*Draft Documentation*
Introduction
Adroit Custom lets you create your own user interface for a Voltage Modular patch – in effect it enables you to design and build your own synthesizers, sequencers, mixers or effects processors without having to resort to coding.
To do this you build a patch as usual using any modules you like, in parallel you construct a customized user interface containing interactive elements such as knobs, sliders and buttons that are mapped to remotely control things deep within your patch. In addition a range of dynamic graphical elements can be added to your custom interface in order to provide visual feedback.
All of the complexity and mess of the patch can be hidden off-screen leaving you with a streamlined interface showing just those elements that are important.
As well as being able to remotely control knobs, sliders and buttons, Adroit Custom can output CV, switch or attenuate signals and send MIDI control messages. With suitable interfacing hardware you can also remotely control external kit such as MIDI keyboards and Eurorack.
Overview
The Adroit Custom bundle consists of Custom Panel, Custom Look, Custom IO and Custom Control modules.
The basic building block is a module called Custom Panel. This is a small (6 HP) panel strip that contains a customizable column of elements. You add and configure these elements using a set of pop-up menus, So for instance when you right-click on a newly created Custom Panel module you’ll get the main menu shown below.
Your custom interface is constructed by butting together any number of these Custom Panel modules horizontally and/or vertically. A small setup might consist of just one or two Custom Panel modules while a large setup might use say 24 Custom Panel modules arranged in an 8 by 3 grid.
The Custom Look module enables you to control the appearance of your interface. The background can be fully customized by loading your own image from a standard graphic file or you can use a flexible built-in gradient shading system instead.
A range of different skins are provided for each interface element and any True Type font can be used for text labelling.
Most Custom Look settings are organized into three customizable themes – Light, Dark and Other. A special Theme button can be added to your interface that cycles between these when clicked.
Custom IO modules look after connections between Adroit Custom and other modules. Up to four Custom IO modules can be deployed at once. Each provides 8 inputs that can be used to drive visual elements, a MIDI output and 8 general purpose outputs that correspond to the state of any assigned knobs, sliders or buttons.
The Custom Control module takes things to another level by providing sophisticated scene control. A scene consists of the settings of all controls in your custom interface. There are 16 scenes and you can switch or morph between them using manual, step-sequenced or CV control.
Individual scenes can be intialized, randomized or slightly nudged from their current settings at the press of a button. It’s also easy to copy one scene to another.
Every knob, slider or button in your interface has a Scene Mode setting (Motorized, Shared or specific to one of the 16 scenes). This offers a powerful automation and sequencing mechanism. Effectively every control in your interface has a dedicated 16-step morphable sequencer standing behind it.
Motorized controls provide easy to use automation while the ability to asssign separate controls to indivdual scenes means you can build step sequencers directly into the interface without having to use external sequencer modules.
The Custom Look, Custom IO and Custom Control modules connect invisibly to the Custom Panel modules so can be kept off-screen leaving your customized interface completely free-standing and uncluttered.
Finally the end result is stored in a standard Voltage Modular preset file so you can share your work with others by transferring a single file.
Although you may wish to use one of the hundreds of True Type fonts that are available for free to add something special to your interface and these aren’t embedded in the preset file. So to get the exact same look on another computer such fonts need to be installed separately – although this isn’t really a problem as it’s very easy to download and install a font.