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Old 01-08-2017, 11:15 AM   #23
introvert
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Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Austin
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I don't have time to retype the instructions on how to do this, but here's an email I sent to the JL Cooper team about how I got it working. I was discussing it with them when I initially bought the box and was trying to get it to work with Reaper. It has an issue where the Y axis is inverted. So if you're attempting to use a different panner, skip the bit about using ReaLearn to flip the axis. The rest of it us useful though



The big problem with using the Axos Panner in Reaper is that the Y axis is inverted. Up is down, down is up. I don't know if this is just an implementation thing with Pro Tools or what, but it's an issue. Note for the folks at JL Cooper: if there was some hidden option to invert the Y axis on the controller, none of the below would be necessary. You could just flip the Y axis and call it a day

Also note that this is not a perfect solution. It really only works for panning mono sounds. That's 99% of what I do, so it doesn't bother me, although I will poke at it and try to find a way of panning multichannel sounds with this (I usually just hard route them or split them across multiple mono tracks in a sub, depending on what I'm doing).

So in order to fix the inversion issue, here's what you do in Reaper.

Install a Reaper add-on called ReaLearn, found here:

https://www.helgoboss.org/projects/realearn/

It's free, but I encourage you to donate if you're going to use it for real production.

Run the installer. It's available for Mac and Windows.

Connect your Axos Panner to your computer if it's not already connected.

Launch Reaper, go to Preferences > MIDI Devices.

Find the JL Cooper Axos Panner on the Input pane, right click, click "Enable input." If you want to use the additional buttons and knobs, right click again and also click "Enable input for control messages." You need both checked to use all of the options of the panner.

The rest of these steps, once finished, can be saved as a track template. Highly recommended, that prevents you from having to set this up every time. Makes life much easier

Create a track, set up your routing to make it however many channels you need.

Insert an instance of ReaSurround on your track. Click the dropdown box to set your output to whatever you need (5.1, quad, etc.), then change Input Channels to 1.

Set the MIDI input of the track to the JL Cooper Axos Panner, All Channels. Record arm the track.

Click the Input FX button next to the MIDI input dropdown box. Insert an instance of ReaLearn.

Within ReaLearn, click the Add Mapping button twice to create two mappers.

Click the Edit button for the first mapper. Under Source, select Type: CC Value, Channel: 15, CC Number: 3, Character: Knob/Fader, leave 14-bit values unchecked. Under Target, select Type: Track FX parameter, FX: VST: ReaSurround (Cockos), Parameter: in 1 Y. Under Mode select Type: Absolute, then tick the Reverse checkbox. Hit OK.

Click the Edit button for the second mapper. Under Source, select Type: CC Value, Channel: 15, CC Number: 2, Character: Knob/Fader, leave 14-bit values unchecked. Under Target, select Type: Track FX parameter, FX: VST: ReaSurround (Cockos), Parameter: in 1 X. Under Mode select Type: Absolute, then DO NOT tick the Reverse checkbox. Hit OK.

You can now close the Input FX window for the track.

Arm the track for record, and incoming MIDI from the Axos Panner will pass through the track to the ReaSurround panner, and the Y axis will be flipped so that it pans correctly.

Now you need to assign the MIDI CCs to the 1X and 1Y parameters in ReaSurround. Make sure Joystick Touch Enable is activated on the Axos panner. Using the Parameter Learn function in your instance of Reaper, assign the X axis of the Axos panner to the 1X axis in ReaSurround. Use CC mode: Absolute, and leave all the tick boxes unticked. Click Ok. Repeat the steps for the 1Y parameter in ReaSurround.

Click Param > Default controller mappings > Save as default. This will save the Axos assignments as the default controller mappings for ReaSurround.

At this point, just arm automation for in 1 X and in 1 Y and you can record pan moves using Reaper automation as normal. Just be sure to record disarm the track when you're done. If you want to gang multiple tracks and pan them together, you can do this as well, just record arm multiple tracks and pan.

NOTE: Do NOT go into record mode to write automation. Just PLAY. You have to use the automation system in Reaper to capture automation moves from the Axos Panner.

To assign the rest of the buttons and knobs to ReaSurround, use the standard Parameter Learn feature in the plugin window. In my experience using the "Enable only when effect configuration is focused" option is great for these, and once you get it all configured as you want, you can use the Param > Default Controller Mappings > Save as default to write your controller mapping to a file that gets auto-loaded every time that plugin loads, and you'll never have to remap things again. All my common use plugins are mapped to my control surfaces this way.


It's absolutely not perfect, but it works.
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