Surge XT macros are eight assignable MIDI-CC controllers that act on both scenes simultaneously

Macros in Surge XT are eight global modulation sources that sit in the routing bar and can be assigned to any modulatable parameter. Unlike voice or scene modulators, macros are global — they act on both scenes A and B. Each macro can be assigned a physical MIDI CC (default CCs 41–48, matching common knob banks on controllers), and the on-screen blue slider lets you adjust the value without external hardware. Right-clicking a macro lets you set bipolar or unipolar mode and rename it. Macros can be dragged to reorder them. A common workflow is to assign a macro to filter cutoff and map it to a hardware knob, enabling real-time expressive control over patches in performance without per-patch MIDI learn.

Examples

Name Macro 1 ‘Filter’, assign it to filter cutoff across both scenes, and map it to CC 41. Turning the knob now controls the filter on both scenes simultaneously.

Assessment

Why would you choose a Macro over an S-LFO as a modulation source when you want to control filter cutoff live during performance? What makes macros ‘global’ as opposed to scene-level?