Hey. So when I first got my FCB1010, I was very frustrated trying to program it. Everybody suggested iFCB, but I personally feel there's no need to pay for something like that, when with just a little effort, you can achieve the same results for free. I'm aware there is already a guide on here somewhere, that is the guide that provided my basis for this one. That guide told me the correct butons to press, but didn't seem to explain WHY I was pressing these buttons, which is fundamental in understanding what you're doing. So here is my version. Hopefully this will help some people who were in my predicament. So yeah.
So you want your FCB to be sending CC messages to Live. These are the same messages used when you map something on any midi controller to a parameter, just most controllers already have the right values set. The FCB's default setup for CC values per pedal is really stupid. Most pedals send the same values, which is kinda useless. At least for ableton. If you create a midi clip in session view, and open the envelopes box, there is a drop down list of CC values, and which ones are used or free to map. This is the list of available ones that I have, but this might be different for your setup if you have different midi controllers already mapped and whatnot, so make sure you check which ones you can use.
14-37
39-63
70-95
102-119 are the available ones for me.
you want to assign each stomp, and each two expression pedals per stomp to a different CC value. Like this:
CC14 - Bank 00 Stomp 1
CC15 - Bank 00 Stomp 1 Expression pedal A
CC16 - Bank 00 Stomp 1 Expression pedal B
CC17 - Bank 00 Stomp 2
CC18 - Bank 00 Stomp 2 Expression pedal A
and so on. So here is the sequence of pedals you need to press on the FCB1010 to set these CC's to the stomps you want.
1. Holding the DOWN stomp will open up the configuration mode. So choose which stomp you want to edit by pressing it (it will light up), then hold the DOWN stomp for a few seconds to begin configuring it. The LED will go blank.
2. Now hit the UP stomp to confirm. The UP stomp will always confirm your entry.
3. On each stomp it says in small letters what that stomp represents, Stomp 1 represents PROG CH 1, stomp 2 represents PROG CH 2, and so on. The ones you want are pedals 7, 8, and 9. These represent respectively, CNT2, EXP A, and EXP B. I'm not sure why you must use CNT2, but from trial and error, it seems to be the only one that works.
So the stomps that are lit up right now, are the ones where something is programed too. By default stomp 1 is lit. By holding down that stomp, you can make it unlit. You want to do this for every stomp that is lit besides 7,8, and 9.
4. To begin editing what CC value that stomp has, press (dont hold) the 7 stomp. it will begin blinking, meaning you've selected it. Press the UP stomp to confirm.
5. The number in the LED now is the CC value that that stomp is assigned to. Use the stomps or the Expression pedal to set the CC value you want (being a number from the list previously mentioned) It's really important to stay organized and keep a log of which stomps have what CC, or else you'll probably get confused. For example lets say this is "Bank 00, Stomp 1" and you want to set it to 14. Change the number to 14, then press the UP stomp to confirm.
6. Now it will ask you for the velocity you want for that midi signal. Set it to 127 (being the maximum velocity), unless you have a specific reason not to. Press UP to confirm. Now that stomp is assigned to CC14
7. Now you're back where we were at step 3. Do the same thing, except press stomp 8 to make it blink. Stomp 8 represents Expression pedal A, so this will edit STOMP 1 EXP A's CC value. Press UP to confirm.
8. Set the CC value to the next free CC value on your list. For this example it was 15. Press UP to confirm.
9. Now for the expression pedals, the next step is a little different than before, you have to set the Minimum and Maximum velocity, being for the lowest position of the pedal, and the highest. The first one it will prompt you for is the lowest value. So enter 0. Press UP to confirm. Then enter 127 for the maximum velocity. Press UP to confirm. Now you've set BANK00 STOMP1 EXPA's CC value to 15.
10. Do the same thing for Expression pedal B which is represented by Stomp 9, by setting it to the next available CC value.
11. Now since you have fully programmed stomp 1, hold DOWN to exit configuration mode. Now you're back to the regular FCB1010 interface.
12. Do the same process for every stomp you wish to use.
Now you have a different CC value for every stomp, and each stomp has two more CC values for the expression pedals. So the expression pedal's function will change depending on what stomp is lit up. This is very useful for controlling effects in live. An example would be mapping the ARM button for an audio track to STOMP 1, and mapping EXP A and B for STOMP 1 to two different AUX sends (return tracks), then using STOMP 2 to do the same thing for a different audio track.
This seems like a lengthy process at first, but once you can remember which stomps to press without looking at this guide, you can program the whole board in no time. No need to pay more money for the program "iFCB" after you've already invested in the unit.
I really hope this helps some people out. I wish this guide was here when I first got my FCB, but I gotta give props to the user who wrote the first guide. It may have been confusing, but I eventually figured out WHY you were telling me to press those buttons. Thanks unknown ableton forum user!
Don't hesitate to ask questions if anything I said was not specific enough... and BTW, with the amount of available free CC's compared to the amount the FCB lets you program, you can really only map 2 full banks worth, and a few for 3rd.
Hope this helps.
FCB1010 Programming Guide without iFCB
Re: FCB1010 Programming Guide without iFCB
Great guide! I just stick to the mountain systems program though, real easy and I need to change patches for different projects. Nice work though man