Ableton Live Tutorials: External Hardware & MIDI CC workflows

[@sw_909]

your videos are always my go-to when setting anything up

[@merih1106]

Great video. Perfectly described how to record hardware in Ableton. For a newbie with Ableton I am very thankful to the creator

[@rayderrich]

11:20 is the key moment in this video. I recorded a nice jam for #jamuary2023 and hoped for sweet CC movements but Live did not record any of them, only the notes. I missed the part where I have to tell the software to also record automation. What a bummer, but what a joy to find this in this video, so thank you, I will take better care next jam.

[@cutler568]

Brilliant video mate. Clearand comprehensive

[@Thinkingshop]

Thank you for sorting the MIDI HW interaction for me. I have been using Cakewalk for 30+ years and the MIDI HW interaction was easy after you created/obtained sound libraries for a module, etc.. Ableton made it a bit obtuse. For example putting the controller data in the macro area - mindblowing, but logical in the Ableton universe. 😎

[@ianmcdanielmusic]

you giving us all the game AND wearing a Salad Fingers shirt. love it!

[@axelbouffier348]

Many thanks for that, I've made a huge step forward again today and, above all, explained things well.🥇

[@gorderbust]

You're a great presenter mate

[@carstenbecker8104]

Very nice Video. Brilliant. Thank you very much for your work. 👍

[@SudacaBeatz]

This video is GOLD! Thanks!!!!!

[@parabel_]

Just thank you for the max for live device, that was exactly what I was searching for, thank you

[@aragorn420]

incredibly useful thank you

[@88SPIKE]

Very well explained - thank you, now I have to translate this into Cubase

[@jamelabanderson4474]

Check out MusicTech's Cubase series if you haven't already. :)

[@cubdweller]

How do I connect my Rusty Spoons, friend?

[@patrickmartin8348]

Well-done!

[@richardjames111]

Excellent video!!!!

[@kyleversemusic]

But like…where can I get that shirt? 🤣 Had me distracted the whole time. Thanks for the tips!

[@EliasVampmoney]

Love your t-shirt 😙💔

[@sodastudio5219]

Hey great video! Is there a way to rename midi cc on the Ableton control surface?? I got a synth with no control surface preset :( Thank you!!

[@phobophob]

love the shirt.

[@4ktraveltours]

thanks great content i subscribed

[@Tapepusher]

Is there a way to send MIDI CC from Ableton with a MIDI controller without starting playback? I'm doing it now by midi mapping clips in session view but it starts playback. I'm just controlling a hardware looper with MIDI CC but I don't want playback to start every time I do 🤔

[@fabianbuess]

Thanks for the video!, is also something in planing for NRPN messages?

[@FOUXmusic]

Hi man, thanks for this great video! I have an issue I'd like to get insights on: I have 2 identical MIDI MIX connected to my Mac. How can I send different info on both these similar MIDI MIXES? I keep having the issue of moving one fader in Ableton (ex: CC23) and it automatically affects the other knob also triggered by CC23 on the other midi mixer. Any solutions? thanks!!

[@lwpweb]

easier turn the filter knob at the external hw and ableton will show you the altered parameter. So no look to cc table necessary

[@underwatersunlight3795]

How do you send a particular MIDI-channel in Ableton Live 12 to an external audio effect hardware device ? Since it's not an instrument the effect device is not selectable in the MIDI-settings.

[@1sakirk]

Hi there, I have a Microcosm pedal from Hologram and an Akai LPD8 midi controller. I'm wanting to put the pedal on the ground (to use the Microcosm foot-switches) but change the microcosm knobs with the LPD8 through mapping the cc numbers. It can be done... I just can't do it. I've watched your video but there is some step I'm missing. In the Microcosm manual they list the cc numbers for each knob function, and in the LPD8 software I can change the cc numbers for various knobs... but the devices aren't communicating. I have a midi in/out from the Microcosm connected to the out/in of the audio interface. Liam, can you (or one of your watchers/readers) share any guidance? I'm sure I'm not the only one wanting to use the Microcosm (and other pedals) like this, but I've searched online and can't find the guidance I'm looking for. Thanks in advance for any time/insight you can offer (p.s. I use Logic and Ableton)

[@laughingthrushmusic5269]

I am having a great time syncing my Live to my Digitakt via midi. Is there a way for Live to receive only tempo and not rely on DT for start/stop? I need to me able to press record in Live and it not be reliant on the DT for start/stop control. I need Live to follow only DT tempo and to stay recording no matter how much DT starts or stops. Please help!!

[@willhayden4311]

king

[@JM-yk6eh]

Hi! I use a vst sequencer that can send midi CC informations. How the built in synth from ableton can learn the CC signal?

[@EL_N0IR_2201]

hey idk if you can help me im having an incredibly hard time with abletons midi functions, basically you know how you click the CTRL+RIGHT CLICK AND drag around the square to try and highlight all the notes or just some of them well this short cut is letting me move around and selecting the midi notes but as soon as i let go of the buttons some of the midi notes go unghilighted thus making them unmovable, i want to do like in cubase were i can just drag and select midi notes all over the midi key map no matter how far apart or close they are or if i simply need too slect jsut a few notes, the CTRL+A isn't gonna be useful all the time as it selects all the notes.

[@sanskaraunofficial]

Is the surface changing shape?

[@Geepstar]

so I recorded turning the frequency knob with the novation peak. I can hear the difference, but Ableton doesn't show it. Where can I find it, this is driving me mad.

[@ia2604]

Great stuff here, but i ended up being completely stymied by disAbleton's unwillingness to save any of my CC settings. I get my clips all set up and routed right, everything is working great, i save the project, close it and it loses all CC connections in the clips when i re-open the project. Any drawn in automation to the clips gets attached to the CC# and gets reconnected to the clips when i pull in that number again, but yea - there's no way i've found where i can save those settings beyond a single instance. I've watched so many videos that are so helpful in so many ways and not one of them talks about what happens when you close/re-open the project. So frustrating.

