Controlling Groove Agent from Aura

Nektarine Support

Groove Agent does not enable parameters for control/automation by default but a default Nektar map file is loaded nevertheless. The map file is loaded the first time you launch Groove Agent in Nektarine and can be used to customize Groove Agent mapping from scratch.

There are additional map files that are paired with most of Groove Agents factory presets. We have created a Groove Agent Nektarine patch in which all the needed parameters are enabled to get the map files working. This 16 pad control setup template is a good place for you to start controlling Groove Agent from Aura.

Groove Agent 16 Pad Control Setup for Aura

The default Groove Agent mapping can be used as is or as a starting point to expand or create your own.

The following parameters are mapped for each of Groove Agent’s 16 pads in group 3:

  1. Volume
  2. Pan
  3. Coarse (Semi tone)
  4. Filter Type
  5. Filter Shape
  6. Cutoff
  7. Resonance
  8. Filter Distortion
  • To enable the parameters for control, first download the Groove Agent for Aura Nektarine patch file:
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    Groove Agent for Aura Nektarine patch 106.40 KB 767 downloads

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  • Next launch Nektarine and select ‘Browser’
  • In the Browser, click on the ‘Import Patches’ button.
  • Locate the downloaded ‘Groove Agent for Aura.nek’ file and open it. The patch ‘Groove Agent’ should now appear in the browser
  • Load the Groove Agent patch and press [PLUGIN] on Aura to control Groove Agent.  As you strike each of Aura’s 16 pads you should now be able to control each pad’s parameters.

You can now load presets from your library and control the 16 pads as assigned. Control/Automation parameters are not stored with Groove Agent presets so the mapping for the most part doesn’t change as you load new Groove Agent presets.

If you find that the mapping disappear when selecting a specific Groove Agent preset but the parameters are still enabled, reload a preset that can be controlled correctly and use the ‘Add new parameters to current map’ feature to lock the mapping and then change the preset.

Note: Some Groove Agent presets have a totally different parameter structure which means the enabled host parameters are not applicable. You can build your own default setup/mapping if needed.

 

Customizing Groove Agent Mapping

Aura Groove Agent mapping can either be created from scratch or by adding parameters to existing mapping. If no automation parameters are enabled in Groove Agent a default 16 pad map file loaded with each page named with it’s corresponding pad number. 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 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. The next step is to enable some parameters and assign them to controls on each page.
  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. This selects the corresponding map page.
  3. Right-click on one or more of the parameters in Groove Agent and select ‘Assign to New 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 assigned to new automation and move any of  [R1-R8] on Aura. You should now see the parameter name and it’s value on Aura’s display.
  6. If button parameters can be assigned to automation, you can learn them to the 4 display buttons.
Keep repeating the above steps until you have mapped the parameters you need. Once you are done, press [Shift]+[Menu] on Aura to exit ‘Learn’ mode. Then click ‘Save Changes’ in the Nektarine/Control tab. Make sure to also save your Groove Agent setup, either as a Nektarine Patch or as part of your DAW song. If the setup is not saved, the mapping will only work if you setup the same parameters again.
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