Been performing with the Subtracks machine a lot lately and keep hitting the same friction. Curious whether others feel it.
In MUTE mode the [SUBTRACKS] keys only address the active track. Kit on track 1, percussion on track 4 — to mute across both I use TRK + [TRIG] to switch. To be clear up front: that’s two actions either way, so what I’m about to propose isn’t faster. The problem is what those two actions cost.
TRK + [TRIG] selects the track globally. Parameter pages follow it, the keyboard follows it, whatever I edit next follows it. I’ve moved the whole instrument to reach one mute. And in MUTE mode the trig row is already doing double duty — mutes on their own, track selectors under a modifier — so a mis-hit in the dark mutes something I only meant to select.
The idea: a track selector scoped to MUTE mode, living on the top keyboard row.
- Top row (C#, D#, F#, G#, A#) — re-points the subtrack row at another track, and does nothing else. Active track, parameter pages, keyboard all stay put.
- Bottom row / [SUBTRACKS] — mutes that track’s eight subtracks, as now
- [TRIG] keys — unchanged, full track mutes, one meaning only
Same number of presses, much smaller blast radius. And a single key instead of a held chord, which counts for something when both hands are busy.
Only five top-row keys against eight tracks, but how many of us run more than three or four Subtracks machines at once? Rather than hardcoding tracks 1–5, the keys could fill automatically with whichever tracks actually have a Subtracks machine loaded, in track order, lighting only those. Kits on 1, 4 and 7? Three lit keys, rest dark. Works wherever you’ve already put your kits instead of making you rearrange the project around the feature.
Anyone else running into this? And is there something I’ve missed that already gets close — I’m on the latest OS and haven’t found it.