[@Heleno.]

Hi, I use Keys Step Pro to control and sequence some digital synthesizers installed in Ableton, including Dune 3, Arturia Pigment, etc.. I create music which is composed of several Synthesizer Presets. When I'm playing the song live, and I need to change from one Preset to another, I go into the Sound Bank of the respective Synthesizer and select the Preset to change. I ask: Is there a way in Ableton itself, or a Plugin, that I can select the Presets of each Synthesizer and from this selection/mapping I can activate the preset that I will use? As if it were a screen that showed the Tracks for each Synthesizer, with their respective pre-selected presets. Is there a more practical and agile way to do this?

[@dynatwenty]

Same here, can't map the next preset button. Would be cool to know how.

[@talkingstraightwithnate]

How Do you use CC to trigger Audio clips?

[@waveshapes251]

Hi. I'm looking for advice on how to integrate cc-pairs and NRPN's into ableton. Something like the filter frequency on a novation peak is controlled by a pair of cc's, and many parameters are set with NRPN's. Pairs are the most important to me. I can record pairs, but they're very difficult to edit on screen being split into two envelopes.

[@supadupahilton6848]

Hi. Thank you for the tutorial. It looks like I'll be needing the "MIDI Interface" since I have a dozen or so MIDI 1.0 devices. Is there one someone can recommend? (Mabe 16 device capable)? Thank you.

[@Thinkingshop]

You can chain MIDI devices if they sound modules/devices are directed to MIDI different channels for performance control live or in a DAW. Depends on polyphony.... MOTU 8 x 8 or 5 x 5 would be plenty for 12 devices. You could create more chains than you need with either of those.

[@BastiaanvandeWerk]

Using a good old MOTU here. It’s awesome.

[@dynatwenty]

When i push play to listen back, all my synths start playing. I only want them to start when i record. How can i do this?

[@ChaosTherapy666]

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@AlexRanedo]

Hey, a question, although it seems to be a limitation: Is it possible to record midi cc from hardware into the arrangement and not into clip envelopes? I am trying to record my session jams into arrangement to then edit (clip launching, sending live midi cc, etc). Of course it records clip launches etc but not the midi cc. Maybe it is actually an odd limitation (to me anyway, lol), or I'm missing something. Cheers for the content though, it's always super clear and helpful!

[@PeteHorsham]

I'm struggling with this too. Do CC messages really have to be part of a clip?! Seems a bit crazy to be limited like that.

[@carlospalacios1422]

I have a Question?, I recently purchased a Behringer Neutron and Ableton doesn't recognize it?, what should I do?, Thnxs for any feedback...

[@AshboNZ86]

Would anyone be able to help my set this up with the REV2? I can get ableton to send midi and the REV2 play it, but ableton isn't receiving a midi signal from the REV2. I've tried everything that's been shown in this video.

[@mark-ze4en]

WHEN USING AN EXTERNAL SYNTH ( Yamaha Motif ES 7 )as an external midi control board it is not recognized by my DAW (REAPER) midi device manager.~ I can find no definitive answer as to whether the Motif ES7 is or is not supported with updated drivers for Windows 10 any more?? ~The DAW does recognize my Focusrite 6i6 as an input midi device. If I run midi from the Motif synth into the 6i6 interface via it's 5din connectors, will the data transfer to the DAW in spite of the Motif not being recognized? IN other words is there an instrument priority or restriction that keeps data from the DAW as long as the Motif is the source? Or should 'any' signal that is streamed through a 'viable' recognized midi device flow through that path? ~ Also, could the additional midi transfer device compound the latency and block the signal? ~~Thanks! Great video,, even though I'm not using ABELTON,.

[@xambass]

I'm connecting my synth directly to my computer, but there’s no way to route the midi to the audio track without an audio interface right?

[@neoncut]

not sure about what sort of midi and audio track arrangement you have in mind, but I'm pretty sure I have sent midi from Ableton to an external synth directly via USB, without an additional audio interface. I just had to set up the routing for the tracks in Ableton

[@arnoldkamp1]

i have a roland fantom 8 with a built in interface connected to ableton i bought a push 2 with it and everything went wrong .and then you need a mechanic. I just had a brain haemorrhage so I have quite a headache. the push 2 goes back. the fantom also sends audio and midi if i am correct. and drivers conflict. that takes the fun out of it Fast.

[@TranceHeed]

Only the new hardware synths have the option to automate without an additional vst. That part won't work for anyone using old synths.

[@markdenton8027]

Great tutorial. If I have an app, on an ipad sending a blended midi signal into Ableton via my hardware interface, how do you de-mux the midi data coming in ? In Logic preferences there is an explicit option for this. I am trying to achieve this kzbin.info/www/bejne/eXiviIiHj7Gnns0

[@katrinliebermann9284]

Tweng & Genex

[@katrinliebermann9284]

Sorry for any confusion - I only wanted to emphase what the speaker daid here - this video is something I was lookin for for a long time, very well explained and on a high pedagogical level - Thanks from the bottom of my musical heart

[@NickCent]

in Live, you can't control midi CC# live. Unbelievable. So, if you wanted to control the mod wheel, or the filter cutoff for example, of an external synth, you can't. There is no Midi device. Hilarious. One has to draw lines in an envelope clip. This is not live.

[@iamrhinoandruin]

Is this a joke? Of course you can.

[@oblongtom]

Yeah...surely u just map a controller knob/slider on a midi board to the cc in ableton, right?

[@Pieter.reteiP]

What’s about that shirt?

[@midnightmoron332]

salad fingers!!!