FCB1010 and Live Looper

[mhat]

I have an FCB1010 setup to send CC messages. I midi map to the Record/Add/Play button on the Looper effect. When I press the pedal it triggers the button to record, I press the pedal again and it goes into Add(overdub) but then after a moment the button switches to Play by itself. Now when I hit the pedal again it will trigger the button back to Add(overdub) but only for a moment before switching back to Play. I cannot overdub at all.

What is happening here? Do I need to program the FCB to send a midi note instead? Does anyone know a way to preoperly program the FCB? A good editing program for it?

[Ableton_David]

What MIDI interface are you using? And what your settings for the input/output from this interface?

[mhat]

I have a couple Firepods linked together. I have one midi cable going from the midi out on the FCB going into the first Firepod. I didn't have another midi cable for the out back to the FCB and just assummed I didn't need one, do I?

In Ableton's preferences I see the FCB coming in on my Firepod's port. I have Track On and Remote On.

In midi map mode the 00 Bank is sending Channel 1 and CC 0 to 9 on my 10 foot pedals.

It triggers clips fine, but does this weird thing with the looper (as I mentioned in my first post), or if I have one mapped to an effect's on/off button it will switch it once and then won't ever again.

Thanks for your time.

[mhat]

Well I think I solved my problem. I changed my FCB to send midi notes instead and this seems to do the trick.

Thanks anyways.

[ltweed]

I am having exactly the same problem described here, except with different equipment. I have mapped my M-Audio sustain pedal (through my Axion 61 midi keyboard controller) to the record/play/stop button on looper. One press of the pedal (usually) starts looper and puts it into record mode. The next press puts it into overdub, but only for 1 bar, and then looper magically goes into play mode. This happens on any subsequent presses also. A double-press of the pedal stops looper, as it should.

I thought maybe it was the pedal that was the problem, so I mapped a button on the midi controller to the same looper function. It shows the same behavior.

I see that the original poster solved this by having the controller send a midi note rather than a "CC". I have to admit I'm pretty new to this, and I'm not sure how to accomplish that (or if it's the solution I should be looking at).

Any help and advice is appreciated.

Larry

[Ableton_David]

Hi Larry, have you tried holding down the sustain pedal when using it to overdub with Looper?

[ltweed]

David,

No luck there. I guess the code doesn't get sent until I release the pedal.

In any case, as I mentioned, this happens when I map buttons on the controller also.. not just the pedal.

Larry

[Ableton_David]

Do you have the controller set as a control surface in Live?

[ltweed]

Yes, it's set up as a control surface and the inputs are set to Track and Remote. It works fine for everything else (so far, at least). I can launch clips just fine, arm tracks, control fades, etc. This is the only issue I've noticed, but as I said I'm new to this, so it could certainly be something I just don't understand.

*edit - unfortunately, this is the one thing I can't workaround with the mouse. I'm trying to use looper with a guitar, so I really need to be hands-free. The mouse works, but it's not a viable option.

Larry

[madlab]

Like you, I solved this by programming the fcb to send notes instead of CC. It's weird but that's the way it is...

[ltweed]

I wish I knew how to do that. There's an editor for the Axiom, but I don't see an option to send notes.

I'm using Ableton Live 8.14, in case that helps.

*edit - using 8.21 now, but that didn't change anything. The problem persists.

Larry

[Ableton_David]

Hi, have you checked out M-Audio support for using the control editor on the Axiom?

[ltweed]

I will contact them if I need to, but what exactly do I need the controller to send to Looper to get it to work correctly? People have suggested that changing to a MIDI note has worked, but is it supposed to send the same data? I'm not even sure what to ask M-Audio support at this point.

[Ableton_David]

If you're using a sustain pedal, then it's probably pre-set to send a momentary message - it only works as long as you hold down the pedal. You need to make it work more like a toggle button, so that it turns overdub on and off.

[ltweed]

Ah, that does give me something to go on. I tried mapping the function to an actual note key on the keyboard, and it works as expected. All the other controller buttons I tried, as well as the pedal, must be momentary.

Obviously, I can't use a keyboard note while playing guitar, but I'll see if there's a way to have the sustain pedal send a note (yes, I realize that's exactly what we've been talking about all along, but now I understand it!).

If I can't get the sustain pedal to send a note, I suspect that I'll need to get a pedal that toggles. This is turning into quite an adventure...

Thanks for the help. I may be back..

Larry