Acoustica Mixcraft 7 - Manual (Page 152)

146
USING THE PERFORMANCE PANEL
To use to the Performance Panel, simply drag clips into individual grid locations. You
can drag in loops from the Mixcraft loop library (click the Library tab at the bottom of
the screen to view and audition loops), the main playback grid, or even directly from
the Windows File Explorer. Loops from the Mixcraft loop library contain information
about the tempo and key of the sound embedded into the file – this means clips will
play back in perfect time with project tempo. (see sidebar: Embedded Tempo and Key
Information)
Once you’ve dragged loops into the Performance Panel set, initiate playback by clicking
the playback arrow to the immediate left of the set number (i.e. Set 1, Set 2, etc.).
You’ll notice small playback heads – these most at different speeds dependent upon
the length of the loops. Though loops in a set do not need to be the same length, we
strongly recommend using even loops lengths in units of two or four. Mixcraft will play
back loops of any length in time, but repeat and cycles may become difficult to keep
track of.
(Actually, If a clip is a really odd size, Mixcraft rounds its length to the nearest quarter-
note and tacks a little silence on the end before looping back around. This happens
transparently, but trust us, unless you want your music to sound like a bag of rocks
poured down a steel slide, this “rounding off” helps to keep things sounding musical.)
You can switch which set of loops is playing by simply clicking another set or loop’s
play button while the current set or loops is playing. Dependent upon the Cue setting,
the Performance Panel will transition to the next set or loop either immediately, or
wait until the Cue setting note value elapses. Clips can be stopped by pressing a row’s
dedicated stop button located at the far left of the Performance Panel, or by pressing
the stop button in an empty cell in the same row. You can stop all clip playback either
by pressing the master stop button in the Performance Panel’s upper-left corner, or by
pressing the stop button in Mixcraft’s transport controls (or by pressing the space bar).
USING THE PERFORMANCE PANEL WITH A NOVATION LAUNCHPAD
USB HARDWARE CONTROLLER
The Performance Panel can be used with a standard USB keyboard controller (see
Using Generic MIDI Controllers and Control Surfaces, pg. 309) or even just your
computer’s mouse or trackpad, but it really shines when paired with a Novation
Launchpad USB grid controller. Instead of controlling set and cell playback with
individual mouse clicks, the Launchpad features a multicolor 64-button grid for rapid
control of cell playback, as well 16 additional buttons for controlling set playback
and navigation. Mixcraft includes some special features designed to specifically take
advantage of the Launchpad controller.
Embedded Tempo
and Key Information
Most of the clips in
Mixcraft’s included
library contain
“built-in” tempo and
key information (the
exceptions would be
things like one-shot
sound effects that
don’t have discernible
rhythmic timing or a
musical key signature).
This is gives Mixcraft
a timing and key
“roadmap”, allowing
multiple clips to
automatically lock
in time and play in
musically relevant
keys without user
intervention – in other
words, they just work.
Yay for technology!