at times I have, at other times not
so far Ive mostly set it up for specific tracks, rather than set up such that its always doing the same thing in my setup.
this is partly because it was a recent firmware update that allowed me to connect to E1 to the mioXM, so in a more permanent position, connected to everything.
also, I like the E1 to be a central hub, where Im controlling specific things I want to interact with frequently…
so I (personally) see no reason for me replicate ALL the controls of the virus or octatrack on an E1 - when I can reach over and use them directly.
a typical use-case so far is.
I created a preset for something i was working on, it had
Octatrack track volumes.
a few controls for a different vsts running on my mac
a couple controls the virus
the reasoning was simple…
octatrack volume were for an overview, so I could see where they were.
vsts i didnt want to have to switch between vsts to alter controls, and then the daw to alter the send levels.
the virus, I had things like filter (cutoff) from multiple parts, which Id have to switch parts to be able to control.
also these were the only things i need to perform this.
(for sound design, id just go to the individual plugin/synth)
whats I really enjoyed was it brought all these instrument (real or virtual) onto one surface, so it felt like one big instrument.
I guess this is a long winded way of saying, I use the E1 to improve accessibiliy when playing.
in this context, whilst the bi-directional comms is great, its not really that important since im unlikely to go over to the instruments interface and change there.
however… one thing that did get a bit tedious, was if I came back to the same ‘track’ the next day, Id have to twiddle the knobs on the e1 to sync up. so i did end up making it bidirectional to handle this.
BUT, the latest firmware has a new ‘snapshot’ feature - this allows you to save the values on the E1, and quickly send these to the instruments - so this can be used as an alternative to bi-directional midi if you wish (or if the instrument is unable to send panel control values)
but for sure, the E1 is very flexible, and opens up a lot of possibilities,
so it takes a while to decide how you want to use it.
(or has for me at least :))