Expression Maps V2 in Cubase

today we talk about

Expression Maps V2 in Cubase

hello everybody Andrew Blake from thedigitalaudiomanual.com today we move onto our second video as we continuediscussing expression maps in Cubase butbefore we start I want to remind youthat there's a link below to the freecontent navigation guide which is aneasy to navigate webpage with links toall the content on this channel andbesides that in the near future I'mgoing to begin adding tips and otherbits of information that will only beavailable there you know things likesimple steps that will get you startedand up and running quick things that arein the videos but are written down insimple steps that serve as quickreminders when you need information downthe road if you're working with programslike wavelab or Cubase plugins or thecable guys shaper box and many manyother projects that are in the worksthen I know you're going to find justlike I have that this is an invaluablestudy Aid and the other thing I want tomake sure you understand is that this isnot a simple PDF this is a constantlyupdated page that has any informationthat is new or anytime that videos arechanged really anything updated and onceyou have it you will always have thelatest information constantly updated soif you haven't gotten it already go tothe link below click on it and save itto your favorites it's my gift to youand it's absolutely free Okay so let'sget started so this is our second videoon the subject of expression Maps theprevious video and all videos from thischannel are in the navigation guide inthe link below and in that previousvideo we got a good look at the basicidea of the expression map saw anexample of it being used and many of thebasic concepts behind the expression mapso if you are in need of any of thatinformation you definitely want to goback and check that video out but movingon today assuming we have a littleunderstanding now of what the expressionmap is if we go over to our tab in theproject that says expression mapassuming we actually have one loadedthere's an option here that saysexpression map setup if we click on thatthis gives us the window that we canchange or alter or add various commandsinto our expression map so let's take aquick tour of this is to get familiarwith it first of all let's go into thismid middle area that says the soundslots and you can see in this examplethis is where most of the articulationsare Shoji Legato Trill spiccato ofcourse this will change depending on theinstrument or the map but either wayyou're always going to see a list ofthings here if you have a map and inthis list we can click on the variousthings we'll get options to change thesedifferent things or we can rename thembut also up on top we have a plus in theminds button if we hit the plus buttonwe can continue to add more of theseslots and if we hit the minus button wecan remove these slots right up to justone left over on the right we have thisthing that says the output mapping thischooses what node is being triggeredwhen we're using these different kind ofarticulations we're going to be changingthis stuff later and then over on theleft is where we actually create theseexpression Maps I'm going to hit theplus and minus here if I hit the plus Ican create more of these if I hit theminusI can remove all of them the minute Ihit the plus and create one and this onesays Untitled at this point thisimmediately goes ahead and creates aslot over here on the right which if Iknow what I'm doing I can start makingchanges to it and then again if I want Ican start adding more slots to it onceyou've created these things if I closethis window out go back over into thetab of expression maps in my drop down Inow have that option for that map and Ican click on it and that's the mapthat's selected and if I hit theexpression map setup again that'll bethe map that opens up now it takes alittle bit of work to kind of createthese maps and know what goes into themso when possible it's nice to have mapsthat are already created that you canjust load in and then maybe customize abit if you want to in light of thatlet's look at some areas where we canfind some of these maps and the firstplace to look is actually the Steinbergsite if we go to steinberg.net and we goover on the right where it says supportclick on that then we scroll down thesupport page until we find the optionthat says download so we click on thatand move down that page a bit there's anoption that says sound content andaccessories drop down list if we clickon that guy in this drop down list wehave an option that says expression mapsfor VST Instruments so if we click onthat we are given a list of what theyhave currently to offer where you canjust download some of these expressionmaps on the left you'll get the mainmanufacturer of the different you knowsoftware and then on the right it'llshow you what's available for thosedifferent you know software setscinematic strings send samples East Westall kinds of different ones you can usekeep you from having to create theseyourself including Steinberg Steinberghas some too if I go to the Steinbergoption here's where I can find the onesfrom my symphonic orchestra one if Iclick on that then I'm given the optionto download it to my computer and I canjust save it and away I go so I woulddefinitely say if you're into this atall or want to know more about it startby exploring these pre-configured onesand then go from there once you'vedownloaded some of those pre-configuredMaps if you go to the expression matchsetup you have an option that says loadright here and that's where you can loadthose in now there's another way and ithappens sometimes depending on yourinstrument if I go back over on the leftonce I make sure I have my instrumentselected I go to the expression amp andthe drop down sometimes you'll see anoption that says like this one importkey switches sometimes I've seen it saycreate from the instrument but in thiscase where it says