Performance macros

A macro is one control that moves many parameters at once — the knob you grab during a performance to open the whole kit up, dirty it, or sweep a build. Every kit has four macros, and they live on the macro bar pinned to the bottom of every page, so they're always within reach.

Each macro can drive up to eight destinations, and those destinations can span any track — one macro can brighten the hats, lengthen the snare and detune the bass together.

Assigning a macro

Each macro can carry up to eight destinations, spanning any track. A destination sweeps a parameter from its current value (the base, macro at 0) toward a target (macro at 1).

1. Select the macro on the macro bar (a dot marks it); its destinations appear below.
2. Click + add destination. A browser opens listing the selected track's parameters, grouped by section, each with a one-line hint of what it does — so you can pick by meaning, not by memorising a name.
3. Click a parameter to add it. It starts with the target at the parameter's far end (a full sweep); drag the target handle on its row to set exactly how far the macro pushes it.
4. Repeat for as many parameters as you like (up to eight), on any track — select a different track first to reach its parameters.

Each destination row shows a base|target bar over the parameter's full range with a marker at its live value. To remove a destination, right-click its row.

Performing with a macro

Drag the macro's handle from 0 to 1 and every destination interpolates from its base to its target together. Halfway is halfway for all of them. Because a macro just adds to the same value everything else feeds, it stacks cleanly on top of your p-locks and LFOs (see Modulation).

Macros are part of the kit — name them, and they save and load with the kit and travel in presets.

The DAW plays them too

A macro is the one per-hit sound change your DAW can drive. Two ways, and you can mix them:

• A MIDI note — the four macros answer to notes C1…D#1 (MIDI 24–27). A note-on sets that macro to the note's velocity and latches it there; the next note-on toggles it back off. So a macro is a sound-state you flip from the same MIDI lane as your drums.
• Host automation — each macro is exposed as an automation parameter, so you can draw or record its position as a continuous curve.

That is what makes a macro different from a p-lock: a p-lock lives on the internal audition groove, while a macro is addressable from outside, so the host can play the change per hit or per section. See Using Kiwipulse in your DAW.

Recipes

• Filter sweep — assign each track's chain flt_cutoff to one macro; one knob opens the whole kit for a build.
• Lo-fi crush — point a macro at the chain fx_crush / fx_drive across a few tracks for an instant "tape" degrade you can dial in live.
• Tension riser — combine a cutoff open, a touch of decay lengthening, and a small pitch rise on one macro; ride it up across four bars into the drop.