Sign In:     

Forum: VirtualDJ Technical Support

Topic: Rane Four EFX
My Rane Four seems to work good with Virtual except for mapping a volume for the sampler volume (Can't seem to map the controller volume knob with a skin knob) AND the onboard effects. Flanger, echo, etc. all seem to work fine, but I can't seem to map the paddles and effects. Is this not allowed on Virtual? Or is it that those certain effects just don't work on VDJ?
 
Posted 2 days ago @ 9:24 pm
 
Thank you. I know what each knob and paddle does on the Rane four effects, but I guess I was asking if there is a way to map them to a VDJ skin. I can't seem to get them to work on ANY skin no matter how much I try to map. However, I appreciate the quick response!
 
This is a controller with an external mixer setup, which means that the hardware controls the audio mixing portion, so it makes sense to disable the skin functionality - they won't do anything but show control changes if the control sends MIDI (you can see this is done in the ONINIT key for the controller).

The Paddles do send MIDI it seems (there are key entries for them), so you could modify mappings if you wanted.
If the control doesn't send MIDI, you won't see changes, but most likely it doesn't matter because skin itself isn't doing anything wrt the audio for the controller.

The only case that you wouldn't want that is if you are using a soundcard that is not the one onboard the controller.

All of your answers would reside in the
Controllers tab (where all the mappings are shown), and you can probably edit the skin to see what is being queried to update the skin control in question in the skin's xml. By default, since they can toggle on/off of software effects, given you selected a software effect to enable, it should show the relevant effect being enabled/disabled in the effects section of the skin in question. For hardware effects, I'm not sure what value there is to show a difference as nothing in software functionality is changing at that point, but you may stil be able to do something with it.
 
Thank you for your response. I can see that the controller DOES send MIDI, and I also see in the skin where the paddles can be mapped as well. I tried to map those (before I let my pro license expire) and they still didn't work. However, I did not think about disabling the skin functionality, nor did I see an "ONINIT key". Unless I saw it and didn't know what it was or what it was used for. I'll see what I can find out about editing the xml for the skin/skins I have chosen. Thanks again for the suggestions.
 
You should not really mess with the mapping of Rane Four as a begginer.
The scripts involved are NOT begginer friendly.

As I said, the controller can control software effects and everything is premapped to allow this.
This also means that you can see the selected software effects that the paddles will control when in software fx mode, on the skin.

You should just read the manual above and try the controls. You'll see that you don't need to modify anything.
 
Thank you again for your response. I have tried the defualt settings / mappings only to have them NOT work. Which is why I asked if it is supported. I don't reallly want to fool around with mappings, but I think if the defaults don't work, I need to find a way to make them work. I mapped stems and other effects on an old controller (Numark) and was wondering if the Rane could be mapped too. But I agree, reading would be best IF I only had the time to read through all of it.
 
Maybe start off by saying what it is you expect the mapping of the paddles to do and why the default mapping doesn't work for you?
 
Tronis Tron wrote :
But I agree, reading would be best IF I only had the time to read through all of it.

It's a 3 minute reading.
I bet that you spent more time trying to "fix" something that doesn't need to be fixed.

Better yet, read the entire manual. 10 minutes reading at most.
It will save you a ton of questions and a lot of time, as it explains how stems work, how you can apply effects on stems e.t.c.

On the other hand, if you just want to spent time trying to do your stuff, then be my guest I guess..
But the controller works fine and it's mapping does everything it's meant to do! :)
 
Thank you both for the great insights.
PHANTOMDEEJAY: I have read the 3 minute and most of the 10 minute docs but still can't get what I want to use mapped. Maybe I'll have to dig a little deeper and read a little slower. I know how STEMS work and effects on them etc. As I stated previously, I have mapped them before on an older Numark controller. I just can't seem to figure it out on the RANE. The controller itself DOES work fine. STEMS works fine on it too. But not all functions (effects) work on the VDJ skins.
DJ VINYLTOUCH: When using my Rane Four with Serato software, the Echo, Recycle, Scale Dn, Scale Up, Riser, Matrix, and Echo Out effects work perfect with the paddles, as they should. The sampler level volume also works perfectly. If you look at a pic of the controller you will see which ones I'm referring to. Again, this is for Serato software which I don't really like. When I use Virtual software, those same effects DO NOT work. And I cannot find a way to map those same effects (nor the sampler level volume) to work with VDJ. All channel effects work for both software's, but not the ones I mentioned. I have seen YouTube videos where they are mapped on VDJ but no one is sharing how lol.
 
I'm pretty sure those buttons only select software effects in VirtualDJ and the paddles trigger on and off.
I think a few people here on the forum own and use that controller and have never complained about the effects not working (I believe @PhantomDeejay may be an owner, and if not, he did the actual mapping).

