Keyboard Mapping

Share your favorite Ableton Live tips, tricks, and techniques.
arjanpetersen
Posts: 39
Joined: Mon Sep 19, 2005 7:38 pm

Keyboard Mapping

Post by arjanpetersen » Mon Sep 19, 2005 7:45 pm

Hello, i am quite a newbie....

Is it possible to make a keyboard short-cut for my EQ3? For example i want to assign key W to the EQ-high. When pressing W the EQ-High should shift upwards and for example Q should shift it down. Is this possible and also for more audiotracks the same time, in order to fade beats against each other?

I hope it's clear .... THANX anyways!

icedsushi
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Joined: Wed Jan 12, 2005 8:36 pm

Post by icedsushi » Mon Sep 19, 2005 8:24 pm

Hey there...not quite clear how you want to adjust the high knob on the EQ. Do you want it to move it slowly in real time as the music plays? If so, you will need to make a midi assignment instead and use a knob on a midi controller and control it manually that way.

Assigning a key to the knob will only give you a toggle between fully counterclockwise and fully clockwise, so I'm not sure if that's what you want to do. Also, you can only assign one key at a time to the knob, not 2.

Let's say you want to cut the highs and have the knob around 25%. You can just set the high knob there and toggle the effect on/off by assigning a key command to the on/off switch in the upper left of the plug-in box. Does this help.

arjanpetersen
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Joined: Mon Sep 19, 2005 7:38 pm

Post by arjanpetersen » Mon Sep 19, 2005 8:31 pm

thnx for reply! It's exactly what i want! I don't have a midi-controller... is there another way? Maybe a software mixer?

inis
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Post by inis » Mon Sep 19, 2005 9:07 pm

what would you get out of a software mixer that live doesnt already offer?

arjanpetersen
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Joined: Mon Sep 19, 2005 7:38 pm

Post by arjanpetersen » Mon Sep 19, 2005 9:49 pm

I'm looking for something to mix between audio tracks more smooth. I only use a keyboard. Maybe when you assign the audiotracks to a external mixerchannel, it's possible to mix better or easier....

RePeter
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Post by RePeter » Tue Sep 20, 2005 9:39 am

the best thing you counld do is buy a midi controller.
they are all pretty cheap now.
check out the evolution, korg and faderfox stuff..... if you get one i promise you will not be disappointed.
MBP 2.4 & a shit load of Faderfoxes!

arjanpetersen
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Post by arjanpetersen » Tue Sep 20, 2005 9:51 am

which one, should you advise? I want to use it for dj-ing techno, minimal music, a bit like Ritchie Hawtin, surgeon. thnx for reply!

icedsushi
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Post by icedsushi » Tue Sep 20, 2005 12:46 pm

All the ones he mentioned are pretty good. You need to decide how much control you want vs the size of the controller....how many knobs, buttons, joysticks you need and go from there. Sometimes simple is best because you won't need to control EVERYTHING live anyway.

Also, depending on what kind of keyboard you have, it can act as a minimal controller if you aren't using the keyboard's internal sounds during the set. You can use them temporarily to control the EQ knob or whatever.

I use an M-Audio O2. It has 8 knobs and buttons in addition to the little 2 octave keyboard. If you don't need more knobs and buttons than that, it makes a nice little controller. Sometimes I will program it's volume slider to Live's crossfader if it's the only controller I bring with me.

The evolution is quite popular with djs, it's pretty small, has plenty of knobs and a nice crossfader.

ben_blue
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Post by ben_blue » Tue Sep 20, 2005 11:59 pm

i highly recommend this:
24 knobs
18+ buttons
4 banks of 8 knobs that also can be pressed as a button.
all that in ONE preset, and u can freely jump between presets instantly.
(the Evolution UC33 is slow to jump between presets.)
http://www.behringer.com/BCR2000/index.cfm?lang=ENG

Image
my favorites at the moment: MASSIVE. FM8. LIVE 6. Bome's Pro. KORE.

