I asked the following question over on the Facebook group and the info in the thread linked isnt available here so im cross posting it.
Jim Warrier - Just picked up Passage. Still not 100% sure of the possibilities but looking good so far. Couldnt find any recent videos showing off the function of Passage. Anyone have some to share or any interesting patch notes/suggestions?
The question from the linked thread.
Color Chords + Mapper
What order do you prefer? For what type of patch? Here’s LZX’s notes on the combo:“Mapper also makes a great companion to Color Chords. As a pre-processor, it allows layer 4 to operate in the hue, saturation and brightness colorspace instead of the RGB colorspace. As a post-processor, the RGB controls on Color Chords will define hue, saturation, and brightness values instead of RGB.”
Lars Larsen - So in the pre-processor case, it allows you to define a background image in Hue/Saturation/Brightness colorspace and then layer RGB elements on top of it. This would be ideal in cases where you want the dynamics and characteristic look of hue/saturation modulation, but want a little more precise control over layered elements on top. So good for compositing different things that you dont necessarily want to all “melt together” into the same shape.
Lars Larsen - In the post-processor case, Mapper converts your Color Chords’ RGB controls into HSY controls instead. When you are adding multiple things together in a hue-based colorspace, they tend to all melt together and form transitions between different hues as you begin adding and layering. So it would be good for a case where you’re trying to form a composition that looks more like one big complex organism rather than layered or overlapping elements.
Lars Larsen - A third way would be to patch Color Chords into channel A of the Cortex compositor and Mapper into channel B, and use Visual Cortex to mix the RGB outputs of both modules with each other. Especially interesting if you’re feeding Mapper and Color Chords with the same mult’ed elements – lets you crossfade between two wildly different variations of the same composition.
Parker Langvardt - While I have your attention, any neat tricks with the Bridge? I’m about to test it out with the CV in/outs on the Arturia Minibrute. I also have a Sensory Translator.
Lars Larsen - As far as tricks go, you can use the Multiples sections in amplifier mode as a soft keyer with 20% softness. Add in a variable subtracting voltage with Passage before passing the mix to the Multiple/amplifier to achieve threshold modulation. Also great if you just want to boost the contrast of something. The fader section is great for doing a complex blend between all kinds of things. Try feeding a variety of shapes and waveforms into the A, B, and CV inputs. Same with the mixer section.
Lars Larsen - Oh and with Sensory Translator, it works great if you use an envelope output from ST into the CV input on the Bridge fader – then patch video rate/shape elements into the A and B inputs for a crossfade.
Lars Larsen - Best places to patch those Sensory Translator outputs: key threshold CV ins, any amplitude/VCA/fade/gain function CV, any CV input on Staircase. And for more complexity, mix them with something else using Passage before doing any of the above (negative bias is good so that something sits “below black” until the frequency band envelope is active. Try patching the frequency band outs so that they “reveal” things inside your patch.
Lars Larsen - Additional notes:
(1) Don’t forget that Passage is an RGB processor/mixer too. You can feed that into the Color Chords or Cortex Compositor, or to post-process the outputs of Color Chords/Mapper to mix in additional RGB signals, modulate RGB, etc.
(2) Mapper loves it if you pre-modulate the amplitude of whatever you’re feeding to hue – the Bridge fader section and Doorway can be great for this!
(3) Marble Index, once available, is really the final piece of “glue” between all of the color mixer/manipulation modules we’ve designed for the system so far, and can function in harmony with Passage, Mapper, Color Chords, Cortex compositor, etc to enable a huge variety of different workflows that have complex hierarchies and full expandability without any “end points.” Cortex is designed to be the system’s primary RGB/color module in under 3U systems, but as systems expand, the color complexity can be relegated to other modules and Cortex then becomes like a final output processor, where it’s easy to do “fade out to black/color” or output effects (like Negative, really handy for external feedback loops)
Lars Larsen - One more RGB/color tip: Since RGB are separate signals, you don’t necessarily have to patch them or use them AS RGB colors. All the RGB modules could be used instead to create multiple monochromatic elements instead, that then get mixed and composited in different ways afterwards.
Leslie Rollins - Would this be done primarily with keying in VC or Doorway?
Lars Larsen - Any way you want. I’m just pointing out that instead of treating, say, Color Chords, as an RGB mixer/colorizer, you could instead treat it as a 3X3 Matrix mixer for general purpose matrix mixing of any kind of CV, shape, key, whatever.
Lars Larsen - To put it another way, audio is not sound until it hits a speaker. And the red channel is not actually red until it hits that final output encoder and then a display. Until then, you could call it “bob” instead, and use bob in all kinds of different ways.