There are a million and one ways to modulate sound. Some prefer foot controllers, while others are most used to pitch and mod wheels. Some gravitate towards the touchy feely wonders that are ribbon controllers or XY pads.
At the end of the day, the most expressive modulation tools are those that are most easy to reach and manipulate. There is no right or wrong way.
One form of control has stood the test of time: the noble fader. We've been asked a number of times why we didn't add a bank of faders to Lumatone. Controllers that could be mapped to any MIDI parameter, and our answer is simple: there are 280 of them on Lumatone!
Every single key on a Lumatone can be set to behave as a continuous controller. You assign a key a specific colour and MIDI note number, set it to "CC," and voila! You've got yourself a fader.
The Hall effect sensor inside every key of Lumatone allows us to rapidly read the key's position at any time. This means that as you push slowly into a key set to CC, the key sends a value from 1 to 127 via your chosen "CC Type". Then, as you return back the other direction, it does so in reverse. This allows you to fade any expressive parameter back and forth... anything from filter cutoff to volume to breath control, to vibrato or LFO modulation or... well, you get the picture.
To get an idea of how many different parameters you can modulate, here's an awesome list of CC parameters available over MIDI.
We've spoken to film composers who are most excited about this feature so that they can manipulate the subtle articulations in their string samples, allowing for a more realistic performance.
Beatmakers and producers have told us they're most excited about the ability to customize one end of their Lumatone to modulate any parameter on their favourite synths.
However you plan to use continuous controllers, they're easy to set up using our Lumatone Editor software.
When defining a key in your mapping of choice, change the Key Type to Continuous Controller. Set a colour that will help you identify the key during performance, and change the CC Type to the corresponding parameter you'd like to control.
As long as this parameter is available in the sound generating device you're controlling, it's as simple as that. You can also use a synthesizer or sampler's modulation matrix to map certain CC parameters to any parameter you'd like.
I hope this gets you started. There are plenty of resources online exploring creative ways to use continuous controllers. Now that you know your Lumatone is armed with 280 of them, we can't wait to see all the brilliant ways you plan to put them to use!
