StreamDeck as a Musician’s Tool

As mentioned in a previous post, I’m studying for an MFA in Professional Composition for video games. During one of my virtual lectures, there was a discussion on controlling the performance of orchestral samples during recording or afterwards. This includes things like vibrato and the volume of the sample. The discussion centred around using the faders on a MIDI controller to control the parameters within the sample library.

For example, within Spitfire’s BBC Symphony Orchestra, you have controls for volume, dynamics, and vibrato on the violin patches.

My controller is a Nektar GXP61 (for reasons I’ll discuss in another post). It has no faders that I can program to control these functions in Logic Pro. So I was sat there wondering what new MIDI controller I would have to buy that had faders on. I was almost set on buying an AKAI LPD8, when I remembered I have a Streamdeck Plus sitting on my desk.

I’ve had the Elgato Streamdeck Plus for a little over a year and I have to admit, my use of it was limited solely to control the fantasy football livestream I do with a few friends using Ecamm Live.

The Streamdeck Plus has four knobs along the bottom which can be used to control parameters. It left me wondering if I could use these to control the functions within Logic Pro that I needed. I experimented with it for a bit with not much success, before stumbling across a dedicated set of Logic Pro profiles for the Streamdeck by a company called sideshowfx. They’re not free, but as I would soon find out, the low price is more than justified. I can’t imagine how long these comprehensive profiles took to make.

Instead of just being able to control a few functions within Logic Pro, I can control loads of it. It goes far beyond supplying just transport controls but allows timeline scrubbing, the opening and control of many windows within the application, and of course, you can program the buttons and knobs to control parameters within a plugin, including Spitfire BBC Symphony Orchestra.

I had a tool sitting next to me all this time, that I had not even begun to realise its potential. I’ve now moved it across my desk to my non-dominant hand as this seems to make the most sense as it is essentially a keyboard replacement for many functions.

So what next? I’m now looking at Dorico with its insane number of required keyboard shortcuts and thinking how I can save a lot of time with this app too. Plus I didn’t have to spend money on yet another MIDI controller.