Ac-7 Core HD: User Guide V1.01
Ac-7 Core HD: User Guide V1.01
Ac-7 Core HD: User Guide V1.01
Welcome!
ank you for purchasing the Ac-7 Core HD. It can become a valuable part of your studio setup, giving wired
or wireless control over your recording/mixing software. Of course there’s always a learning curve when starting to
use a new system, so this user guide is designed to get you up and running as quickly and painlessly as possible.
We’ll start with configuring your host computer, then move on to individual set up instructions for each piece
of recording/mixing software we support. ere will also be a Tips section, giving pointers we’ve learned over the
years to get the most out of a controller.
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Ac-7 Core HD User Guide
Setting Up Your Computer Wireless
e Ac-7 Core HD uses iOS/OS X’s built-in CoreMIDI You’ll need the iPad and the host computer to be
frameworks for wired/wireless communication with the connected to the same WiFi network, with no firewall/
host computer. security software blocking the connection. e standard
port used is 5004, in case you need to enable anything in
your router (in almost all cases, nothing needs to be
Wired changed).
Next open Utilities/“Audio MIDI Setup” on your Mac
Using a wired connection is very simple. You’ll need (or an emulator app like “rtpMIDI” on Windows). If you
the iPad Camera Connection Kit (USB)*, an iOS CoreMIDI don’t see the “MIDI Studio” window, click Window - Show
compatible USB to MIDI cable/interface and a spare MIDI MIDI Window in the menubar.
in and out port on your system. Simply connect everything Now double-click the “Network” icon. Add a new
up, start the app fresh**, and everything will “just work”. session by clicking the “+” button under “My Sessions”,
then enable it by clicking the checkbox.
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Ac-7 Core HD User Guide
Now you can launch the Ac-7 Core HD app on your iPad, and push the “SETUP”
button at the top right of the screen.
Latency Reducer - Leave this off for now, but you can switch it on later if you find
your wireless network is lagging, or you suffer network dropouts. It’s a kind of
magic ;-)
Meter Response - is affects both meter and fader movement. Leave it on Smooth
for a natural type of response, or switch to Fast for instant “blocky” moves.
Alerts for Connections - Now the fun begins... Switching this to On will bring up
each available wireless MIDI connection as an alert with 2 options : Ignore and
Connect. You’ll find your iPad’s name is included as a connection too... Ignore this
for now (there may be a use for it in the future). Tap Connect for the connection
with your computer’s name, and Ignore for any others.
You can then switch the Alerts for Connections option back to off, if you don’t want
any new connections to disturb you.
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Ac-7 Core HD User Guide
Almost Done!
All that’s left now is to choose your DAW mode. Scroll down from the app
options to see the full list of DAW’s supported, and push the Select button next to
the one you want to use.
Now push the SETUP button again to close the option box.
Before we go on, it’s important to understand that you can change the button
layouts by swiping left/right at the top of each button bank. Your changes will be
remembered.
If you go back and check your MIDI Network window, it should look like the
bottom image on the right. If not, go back and try the Alerts for Connections
method again.
Now you’ll have to start your DAW and add a virtual “Mackie Control Universal”
compatible controller in each DAW, except for ProTools which uses “HUI”. You’ll
need to set “Session 1” as the input and output ports for the controller.
For most DAW’s this is straightforward (check your DAW manual) but there are
some with specific steps required...
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Ac-7 Core HD User Guide
ProTools
Logic Pro
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Ac-7 Core HD User Guide
Cakewalk Sonar
Cockos Reaper
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Ac-7 Core HD User Guide
Ableton Live
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Ac-7 Core HD User Guide
FL Studio
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Ac-7 Core HD User Guide
Congratulations!
You should now be connected with your DAW and be able to use all standard controls. For more detailed
instructions on what all the buttons do, check your DAW’s documentation related to using a Mackie Control (or HUI
for ProTools).
We’ll now go through using the Ac-7 Core HD’s interface, showing how to call on Mackie Control functions.
e V-Pots
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Ac-7 Core HD User Guide
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Ac-7 Core HD User Guide
ere is a button labelled “Plugin Mode”, which enters/exits Plugin edit mode. To select a channel, hold Insert
and tap the channel’s SEL button. Now the first 4 channel’s V-Pots control Plugin parameters, while the 8th V-Pot
is used to scroll through banks of parameters.
Push the Plugin Mode button to enter Plugin edit mode. Push Insert + Channel 1's SEL button.
Push the Assign button to enter Plugin select mode. Turn channel 1's V-Pot to select the desired plugin. Tap
channel 1's V-Pot to confirm your choice.
Tap channel 1's V-Pot again to enter parameter edit mode.
Now the first 4 V-Pots are assigned to plugin parameters, while the 8th can be used to bank to the next set of 4
parameters.
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Ac-7 Core HD User Guide
Success?
If you’re having problems getting up and running, feel free to email me at:
[email protected]
and I’ll do my best to help you out.
Bear in mind though that I probably won’t be able to help with DAW-specific questions e.g. How do I do X in
Cubase? For that, I’m afraid you’ll need to read your DAW’s documentation, or ask at your DAW’s user
forums.
A hints and tips section will be added here soon, but for now... good luck!
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