New to Ableton and Daws really need help

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
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momodig
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Joined: Fri Mar 15, 2019 8:18 am

New to Ableton and Daws really need help

Post by momodig » Fri Mar 15, 2019 8:19 am

I've tried all the tutorials, and I can't seem to get my beat step pro to communicate properly with ableton. I can get some of the turn knobs to adjust things in ableton, but when I load the 808 drum machine, I can't get the pads on my beat step pro to make any noise... please help.

momodig
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Joined: Fri Mar 15, 2019 8:18 am

Re: New to Ableton and Daws really need help

Post by momodig » Fri Mar 15, 2019 8:43 am

In edit mini map, I can actually make it so the dials on my BSP modify things, but I can't get none of the pads working... for example... if I click play on ableton, then to to my beatstep pro and press the play button it doesn't register, but it will register I knob...

Angstrom
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Re: New to Ableton and Daws really need help

Post by Angstrom » Fri Mar 15, 2019 1:36 pm

It depends what you want the BSP to do.
try this:
put a drum rack on a track in Ableton, arm the track. On the BSP select sequencer 1, press the pads. You should hear drums sounds coming out of Ableton. If not then you have not got the BSP set as a MIDI track input in the Ableton->Preferences. So go in there and look for the midi dept, find where it says Arturia BSP in the list of connected devices and switch on the button that says "Track"

LoopStationZebra
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Re: New to Ableton and Daws really need help

Post by LoopStationZebra » Fri Mar 15, 2019 5:02 pm

I've got the BeatStep not the BSPro, but this probably applies: Open up the MIDI prefs. You'll see that the BSPro is listed as a Control Surface. Change that to NONE. The input and output for Control Surface settings won't matter at that point.

Throw a drum rack into an empty MIDI track. Set the MIDI From to BSPro. Set Monitor to Auto and Enable the Record button. Hit a pad. You should be all set at that point as long as you also followed Angstrom's MIDI track setting.

The problem for me - and this has come up many times at the Arturia forums - is that leaving the BS as a control surface completely wonks things up. Once I set control surface to None, The drum pads correspond perfectly to a rack in Ableton. Your knobs will also be completely assignable by you: Go into MIDI map mode in Ableton, select any parameter you want to control, and twirl a knob on the BSPro. Should work.

Some suggestions to make this better:
MIDI Control Center
The MIDI Control Center software from Arturia is your Best Friend. It's a bit of a nightmare to manage, but once you get the hang of it...magic.
Open up the MCC and hit the Sync button. Your BSPro hardware is now linked to the MCC. Under the User Templates category (if that exists for the BSPro, might be called something else), select one of the templates. It will be highlighted. Now go over and select a knob in the software interface. Change the Knob Option to Absolute mode. This is going to give you the fastest encoder turn response time. The BS and BSP series is notorious for super slow encoder steps, and this setting will help. Do this for each knob. This page also allows you to change the CC message sent (and other options) if you need flexibility. You can also set the initial notes and steps for each sequencer. Over on the Project Tab (if you've got that for the BSPro) there's more awesome settings to tweak for your template.

For heaven's sake, when you are done tweaking make sure to hit the SAVE button in the software! Better yet, hit SAVE AS and rename this to what you want.

Because you hit the Sync button at the start of all this, the hardware should actually be responding to all these changes in realtime, but once you shut the unit off I don't believe it's saved. To save the software template to your device, you drag the user template you've been setting on top of one of the Working Memory slots above. Once you've done that, with the preferred Memory slot you've chosen actually highlighted, hit the Store To button. That send that memory setting to your hardware. Again, the BSPro might have slightly different categories but you get the idea.

Super long response, bro. Sorry. Hope it helps!
I came for the :lol:
But stayed for the :x

godizded
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Joined: Tue Jun 16, 2020 9:40 pm

Re: New to Ableton and Daws really need help

Post by godizded » Tue Jun 16, 2020 9:43 pm

Hi

I've cheched this thread and many other but I cannot solve my problem. My problem is I cannot map Beatstep knobs to Ableton Live virtual synth knobs

I'll try to be as accurate as I can to describe the problem:

--I own Arturia Beatstep, the simple model. NOT Beatstep pro.

--I have disabled Beatstep as control surface in ableton options, because as stated in other threads, Control Surface = Beatstep > Trigger clips. And Control Surface = None > Play notes. And I want to play notes, so I have to.

--If I turn the knobs, Ableton shows a little light that means it's receiving midi signal. So IT IS receiving midi from betstep knobs.

--However, when I turn on Ableton midi mapping and ciic on virtual synth controls and turn beatstep knobs to link them to virtual synth controls, nothing happens.

--I've tried many many options in Arturia Midi Control Center. None of them worked. Maybe there's something I must configure there?

Really, I've browsed your forum and many other internet forums to find a solution and found none.

I'm attaching links to images of my Ableton Midi configuration, my Beatstep knob configuration and midi mapping in case is useful for providing help.

Thanks so much.

G.

Links:

https://flic.kr/p/2jcz5Mr

https://flic.kr/p/2jcwna4

https://flic.kr/p/2jcz5No

osenboz
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Joined: Fri Jan 08, 2021 2:57 pm

Re: New to Ableton and Daws really need help

Post by osenboz » Fri Jan 08, 2021 3:17 pm

you might want to check out the Midi remote script I've created for the BeatStep controller...
>> BeatStep_Q (github)<<

It should allow you to do what you want (and much more)
... meaning you can use the pads to play midi notes while still use BeatStep as a control-surface to launch clips, trigger record etc. !
(and you can also re-assign encoders manually if you don't like the default assignments in the base-layer! )

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