import key switchesif I click on this this automaticallyloads up the expression map for thisparticular instrument so if that optionis available you know take advantage ofthat next thing I want to show you letme open up this interface one more timeon this particular interface if I holddown my low F-sharp key which is waydown here trying to point to it with amouse if I look up here on my list ofExpressions that triggers this optionthat says Legato and it shows F sharpzero and if I play some notes up higherit plays them Legato style the minute Ilet go of this F sharp key kicks backover to this a negative one key which isholding the trills down if I play thesame notes[Music]it plays them with this Trill and Idon't know if this is a bug or this isthe way it automatically happens butwhat I've discovered I just pass it onas a tip if you look at your list ofExpressions whatever's at the top of thelist in this case it's the trills ifthis latch mode is unchecked over hereon the left it will default back to thisnumber one option so if you want tochange that you can take anotherexpression like here I want Legato and Iwant that to be the default one so I cankind of drag it up to the top then thatmakes sure that this Legato Remains thedefault articulation but now the thing Iwant to point out here as you can see onthis particular instrument it saysLegato IS F sharp zero and that means ifI hold down the F sharp zero key ittriggers Legato well if I don't have akeyboard that goes down to low F sharpzero which is a pretty low key I'm goingto have difficulty actually performingthis if I move this out of the way for asecond if I look on my map it shows theLegato IS F sharp zero and over here onthe output mapping it also shows thatthe note is F sharp zero because that'sthe note it's triggering but if I comeover here and change the as input notelet's say I don't have an F sharp zerobut let's say I have an F sharp one Ican click on this and I can spin this upto F sharp one or whatever I need andnow when I hit F sharp oneand play notesI get my Legato sound in the F sharp oneis triggering F sharp zero so anotheradvantage of these Maps is you canassign and reassign what kind of notesor trigger notes you need to trigger thenotes you may actually need on theinterface that you're using all rightthe next thing I want to call yourattention to is how the maps take overthe midi input I'm going to record thisviolin part real quickwhich only uses notes up in the higherregister and right now I have no mapassigned to this track I'm going tostart recording this again and as I'mrecording it although you won't be ableto see my hands I'm going to hit notesway down low on the lower register[Music]and now if I open up this midi part andI look at the articulations there's noarticulations here because there is nomap in place but if I expand this part alittle bit and I can see the notes thatI played if I look way down in the loweroctaves here I also have these notes nowrecorded because as I played the part Iplayed these low notes as well let metry to squeeze it all on the same screenso you can see the notes up here thatyou're hearing and you can see the midinotes down here that I recorded that Iplayed and this is the way it wouldhappen without a map in place now I'mgoing to remove these notes and then I'mgoing to create an expression map justlike we did before drop down list andhit import key switches and if you lookover on the left these are the keys I'mhitting I'm hitting this low a then I'mhitting this low B and then I'm hittingthis low C and you can see the lightschange as I hit it with my keys I'mgoing to play the same part and I'mgoing to record those notes as I play it[Music]watch over here on the left I'm notgoing to play anything anymore I'm notgoing to record anything anymore butwatch these lights change as the partplays[Music]see that see thatclearly there's some midi data in herethat is changing these Keys around butlet's open up the midi part now when Ilook at the upper notes they're stillhere but no matter where I go down inthe lower part there is no longer anymidi notes down here there are thougharticulations in place so thearticulations have now taken over whatthe midi notes do the point I'm tryingto make here is when you use a map midinotes are no longer recorded the waythey normally are and instead thesearticulations are recorded but there'sno longer any midi notes down here toedit or move around and of course thatdoesn't matter because you can movearticulations around just like you wouldmini notes you can grab them and movethem however you want change your sizeand move them to a differentarticulation but with the maps it'seither going to record the articulationsor without the map but then it's goingto record the midi notes but the mapoverrules these midi notes all rightit's going to wrap it up for today asalways if you haven't grabbed yournavigation guide be sure to grab thatfrom the link below this video gives youquick easy access to all the content onthis channel ever growing and free touse content is in order beingcontinually updated there to help youmake your life easier and my life easierclick on the link download it save it toyour favorites use it whenever you needit so we continue moving through theexpression Maps we got a little morepractical in terms of how to get aexpression map off the web if you wantit some basic idea of how to change itaround how the input and the outputnotes are used to trigger differentexpressions or articulations and thenthe main point at the end is how whenyou use the map you're no longerrecording midi the map has its own wayof capturing the midi data and turningit into an articulation and we willcontinue working on this until we getall the information become skilled atusing expression Maps just like webecome skilled at every subject that wecover here and that's our mission andthat's our goal as always it's great tohave you guys here and I'll see you onthe next video