Controlling Battery 4 from Aruba/Aura

When you launch Battery 4 in Nektarine, a Nektar Map File is loaded too. If Aura is connected, striking any of the pads show pages in Plugin mode but there are no parameters available to control.

Parameters in Battery 4 need to be enabled for host automation to allow them to be automated or controlled by Aura. Host automation parameters are also not globally enabled but instead are per Kit.

There is also a max limit of 128 parameters total so it’s not possible to enable every parameter in every cell in Battery 4.

We have created some templates that will help you utilize Battery 4’s host automation parameters with Aura and give you a good starting point to adapt a setup to your own workflow.

Adding Parameters to the Empty Default Template

The default Battery 4 Nektar map does not contain any host automation parameters so the first step is to preserve the template. To do that, the current mapping needs to be locked:

• In Nektarine/Control, locate the ‘Add new parameters to current map’ tick box and tick it.

It’s now possible to enable host automation parameters while this box is ticked. If the box is not ticked, the mapping will immediately update to the default 5 map pages and the code that links each page to a pad will be gone. If that happens, quit Nektarine and start again.

1. On Aura, press [PLUGIN] to enable the mode.
2. Next strike a pad on Aura that plays a sound that you want to control. Make sure ‘Selection Follows MIDI’ is enabled in Battery 4. It is by default.
3. Right-click on one or more of the parameters in Battery 4 and select ‘Enable Host Automation’ from the popup menu.
4. On Aura, make sure [PLUGIN] is selected and press [Shift]+[Menu] to enable Aura’s parameter ‘Learn’ function.
5. Move a parameter that was enabled for host automation and move [R1-R8] on Aura. You should now see the parameter name and it’s value on Aura’s display.

Keep repeating the above steps until you have mapped the parameters you need.Once you are done, click ‘Save Changes’ in the Nektarine/Control tab. Make sure to also save your Battery 4 setup, either as a patch in Nektarine, In Battery 4 or as part of a DAW song.