Is your issue that the specific effects on the faceplate are not used? I don't own the controller, but once again those buttons only select software effects to enable with the paddle. The software itself has to have those effects installed to match the faceplate.

As for the sampler volume knob - it's an external mixer controller (and hence it would make sense that it's not MIDI mapped to anything because it is assigned a permanent, hardware based control) but I thought I saw there was a key mapping for that. Is it that the control isn't working or is it that you just don't see it doing anything on the skin? The former is an actual problem. The latter is not.

Also, remember that VirtualDJ's aim in the mapping isn't to equal Serato, it's to map it in a way that makes sense from the perspective of what is on the faceplate (where it makes sense), and from the perspective of VietualDJ functionality it would expose - that's why the VirtualDJ hardware manual is the first place to check (not Serato).

The term "made for Serato" is just marketing - the Serato sticker and advanced release is something that is negotiated. The functionality/protocol under the hood, that it is based on, works for anything that understands it. That is why mapping is possible, so it really is made for anything that understands its protocols (if you are a Linux user, you'd also understand this more in the world of "made for Windows" laptops).
 
I understand that "Made for Serato" is only marketing. My old Numark says the same thing yet worked perfectly with Virtual. ("Is your issue that the specific effects on the faceplate are not used? I don't own the controller, but once again those buttons only select software effects to enable with the paddle. The software itself has to have those effects installed to match the faceplate"). Unless I am missing what the word "faceplate means, and if I understand correctly, you are asking if the effects are used, and if they work? If so, yes! They are used, and they do work. Just not on VDJ, or at least not on the skins I have tried. Also, by saying that the software itself has to have those effects installed to match the faceplate, does this mean that Virtual does not have those effects installed to map to the controller? The paddles triggering on and off makes sense. Thanks for that as I was thinking the other way around.

On one or two of the skins I have downloaded, there is a sampler knob on the skin. But I can't get it to map, or to work (Although it does work on other software).
I don't mean to make this any harder or complicated than what it is so I apologize for any misunderstandings. I've only had one or two Linux classes (Red Hat) so that may be a problem too lol. Thanks for the help.
 
Tron-is-Tron wrote :
Unless I am missing what the word "faceplate means, and if I understand correctly, you are asking if the effects are used, and if they work? If so, yes! They are used, and they do work. Just not on VDJ, or at least not on the skins I have tried. Also, by saying that the software itself has to have those effects installed to match the faceplate, does this mean that Virtual does not have those effects installed to map to the controller?


In order to trigger thw effect, in software, the software must have an implementation of the effect (that's pretty self explanatory). The software can also choose to put other effects in place of what is triggered by the button (i.e. the faceplate is only a marking, it doesn't mean the software has to provide that). Other hardware, such as DJM-S mixers, use FX instead of an actual name on the faceplate/button for this very reason. The hardware on the other hand, most likely has those effects built in and enabled by default at those positions (hence the markings).

Tron-is-Tron wrote :

On one or two of the skins I have downloaded, there is a sampler knob on the skin. But I can't get it to map, or to work (Although it does work on other software).
I don't mean to make this any harder or complicated than what it is so I apologize for any misunderstandings. I've only had one or two Linux classes (Red Hat) so that may be a problem too lol. Thanks for the help.


I'm pretty sure it works with mappings. The issue most likely is your controller doesn't send MIDI for the sample knob or something to that effect because it's an external mixer based controller (audio mixing + volume is done on the controller itself) (you can ask the devs about that). Did you try raising the physical volume knob to the max and then adjusting it? Sometimes that's needed for the skin display/audio to "catch" itself - I've seen (and still see) this with my DJM-S11 and assume it may have something to do with the controller not reporting the initial position of the sampler knob on connection establishment properly (also, just check the ONINIT key to see if there isn't any explicit setting of the sampler volume to max/100%, then it's definitely suggested to try to move the knob to the max first).

However, given it is actually doing the right thing (lowering or raising sampler volume), and you can look at the physical knob position to know where the volume is, it shouldn't be that much of an issue.
 
Making a little more sense when you explain about the software choosing to put other effects in place of what is triggered by the button. Although I have seen YouTube videos where ALL of the desired effects work on VDJ with the RANE Four, I'm now wondering if those are old videos, or maybe older skins.
As for the sampler volume knob, when I try to map, I see the controller does midi to the skin, I saw numbers 0 through 9 appear and move when I turn the physical knob on the controller. I just don't know how to map it or lock it in. You mentioned the ONINIT key previously so I will check more into what exactly it does, where to find it, and how it works. Again, I really appreciate your responses to all of this. The same for PHANTOMDEEJAY.