How to use "Select Next Scene" with Launchkey

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his_ripness
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Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2020 3:25 pm

How to use "Select Next Scene" with Launchkey

Post by his_ripness » Sat Mar 28, 2020 6:19 pm

I've arranged my scenes as I need them for live performance. I want to use the "Select Next Scene" feature to help automate my live workflow. This works fine if I use the keyboard [ENTER] key to start my sequence, but it doesn't work if I am using the Launchkey to start the sequence.

Has anyone figured out a workaround that will allow me to use the Launchkey [PLAY] button as if it were the [ENTER] key so that the "Select Next Scene" feature will work? Thanks!

his_ripness
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2020 3:25 pm

Re: How to use "Select Next Scene" with Launchkey

Post by his_ripness » Mon Mar 30, 2020 12:39 pm

[BUMP]

Does anyone have a best practice for using Launchkey in conjunction with "Select Next Scene"?

As it stands now, I have to hit two buttons ("Scene Down" then "Launch Scene") on the Launchkey, which is one too many. I'd like the next scene to auto-select, then I would just have to launch it. I'm guessing there's a solution, but googling can experimentation have gotten me nowhere. Thanks.

S4racen
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Re: How to use "Select Next Scene" with Launchkey

Post by S4racen » Mon Mar 30, 2020 4:48 pm

In preferences there are options for Scenes, you could experiment with those.

Cheers
D

his_ripness
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Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2020 3:25 pm

Re: How to use "Select Next Scene" with Launchkey

Post by his_ripness » Tue Mar 31, 2020 10:24 am

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately this doesn't address my issue, unless I'm missing something.

In my preferences, I've already selected "Select Next Scene on Launch." The problem is, that only works if the scene is launched by pressing the [ENTER] key on the computer keyboard. It doesn't work if you launch the scene from the Launchkey.

his_ripness
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2020 3:25 pm

Re: How to use "Select Next Scene" with Launchkey

Post by his_ripness » Tue Mar 31, 2020 5:18 pm

EDIT: DO NOT USE THIS, SEE BELOW

I've solved my problem, I figured I'd post a reply so that maybe someone else might find it useful.

The trick is pretty cumbersome, and it would be a lot better if the "Select Next Scene" feature "just worked" but since it doesn't, here's the workaround.

https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/artic ... l-MIDI-bus

I was able to create clips that control the Scene selector using the guide.

One of the things I found confusing was that I expected the Scene selector to accept the value of the CC controller as the selected scene. IE if I output the value "2" on CC20 and mapped the Scene selector to CC20, I expected it to switch to scene 2. It doesn't. You have to fiddle with the output value to trigger the scene you want. In my case, once I had mapped the Scene selector to the CC value that I wanted to use, I could start the dummy clip looping, then slowly drag the envelope up until it trigged the scene change to the next scene. Then I duplicated that clip onto the next slot, started that clip looping, and dragged the envelope up until it triggered the scene to change to the scene below. Repeat for all scenes, and when you're done, your scenes will auto-select the next scene each time you play.

Hope this helps the next person.
Last edited by his_ripness on Mon Jul 26, 2021 11:16 am, edited 1 time in total.

his_ripness
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2020 3:25 pm

Re: How to use "Select Next Scene" with Launchkey

Post by his_ripness » Mon Jul 26, 2021 11:15 am

I'm writing back and bumping this original post to urge people not to use the solution above.

I'm not exactly sure what heuristics Ableton uses to decide what values to attach to each scene, but these can change even though you've never added or removed any scenes. So if you follow the steps above to create a set of linked scenes such that each selects the next, for example:

Scene 1 > Scene 2 > Scene 3 > Scene 4 > Scene 5

You can discover one day that now it functions like this

Scene 1 > Scene 3 > Scene 5

or

Scene 1 > Scene 1 (loop).

This is really, really bad when it happens for the first time at a live show.

Do not use the above suggestion, you have been warned.

Better Solution:

1. Add MIDI track
2. Create new looping MIDI clip in the first scene
3. Create a MIDI controller event (I am using CC20 =127)
4. Play the clip to begin sending the controller value
5. Edit the MIDI map, and assign CC20 to the "Next Scene" action
6. Stop the clip playing, and uncheck the LOOP button so that it only fires once
7. Copy this clip into every scene of the track

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