How to make various elements of Gig Performer bigger

22 Aug How to make various elements of Gig Performer bigger

Posted at 07:27h in Gig Performer Blog, GP4, Tips by

In this article you will learn how to make various elements of Gig Performer bigger and making them suitable for smaller displays, touch screen devices or simply tweaking options to better match your preferences.

The first two tips that will be presented are especially useful when your screen is too small, as discussed in this Community thread.

Enter full screen mode

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The first tip is to dedicate your entire screen size to Gig Performer – enter full screen mode. You can enter full screen mode:
– via the main menu; click on the View menu and then click on the Toggle Full Screen menu item.
– using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Alt + F (or Cmd+Option+F on Mac) toggles full screen mode.
– clicking (or tapping) on the Gig Performer logo toggles full screen mode.

Enter full screen mode in Gig Performer, audio plugin host (AU, VST3 and VST host) for live performance

You can also configure Gig Performer to always start in full screen mode; click Options -> Display to open Display Options and then turn on the Always start in full screen mode toggle button. NB: you can also enter full screen mode using GPScript.

Tip: if you want to access Gig Performer options while you are in full screen mode, hold the Shift key down and click on the Metronome. Learn about other tips with the Shift key in this article: The magic of the Shift key.

Move the separator

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If you move the separator line (indicated with the red arrow on the screenshot below) to the far left, you can have clearer view as the panels’ and widgets’ size will increase proportionally. Compare these two screenshots with the default separator position and the separator moved to the far left:

Gig Performer Separator Line, moved to the far left

Tip: if you moved the separator to the far left and want to quickly reposition it to the default position, click Help -> Show a Gig Performer Hint. Showing a new hint will automatically set the separator line to its default position.

Increase the size of rackspace, variation, song, and song part names

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Gig Performer 4.5 brought us a neat feature to change the size of names of rackspaces and variations in the Panels and Wiring views and the size of names of songs and song parts in the Setlist view. You can make the desired changes in Display Options. The default size for all names is 24 pt, but you can change this to any value between 12 pt and 48 pt. Here is a quick comparison:

Rackspace name size, Variation name size 24pt and 48pt cmparison

The first screenshot shows the default size for rackspace/variation names and in the second screenshot these values for rackspace/variation name sizes are set to 48pt.

Similarly, adjust the name sizes for songs and song parts to your preferences.

Convert panels to the larger ones

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On small screens, it’s easier to layout and arrange widgets if you first design them on larger panels. In the following screenshot is compared a 2U panel and its 4U convert:

Gig Performer panels 2U vs 4U height
Check this user manual page to see how to create new panels or convert existing panels.

Enable large keypad for entering values

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You can activate the larger keypad for entering some values by turning on the Touch friendly number editing toggle button in the Display Options. Here is a comparison between the default and larger keypad:

Large keypad for entering values vs small one in Gig Performer

The larger keypad is a better option for touch screen devices.

Show various system-wide parameters in big labels

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If you want to display certain system-wide parameters in Gig Performer larger than normal, you can insert the System Action plugin in the Wiring view, add a label widget onto the panel and then associate that widget with the desired System Actions parameter. Here is an example:

Current rackspace and current variation

Here we displayed the current rackspace, the current variation, Global BPM, Global Transpose and Master Trim in the Global panel. You can display many other parameters, such as the current song name, the previous song name, the next song name, or song key (you must be in the Setlist view to display these parameters). For the complete list of parameters check this user manual page. A solid starting point to practice with the System Action plugin is this blog article.

Use a Gig Performer extension

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Gig Performer extensions can be used to design and display various elements of Gig Performer in arbitrary sizes. Here is an example of the Gig Performer Selector extension in action from this thread:

Song Selector extension in Gig Performer on Angel von Powerlord's laptop

You can learn about this extension and extensions in general in this blog article.

Use an OSC application

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Open Stage Control is an OSC application that allows you to control Gig Performer via a Web browser, that can run on any platform (iOS, Android, macOS, Windows or Linux) and any device in the local network including the computer that is running Gig Performer. You can design a layout any way you like and control Gig Performer via OSC. Check this blog article to learn more about Open Stage Control. For example, keyboard splits can be displayed very prominently (click here to download the project):

Open Stage Control and keyboard splits display in Gig Performer

You can also use other OSC apps on your tablet or smartphone, such as TouchOSC to control Gig Performer. Check this blog article to learn more.

To learn about more tips or to share your feedback, please to visit this Community thread.

