Josh Elliott
Description:
Add a comprehensive set of actions and variables to
assign items to groups
and
modify group settings at runtime
—including membership, launch/mute behavior, exclusivity/choke rules, voice limits, quantization, color/tags, and selection/iteration—so groups can be managed hands-free during performance.
Problem:
Group behavior (e.g., exclusive playback, voice limits, quantization) is typically configured in editors, not on stage. When arrangements evolve mid-set—adding a new clip to an exclusive group, toggling choke, changing launch quantization, or iterating through group members—performers need mappable controls. Without action-level access, users duplicate pages or stop the flow to edit settings.
Proposed Solution:
  • Membership Actions:
-
Add Selected to Group …
/
Remove Selected from Group …
/
Move Selected to Group …
-
Clear Group Membership
(selected items)
- Target by
Group Name/ID
,
Color
, or
Tag
; support multi-select.
  • Behavior Actions (per Group):
-
Set Group Mode
=
Free / Exclusive (Choke) / Round-Robin / Random / Cycle
-
Set Voice Limit (N)
;
Set Choke on New Start
(on/off)
-
Set Launch Quantization
=
None/Beat/Bar/Loop/Custom
-
Set Stop Quantization
;
Set Fade In/Out
(ms or bars/beats)
-
Set Default Record Target
(group catches new recordings)
-
Enable/Disable Follow Actions for Group
(ties into FA system)
-
Set Group Color/Tag(s)
  • Control & Navigation:
-
Group Play/Mute/Solo/Stop/Clear
-
Select Next/Previous Member
;
Select Member by Index/Name
-
Trigger Current Member
;
Cycle to Next on Trigger
(honors mode)
-
Apply Template to Group
(optional, for consistent widgets/FX)
  • Guards & Scheduling:
- Quantize membership changes and mode switches to
bar/loop
(optional)
- Safe fallbacks when removing the last member; full undo
  • Variables & Feedback:
-
group.id
,
group.name
,
group.mode
,
group.voiceLimit
,
group.quantizeLaunch
,
group.memberCount
,
group.playingCount
,
group.selectedIndex
,
group.color
,
group.tags[]
- Events:
onGroupChanged
,
onGroupMemberSelected
  • UX:
- Inspector shows live group state and membership; quick-assign popover; badges on members indicating their group(s)
Benefits:
  • Real-time,
    performance-safe
    control over grouping without leaving the canvas.
  • Faster musical choreography: choke hats, rotate fills, change quantize on the fly.
  • Fewer duplicated templates; more flexible shows.
  • Clear feedback for controllers and labels via exposed variables.
Examples:
  • Map a footswitch to
    Move Selected to Group “Hats (Exclusive)”
    and
    Set Voice Limit = 1
    —open/closed hats now choke correctly.
  • Before a breakdown,
    Set Group Launch Quantize = Bar
    and
    Fade Out = 250 ms
    to guarantee tight transitions.
  • A “Variations” button
    Selects Next Member
    of the “Bass Lines” group; mode =
    Round-Robin
    so each press advances to a new riff.
  • During live capture, enable
    Default Record Target = Group “Perc FX”
    so new one-shots auto-join that choke group.
  • Temporarily
    Disable Follow Actions for Group “Pads”
    while overdubbing, then resume with a single action.
This summary was automatically generated by GPT-5 Thinking on 2025-09-10.
Original Post:
It would be very useful to be able to change Group settings via actions.
For example:
Group/Ungroup
Clips play together or not settings
Mutually exclusive settings
This would make for much cleaner templates and allow for a flexible looping workflow all on one page without needing to have multiple versions of clips to accomplish different workflows.