Configure Tascam FW1884 Ableton (Mackie Control Emulator)

[[email protected]]

I have just received my new Tascam FW1884 for use with Ableton which I have just upgraded to version 8. After some dcoument cross referencing I managed to get the Mackie Control Emulation working okay as far as I know so I can use the Transport Controls (to a degree), the Fader Controls, and some of the Aux Controls seem to work but think this may need some time to figure out.

What I would like to know is if anyone has set up a similar configuration before to know what total controls I will get. Apart from the Loop button, none of the Control Panel Controls work, e.g. Save, Revert, Ctrl, Shift, Alt etc. I'm hoping to become as close to mouse and laptop keyboard free as possible but don't know what to expect in terms of total control.

So far I have done the following......
- Read the Tascam Manual(s) and referenced the Mackie Control Emulator manual to understand what controls work in Ableton
- Referenced this with the Ableton Live 7 manual for the Mackie Control functions (Live 8 manual doesn't include I think because it includes a section on their new APC40 controller)
- Searched as many forums as possible, including Tascams and found nothing useful so far

Once I've finally got the Control Surface element working as mouse-less as possible I want to see how I can get the Midi Control element working so I can become almost fully mouse-less.

Your help is much appreciated

Damo

(P.S. I do have the APC40 on pre-order too, but I would be using that more for live/session arrangement and the Tascam for sequencer/arrangement stuff so still need to get it configured the best I can)

[Mididreamer]

I have just received my new Tascam FW1884 for use with Ableton which I have just upgraded to version 8. After some dcoument cross referencing I managed to get the Mackie Control Emulation working okay as far as I know so I can use the Transport Controls (to a degree), the Fader Controls, and some of the Aux Controls seem to work but think this may need some time to figure out.

What I would like to know is if anyone has set up a similar configuration before to know what total controls I will get. Apart from the Loop button, none of the Control Panel Controls work, e.g. Save, Revert, Ctrl, Shift, Alt etc. I'm hoping to become as close to mouse and laptop keyboard free as possible but don't know what to expect in terms of total control.

So far I have done the following......
- Read the Tascam Manual(s) and referenced the Mackie Control Emulator manual to understand what controls work in Ableton
- Referenced this with the Ableton Live 7 manual for the Mackie Control functions (Live 8 manual doesn't include I think because it includes a section on their new APC40 controller)
- Searched as many forums as possible, including Tascams and found nothing useful so far

Once I've finally got the Control Surface element working as mouse-less as possible I want to see how I can get the Midi Control element working so I can become almost fully mouse-less.

Your help is much appreciated

Damo

(P.S. I do have the APC40 on pre-order too, but I would be using that more for live/session arrangement and the Tascam for sequencer/arrangement stuff so still need to get it configured the best I can)

Hi [email protected]

It is still a nice peace of gear.I use it a lot with Sonar Cakewalk.
It is all about good drivers. Tascam is not one of the greatest in service .
So you have to google a lot before you hvae all the information to let your Tascam FW-1884 work properly.
For example:
http://tascamforums.com/index.php?showtopic=20021

If you push your control mode on the FW-1884 you have to have driver 1.70, Unit version must say register 20, ARM 183, Hardware 3, FPGA 49, Control protocol ofcourse Mackie control emulation. In ableton you have to choose in preferences in Midi item control surfaces MackieControl and input FW 1884 Control and for output FW 1884 Control I also put beneath on Midi ports track, sync an remote " on " for input and output FW 1884 Macie Control.

It runs fine on Vista 32 or WIndows 7 RC1

Kind regards

PS Hope Akai APC40 drivers are already working Idid anwser the same above in an the other topic

[timothyallan]

You're going to get some fantastic amounts of spam with your username!

Nice Tascam unit btw!

[[email protected]]

Oops! My bad. Should have said I'm using a MacBook Pro.

Thanks for your response. I've got the Mackie Control Emulator working, and I believe I've got the most up to date drivers for it. But it only controls a small amount of things and the faders, encoders etc do not seem to send midi signals when the Tascam is in midi mode.

Andy yeah..... I was expecting to input a friendly username not realising that was my forum name too. Waiting for mod to let e change it.

D

[ShrimpUSA]

Did you ever get this figured out? I have a friend off loading one for cheap, but if half the feature don't work with Ableton than it seems pointless. So, can you midi assign faders? What about the transport bar? Any info? Thanks.

Dan