Global Controls analyzes the Patch (all Layers, FX Racks, and Modulation Matrix) and determines how the controls should be adapted to achieve the best musical results. Such adaptation may result in some controls being unipolar, or having bipolar offsets.
Unipolar Controls
For example, if a Patch has a Super Verb effect unit inserted in one of the part’s FX Racks, the AMOUNT and LENGTH Sliders in the Ambience section of the Global Controls will automatically adjust the amount (by controlling the Aux Send or the Mix Slider on the unit, whichever is applicable) and the time/decay of the reverb. In this scenario, the Ambience Global Controls have a 1:1 ratio to the assigned parameters.
Bipolar Offsets
Patches can have effects configured in many different ways. For example, a Patch can have a reverb unit inserted in the Layer A FX rack with the Mix at 40%, and another inserted in the Layer B FX Rack with the Mix at 20%. In this scenario, the Global Ambience AMOUNT Slider controls the Mix of both units. Since they are set at different values, it will be a bipolar offset and behave this way:
- When the AMOUNT slider is at 50%, the original values (40% and 20%) are recalled
- When the AMOUNT is moved gradually from the center all the way to the left, it will reduce and scale the values of 40% and 20% to 0%.
- When the AMOUNT is moved gradually from the center all the way to the right, it will increase and scale the values of 40% and 20% to 100%.
The same applies to LENGTH: if the reverb in the Layer A FX rack has a decay of 60%, and the one in the Layer B FX Rack has a decay of 30%, LENGTH will be bipolar and increase or decrease both decay parameters simultaneously in a similar fashion to what is explained above.
This principle can be applied to other Global Controls sections as well: AMP Envelope segments can be bipolar offsets if Layers have different Envelope settings, the Filter Cutoff can be a bipolar offset if each Layer has a different Cutoff Frequency, etc.
Real-Time Adaptation
Global Controls will instantly adapt to edits you perform on other pages of a Patch. For example, a Patch where the Filter Cutoff for all Layers is set to 1.5kHz will display a unipolar Global Cutoff control. Increasing or decreasing the Cutoff Frequency in one of the Layers will turn the Global Cutoff control into a bipolar offset, automatically scaled, so you can control the Cutoff Frequency in a non-destructive way (meaning you can always return to the original values by returning to the middle).
All this analysis and adaptation happen behind the scenes, so you can focus on modifying Patches easily from a single page, regardless of how the Patch is created.
Saving and Recalling Patches
You may notice that after making adjustments to bipolar controls and saving the Patch or session, the controls may look different when recalled. This is expected, and none of your changes are lost, because the adjustments have already been applied to the target parameters. Here are a few scenarios that illustrate how the controls may change:
- If the Global Filter Cutoff control is bipolar and you adjust it to +75%, the Filter Cutoff parameters on Layers A, B, C, & D are all immediately increased to a value 75% higher than their starting point. When you save the patch and see the Global Filter Cutoff control return to the midpoint, you can rest assured that the sound of your patch has not been changed. Resetting them to 0.5 ensures the user has the full range of the bipolar controls to make edits with, and allows them to return the control to 0.5 to revert to the last saved value.
- Alternatively, if you turn any bipolar Global Control to +100% or -100%, and then save the patch or project, the Global Controls software automatically converts that control to a unipolar knob.
These changes, made after a Patch or session is saved, help ensure that the Global Controls parameters are “maximally useful” when the Patch is recalled.
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