Apologies if this is too obscure a question. I got very exited recently when I realised I could use my Mackie MCU Pro Surface to control Final Cut Pro X using Keyboard Maestro midi triggers.
I have been able to map the physical shuttle wheel to move through the timeline forwards and back. And I've had fun assigning most to the physical buttons on the Mackie MCU Pro Surface to do something in Final Cut Pro X. It is lovely to be able to press a physical "play" button on the Mackie and have the timeline in Final Cut Pro X play. And to use the physical shuttle wheel to scroll back and forth.
But I have not been able to make much use of the fader sliders on the Mackie MCU Pro Surface. I would love to be able to slide the master fader up on the Mackie MCU Pro Surface and have it precisely alter the volume of a selected audio element in Final Cut Pro X.
I have been able to use Keyboard Maestro's "read" midi to work our what "note" each of the faders is. For example, the Master Fader is note "112". I can make a Keyboard Maestro macro where if I so much as touch the 112 Master fader the volume can be made to rise in Final Cut Pro X (or any other thing as it's only a trigger). But I can't work out how to make use of the fader's sliding up and down function to have any effect.
I thought I was getting somewhere when I realised that Keyboard Maestro could also read the midi "packets" that a physical midi controller sends but I have been going around in circles.
Likewise, there is a Keyboard Maestro midi trigger that registers "changes" in a midi controller but this doesn't seem to have anything to do with the physical volume sliders on the Mackie MCU Pro Surface. I think the volume sliders might be "notes" rather then "controls".
Like I said, apologies in advance it this it too specific and obscure a problem, but I thought there might be other film editors out there who have solved this.
The main thing is that it is fantastic to be able to use Keyboard Maestro to make use of most of the functions of the Mackie MCU Pro Surface in Final Cut Pro X.
I asked this question 3 years ago and got no replies (understandably, as I said, I know it's pretty obscure and specialised...).
But recently there have been a few posts on similar subjects, notably the one below, I wondered if some people had joined the Forum that could give me some tips to get started with the question above.
Yes, the faders were what brought me to a standstill.
The Mackie Control Surface has a shuttle wheel and it is simple to make that work with the playhead (just a matter of sending +1 or -1 to send the playhead forwards or backwards a frame at time).
But the faders defeated me as it's not just a matter of sending a positive when the fader moves one way and a negative when it moves the other way - a position such as -10dB on the fader has to somehow set a selected Final Cut Pro's track level to -10dB.
In Final Cut there is a menu option to set a tracks volume to an absolute level so, in theory it should be possible to translate the position of the fader to that, as you have done, through Variables. But I don't really understand Packets and can't interpret the seemingly random data that is being sent through - even though Keyboard Maestro takes account of the packets...
I will have a really good read of the solution you came up with and see if I can adapt it. It would be really neat to be able to interactively set volume automation using physical faders (like I can already in Logic Pro). Much more intuitive than using the mouse. The trouble is that Final Cut Pro isn't designed to work that way so I might be fighting a losing battle!
Thank you @D-One - I will look at your Macros tomorrow (and also @klok). This is why I decided to bring my original question from 3 years ago back from the dead - as I noticed there are some people now in the Forum trying to achieve similar things!
