Introduction; Main Features; A Brief Word About Midi Controllers - Mackie C4 Commander User Manual

C4 Commander

Introduction

Thank you for choosing Mackie software products
for your computer-based audio recording system.
The C4 Commander software package is designed to
be used with the Mackie C4 virtual instrument con-
troller. It serves as "middleware" between the C4
and an external MIDI synth, effects device, or other
MIDI hardware device and translates the controls
on the C4 into the correct MIDI commands to con-
trol the external device.
It comes with an extensive library of the most com-
monly used MIDI synths and instruments. You
simply drag-and-drop the instrument assignment
onto the C4 Commander software control panel and
all the controls are automatically assigned to the
selected instrument. You can create different lay-
outs to control different instruments, and customize
your layouts to suit your own style of working with
the C4.
And if you want to exercise your programming
chops, you can even create your own instrument
definition file to control an instrument not included
in the C4 Commander Instrument Library (please
refer to the C4 Commander Programmer's Guide).
The C4 Commander software package is easy to
use and provides you the flexibility to customize the
C4 controller to whatever application you require.
You're only limit is your imagination, so experiment
and have fun!
6
User's Guide

Main Features

• Middleware control for C4
• Easy drag-and-drop instrument assignments
• Vast library of MIDI instrument definition files
• User-configurable layouts
• Interactive graphic display of C4 controller
• Easy switching between open layouts
• MIDI Common (e.g. Note On/Off) and MIDI
Controller (Continuous Controller) assignments
available to drag-and-drop

A brief word about MIDI Controllers

Many MIDI-controlled devices come with a
software package that allows you to control
them from your computer. Using a keyboard
and mouse (or worse, a touchpad) to control an audio
device can be frustrating and time-consuming.
The C4 and C4 Commander software offer an el-
egant solution to controlling MIDI devices. The
C4 provides real hardware knobs for tweaking the
parameters of a MIDI instrument (hardware) or
a virtual instrument (software), and the C4 Com-
mander provides a library of MIDI command presets
for many popular MIDI devices.
Once you have learned how to use the C4 Com-
mander software (just continue reading this user's
guide and you will have it in no time!), you will be-
gin to see how the flexibility of the C4 Commander
will help you work faster and more efficiently, and
allow you to perform tasks you never dreamed were
possible.