Side Scrolling

[mattz]

Hi,

When I've used Ableton on a Macbook Pro, the "2 finger swipe" side scroll works perfectly...in session or arrangement view, moving right/left is a breeze.

However, on my PC laptop at home...not so much. I can see the "sidescroll" icon when I do the 2 finger swipe, but nothing happens. Any ideas? This is an HP dv6t-7000 with a Synaptics touchpad.

[kennsore]

Are you sure the trackpad on the PC (Windows based I guess) supports multi touch and gestures? This is a Mac only feature, I think...

[mattz]

Yes it supports two finger swipe. I use 3 finger swipe to go back/forward on web browsers all the time. And when I two-finger sideswipe in Live, the little scroll icon with horizontal arrows even comes up--but no side scrolling occurs. (Side scrolling works perfectly in all other programs.)

And 2 finger swipe vertical scrolling works perfectly in Ableton. Ugh.

[mattz]

It is a heavy bummer.

Any Windows users out there successfully using 2 finger multitouch trackpads to scroll horizontally in Live? This is Live 8.2 BTW

[moonpie]

Hey, had an idea for you -


Try this
http://code.google.com/p/two-finger-scr ... loads/list

Its sort of an add in/alternative to scrolling with your original driver - Just install and go to its settings and enable - it MIGHT work - I distinctly remember installing it and had MUCH better 2 finger scroll than the default synaptic driver.


Best of luck, let us know if it works - hopefully itll help somebody.

[moonpie]

Theres more info about it here

http://lifehacker.com/5493849/get-mac+l ... ows-laptop

[mattz]

Thank you kindly for the advice--I tried it! It did improve one aspect of scrolling, in that I can now simultaneously scroll vertically and horizontally (ie diagonally). Before, I could only scroll in one direction at a time. It is more "Mac-like" in that regard now. However: still no side scrolling in Live. I'm sure it's Live at fault; every other program works perfectly with horizontal scroll.

I do appreciate the advice--so much more helpful than the inevitable "just get a Mac!". I told myself I wouldn't let it irk me when I first posted, but I'm only human I guess. Hey, I'll just spend $1500 more for a computer with the same specs! Why didn't I think of that?

[mattz]

Also, I did finally update to 8.3 (I don't update otherwise working software lightly (let's face it, this is an issue of convenience and is not mission-critical), and that did not fix it either.

[mattz]

No worries--I'm probably just speaking out of jealousy. But actually, going between platforms works flawlessly. Except side scrolling, ha, which does hamper the creative flow a bit.

Unfortunately the Mac I sometimes use isn't mine. If I can scrape up the $$$ I'd be happy to join you.

[mattz]

OK, for anyone still interested in this one, here are 2 updates:

The official Ableton response:
--------
Since this is not a default feature of Windows 7, and i suppose you use some additional software for your touchpad to do this, it is not supported by Live 8 at this point.

As soon as Windows will have native support for horizontal scrolling you can also expect to use this in Live.
---------

"Additional software" likely refers to the Synaptics touchpad software. Pretty weak that horizontal scrolling is not native to Windows. I may try to take this up with Microsoft.

A ray of hope appeared in the form of a post by Rom37 in the Pro Tools forums:

http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=313307

Basically he uses the free application X Mouse to send a Ctrl+Wheel Up/down message (it's actually ctrl+shift+wheel in PT) when a horizontal scroll message is sent. I have tried this with Ableton, and I can't get it to work. I know X-Mouse is successfully sending messages to Live--as an experiment, I successfully reversed the right and left mouse buttons. I've tried tons of different settings. The Live API must receive scroll messages directly from Windows, bypassing even the Synaptics program--and since horizontal scroll isn't native to Windows, Live gets nothing. Lame.

If anyone has any suggestions I (and likely many others) would be grateful.

[pencilrocket]

I wish arrangement window and device scroll accepted horizontal scrolling with mouse over or *key + scroll ...

[mattz]

Success!! Here we go:

In Synaptics settings, disable Two Finger Horizontal Scrolling. Leave Vertical Scrolling enabled.

Download the latest version of Two Finger Scroll (the Mac Hater mod, v1.09). This version has horizontal scroll capabilities. Right click the tray icon and go to Settings. Enable Horizontal Scroll, disable Vertical Scroll, and check "Start with Windows." Leave the radio button on "Compatible." Perhaps you can experiment later, but this is the only setting that worked for me.

Download X-Mouse Button Control and start it up.

Create a profile by clicking "Add".
Select "Ableton Live 8.exe" in the program choices. Name it "Ableton" or somesuch.
In the new profile, click into the Tilt Wheel Left dropdown box.
Select Simulated Keys (undefined).
At the top, type in: {CTRL}{MWUP}
Do the same for Tilt Wheel Right, but this time type in {CTRL}{MWDN}

This worked for me. Yes, I am one of those people who will sacrifice days of productivity in the name of perfect of creative flow. I just couldn't live with this one.

[Warrior Bob]

Yes, I am one of those people who will sacrifice days of productivity, in the name of perfect of creative flow. I just couldn't live with this one.

Nothing wrong with that assuming it's just your own time!

Glad you got it figured out an thanks for letting us know how you did it.

[taiowa]

I have the same type of problem with my new dell xps 15. To horizontal scroll i have to pinch to H-scroll and two finger gesture does nothing. Ableton guys basically put it off on laptops not being standardized???? But my laptop touchpad works with every other app.

I upgraded to 9 after buying this laptop and since then haven't used it because it's annoying to work with for this reason.