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Share this article it to support Gig Performer and spread the word! 🙂

Own The Stage® with Gig Performer®

Nemanja Pudar

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Related topics:
– Working with panels and widgets

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Scaling Curves

Scaling curves allow you to control the shape of the output of a widget or convert an incoming note velocity to a new velocity. Various predefined curves are available and they can be tweaked as necessary. You can also just draw your own curve as well to achieve the effect you require.

 

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MIDI File Player Plugin

You can load up to 128 MIDI song files in a single plugin instance. Switch from one song to another, mute tracks and/or change their channel numbers. Tempo can be controlled by individual songs or you can use the global tempo and tap tempo to control the BPM interactively.

 

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Favorites and Presets

Create a sound by placing and interconnecting your desired plugins, such as a synth, some effects and perhaps a mixer. Select them all and then save the selection as a named favorite. The favorite will subsequently show up in all plugin insert menus, making it easy for you to recreate that configuration whenever you need it again. This feature is also very powerful for creating your needed sounds on your studio computer and then transferring them to your touring laptop.

 

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Probabilistic Sound Designer

Parameters you select in an open plugin are captured into the Probabilistic Sound Designer dialog window. When you click Randomize, you're only adjusting those selected parameters. Each entry in the PSD dialog has a curve but unlike widgets where the curve controls scaling, in the PSD the curves are used to define the probability of particular values being selected. Make sure the filter cutoff never gets too slow so as to block all sound. Perhaps adjust the max range of the VCA attack parameter so that the sound doesn't have too much delay. Constrain the octave ranges of the oscillators, perhaps ensuring that 1/3rd of the time we select 8' and 2/3rds of the time we select 4'. The possibilities are endless.

 

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More Widgets

Numerous new widgets are included in Gig Performer - a new sustain pedal, plastic knobs, drum pads and more colored sliders. Shapes can be colored with different borders and fill colors and morphed from rectangular to circular. Your creativity is now the limit to creating fabulous front panels in Gig Performer.

 

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MIDI Message Helper

Select MIDI devices by name. Choose the MIDI message type and adjust the appropriate parameters for the specific type

 

  

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Layout management

Gig Performer supports arbitrary resizing. Layout your widgets the way you want - resize the main window and the widgets will grow or shrink as necessary to maintain the same interrelationships. No matter what size screen you have, your front panels will still be neat and usable.

 

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Undo Support

If you move your widgets around and/or resize them, or even delete them by mistake, the Undo facility will correct your mistake. Minor moves to a widget by mistake will no longer spoil your design

 

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Plugin Channel Count

Some plugins support a large number of outputs and they depend on the traditional channel strip to control how many ports should be available.   When you only need a stereo pair, it is convenient not to have a large horizontal block. In Gig Performer, the number of available ports  is controlled by the channel count override, which can be applied to individual plugins and will be remembered when the gigfile is reloaded or if the plugin is saved as a favorite.

 

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Input muting and output fading

Rather than a single audio length tail, Gig Performer 4 gives you the ability to control input muting and output fading separately. Input muting controls how much time it takes for audio input to be silenced when you leave the rackspace. Output fading controls how much time will be taken for audio to fade out when you leave the rackspace.

 

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Faster Plugin Finder

Instead of searching through menus of perhaps hundreds of plugins (you know who you are!), the Quick Plugin Finder makes it easy to find the plugin you need by simply typing partial strings. For example, as shown here, to find the Modartt Pianoteq 7 plugins, it's enough to type pia mod 7 (in any order, by the way)  to restrict the list of available plugins to those matching your query. The Quick Plugin Finder also knows about manufacturers, presets and favorites.

 

  

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Touch Friendly Input

Any entry field can be changed by either dragging your mouse (or finger) up or down, or by using the large popup touchpad where you can just tap on the squares to enter a value. The large popup keypad also does validation so you can't enter an invalid value. You can also just tap the BPM field to pop up a larger view where you can quickly change tempo, tranpose, trigger Tap Tempo and enable Ableton Link, the last allowing you to synchronize Gig Performer with any other application that also supports Ableton Link.

 

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New Tuner Display

The tuner view makes it easy for guitarists to quickly check and adjust their tuning. You can toggle into the tuner view from any other view and toggle right back as soon as you're done. All output will be silenced automatically while you're in tuning mode. You can adjust the concert reference pitch from its default of 440 Hz to suit your own needs. The tuner view fills the entire screen so you can easily see it from a distance.

 

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