APC40 Phantom Mapping

[Statwerk]

Trying to map knobs in lower right-hand section of Akai APC40. Have successfully mapped the features that I DO WANT, but for some reason the last three knobs on the bottom row (which are currently mapped to a Flanger and a Ping-Pong Delay), slao map to the Gain feature for the first three MIDI Tracks (in tracks 9-11). So, basically, to turn up the third MIDI track, I must simultaneously crank up the Ping-Pong Delay, which sounds like garbage.

Nothing that I understand about the APC40 suggests that the knobs in the lower right should have anything to do with Gain by default and they have not been manually mapped. I have not touched the mapping for the faders (which should effect gain), so there should be no "freaky interaction" from that standpoint.

I have also gone to the individual gain controls in the software and then removed all mapping and then reassigned them where they belong (I have knobs on my MIDI keyboard which are assigned to those Gain functions).

I am at a loss.

Suggestions?

[yur2die4]

The keyboard and your APC knobs probably use the same midi CC numbers.

Easiest fix would be to change the midi channel of your keyboard to midi channel 9. Then remap the keyboard controls to the channel levels.

[Statwerk]

Been digging around but have not been successful with finding how to map a MIDI device to a specific channel -- my current knowledge is limited to the basic setup in preferences. I have noticed a "Port" setting that is always ghosted out and which is set to "MME".

But you were correct -- Ableton is recycling the CC numbers and that was the route of my problem. The suggested solution still evades me.

Thanks!

[yur2die4]

To change the midi channel of the keyboard, it requires that you do it via the keyboard, and not through Ableton Live.

Everything that your keyboard sends is midi. It sends notes and continuous control messages. Of course, people hook up more than one keyboard or more than one piece of gear (or one keyboard that goes to several pieces of gear, each piece of gear at a different midi channel). A way to organize this, especially back know the day, was to give the keyboard the ability to change their midi channel. There are 16 channels in the standard midi spec. Your keyboard is probably set to ch. 1 right now (a mapping might show something like 1/23 in Live).

To change the channel on your keyboard you'd either have to do it within the keyboard (may need to download a manual if it is too tricky), or through software that can change things on the keyboard.

What type of keyboard do you have? Some keyboards aren't really all that friendly to midi channel changing. Also, if your keyboard utilizes special functions within Live that you use, changing the channel might turn those functions off until you go back to that channel.



One other possibly easier option is to change the preset of the keyboard to another preset. It might not change the channel, and it might conflict down the road if you map the pads or button of the APC and then try to play keys. But some of the presets might use CC's that are not already being used by the APC.

Still, changing midi channel on the keyboard is probably the easiest method.

[Statwerk]

Ok, I got it working.

I am using an Akai APC40 on channel 1, a Novation Launchkey Mini (which has a channel selection button, but only allows you to select 8 or 10, but not 9), so that is on channel 8 and I have a Novation Launch Control to control send A & B on the 8 MIDI channels that I have defined, which defaults to channel 9 and I have no idea how to change the channel on that device.

So, for now, everything works!

Thanks for the help on this!

[yur2die4]

The APC 40 also uses 8 for the 8th row. So you might be best off using 10.

[Donnie]

Keep in mind that if you manually assign a control on the APC40, it will use the following MIDI Channels/CCs:



Otherwise it will use its native assignment method which typically doesn't interfere with other controllers (I forget the technical details as to why).

[yur2die4]

The APC is a strange beast.

When it is not using the control surface script, as a simple midi device, the ch. select actually changes the midi control channel of the device control knobs. But I forgot that it uses ch. 9 when it uses Live's control surface script.

The reason it doesn't normally interfere is because Control Surfaces can be thought to have a direct back and forth communication with a specific controller to handle specifically chosen tasks in Live. In midi Remote mapping, Live seems to just jumble all the controllers together as remote inputs and only distinguishes them by channel and parameter. If Remote is turned off on a device, it'll mind it's own business and not be interfered with.