Improvement to encoder banks for Live's native FX

[Megageoff]

It's not really a big request, but it would make a difference... I feel that some of the standard encoder mapping (eg. when using the APC 40 or making on'es own custom remote script) are a bit silly. The big culprit here is the EQ 8: with bank 1 being on/off for all 8 bands , band 2 being frequency etc etc. So to make settings for band 1, one has to change bank 10-20 times until one get's it right- this really makes it unusable, meaning that a mouse is a faster and better way of setting the eq. To my mind it would be much better to have bank 1 addressing all of eq band 1's parameters and so on.

This is the main grumble, although a few FX don't have all their parameters mapped, which I feel should be addressed too. This ain't no big thing, I think it would be quite easy to implement!

[Megageoff]

Also many devices (eg. EQ8) have on/off values poorly mapped, so that a tiny increment switches between the values, making them very fiddly to use. I think a basic 0-64/65-127 cutoff would work much better. The APC's great for removing much of the mouse work, but I feel some improvements to encoder mappings would eliminate even more.

[drchoc]

Yes I agree, I made a post about it http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=144101 ages ago.

In short, we need to be able set our own device control defaults (per device) instead of needing to create racks every time.

[Megageoff]

I agree wholeheartedly!

C'mon Ableton, put in some feature to help us edit controller banks, or at least make some of the banks more logical, and utilise every device parameter (when possible).

[Megageoff]

Thought I'd give this thread a BUMP! It would be great if some Ableton staff saw this and would be able to have a look over the encoder mapping settings for the APC40 and user remote scripts etc in time for Ableton 9. I wouldn't imagine the changes would be hard to implement and they would make Ableton work better with a number of control surfaces. I'll start putting up the various shortcomings as I encounter them.

1- The EQ8 banks should be redone so that encoders 1-8 control the various parameters for one EQ band, with the bank controls switching between the different bands. The current system is unusable as there's so much bank-changing.
2- the Compressor's banks should be redone so that the output gain is in bank 1, as those of us that don't use automatic make-up gain can easily control the makeup from one bank.
3-As Drchoc says, not all the Flanger's controls are mapped (I'll need to have a look as I'm sure this is a problem on a few Live devices).

If anyone else could add their thoughts about the shortcomings of the encoder banks here, that would be great!

[Megageoff]

5- Another bank-related problem is that the 'Best of' bank doesn't seem to work at all (not on my APC40, nor my user remote script foe my Edirol PCR500). This means that most of the instrument devices (eg. Analog) lack a whole bank worth of encoders.

[Megageoff]

6- Autopan, not all parameters mapped.

[Megageoff]

7- Gate, not all parameters mapped.

[JuanSOLO]

YEP, we need to be able to 'choose' what is what on the Banks.

[Megageoff]

Yes, that would be an even better solution. I respect Ableton's desire for design simplicity and avoiding the bloat that accompanies excessive DAW features, but even just an expansion of the user remote scripts to allow users to change bank assignments would suffice. However, I still think the 'out of the box' mappings for devices (esp the APC40, which is, after all, proprietary) could be improved and made more logical. The assignments for EQ8 (probably the most-used native plugin!) are mind-bogglingly unusable.

[drchoc]

+1

[metastatik]

I agree, it would be great to see something like this added to Live. In the meantime, I’ve developed an app that allows you to do this, which was partially inspired by this thread. So thanks for the inspiration and I hope LIME suits your needs for now.