Very interesting, cool you guys caught it 
:dizzy:
[ Talking about the MP Midi Controller, with controls around the edge of a touch screen display, that is to help software synth plugins operate more like a hardware synth. ]
I posted about using Pigments with a touch screen in this thread before, but that was a long time ago. Have things changed – are there people who use Pigments regularly with a regular touch screen interface ?
How well does that work ?
Does anybody know a way to sequence/control individual lanes of the Arp/Seq?
The Arp/Seq is frkn amazing as it is and I’m getting some results from it lately that I’m delighted with, and sound amazing.
But, I have a 4 step pitch/trig sequence where just steps 1 and 4 trigger… step 1 100% and step 4 about 60%.
As a performance variation I’ve been moving step 3’s trig from 0% to 100%, and it sounds cool… but the only way to do it is manually with the mouse.
I didn’t think I would be missing ANY kind of mod/control in Pigments, but I’d love to be able to automate or control that Trig % from a slider…
Having recently purchased Pigments (black Friday sale) and then realizing I no longer need to consider a Waldorf Iridium because Pigments does most of what Iridium does and then some things Iridium doesn’t do (awesome sequencer/arp), the only thing missing is a hardware sequencer. I really wish Arturia would make something dedicated for this, or at least do what Spectrasonics has done with Omnisphere’s hardware controller.
Looked at the MP Midi controller. Too expensive for what it does (not arguing against the company, just me, don’t want to spend this on a midi controller).
Any other ideas for a less expensive way to control Pigments with hardware?
1 Like
Welcome to the control conversation!
There’s a lot been discussed previously so it’s worth a scroll/search.
Pigments is really flexible in its controller mapping, so there’s a whole host of options out there, and, IMHO, to get a real level of control away from the mouse, it takes more than one device (controller keyboard plus another midi controller (FaderFox, Midifighter, etc).
1 Like
Other specific ways to setup hardware control for Pigments ?
Here are a couple of videos michaeljk1963, to show a general approach to this.
There is this rather old video ( before HS as a MPE controller ) with Flux using a Hydrasynth Keyboard with Pigments.
Specifically he shows setting up controls from the eight Macro control knobs ( with text labels ) using the Mod-Matrix with internal HS modulations, using the ribbon, and polyphonic aftertouch.
I know you only have a HS desktop so can’t do everything shown here but you could do a good part of this.
This procedure applies to the whole method of setting up any MIDI controller as a controller for a specific software package.
Pigments has MPE, so you could go back to the MPE controller list for an extra level of control from that sort of controller.
As for instance Sensel has put a free package together for using their Morph specifically with Pigments. They did a couple of videos about this, here’s one.
Again the same sort of principles applies to whatever sort of MPE controller you decide to use.
Whether this all takes things far enough is another question. ( Do i sound doubtful? ) Hope this is even a little helpful.
ADDED : I just recalled michaeljk1963, you own a Linnstrument. There are several YT videos of people playing the Linnstrument with Pigments. Didn’t find any tutorial videos about that though. So then you’ll only need to combine your LS with other pure controllers, as CCMP suggests, to get thst hardware control.
i was playing with Pigments Granular engine for a bit today. Amazing. That Pigments 3 cost so little, and does so much just floors me. If it wasn’t stuck on a laptop…anyway, will probably have to buy a hardware granular doodad now, like that lemondrop thingy. Or just accept that ITB is just amazingly powerful
1 Like
Just tried the 3.7 update.
Unfortunately PWM in the VA engine is still broken.
I forgot to enter the bug report, I just filed it now.
1 Like
@Brokenfader - Actually, I think it is fixed in Pigments 3.7 - I’m using build 3.7.0.2587 (x64).
Sound of 80/20 PMW D-note:
Sound of 80/20 PMW Notes E-C-A:
First 10 waveforms (typo in the graphic, should read 3.7, sorry, I’m a space case today):
Settings used:
1 Like
I think it’s a modulation bug. Check this one out:
Takes 5 cycles to ramp up to the proper pulse width, even though the attack time was set to zero. (PWM is being modulated here with Env 1 or what Pigments calls Env VCA.)
1 Like
Can’t tell why your width isn’t set to 80% already in the Osc 1 section - it is literally at 50% in your setup at the beginning. If you don’t set it to .8 I would not expect it to do what you want. All I’m saying is with the settings I screenshot, I used to have the problem in 3.5 and now in 3.7 I don’t.
1 Like
Thanks, sigint, I’ll have another look this morning.
Why, though, would the width need to be set to 80%? If the attack time for the modulation envelope (Env VCA) is set to 0, shouldn’t the waveform start at the highest point of modulation? As in, shouldn’t this wave begin as the tiniest sliver of a pulse then slowly reduce down to 50%? Why is it taking 5+ cycles to ramp up to that point?
@Brokenfader nevermind, I messed it up. I’ve reproduced it again. Sending additional missed forgotten stuff to my Arturia issue now. sorry!!!
No worries.
I’m glad there are nerds like us working on this 
1 Like
Just got Pigments yesterday, and I love it. So intuitive and fun to make wild sounds with.
One thing I haven’t been able to figure out:
Anyone know if there’s a way to manually enter notes into the sequencer? Haven’t been able to figure that out.
1 Like
The sequencer is actually the only part of pigments I don’t like.
Everything else feels so intuitive, then you try the sequencer… but there are other good options for that
1 Like
It’s in the Arp/Seq section.
All your notes/scales options are there, you have to be in Seq mode to specify notes.
And bare in mind, it all relates to C being the root… so if you have a particular melody in mind, you have to right it out in C first then Transpose to the key you want.
Sounds more complicated than it is.
And, the Arp/Seq are both really powerful in Pigments. Don’t forget you can route this to other synths/sounds too in your DAW.
There’s a bit of a learning curve to it, but once you get over that it’s really powerful, especially for generative ideas… and the poly-rhythm options for Vel, Oct, Trigger, Gate, etc… it’s powerful stuff and worth the time input. 
Let me clarify: I would like to enter notes from my midi controller. I can only seem to enter notes by clicking and dragging in the sequencer section, which is kind of a pain.