am is are
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Post by am is are » Fri Sep 23, 2005 9:56 pm

i use the Novation Remote 25

nice keyboard, x/y fader pad (with 2 assignable parameters to both X and Y)
8 linear faders
24 buttons
16 rotary faders (8 with no stop (turn all the way around and around and around))

over 64 preset spaces for your schemes (with built-in presets for lots of software and DAWs)

try one (any controller) you like it.

btw, you can program 52 keys on your keyboard (all the letters in both smallcap and CAPS), which is great for triggering samples and a few other functions, but you'll definitely want rotary and/or slider control for controlling FX parameters and mixing (volume, pan, crossfade)

hambone1
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Post by hambone1 » Fri Sep 23, 2005 10:27 pm

am is are wrote:btw, you can program 52 keys on your keyboard (all the letters in both smallcap and CAPS), which is great for triggering samples and a few other functions, but you'll definitely want rotary and/or slider control for controlling FX parameters and mixing (volume, pan, crossfade)
Far more than 52. Numbers, numerical keypad, and most keys with alt, and alt-shift can be keymapped. Well over 100.

Use a second keyboard with shift-lock on, or even a third with the alt button taped down, and a fourth with the alt button taped down and shift-lock on if you're really adventurous! I think this only works on a Mac, though.

Keyboards cost ten bucks, and just use stickers to remember what everything is.

You still need some kind of basic MIDI controller with knobs, though, to get anything out of Live.

am is are
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Post by am is are » Sat Sep 24, 2005 2:35 am

oooohhhh nice!!

glad you chimed in, hambone

i didn't realize things had changed in 5. in LIVE 4 you couldn't keymap #'s (or the alt-characters either!!)

cool

jaxxtwo
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Post by jaxxtwo » Sat Sep 24, 2005 2:11 pm

about keys

how do i map a key for every live window like clips , file browser, clip edit and the rest????

THX
P4 2.7GHz 1G ram 400G hdd SB Live, Realtech 5.1
Vestax PCV175, X-session, Casiotone ct-460
www.sooper.ro

chris_dan
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Location: ontario_ca

Post by chris_dan » Thu Aug 17, 2006 5:02 am

Hi hambone1,

I am having a hell of a time trying to map the "alt" and "shift" keys in Live 52. I want to trigger them using my controller (yam 01x) using a translator. Every other documented key maps without issue. I know that they work as a modifiers but Live seems to not what to acknowledge from a remote trigger standpoint yet I've seen a couple of posts that say they can be mapped alone.....

Any thoughts would be appreciated.....

Regards
Chris

hambone1 wrote:
am is are wrote:btw, you can program 52 keys on your keyboard (all the letters in both smallcap and CAPS), which is great for triggering samples and a few other functions, but you'll definitely want rotary and/or slider control for controlling FX parameters and mixing (volume, pan, crossfade)
Far more than 52. Numbers, numerical keypad, and most keys with alt, and alt-shift can be keymapped. Well over 100.

Use a second keyboard with shift-lock on, or even a third with the alt button taped down, and a fourth with the alt button taped down and shift-lock on if you're really adventurous! I think this only works on a Mac, though.

Keyboards cost ten bucks, and just use stickers to remember what everything is.

You still need some kind of basic MIDI controller with knobs, though, to get anything out of Live.
Chris

Patch
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Location: Bristol, UK

Post by Patch » Thu Aug 17, 2006 7:26 am

Dummy Clips, my friend. DUMMY CLIPS. You can have a clip that has a volume envelope rising or falling. Trigger two of these (one rising and one falling) and you've got a smooooooth crossfade. You'll need to look up dummy clips in the wiki...

Dummy clips are clips with no audio that effect the audio that passes through them. So on track one you'd have a tune playing, with the audio routed to track 2. Track 2 holds your dummy clips for track one. Track 2 audio goes to your master track. While track 1 is playing, launch a dummy clip in track 2 (volume down) , and the tune in track 1 will be effected by the envelope in the dummy clip on track 2.

Do the same for track 3 (tune playing) with an opposite (volume up)envelope in the dummy clip on track 4 (audio to master) and you've got your crossfade - triggered by qwerty keys...

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