Roland SPD-SX as midi controller for Ableton

[SamZeMan23]

Hi,

I am trying to use my Roland SPD-SX as the midi controller for Ableton 9. I see there isn't a SPD-SX in the drop down menu through the MIDI preferences. I have my pad set USB/Midi and then when I turn on the midi mapping in Ableton, nothing is happening. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Sam

[Logic8807]

Have you checked that the MIDI SYNC settings are accurately set? Such as MIDI IN/OUT and TRACK/SYNC/REMOTE?

[SamZeMan23]

So I got it to work as a controller for Live. I can trigger samples, tracks, etc. To make that work, I had to download another driver from Roland's site. The problem I am having now is a midi controller for a drum rack. Live is recognizing a strike to the pad, but isn't controlling any of the drums. I know the SPD-SX is send midi notes to my computer monitoring it with MidiMonitor. And it's not showing up on the "Pad Overview". I have tried everything I can think of.


Thanks,

Sam

[swishniak]

you'll probably need to change the midi assignments of the spd pads to line up with the drum racks. ive did it with mine a while back - check the spd manual for instructions. just start with c1 (i think) on the bottom left pad and ascend diatonically left to right.

[afxpusher78]

What driver did you download to get the pad to work on live?

[TheDependentClause]

I'm bumping this topic because I'm having the problems described above. I have an SPD-SX, have installed the latest Roland drivers on my computer (2011-era 27" iMac), and I'm using Ableton Live 9.

Months ago I managed to set up the SPD-SX as a MIDI controller for a drum kit, but of course I forgot to note the settings I used, and I can't get it to work again.

I've looked at the various YouTube tutorials and forum posts on this topic but nothing seems to work. I've lined up the pads' MIDI assignments, etc., but Ableton isn't recognizing any strikes to the pad, or any MIDI input at all from the SPD-SX.

Any help is much appreciated!

[bryantewell]

The easiest solution to this is what another user already suggested. You must go in and manually set the pads up in Live to be on the MIDI notes Ableton is looking for in the drum rack. Starting at C1 and working up makes the most sense because Live uses this note by default for the first slot in the drum rack.

From the Roland SPD-SX:

1. press menu
2. use arrows to select KIT and press ENTER
3. select the MIDI tab
4. select PAD 7 by hitting it (PAD 7 is the bottom left pad on the SPD-SX)
5. use the arrows to select MIDI NOTE # (you will actually select the number)
6. change the MIDI note to 36 (this is C1)

repeat steps 4 through 6, just changing the pad you hit and the number you select

I personally have mine laid out to where the rows still correspond in the drum rack, so in the drum rack there's an extra cell at the end of each row. I then assign the trig ins to the empty cells (to use for kick and snare.)

[504slacker]

I just went through all this for the second time again and got caught up on hitting a pad on the spd sx and not seeing the corresponding note in the drum rack light up. I remembered that I had to drop a sample on the corresponding drum rack note in order to see which note I was hitting on the pad.

But the problem was, how do I know which drum rack note to drop the sample onto if I can't see them correspond with each other first? Here's how I solved that:

1.) Found this midi note/number chart after a little digging: https://support.keithmcmillen.com/hc/en ... ing-wrong-

2.) Check what midi number (SPD SX) corresponds to which note (ABLETON DRUM RACK), then drop samples into drum rack onto the corresponding midi notes. For example, if pad 7 on the SPD SX has the midi number of 66, that corresponds with F#3 in drum rack according to the chart. Drop the sample on F#3 and pad 7 should trigger it, (assuming all of your midi preferences are correct both in Ableton and in the SPD SX).

[ToBe]

Ableton Lives MIDI effects are quite a good tool for the process of finding out if and what notes are being send:
1.check if any MIDI is being recieved at all - if the SPD SX MIDI port TRACK IN is activated, the TRACK IN INDICATOR will light up, when you hit your SPD SX (it is in the upper right corner in session/arrangement view)
2.insert a Drumrack and put in a NOTE LENGTH midi effect, set the length up to a few seconds
because drum midi notes are so short, sometimes the lightning up is not recognized by our eyes because its so short
You can use a PITCH midi effect as well to re-pitch your incoming midi notes, but of course setting the right notes on your SPD SX would make more sense in the long run. You can set different midi notes in every kit!

If you got the Max for Live extension check out the devices I made especially for controlling Ableton Live with the SPD SX and vice versa:
https://abletonkurse.teachable.com/cour ... es/3678857
https://abletonkurse.teachable.com/cour ... es/3696347

[ToBe]

Here you can find some more tools for using the Roland SPD-SX with Ableton Live. Those are Max for Live devices so you would need Max for Live to run those: https://blog.abletondrummer.com/spd-sx- ... -for-live/