W I P
There are so much ways to map parameters to variable.
This is an attempt to give a non-exhaustive overview of what I found and what is left to try.
Prior Definition :
The control is the interface element that you interact with, it set the value of the
parameter, the parameter's value is shaped to set the variable value, the variable value is used for
computation
One-to-One *>->·
The most obvious way to map a parameter to a variable is to simply map the value of a parameter to the value of a
variable.
Nonetheless, a lot of choices have to be made to obtain an effective and enjoyable parameter.
Relational *>=>[···]
Tuned control of linked parameters (appel de fonction d’organisation, définition d’array)
perceptual
tuned controling duplicated system / controling complex system
Macro *>=>·/·/·
Modifiying multiple param that are not linked. Makes parameters more usable than 1:1, lead to new modulation idea,
replace / facilitate automation.
Shaping the parameter -!->
Most of the time, even on 1:1, the value of the parameter won't be the value of the variable. It is important to
shape the parameter to have a sensible value to display to the user. The most common control is the knob
The first thing to tune is the course of the knob, the default is linear, the value of the parameter is
the same as the value of the variable.
Depending on the nature of your variable, non linear mapping may be more significant.
The textbook case is the frequency: it is percieved logarithmically, thus you'll need to exponentiate you mapping.
This is from a plain perceptive point of view, but log and exp can also be useful to manage where the
interesting part of your parameters are.
Most of the feedback path can quickly become unstable, you'll need a lot of precision around this treshold.
You can shape multiple stage of the knob with different fonction to have a smooth and precise setting over the whole
range, emphasizing some sound and sweet spot you've found.
Perceptual
It is a special case of all the above, where the parameter is based around a perceptive parameter
Interface
All of this is useless without proper interface to support coherence and to add cognitive support.
- Slider
- Knob
- Switch
- Multiple State Switch
- New Stuff
Things you want to visualize:
- name
what name should you choose, if well known effect, use the well know name, if not, look for the
feeling, or reference to other effect you can choose forget the technical variable, it won't help guess what
sound you'll get, get creative and use symbolic / metaphorical name, if it's experimental, do wathever you want.
names serve two purposes : guessing the sound before using it for the first time (lure the user to use it)
memo of consequence, once you used the parameter once, is the name a good mnemotecnic to remember the feeling of
turning the knob ??
- Consequence
- Absolute Value
- Unit
- relative value (percent, slider, perceptual)
helped by a visualization that respond to the parameter statuts, it may be generative art, Codec, from Lese, is a good exemple.
Here is an article of
Izotopeabout their control: "the Gauge".
And this is the website of Imagi.ro. which have wonderful controls.