I’ve been playing with using different controllers to control the common and element LFOs in a saxophone voice I’m working on. I’ve discovered that there seem to be two different types of controllers:

One kind has values from 0 to 127:
Mod Wheel, Foot Control (e.g. FC7 pedal).

Another kind has values from -64 to +64 (maybe not 64, but from negative to positive):
Ribbon, Assign1 knob, Assign2 knob.

Trying to get things to work was very confusing until I noticed this difference.

My question:

Is there any way to change this property of a controller? For instance, can I change the Mod Wheel’s range of values to go from a negative number to a positive number?

No, it can’t be changed as far as I know.

This article discusses it a little bit.

Is there any way to change this property of a controller? For instance, can I change the Mod Wheel’s range of values to go from a negative number to a positive number?

I am not aware of any way to change this behavior.  Why would you want to change it?  The actual values are rather arbitrary, but there is some meaning behind the values.  Zero represents the nominal case, with positive numbers increasing the value of a parameter, and negative numbers decreasing the value.  So it makes sense for the FC7 to start from zero: you can increase volume, but not decrease it.  Same with modulation.  Pitch, on the other hand, can be increased or decreased.  If you are assigning a parameter to a controller, it should be assigned to an appropriate one, if at all possible.

Michael Trigoboff - 22 January 2015 11:53 PM

[...]Is there any way to change this property of a controller? For instance, can I change the Mod Wheel’s range of values to go from a negative number to a positive number?

Parameters can be “biased”, which may or may not accomplish what you have in mind. See:
http://www.motifator.com/index.php/support/view/motif_xs_working_with_and_understanding_physical_controllers
http://www.motifator.com/index.php/archive/viewthread/189757/
http://www.motifator.com/index.php/archive/viewthread/430627/

Michael Trigoboff - 22 January 2015 11:53 PM

For instance, can I change the Mod Wheel’s range of values to go from a negative number to a positive number?

Edited: I’ve removed my response as it may have been factually incorrect/incomplete and misleading. Sorry for the confusion, time for sleep.

Stone