Secondly, if anyone has a solution to my problem which I've overlooked, then I'll take it on the nose and be very happy that it's solved.
The problem I want to discuss here, is that I cannot find a way to link the FL mixer's mute insert buttons to an external controller and I feel that there should be. The only work around I've discovered so far is to use the Fruity Mute 2 plugin. Unfortunately, it's a rather imperfect solution and I find a couple of problems with this.
I'll be honest, I really don't like this plugin for a number of reasons.
For a start, a mute (any mute) is strictly an on/off, toggle affair and yet this thing uses wheels, which don't map too happily to on/off toggle switches on all controllers. I'm using the Korg NanoKontrol and Novation Zero SL II. While I can just about scrape it together with the NanoKontrol, I just can't seem to get the main wheel to work meaningfully with the Novation SL. I've tried every combination of mapping formulas with no success. In any case, it's not a volume control, so why the knobs? It doesn't make any sense.
Secondly, I don't really feel we should have to be using up an FX slot for something as basic as a mute. This is something as integral to most, if not all mixers, as pan controls are, for instance. You really shouldn't need a plugin just to mute a signal, as it's just part of the mixer.
I do appreciate that the Mute 2 plugin is actually designed for muting within an FX chain. At least, that's what the documentation tells us, although I've never managed to get it to work as described - it just mutes the whole track. Maybe it's just me, but I'm a little baffled by this device and not actually sure what the point of it is, in the first place. I would have thought this was what FX bypass buttons were for? Again - an integral part of the mixer, I would have thought.
But of course, I'm talking about my workaround here, while the real issue is: why isn't it possible to just control and automate the mixers mute buttons like every other virtual or physical mixing desk on the market? Or, at the very least, get rid of those illogical wheels on the Fruity Mute in exchange for some logical on/off buttons?
In practice, the only way I can activate it is to link my controller to the mute on the FX slot it occupies. This presents another illogical niggle for me because now I have an FX slot that has to be muted in order to let the signal through - so when unmuted, it's muted! see where I'm coming from here? In any case, I would have thought that FX slots should use bypass buttons, not 'mutes' - but that's another thing entirely (which I can live with).
It may seem trivial (use my mouse of course!) but indeed, muting individual tracks from my MIDI controller has become an integral part of my mixing workflow, as natural to me as controlling levels and pans. It seems a shame that I should have to start turning to other software just to solve this tiny issue which, in my opinion, could so easily be solved with a bit of logical thinking and would make a huge difference to those of us who prefer to use MIDI controllers for mixing.
I hope this suggestion is taken in the spirit it's meant. Anyway, the bottom line is -
Are there any plans to add automation and MIDI control to the mixer's mute buttons? That would really make a big improvement for very little effort in my opinion and make the fruit taste just that little bit sweeter!
Or is there a logical and meaningful way to mute tracks that I have overlooked?
kind regards and a Happy New Year to you all from me!
Dr. V