Ubermap for Push 2 (VST/AU parameter remapping)

[cohamill]

Hi Tom,

I've read through the multiple threads on Ubermap, and it sounds nothing short of revolutionary to me. The amount of control and customization it gives over Push's default functionality boggles the mind. I'd love to get in on this!

The problem is, my knowledge of coding is, well....not there. Short of taking a class on Python, is there any way I (and the many like me) could use your tool? For instance, do you (or anyone) have templates you could share? Alternatively, are there some simplified resources teaching the basics of customizing MIDI remote scripts etc.? Or still yet, would you be willing to make a video about how to use Ubermap? That might be more accessible than what currently exists.

Either way, good on you for doing this. It seems like a lot of people in the Live community are benefitting from your work

[nori.lam]

Hi Tom,

I've read through the multiple threads on Ubermap, and it sounds nothing short of revolutionary to me. The amount of control and customization it gives over Push's default functionality boggles the mind. I'd love to get in on this!

The problem is, my knowledge of coding is, well....not there. Short of taking a class on Python, is there any way I (and the many like me) could use your tool? For instance, do you (or anyone) have templates you could share? Alternatively, are there some simplified resources teaching the basics of customizing MIDI remote scripts etc.? Or still yet, would you be willing to make a video about how to use Ubermap? That might be more accessible than what currently exists.

Either way, good on you for doing this. It seems like a lot of people in the Live community are benefitting from your work

No need to learn any Python coding.
All you need to do is fill out a simple text file to configure (1) the order of your parameters as shown in each bank in Push (2) parameter names to be shown.
Think of it like a shopping list. If you can write one in a text editor, you can get Ubermap to work.

I suggest looking at the links on the first post as they explain everything you need to do.

[cohamill]

All you need to do is fill out a simple text file to configure (1) the order of your parameters as shown in each bank in Push (2) parameter names to be shown.
Think of it like a shopping list. If you can write one in a text editor, you can get Ubermap to work.

It's lines like this (from the first post) that scare me off from even trying stuff like this:

Please note that Ubermap is still considered experimental so please only install it if you are confident with what you are doing, no responsibility can be accepted for any problems you may encounter!

[cohamill]

Nonetheless, I think I'll give it a go.

Tom, there are several versions of Ubermap floating around, complicated by the fact that I don't know which ones will work with Push 1 vs. Push 2.

I see installation instructions at https://github.com/tomduncalf/ubermap/t ... stallation with the following download link: https://github.com/tomduncalf/ubermap/a ... master.zip. However, I think this may be an older version?

Anyway... I'm a Push 1 user, on Windows 7, with Live 9.6.1. Could you provide a link where I can download the most current version of Ubermap that will work with my setup?

[tom_d]

Hi Tom,

I've read through the multiple threads on Ubermap, and it sounds nothing short of revolutionary to me. The amount of control and customization it gives over Push's default functionality boggles the mind. I'd love to get in on this!

The problem is, my knowledge of coding is, well....not there. Short of taking a class on Python, is there any way I (and the many like me) could use your tool? For instance, do you (or anyone) have templates you could share? Alternatively, are there some simplified resources teaching the basics of customizing MIDI remote scripts etc.? Or still yet, would you be willing to make a video about how to use Ubermap? That might be more accessible than what currently exists.

Either way, good on you for doing this. It seems like a lot of people in the Live community are benefitting from your work

Hey,

Haha yeah sorry, I know that getting started can be a little complicated at the minute – the warnings are mainly there to ensure people don't blame me if something goes wrong though, most people have got Ubermap working successfully

I do plan to make it easier to set up and recording a video was one of my ideas, I'll have some time over the next month to look at these kinds of things hopefully!

Regarding using it with Push 1 – I'm not 100% sure what the status of this is, as I had to sell my Push 1 to get Push 2. Is anyone out there using Ubermap successfully with Push 1 and can confirm what version they are using?

I'd like to keep as much functionality working with Push 1 as possible, but it is a bit hard to do so without the hardware, so it would be a good idea for me to identify a version which works well with Push 1 and signpost it, then I can add new features for Push 2 without worrying about breaking Push 1 users

Cheers,
Tom

[cohamill]

Hi Tom,
it would be a good idea for me to identify a version which works well with Push 1 and signpost it, then I can add new features for Push 2 without worrying about breaking Push 1 users

Indeed!

In other news, in trying to back up my MIDI remote scripts to install Ubermap, my buggy computer had a brain fart halfway through and just emptied out my scripts folder instead, without my knowing. So now they're basically all gone, and my Push isn't functioning correctly I have to fix this before doing Ubermap, and in fact before doing anything else!

Any idea how to recover them? I tried to use the installer to repair Live, but it only gave me the option to remove it (which I'd prefer to avoid since reinstalling my particular setup from scratch would take half a day). I know you said this thread isn't for tech support, but I wonder if you know what to do if you accidentally screw up a remote scripts...?

[tom_d]

but I wonder if you know what to do if you accidentally screw up a remote scripts...?

