Shawzin default controller button bindings introduced in The Duviri Paradox make it physically impossible to play minor chords

[(XBOX)cubeof11]

The updated Shawzin default controller button bindings that were introduced in The Duviri Paradox update placed the 3 fret controls on the directional pad instead of distinct buttons, which is physically limited to pressing up to 2 adjacent buttons, and makes it impossible to press all 3 buttons or discontiguous buttons.  This means that minor chords can't be played using the default bindings anymore.

Here is a Shawzin song memory (that I published in SideAide to teach new Shawzin musicians how to play a scale) that exercises the possible notes and chords (aside from the ones that require playing two strings simultaneously) for the Major scale:

Quote

5 BAA CAQ EAg JAw KBA MBQ RBg SBw UCA hCQ iCg kCw ZDA aDQ cDg xDw yEA 0EQ pEg qEw sFA 5FQ 6Fg 8Fw

This song memory contains the following:  major scale, scale covering 3 notes per 4 fret possibilities, chords covering 3 chords per 2 fret possibilities per 2 variations.

Historically, this yielded the following button presses on an Xbox One controller (showing 3 notes / chords per line):

Quote

X, A, B,
LB + X, LB + A, LB + B,
RB + X, RB + A, RB + B,
RT + X, RT + A, RT + B,
LB + RB + X, LB + RB + A, LB + RB + B,
RB + RT + X, RB + RT + A, RB + RT + B,
LB + RT + X, LB + RT + A, LB + RT + B,
LB + RB + RT + X, LB + RB + RT + A, LB + RB + RT + B

Using the updated default controller bindings, the button presses are now:

Quote

X, A, B,
DPadLeft + X, DPadLeft + A, DPadLeft + B,
DPadDown + X, DPadDown + A, DPadDown + B,
DPadRight + X, DPadRight + A, DPadRight + B,
DPadLeft + DPadDown + X, DPadLeft + DPadDown + A, DPadLeft + DPadDown + B,
DPadDown + DPadRight + X, DPadDown + DPadRight + A, DPadDown + DPadRight + B,
DPadLeft + DPadRight + X, DPadLeft + DPadRight + A, DPadLeft + DPadRight + B,
DPadLeft + DPadDown + DPadRight + X, DPadLeft + DPadDown + DPadRight + A, DPadLeft + DPadDown + DPadRight + B

The last 6 chords are no longer physically possible to play with this controller button mapping because the directional pad isn't designed to allow opposing directions to be pressed simultaneously.

I'm categorizing this as Sound feedback because I think the sound team's staff members are the primary owners of the Shawzin playing experience, and would be best suited to campaign for changes, or compose a new preset song that includes these chords to help testers catch this problem in the future.

Update (24 June 2023):  As of The Seven Crimes of Kullervo, the original controller button bindings are now available by default through the new "Alt" fret actions, so both the original and Duviri fret bindings can be used simultaneously.  Thank you!

[[DE]erichdigital]

Thanks for the report, we will investigate this issue.

[Buff00n]

Yeah, at first I liked the control scheme parity between PC and consoles, but I didn't think about the fact that you can't press L+R at the same time on a D pad.

What about bringing in the up direction?  Leave almost all of the fret bindings the same:

• Air -> L
• Earth  -> D
• Water -> R
• Air + Earth -> L+D
• Earth + Water -> D+R

But replace these two:

• Air + Water -> L+U
• Air + Earth + Water -> U+R

I guess the UI would be a little awkward to press U+R and see all three frets light up, but I don't think it's too weird.  Besides, I rarely see those two fingerings outside of chromatic scale songs or slap bass Tiamat.

[(XBOX)cubeof11]

In general, the Shawzin's support for chords doesn't appear to be well-understood or explored; I'm hesitant to publish possibly mistaken information to the Internet about the topic without having it verified first, so I can understand how this controller button binding problem might have gone unnoticed.  Only one preset song (Stolen Dreams) uses chords, and the ones used in that song are still playable using the new bindings.

I'm wondering what feedback prompted this change in the first place, since if you rotate the Xbox One controller slightly clockwise, LB, RB, and RT form a triangle that matches the fret order columns and note symbol layout on the tracks, the same way that directional pad left, down, and right are arranged using the new bindings.  Since default controller button bindings are probably a code change and probably require certification, I guess I'll put together a visualization table for the frets and controller buttons to explain the situation and add it to SideAide.