDs light up and no information is written to the Display upon
launching PXT-General.
This would typically be due to Push’s User Ports being in use by some other application. To resolve this, close all
applications including PXT-General and then restart PXT-General.
I’m using Logic and the Pads are triggering two notes when pressed.
As mentioned in Other Software MIDI Settings, you need to set up the software you’re using with PXT-General to not
receive MIDI from or send MIDI to Push’s User Ports. Unfortunately, this is not exactly straightforward in Logic. If you
need help with this, this forum post may prove helpful: http://www.logicprohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=66046
On OS X, the application I’m using PXT-General with doesn’t remember the settings I selected related to PXT-General.
Some applications (such as Studio One) will not properly recall the settings of dynamically created virtual ports such as those
used in PXT-General. You can get around this by using IAC ports (which are part of the operating system). To do that:
1. Go to Applications, then to Audio MIDI Setup.app.
3. Click the + button to add an IAC port, name it from PXT-General 1 and ensure that Device is online is checked.
4. Repeat step 3 two more times, but use the names from PXT-General 2 and to PXT-General 2.
5. In PXT-General and the application you're using it with, use the IAC ports you created instead of PXT-General’s
ports. These will typically be named IAC Driver port name.
I don’t have a Java Runtime installed on my system or I’m not sure whether or not one is installed.
Keyboard Macro functionality requires a Java Runtime. To install a Java Runtime and/or verify if one is installed:
WINDOWS:
Go to http://java.com/en/download/installed.jsp.
OS X:
Go to Applications/Utilities/Java Preferences.
Settings I’ve made in PXT-General aren’t recalled the next time I use PXT-General.
This would typically be due to a problem with reading or writing PXT-General’s settings file. To resolve this, you can
specify a different path to use for PXT-General’s settings file in the SettingsPath.txt file within the PXT-General application.
By default, the text in this file looks like so: 0, path None;
You should replace the word None with the path (enclosed in quotes) you’d like to use. For example:
0, path “C:/Users/Stray/Desktop”;
On Windows, you should use a forward slash as a path separator (C:/Users/Stray/Desktop) as opposed to the typical
backslash (C:\Users\Stray\Desktop).
In some cases, you may not be able to edit this file in place due to permissions issues. To get around this, you can either
elevate your permissions on the file or copy the file to an unprotected location (such as your Desktop), edit the file and then
copy it back into the PXT-General application.
Forum:
Beatwise Network
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