Control panels

Behringer X-Touch Mini

Connect it to the iPad's USB-C port (it is powered by the iPad) and turn it on in Configuration → Panels → MIDI controller. GRADE recognises it and loads this map. Use it as it ships, in standard mode — not MC mode. The LED rings follow the grade, also when you change things on screen, and the lit buttons show what is on.

• Turn an encoder to change its value; push it to reset that value.
• The fader is the blend of the whole grade, in both layers.
• Buttons with a light up while that mode is on.
• Too fast or too slow? Detents per full travel in Configuration → Panels sets how many clicks take a value from one end to the other (300 by default; higher is slower).
• Any other MIDI controller works too: its first eight knobs (CC 1–8) drive the layer A parameters.

Trackballs

Any trackball or mouse the iPad accepts — over USB or Bluetooth — becomes a grading ball. One ball can do the whole grade, or connect up to three and give each its own wheel: the first is Lift, the second Gamma, the third Gain.

• Ball — moves the wheel's colour, exactly like your finger on the wheel.
• Scroll wheel or ring (the twist on a Kensington SlimBlade) — the wheel's master.
• Any button but the main click — next wheel: Lift → Gamma → Gain. The capsule over the monitor names the wheel the ball is on.
• On the Log node (03) — the same ball drives the log zones: Lift → Lows, Gamma → Mids, Gain → Highs. Back on any other node it returns to its wheel.

Capture is off when the app starts, so the ball works as a normal pointer. Press T on a keyboard, or switch on Capture balls in Configuration → Panels, to start grading. While capturing, the pointer is hidden and locked, so the ball keeps rolling past the edge of the screen — this needs GRADE full screen (not in Split View or Stage Manager). Press T again, or tap the TRACKBALL capsule over the monitor with a finger, to release it.

Too fast? Raise Ball travel in Configuration → Panels (3000 by default; higher is finer). Each ball's wheel and the vertical direction can be changed there too.

Tangent Ripple

Plug the Ripple into the Mac running GradeSync, with the iPad on the same network, and GRADE takes it over Wi-Fi. Nothing from Tangent to install: GradeSync reads the panel itself and it is ready mapped. iPadOS does not let apps talk to the Ripple directly, which is why it goes through the Mac.

• Balls — Lift, Gamma, Gain. Rings — their masters.
• On the Log node (03) — the same balls and rings drive Lows, Mids and Highs; on any other node they are back on Lift, Gamma and Gain. The panel follows the iPad, no mode to switch.
• Small buttons — under each ball, the left one resets the whole wheel (colour and master), the right one just the ring.
• B — Compare. A — Alt, held:

• Alt + balls — Temp / Tint, Shadows / Highlights, Hue / Boost.
• Alt + rings — Exposure, Contrast, Saturation.
• Alt + small buttons — Undo / Redo, Bypass / Compare, Grab still / Save look.

Tangent Element and Wave2

These go through Tangent Hub: install Tangent Hub and Mapper on the Mac running GradeSync, and every control can be laid out in the Mapper under “GRADE”. The wheels follow the iPad's node the same way.