On the Mac at least, all your settings exist outside the Ableton application so removing and reinstalling it causes no issues in terms of losing stuff. Alternatively you could get someone with the same version of Live as you to send over a ZIP of their MIDI Remote Scripts folder and unzip it there, or if you have two computers, install Ableton on the other one and do the same

[cohamill]

Hi Tom,

Problem here. So I recovered my MIDI remote scripts, fortunately, and have started trying to get Ubermap working for me. Before we get into it, some notes about my setup:
- Live 9.6.2
- Push 1
- Windows 7
- used ubermap-0.4b4.zip (listed in the OP as the most recent stable version)
- followed Manual Installation steps 1-12 (https://github.com/tomduncalf/ubermap/b ... /README.md)

That's all I've done so far, nothing else. Yet when I restart Live, it no longer recognizes my Push. Well, it DOES recognize it as a MIDI controller, but not a control surface (I think). I know this because it spits out MIDI notes when I hit the pads, but they're chromatic rather than locked to scale. Furthermore, although the Push display is backlit, it displays no messages, and none of the knobs or function buttons are lit or produce any effect. Basically, my Push has been reduced to a simple 64-key piano.

I should note that, technically, this is the second time I've gotten this result. A week or so ago I tried to set up Ubermap, but when the above happened, I freaked out and tried to restore the original remote script. It was in doing this that my scripts were accidentally deleted, so I had to reinstall Live!

Anyway, why has this happened (twice!)? I'm too new to the process to be able to figure out at what point in the process something went wrong. I did not stray from your manual installation directions.

Any and all advice appreciated. I really want to get Ubermap working so that I can finally customize my mappings and banks!

Edit: Thinking more about this, maybe this is what's supposed to happen? i.e., steps 1-12 basically wipe Push's brain clean, and now I have to fill it up with what I want.... If this isn't the case and something indeed has gone wrong, let me know. Otherwise, let me read a bit deeper into the instructions...

[[chris b]]

Ubermap won't do anything to the functionality of Push if everything has been installed correctly. It's only when you load vst's and then edit the relevant configs you'll see changes.

[cohamill]

Ubermap won't do anything to the functionality of Push if everything has been installed correctly. It's only when you load vst's and then edit the relevant configs you'll see changes.

Yeah, that's what I was expecting to happen - i.e., everything superficially normal until I actually edit the Ubermap script files. But as you see from my description above, everything is not normal, and after Manual Installation steps 1-12 my Push has lost 95% of its functionality.

I literally didn't do anything other than follow steps 1-12 in order, which are simple and clearly laid out, so I did not err. I was also starting from a fresh reinstall of Live, so the scripts should have been in their 100% factory default state before I did steps 1-12.

So considering all that, can anyone venture a guess at what might have gone wrong? Where in the process (i.e., steps 1-12) did my Push's brain get wiped clean, and how can I avoid it?

[peterswimm]

The push isnt getting its brain wiped, its the control scripts problaly that are getting corrupted. Try downloading ableton again to clean up the application, and then download the latest BETA not stable.

[cohamill]

The push isnt getting its brain wiped, its the control scripts problaly that are getting corrupted. Try downloading ableton again to clean up the application, and then download the latest BETA not stable.

Thanks for your reply. Just two comments/questions:
1) I have gotten this same result both just before and just after re-installing Ableton, so I doubt now that would help.
2) I did everything using the latest stable version of Ubermap, so haven't tried the latest beta - maybe that could help. However, isn't it a safer bet to try an rigorously tested non-beta version described as "stable" than a beta version? I would have thought the latter is more likely to have some undiscovered loose kernels...no?

[peterswimm]

In the world of hacks betas are always better. You should make sure you control scripts are backed up and restored after a clean install to avoid the push problem, at least that is what was my issue when I had a push 1

[cohamill]

Just tried it with the latest experimental beta version (ubermap-1_0_0b2.zip) and got everything up and running! Installation was a breeze - thanks for the succinct instructions. Not sure why it wasn't working before.

However, I'm having trouble with the .cfg file in *\Ubermap\Devices reflected on Push...

Following the "Example usage" instructions here, when I change change "Ignore" from "True" to "False", save, de-select and re-select the plugin I'm editing, Push doesn't respond to that plugin anymore. FYI: "Doesn't respond" = the pads sound, but don't light up when hit, and the display continues to show only the banks/params for the previously selected device (even though the pads now send midi to the correct device). Furthermore, when I restart my Push, I get an error message in Live saying "Script could not be loaded" and my Push doesn't start up (the Output column in Pref > MIDI > Control Surface for Push also now displays "None").

These problems all disappear and Push starts working as normal again if I change "False" back to "True".

Any idea what the problem is?

Edit: I'm doing everything in Notepad, not Sublime, Atom, etc. Maybe that could be the problem?

[peterswimm]

Thats probably it. Ive found that bad characters can wreck the whole thing. I would use one of the things you mentioned or like notepad++ . If that doesn't help check al line for a bad space or typo. If that doesnt help I just save a copy, delete and start adding it back in line by line.