Actions

Actions are instructions given to the Mastermind to tell it to perform certain tasks. This can be sending MIDI messages, engaging the tuner display, changing button pages or presets, turning on audio loops and many other functions. By using action lists, you can configure your buttons and presets to perform complex tasks that go way beyond the capabilities of most MIDI controllers.

Actions are arranged into ordered lists, and these action lists can be used in a number of places:

Editing Actions

Action Editor

The action editor looks the same wherever it is displayed. The list of actions is displayed in the left column. Selecting an action in the left column displays its parameters in the rightmost column, where you can view and edit them.

The action list is executed when a button is pressed, preset is selected, or expression pedal is moved. When this happens, the actions in the list will be executed from top to bottom. You can change this order by clicking on an action and dragging it to its new position in the list. When dragging, a line is displayed showing where the action will be inserted.

Action Buttons

The middle column contains buttons that allow you to create and delete actions:

New Action - Creates a new action and adds it to the end of the action list.

Add CC Action - Pops up a requester, showing a list of your devices and the CCs that are available for the currently selected device. Select a device, then select a CC and press Done. This is the quickest way to add an action to control your devices. This option is not available for Generic MIDI devices.

Add Step - Adds a Step action to an IA Cycle button to the bottom of the action list. This button is only visible when editing a button and the IA Cycle checkbox is checked.

Remove Action - Removes the currently selected action from the list.

Action Parameters

The rightmost column is where you can edit each action's parameters.

Many actions have an On Value and an Off Value. These actions can do something different when the action is turned on and when it is turned off. When using an action with a button, external switch or expression pedal position switch, turning on a button or switch turns the action on and turning off the button or switch turns the action off. When using actions in a preset, the action is turned on when the preset is loaded. A preset action is never turned off, and for that reason doesn't have an Off Value.

In certain places, you can specify special values. Where special values are supported, there is an ellipsis (...) button next to the value field. Clicking this button lets you choose a special value instead of a number. For example, on the System / Page action, you could specify Previous instead of a specific page number. This switches to the previously selected page.

Action Type - Selects the action's type

Device - when using an action type that sends a MIDI message, this is where you specify the destination device for the message.

The remaining parameters displayed will depend on the action type selected. These will indicate the MIDI parameters of the message to send, the number of the audio loop to select, etc. Many action types have an On value and an Off value, indicating a value to use when the action is turned on and a different value to use when it is turned off.

For more information on actions, see Mastering the Mastermind Episode 10, Actions



Revision #11
Created 16 June 2021 02:45:55 by rjmeditor
Updated 28 July 2022 23:27:07 by RJM Music