Has anyone tried the Apogee Gio with Live?

[The Landwhale]

Just curious if anyone has actually found one in stores yet, or owns one. I'm eager to know
The system requirements say Logic 9 or garageband '09, but I hope that's just a marketing thing. I asked an apogee rep about whether this was would be able to programmed to use as a midi controller with Live and he said yes, but not 100% sure.

[polishbroadcast]

Just curious if anyone has actually found one in stores yet, or owns one. I'm eager to know
The system requirements say Logic 9 or garageband '09, but I hope that's just a marketing thing. I asked an apogee rep about whether this was would be able to programmed to use as a midi controller with Live and he said yes, but not 100% sure.

I bought one used from Musicians friend and i like the size and build of it.

It is indeed "just" a MIDI controller. Each of the buttons sends out a CC message which can be easily mapped in Live. The lights on the controller also respond to CC messages. In the case of transport controls, they respond to CC messages either 0 (off) or 127 (on) and in the case of the multi-colored "stompbox lights" they respond to 3 simultaneous CC messages which i think are RGB values. I don't think there is an easy way to program the Gio with different values, but you can certainly teach Live what values the Gio sends.

Setting up the Gio with Live is pretty simple: i'm a total noob with Live (like only a few hours into it). The trick is figuring out a good workflow for looping (which is what i ultimately wanted to do).

I found two videos which cover looping in live from a guitar-centric / solo performer perspective:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBwywxD4lDE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bjj-ogBf1wI

Currently this is how i have the Gio set up:
Go to zero = stop all clips
Play = play currently selected scene
Next = select scene "down" arrow
Previous = select scene "up" arrow
Stompbox switches 1-5 = Track launch / record for clips 1-5

So i can select a scene with the Next/Previous switches, play the scene with the Play switch, and then record + overdub 5 distinct loops. Right now i am working on having the controller respond to CC messages so it gives me visual feedback but i think i have to start another thread for that. Currently all i have working is the Play button lights up when playing and goes dark when not. I am not too familiar with what kind of MIDI wizardry Live can do without Max4Live so expect that thread soon.

If anyone else has figured out a better / different / clever workflow with the Gio please post your ideas!

[tom baxter]

Did you get any further with you Apogee Gio working as a controller for the Ableton Live 9 ?

[polishbroadcast]

Did you get any further with you Apogee Gio working as a controller for the Ableton Live 9 ?

Wow, I totally forgot about this.

No: I sold it not too long after those experiments. Ableton was too cumbersome for guitar looping, for me. I got a Boomerang III and have used it ever since ... they also recently added MIDI sync.