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Starr Labs Clipper User Manual

Clip-based live interactive performance controller
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Clip-Based Live Interactive Performance controller
User Manual R0.2, Beta release 12/7/2012.
The Clipper fingerboard is a programmable music control surface with multicolor LED visual feedback in
each key. The key-action is a standard Ztar fully polyphonic, touch-sensitive fingerboard. The Clipper's
embedded software is designed to act as a remote Ableton Live * clip control matrix, as well as offering
a variety of dynamic lighting effects. In addition, the Clipper integrates the standard Starr Labs MIDI
guitar functionality with many MIDI control setup options. Using our standardized LED controller MIDI
command set you can create many types of interactive applications such as games and teaching
software.
This document primarily describes the detailed User setups to the Clipper for use with Ableton Live.
These setups are pre-loaded in your instrument, and this is your reference to the menu screens
pertinent to the interactive lighting features.
"Ableton Live" property of Ableton Inc.
Contents:
LED Controller Command Specification
Appendices and Charts __________________________________________________________ 21
QUICK Ableton Mac/PC setup _____________________________________________________ 23
Index _________________________________________________________________________ 24
Starr Labs Clipper
USER Manual R1.1 12/27/12
(Firmware Revision 3.0
Copyright © 2012 Starr Labs
12/1/2012)
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  • Page 1: Table Of Contents

    Ableton Live * clip control matrix, as well as offering a variety of dynamic lighting effects. In addition, the Clipper integrates the standard Starr Labs MIDI guitar functionality with many MIDI control setup options. Using our standardized LED controller MIDI command set you can create many types of interactive applications such as games and teaching software.

  • Page 2: Overview

    For instance Yellow for standby, blinking Yellow for cued, Green for playing, Red for recording. However, on the Clipper the color of each LED represents the color of each respective clip in Ableton’s Session View GUI with brightness and blinking representing the clip states. When a clip is loaded it is at half brightness.

  • Page 3: Ableton Live To Clipper: Detailed Interface Specification

    Ableton Live to Clipper: Detailed Interface Specification Ableton Live (currently at Rev.8.3) is a popular music software application that allows a user to record and playback clips of music in a wide variety of ways, all synced to a master beat. It is also popular to use a Remote Control surface, a small console with buttons and knobs, and often LEDs for stratus feedback, using semi-proprietary command sets developed specifically for each peripheral.
  • Page 4 Live we use Live’s color table so that you can match the LEDs to the clip-colors in your session. The colors are then re-mapped inside the Clipper so they can be selected by a 7-bit MIDI note-velocity value. From the point of view of the host computer, the array of LEDs is a list containing a 7-bit color value for each of 144 locations.
  • Page 5 Stop Keys: This is a row of keys placed below the clip keys and the launch scene keys. The function of each of a Stop key is to stop all clips in the corresponding column in the clip key array. The rightmost key stops all clips in all columns.

  • Page 6: Midi Message Format

    button is pressed. This will usually be the stop clip button at the bottom of the track, but can be any blank clip with an active stop button in that track. Note-offs are ignored. Gate - Full intensity when active. Momentary operation. You must hold down the button to play the clip.

  • Page 7: Setting Up Ableton Live To Work With The Clipper

    The highest note-location on String#1 is LED-location #24. Setting up Ableton Live to work with the Clipper The Clipper communicates with Ableton’s Live API using MIDI Remote Scripts. These Python scripts are available on our website, and interpret incoming standard MIDI messages and translate them to API calls within Live.

  • Page 8: Setting Up The Clipper To Work With Ableton Live

    We recommend leaving it off to reduce the amount of messages the Ztar has to handle. Now Ableton is ready to interact with your Clipper enabled Ztar, but is your Ztar ready? We have Ableton ready setups available on our website which can be programmed into your Ztar via System Exclusive MIDI messages (SysEx).

  • Page 9: Zone Setup

    Zone setup: Some terminology regarding Zone Boundaries: The Clipper is modeled after a guitar fingerboard which is described in terms of strings and Frets.  A String is comprised of the 24 consecutive keys in each of the 6 rows running the full length of the fingerboard.

