My trick to get the Push 2 footswitch to work with Looper
Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2017 8:12 pm
Hi all,
I recently got a Push 2 and was excited to find out that it has two footswitch connectors on the back. So I added a cheapo momentary footswitch to the second port (furthest from the Power button). Sadly it didnt quite work the way I wanted. The footswitch button records in session view, and is not used for Looper
As per the manual:
Footswitches
Two ports on the back of Push 2 allow you to connect momentary footswitches. Footswitch 1 acts as a sustain pedal. Footswitch 2 gives you hands-free control of Push 2’s recording functionality. A single tap of the footswitch will toggle the Record button, thus switching between recording/overdubbing and playback of the current clip. Quickly double-tapping the footswitch is the same as pressing the New button.
So I didnt want to go and buy another Midi footswitch purely for use on the looper. So I figured out a hack which seems to work. This is for Mac only, but I guess Windows has equivalent software.
My method uses a fairly easy to use program called MidiPipe. I am sure there are patches to do this in M4L, but I havent come across one yet. Let me know if you have one.
Download MidiPipe 1.4.6 from sublesoft - http://www.subtlesoft.square7.net/MidiPipe.html
1. Load up MidiPipe
2. Click on "Midi In" in the left window and choose your MIDI input from the below window as "Ableton Push 2 - Live Port". Dont change any options
3. Click and drag "Midi In" over to the right window called Pipes. Midi In should appear on the right window now.
4. Rename the unnamed pipe on the right window to something more useful like "Push 2 Live to VirtualPush"
5. Click and drag "Midi Out" from the left window to right
6. Click on Midi Out on the right window and select the MIDI Output "Edit Virtual Outputs"
7. Double click MidiPipe Output 1 and rename to VirtualPush. Click Done
8. Select VirtualPush from the Midi Output menu. Dont tick or untick any options.
9. Save your "pipe"
A video showing the above steps for MidiPipe https://youtu.be/9RMEXlIF61g
What you have done is created a virtual MIDI device called VirtualPush and mapped any input from the real Push 2 in Live mode, and sent it to the VirtualPush. This trick allows Ableton to now recognize MIDI signals from Push 2 whilst in Live mode.
Load up Ableton and Choose Live menu, Preferences, Link MIDI....
In the list find "Input VirtualPush" and enable Track and Remote to On.
Now instead of using the momentary switch in the second port, I move it to the first port (sustain port). The reason for this is that if you use footswitch 2 you get conflicts between the hard encoded Push 2 Live mode record function in session mode and your user defined MIDI (the next part...)
Now open an audio track and load up Looper as an effect. Now on the top right of the Ableton window click MIDI and now you can map the VirtualPush to the Looper record button. It should be mapped as CC 64.
I have done some brief testing and it seems to work correctly in Looper now. But bear in mind you are duplicating the MIDI signal, so the normal sustain pedal function might interfere with other things. The MidiPipe program also needs to stay open in the background to intercept the MIDI signals sent from Push 2 Live Mode and duplicated onto VirtualPush. There is an option in MidiPipe to hide it after launch in Preferences.
Another great program to see whats going on in your system when it comes to MIDI messages, is MIDI Monitor - https://www.snoize.com/MIDIMonitor/
I use it loads to troubleshoot pesky MIDI issues.
Thanks,
loiphin.
UPDATE Jan 2019:
I ended up scrapping my foot pedal attached to Push 2, because it uses the hard to push switches and was a pain with bare feet at home.
