The Definitive Guide to Programming the FCB1010 for Live

[Punky921]

Does anyone know if you can use the FCB's expression pedals with the MPK49?

J

[Logan88]

Hey guys, I'm currently having a little problem with the Track Arming in Live with my FCB1010 and my Novation 61 SL midi controller. This seemed like an appropriate place to post since I couldn't find any information on the this issue anywhere else.

Ok, so I previously owned an M-Audio Axiom 61 which worked perfectly fine when hooked up to my FCB1010 using Ableton Live 7. Since I perform live on stage, I use the FCB peadels to switch between tracks in Live where each contains it's own VST Softsynth or plugin. Seems simple enough. I programmed the pedals to really low Notes such as c-2, c#-2.. etc and was able to arm another track and at the same time disarm the previous track by only pressing down on one pedal. Everything was going flawlessly until the POS Axiom crapped out on me forcing me to get a new Midi Controller, which ended up being my current Novation 61 SL Remote (which I love).

NOW with everything set and programmed the same, I sometimes, around 15% of the time experience a strange problem. What happens is that sometimes when I switch tracks with my pedal, the track that becomes switched to (armed) becomes barely audible. All of the sliders and knobs are in the same position on the Softsynth and in live but it plays a very very faint signal and theres no way to change it (using the volume sliders in the plugin and in live). The only way to fix it is to re-load my template again.

I have deduced that there is some strange confusion between my new Midi Controller (61 Remote) and Live because sometimes when i leave a pedal pressed, the actual note that I programmed the pedal to, plays. This happens with all my sessions in live and this is a HUGE problem for me so ive been racking my brains this entire week trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

I tried programming my FCB pedals to CC instead of Notes which actually DID FIX THE PROBLEM! BUT!... now I can't switch between tracks in live without having to disarm the previous track forcing me to press 2 pedals (sometimes 3 or 4) when switching to different tracks. I CAN'T HAVE THIS since I am constantly switching tracks and need to do so with incredible speed.

Is there a way to fix either of these problems!!?!?!?!?

PLLEEASSE I HAVE A GIG THIS FRIDAY AND I DON'T WANNA BE #%^&ed!

Any help would be greatly appreciated. My band members hate me because this happens during practice all the time.

[acroberts]

Hey guys, I'm currently having a little problem with the Track Arming in Live with my FCB1010 and my Novation 61 SL midi controller.

By chance, is 'Arm Exclusive' turned off? If off, you will be able to arm multiple tracks, if turned off, you should not be able to arm more than one track at a time.

Right-click on any Arm Track button to check it out.

drew

[Logan88]

Hey drew thanks for the tip, I tried turning it off and on and it didn't make a difference. It's weird how programming the FCB1010 pedals to Notes would make it work while programming them to CC's don't.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[acroberts]

Hey drew thanks for the tip, I tried turning it off and on and it didn't make a difference. It's weird how programming the FCB1010 pedals to Notes would make it work while programming them to CC's don't.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Any particular reason for sending CCs rather than a Note? Are the CC's also controlling another function with your gear (external MIDI effect boards, etc)?

Email me offline if you want to talk - acroberts at gmail dot com

[ian412]

I am having difficulty programming Expression Pedals A & B. Are they associated with one of the switches? I can't seem to activate them in program mode. The first post was very helpful with the detailed steps. Any detailed help on how to program these would be much appreciated!

[Incornsyucopia23]

Hey,

So I've got me a FCB1010 and am trying to get it to work. I've got it connected through my Firewire 410 (MIDI Out from the FCB to MIDI In on the 410) and have, I think, set up the correct MIDI Preferences in Live. So far, however, Live only recognizes the expression pedals. When I'm in MIDI assign mode nothing happens when I hit any of the other pedals. Any advice as to what's going on?

Much thanks

[LasseMunk]

Any of you guys tried to use the fcb 1010 along with live, with a novation x-station as midi input to the laptop?? I can't really get any midi input, and I can't really figure pout why.

[Guff Tong]

I have my FCB 101/10 set to midi notes -

00 - transport - 71-80
01 - looper - 81-90
02 - looper 2 - 91-100
03 - Guit Peddle - 101-110
04 - bass peddle - 110-120

06-09 - midi notes - 01-11, 11-20, 21-30, etc.... can be used for clip launch etc.. or where conlflict is not an issue.

(May look into making these CC's though still geting me head round it tbh)

Basicaly set the main control notes from 71 upwards to stop any conflict with my, bcr mackie keyboard, pads etc...

[robbb]

Hallo,
great explanation, thanks a lot for sharing this!! does anyone know how to use the expression pedals and/or up-down switches? i can't figure out how to assign them to live (for master fx, for example) robbb

[omega13lives]

Hey people,

I wrote a remote control surface mapping for the fcb 1010, check it out at
http://bl0rg.net/~manuel/fcb1010-mappings/

Supports automatic mapping of tracks, as well as "record into next empty slot" functions. Automappping of contorl pedals as well

First, I want to say to this mapping works really well! I downloaded the file and installed it, did a dump to my board and it works perfectly. However I want to change a few things. I tried using the tap tempo to launch a scene but it only seems to launch the first scene in the set no matter what I do. I have written to Live support about this. So if I can't get this to work, or until I do, I decided to try to use the nudge feature just in case we were not playing at the same exact tempo of the clip that I'm using. However since this mapping is global regardless of what Set you are using, I tried using the editor to change the functions, and I had to change the pedals from CC to Notes, but the pedals still seem to have a second function, that is, I can see the nudge buttons light up but the tempo doesn't seem to change, and if I press the pedal twice it launches a clip, and pressing twice again stops the clip which is really annoying. In the live manual it describes User Mappings and gives a text file to edit, but in all of the folders for controllers including this one it has these .pyc files that can't be edited with a text editor so I don't know how to change the global mappings.

