STACK MODE - Introduction

STACK MODE - Introduction

 

STACK MODE is a powerful feature designed for creating splits, layers, and crossfades with up to eight Parts at once. STACK MODE offers a flexible environment for either live performance or composing. STACK MODE is especially useful for recording a multi-Part performance using a single MIDI track in your host sequencer.

Use STACK MODE instead of LIVE MODE when you want to create splits and crossfades, and play all the Parts using a single MIDI channel.
There are three different ways to interact with Parts using STACK MODE: NOTES, VELOCITY, and CC. Although they all share the same STACK MODE Grid layout, they are applied very differently from one another.

Using NOTES, each Part Region is mapped to a MIDI Note range, allowing you to map splits, layers and positional crossfades across your keyboard. Using VELOCITY, each Part Region responds to a specific Velocity range, so no matter where you are playing on the keyboard, different Part Regions can be triggered by playing harder or softer. Using CC, Part Regions can be switched and crossfaded using MIDI Control Change messages.

 

NOTE: STACK MODE works with multiple patches simultaneously, so it requires a powerful computer to make the best use of it.  To optimize performance, mute Patch FX like Reverbs and Delays and use the shared Aux Sends FX instead.

 

Enabling Stack Mode

 

To enable STACK MODE, select the Power Button to the left of the STACK MODE label. 

When STACK MODE is enabled, you’ll see “STACK MODE” displayed in the left side of the Trilian header. This will be visible from any page in the plug-in.

 

 

STACK MODE - Presets Menu

STACK MODE - Presets Menu

 

 

All STACK MODE settings (except MIDI Channel, which will always default to “Any”) are saved and recalled with the MULTI, which means you can setup a MULTI specifically for use with STACK MODE enabled.

In addition to saving and loading complete MULTIS, Stack Presets can be independently saved and loaded from the drop-down menu at the top of the STACK MODE page.

A Stack Preset only saves and recalls the layout of the STACK MODE Grid. This includes the positions of all added Part Regions, and the original Part numbers associated to those Regions.

When a Stack Preset is loaded, it will replace the layout of the STACK MODE Grid. Part Regions will be automatically matched to the same Part numbers they were assigned when the Preset was saved.

 

NOTE: Stack Presets do not store Patches, Part Names, CC assignments, or which setting (NOTES, VELOCITY or CC) was selected at the time the Stack Preset was saved.

STACK MODE - MIDI Channel Menu

STACK MODE - MIDI Channel Menu

 

All of the Parts in STACK MODE respond to a single MIDI Channel, even if the Parts are assigned to different MIDI Channels on the Mixer page.  Use the MIDI Channel menu to choose which MIDI Channel STACK MODE will respond to.

 

Range Any, CH: 1 – CH: 16

STACK MODE - MIDI CC Menu

STACK MODE - MIDI CC Menu

 

Use the MIDI CC menu to choose which MIDI Control Change number STACK MODE will respond to when using the CC setting. 

 

NOTE: When using CC, all Parts added to the Stack Mode Grid will be triggered simultaneously when notes are played, even if their Regions are outside the CC value range, and not outputting audio. Therefore, this feature can put a high demand on the CPU.

STACK MODE - Grid

STACK MODE - Grid

 

The Stack Mode Grid is made up of 8 horizontal Rows, each divided by 128 lines corresponding to the full range of possible MIDI values.

Up to 8 Parts can be arranged on the STACK MODE Grid as Regions. A Region will always correspond to one Part, and is displayed horizontally along a Row. Once added to the grid, Regions can be moved, resized or edited using the Mouse.

One Row can contain multiple Part Regions, but each Part can only be present in one Row at a time.

STACK MODE - Adding & Removing Parts

STACK MODE - Adding & Removing Parts

 

To add a Part, Right/Control-Click on the desired Row in the Stack Mode Grid, then choose a Part from the menu.  All of the Patches loaded into the current Multi will appear in this menu. 

NOTE: You can add Parts to the Stack Mode Grid that have no Patches loaded yet.

 

To place two (or more) Parts on the same Row simply Right/Control-Click on a Row again, and select “Add Part” for each Part that you want to add to that Row. Up to 8 Parts can be added to a single Row, however it is usually simplest to assign each Part to its own corresponding Row.

To remove a Part from any Row, Right/Control-Click on the Region and select “Remove this Part”.

 

NOTE: Removing a Part from the STACK MODE grid doesn’t remove that Part from the Multi, so it can be added back to the grid again if desired. When re-adding a Part, all previous changes made to its Region (position, width and fades) are retained when added back to the grid.