  • Page 10: Keymap Setup

    Open the Ztar Zone menu. The “Tuning/Transposition” sub-menu has a “Color-Zone” field that may be set to “RedBox” or “Local”, or “Off”. Setting the soft-switch “CZone”to something other than Off simply means that the Zone will now send a MIDI sysex message that contains the Zone’s boundaries and color information whenever the Boundaries or the Color are changed.
  • Page 11 Zone3: Low Boundary= String6,Fret1; High Boundary = String6,Fret24.Set this Zone to MIDI Channel 16. If you are not using Ableton, or simply want to play guitar on the Clipper, but have the LEDs light the keys as you play: Set the Fingerboard to use three Zones - Zone #1 uses a keymap with an assigned “Guitar”...

  • Page 12: Midi Merge Settings

    ----- Note 84 Channel 16 [Note: the RedBox boundaries may also be changed within the Clipper’s onboard user-interface by changing the Zone boundaries for the ‘RedBox’ zone.] MIDI Merge settings You can assign any of the following Merge settings to each of the MIDI ports independently.

  • Page 13: Color Settings

    Indexed Color: An arbitrary palette of colors whose various colors may be selected by an index number. Color Map Index: A number that selects a given color in a color map. In the case of the Clipper the indexed color map consists of 127 colors and the MIDI velocity is the color-index. The Ableton Live color map is an indexed color map of just 60 colors.

  • Page 14: Images

    LED control software for the PC. Images are stored as MIDI SysEx files which may be dumped to the Clipper using any standard MIDI SysEx utility. The capacity will be upgraded to 32 images and more in the future.
  • Page 15 Color-#0, or the pixel value of a previously set background. Color- #0 is normally Black(OFF), however any other color may be set into the Color#0 location of the Clipper by loading a new color map.
  • Page 16 LED Fingerboard Command Specification Special MIDI-Note Functions on Channel 16 : [ Notice that the minimum velocity value available for your use is the number 1. Velocity = 0 is reserved for the Note-Off function.] Command Comments CLEAR FRAME 127 Ignore velocity, clears to 0 unless clear to background mode set INIT ZONES 126 ignore velocity REFRESH...
  • Page 17 RedBox Scroll Up 110 Velocity: Ignore - not used by ledfb firmware, talks to Ableton RedBox Scroll Down 109 Velocity: Ignore - not used by ledfb firmware, talks to Ableton RedBox Scroll Right 108 Velocity: Ignore - not used by ledfb firmware, talks to Ableton RedBox Scroll Left 107 Velocity: Ignore - not used by ledfb firmware, talks to Ableton - Unused -...
  • Page 18 SCROLL-IMAGE A selected image is scrolled over the short dimension of the fingerboard. Velocity = step timing for the Scroll delay. ( 0=?) SET FOREGROUND Velocity = color map index# of the foreground color. COLOR SET BACKGROUND Velocity = color map index# of the background color. COLOR Rotate RedBox 90°...
  • Page 19 data-level) CC-data values of 0-127 scale from no lights to all 24 columns lit. All LEDs will light from Fret1 up to the scaled data-value. Each Fret (column) corresponds to a data increment of a little more than 5. VU String 2 25 Fires all of the LEDs on String #2 ( in sequence, value= length) lights sequential number of frets according to MIDI data 0-127...
  • Page 20 color. VU Fret 7 37 Lights LEDs sequentially up fret 7 like a VU meter. Value of 0- 127 scales from no lights to all lit, fading in brightness and color. VU Fret 8 38 Lights LEDs sequentially up fret 8 like a VU meter. Value of 0- 127 scales from no lights to all lit, fading in brightness and color.
  • Page 21 color. VU Fret 21 51 Lights LEDs sequentially up fret 21 like a VU meter. Value of 0- 127 scales from no lights to all lit, fading in brightness and color. VU Fret 22 52 Lights LEDs sequentially up fret 22 like a VU meter. Value of 0- 127 scales from no lights to all lit, fading in brightness and color.

  • Page 22: Appendices And Charts

    1: Abort Script. Aborts any active script. 2: Grand Demo. Combines several scripts and the Starr Labs sign-on screen. 3: Product_ID. Current Clipper OS version#. 4: Null 5: Spiral Effect. Single shot event. 6: Spiral Script. Loops the spiral effect.
  • Page 23 When these colors are selected by sending ordinary MIDI note- messages the colors may appear random. A linear spectral map is included in the Clipper. Sometimes when switching between songs with different RedBox dimensions some of the LEDs won’t refresh.

  • Page 24: Index

    Index: Bugs Clip Array Clip Lighting and Visual Feedback Color-Zone Sysex Message format Moving the RedBox MIDI Note Lighting functions MIDI Continuous Control Lighting functions Note-Offs Scene Launch Keys Tuning Maps...

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