Button Controller panels send MIDI On/Off controller messages. Each button on a button panel can be configured to either stay pressed when you push it and require a second press to release (Toggle type), or to pop back up as soon as you release it (Momentary). For the Toggle type button, the On controller message (data 127) is sent when the button is pressed down, and the Off message (data 0) is sent when you press the button a second time, to raise it. The Momentary type button will send the Off message as soon as it is released. The action type indicator box can be clicked to control whether a button has a toggle or momentary action.
A Push-button can remotely send patches on a Patch List or Patch Group panel. To do this select 'Patch Down' or 'Patch up' from the controller type selection drop-down list. You must have previously opened Patch List or Patch Group panels to select these commands, but they don't have to be visible. A second drop-down list will appear allowing you to select which Patch List or Group panel you want to control. A Patch Down command will remotely scroll down to the next patch in a Patch List and send the selected patch to the list's channel/port. The Patch Up command scrolls up to the next patch. In either case, at the end of the list the commands will wrap around to the opposite end.
The PnlPtr Up/Down commands work similarly to the Patch Up/Down commands, but affect the 'Controlled Panel' list in Panl Pointer panels. See thePanl Pointer help topic (roll across the pointing hand icon on the Toolbar) for more information.
A Push-button can remotely control a Play Sequence panel. Select Play On/Off from the controller type selection drop-down list. A second drop-down list appears for selecting a Play Sequence panel. On/Off buttons can get out of sync if you use the Play Sequence panel controls, or have more than one Push-button assigned to the same Play Sequence panel, or if you try to play more than one sequence at a time.
A Push-button can also remotely control another Buttons Controller panel. In this case all of the controlled panel's buttons are pushed sequentially from left to right, so if the associated MIDI events must come out in a certain order (e.g. you need to select an effects type before you set the effect's depth) be sure to control the first event type with the leftmost button, etc. This feature becomes particularly useful with Automatic Controller settings (see below). A second drop-down list appears for selecting a Buttons panel to control.
A push-button can control the Record Events process. Use the RecEvnt On/Off controller type for this. Roll across the green accented tape recorder icon on the Toolbar for more info.
Push-button controllers can produce a 'sweep' of continuous controller data values. Whenever you select a continuous type MIDI controller from the controller type drop-down list an Automatic Controller Settings dialog box will appear allowing you to design an automatic controller. The sweep time, data start and data end values can be pre-set, and the sweep can be made to repeat for as long as the button is held down (see Automatic Controller Settings).
The image of each button can be set from icons on the Icon Palette. To change an image just drag an icon from the Palette and drop it on the button image you want to change. You can get the default image back by right-clicking the button. For more information on the Icon Palette see the ID Icon (eye icon on the Toolbar) help topic.