Looking at the price of MIDI foot controllers I was shocked about how expensive they are. But I ended up finding a diamond in the rough! Thanks to another tip I read I bought a Line 6 FBV Express Mk II (It must be the Mk2 , the Mk1 doesnt have USB). Most people think this is only a dedicated foot control for the Line 6 Spyder amps, but its also a fully configurable MIDI controller. It works beautifully with Ableton Live 10, or any other DAW for that matter. It has 4 foot switches, which are nice and quiet for home use, and easy on your feet. It also has a Wah/Volume pedal. You cant beat it for the price (at least in Norway)
I recently got a Push 2 and was excited to find out that it has two footswitch connectors on the back. So I added a cheapo momentary footswitch to the second port (furthest from the Power button). Sadly it didnt quite work the way I wanted. The footswitch button records in session view, and is not used for Looper
As per the manual:
Footswitches
Two ports on the back of Push 2 allow you to connect momentary footswitches. Footswitch 1 acts as a sustain pedal. Footswitch 2 gives you hands-free control of Push 2’s recording functionality. A single tap of the footswitch will toggle the Record button, thus switching between recording/overdubbing and playback of the current clip. Quickly double-tapping the footswitch is the same as pressing the New button.
So I didnt want to go and buy another Midi footswitch purely for use on the looper. So I figured out a hack which seems to work. This is for Mac only, but I guess Windows has equivalent software.
My method uses a fairly easy to use program called MidiPipe. I am sure there are patches to do this in M4L, but I havent come across one yet. Let me know if you have one.
Download MidiPipe 1.4.6 from sublesoft - http://www.subtlesoft.square7.net/MidiPipe.html
1. Load up MidiPipe
2. Click on "Midi In" in the left window and choose your MIDI input from the below window as "Ableton Push 2 - Live Port". Dont change any options
3. Click and drag "Midi In" over to the right window called Pipes. Midi In should appear on the right window now.
4. Rename the unnamed pipe on the right window to something more useful like "Push 2 Live to VirtualPush"
5. Click and drag "Midi Out" from the left window to right
6. Click on Midi Out on the right window and select the MIDI Output "Edit Virtual Outputs"
7. Double click MidiPipe Output 1 and rename to VirtualPush. Click Done
8. Select VirtualPush from the Midi Output menu. Dont tick or untick any options.
9. Save your "pipe"
A video showing the above steps for MidiPipe https://youtu.be/9RMEXlIF61g
What you have done is created a virtual MIDI device called VirtualPush and mapped any input from the real Push 2 in Live mode, and sent it to the VirtualPush. This trick allows Ableton to now recognize MIDI signals from Push 2 whilst in Live mode.
Load up Ableton and Choose Live menu, Preferences, Link MIDI....
In the list find "Input VirtualPush" and enable Track and Remote to On.
Now instead of using the momentary switch in the second port, I move it to the first port (sustain port). The reason for this is that if you use footswitch 2 you get conflicts between the hard encoded Push 2 Live mode record function in session mode and your user defined MIDI (the next part...)
Now open an audio track and load up Looper as an effect. Now on the top right of the Ableton window click MIDI and now you can map the VirtualPush to the Looper record button. It should be mapped as CC 64.
I have done some brief testing and it seems to work correctly in Looper now. But bear in mind you are duplicating the MIDI signal, so the normal sustain pedal function might interfere with other things. The MidiPipe program also needs to stay open in the background to intercept the MIDI signals sent from Push 2 Live Mode and duplicated onto VirtualPush. There is an option in MidiPipe to hide it after launch in Preferences.
Another great program to see whats going on in your system when it comes to MIDI messages, is MIDI Monitor - https://www.snoize.com/MIDIMonitor/
I use it loads to troubleshoot pesky MIDI issues.
Thanks,
loiphin.
UPDATE Jan 2019:
I ended up scrapping my foot pedal attached to Push 2, because it uses the hard to push switches and was a pain with bare feet at home.
Looking at the price of MIDI foot controllers I was shocked about how expensive they are. But I ended up finding a diamond in the rough! Thanks to another tip I read I bought a Line 6 FBV Express Mk II (It must be the Mk2 , the Mk1 doesnt have USB). Most people think this is only a dedicated foot control for the Line 6 Spyder amps, but its also a fully configurable MIDI controller. It works beautifully with Ableton Live 10, or any other DAW for that matter. It has 4 foot switches, which are nice and quiet for home use, and easy on your feet. It also has a Wah/Volume pedal. You cant beat it for the price (at least in Norway)