 

STACK MODE - Moving, Crossfading & Resizing Regions

STACK MODE - Moving, Crossfading & Resizing Regions

 

Moving – To move a Region, click inside the Region and drag horizontally.

NOTE: You can only drag Regions horizontally, and not vertically across Rows. To relocate a Part to another Row, simply add the Part to the desired Row using the Add Part contextual menu. The Part will relocate, with its Region settings (position, width and fades) intact.

 

Resizing - Click and drag the lower right or lower left corner of a Region to increase or decrease its width. If two Regions are on the same Row and crossfaded together, resizing will only change the width of the selected Region.

 

Fading - To add a fade to a Region, select the upper-right or upper-left corner of the Region and drag the corner inward.  The further the corner is dragged, the more gradual the ramp and the longer the fade will be.

You can shorten or remove a fade by dragging the upper corner of the fade outward.

 

Contiguous & Crossfade - To have contiguous or crossfaded Regions, both Regions must be on the same Row.  Once on the same Row, Regions can be placed side-by-side for contiguous layout.

To crossfade two Regions, place two Regions on the same Row. Create a fade on one Region (on the side facing the other Region), then drag the faded Region toward the other. When the Regions touch, Trilian will automatically create a crossfade.

Dragging inside the crossfaded area will move the crossfade without changing its length. This will not move the Regions themselves, although the relative length of the Regions will change accordingly. 

Dragging on the upper corners of the crossfade will increase or decrease the length of the crossfade, without moving either Region. Again, the relative length of the Regions will change accordingly.

STACK MODE - Operation Modes

STACK MODE - Operation Modes

 

 

There are three ways that Part Regions can be used in STACK MODE: NOTES, VELO and CC. Only one of these can be active at a time.

STACK MODE - Notes

STACK MODE - Notes

 

 

When NOTES is selected, Part Regions are mapped to a MIDI Note range, allowing you to map splits, layers and positional crossfades across the keyboard. Each of the 128 lines in the grid correspond to a MIDI Note number, and Regions can be mapped over a ten-octave range. When NOTES is selected, a mini-keyboard is displayed at the bottom of the Stack Mode Grid.

NOTE: The mini-keyboard will highlight notes in yellow as they are played. Notes highlighted in red are notes that have been MIDI Note Learned in LIVE MODE, and are shown for reference only.

STACK MODE - Velocity

STACK MODE - Velocity

 

When VELO is selected, Part Regions are mapped to a specific Velocity range.  The mini-keyboard is not displayed. Instead, the horizontal axis represents the 128 Velocity values.  This allows Velocity switching and crossfading of Parts. For example, which Part is played depends on how hard or soft the MIDI keyboard is played.

The horizontal axis shows white reference numbers for Velocity values and also displays incoming MIDI Note messages.  The markers on the horizontal axis range from 1-127. When you play notes, their Velocity values will be displayed by yellow vertical bars.

 

Parts on the left side of the Grid will be triggered at lower Velocity levels, while at higher Velocity, Parts on the right side of the Grid will be triggered.

In the example below, all the Parts will be triggered except the Region at the far right, which is mapped to a Velocity range of 126-127.

 

In this example, playing at lower Velocity values triggers the two Parts on the left.

 

In this example, playing at medium Velocity values triggers the third part from the left.

 

Finally, as Velocity increases further, the next Region to the right will be triggered by higher Velocity values.

 

STACK MODE - CC

STACK MODE - CC

 

When CC is selected, Part Regions can be switched or crossfaded using MIDI CC messages. This is useful for crossfading patches from a MIDI hardware slider or knob. Each Region can be mapped to specific values across the MIDI CC’s range. The MIDI Control Change number that STACK MODE uses is chosen from the MIDI CC menu on the STACK MODE page.

 

 

Once the MIDI Control Change Number has been chosen, all of the Regions will respond to that CC number.  The current MIDI CC value is displayed at the bottom of the Stack Mode Grid, similar to VELO mode, but only the current value is visible. While holding notes down, the value display will update as you sweep across the range of CC values.

 

NOTE: When using CC, all Parts added to the Stack Mode Grid will be triggered simultaneously when notes are played, even if their Regions are outside the CC value range, and not outputting audio. Therefore, this feature can put a high demand on the CPU.

 

NOTE: MIDI CC 32 (bank select) is not available.

STACK MODE - Display Menu

STACK MODE - Display Menu

 

 

The Display Menu allows you to choose which information is displayed with each Region in the Stack Mode Grid.

SHOW NAME

Displays only the Part Name.

 

SHOW PART #

Displays only the Part Number. This corresponds to the Part Number on the Mixer Page.

 

SHOW NAME and #

Displays both the Part Name and the Part Number.