Also I have not gotten any response to the e-mail listed on the link above. So if anyone can explain how to get either the tap tempo or the nudge feature working with the FCB1010, PLEASE respond. And if you can tell me how to change the global user mappings, even better!

Thanks,
Eric

[ceekghic]

I know this is a thread mostly about looping using the FCB1010, but for those of you who want to use it as an effects pedal and switch between them quickly and effectively you might find this solution useful. I've used this setup for about a year now and it works perfectly for me, and i've noticed occasionally people post questions that this might help with so i thought i'd include it here.

http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=119114

hope it's useful.

J

www.telegramsband.com

[melonhead]

Hi

I use the fcb1010 only to control ableton . i basically want to use it as a pedal board to trigger effects on and off live.

i've setup the fcb to turn "ON" different audio effects (chained in the audio effects area) while the audio track is record enabled but for some reason, I cannot get the preset to turn off the effect as well. the preset i have programmed for the record enable turns on and off with the footswitch. i can't seem to find any button to program within effects (such as the reverbs) that bypass the effect to basically turn it off.

does anybody know what i should do

any advice is greatly appreciated

thanks,
melonhead

[Machinesworking]

Hi

I use the fcb1010 only to control ableton . i basically want to use it as a pedal board to trigger effects on and off live.

i've setup the fcb to turn "ON" different audio effects (chained in the audio effects area) while the audio track is record enabled but for some reason, I cannot get the preset to turn off the effect as well. the preset i have programmed for the record enable turns on and off with the footswitch. i can't seem to find any button to program within effects (such as the reverbs) that bypass the effect to basically turn it off.

does anybody know what i should do

any advice is greatly appreciated

thanks,
melonhead

Just a wild guess, but Live has all kinds of settings for MIDI CC messages (at the bottom when in MIDI programming mode), It's probably on some setting that basically sends a '127', so you're sending Live "on" messages only. This is one reason why I don't prefer MIDI CCs over notes, another is possible conflicts with setting on the Remote SL and expression pedals. Notes toggle on or off, MIDI CCs have to be told to toggle.

[ceekghic]

Hi

I use the fcb1010 only to control ableton . i basically want to use it as a pedal board to trigger effects on and off live.

i've setup the fcb to turn "ON" different audio effects (chained in the audio effects area) while the audio track is record enabled but for some reason, I cannot get the preset to turn off the effect as well. the preset i have programmed for the record enable turns on and off with the footswitch. i can't seem to find any button to program within effects (such as the reverbs) that bypass the effect to basically turn it off.

does anybody know what i should do

any advice is greatly appreciated

thanks,
melonhead

I had actually posted a link to this just above what you wrote, but because i'm extra helpful, i've copied it in below too... the trick is that you're using midi CC values to control a rack. that way you... well it is explained below anyhow.


I wasn’t able to find this anywhere on the ableton forums (or anywhere else) so I thought I’d post my solution for using Live for guitar effects in performance, controlled by the Behringer FCB1010 midi pedal. It enables you to do everything within a single effect rack using just the chain selector, so you don’t end up wasting CPU on muted channels. In terms of the FCB1010, it allows you to switch on an effect and only deselect it when you change to another effect, so you’ll never get confused as to which one is active when you’re performing (since you can’t toggle each pedal’s LED indicator, it only turns off when you press a different pedal). It’s also useful if, like me, you also use Live for triggering samples and drum loops and use other midi controllers, all within the same set.

First, open up an effect rack. For each effect chain you add, say a flanger, distortion, open the chain selector and set it to be active for a range of only one midi value. For example, set your first effect chain for 0 to 0, the second as 1 to 1, and so on.

Next you need to program your FCB1010 to send out only CC messages. If you don’t know how to program it, there are plenty of resources on the web to help you, e.g. http://www.mtnsys.com/faq-fcb/IdiotsGuide.htm

Basically, you need to set up the pedals you want to use to activate single values along the chain selector (0-127). To do this you use the same CC for each pedal, but with different values. For example, for your first effect (chain selector range 0-0), use CC#22 with a range value of 0 to 0. For next pedal, set it up so it again send out on CC#22 but with a value of 1 to 1. Then 2-2, 3-3, so on and so forth.

Once you’ve assigned all the pedals you want to use, open up Live’s midi mapping and simply assign any of the pedals you’ve programmed to the chain selector on your rack. You should now find that, when you select a pedal, the chain selector will ‘jump’ to that particular value and hence activate that chain of effects. If you want to select more than one at a time, you can even overlap them and stuff like that.

Hope this is useful, and not to confusing to read.