Program Change during music

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
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Botelho
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed May 17, 2023 6:05 pm

Program Change during music

Post by Botelho » Wed May 17, 2023 6:18 pm

Hello,
I use Ableton Live as playback system for the band I work with.
I use Scenes as songs and a lot of midi tracks to change programs on keyboards, kempers, trigger modules.
For the new tour, we need to automatically change the programs during the songs but as far as I know, PC only sends info during the beginning of the track.
What can I do to change programs several times during the song?

DunedinDragon
Posts: 106
Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2021 5:46 pm

Re: Program Change during music

Post by DunedinDragon » Wed May 17, 2023 10:06 pm

The way I do this is I have a separate dedicated MIDI footpedal controller (Morningstar MC8) which does all the MIDI heavy lifting with the different devices. Each song has a dedicated bank in the MC8 which contains all the MIDI controls PC or CC to control the various devices for that song and is assigned to a footswitch. My Ableton scene has one single MIDI out track which signals the appropriate footswitch on the MC8 using it's MIDI CC that will then send the various different PC or CC messages to wherever they need to go at that point in the playback. I also use the MC8 to select the appropriate scene in Ableton and start it playing so it's a great place to coordinate all the default startup configuration of the devices. I have stock MIDI clips for each MC8 footswitch and I can just drop those into my Ableton MIDI out track at the appropriate points in the track.

yur2die4
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Location: Menasha, Wisconsin
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Re: Program Change during music

Post by yur2die4 » Thu May 18, 2023 2:20 am

I believe there is a max device that has program change as a knob or fader. And then you automate that. Of course, this option only works if you have max.

Might be able to find midi vsts with a similar possibility. Or a software that allows you to convert one cc number to another cc number. Then you’d automate an arbitrary cc but have the software concert they to PC.

Botelho
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed May 17, 2023 6:05 pm

Re: Program Change during music

Post by Botelho » Fri May 26, 2023 2:46 pm

yur2die4 wrote:
Thu May 18, 2023 2:20 am
I believe there is a max device that has program change as a knob or fader. And then you automate that. Of course, this option only works if you have max.

Might be able to find midi vsts with a similar possibility. Or a software that allows you to convert one cc number to another cc number. Then you’d automate an arbitrary cc but have the software concert they to PC.
We do have max, but we only found a plugin called "cc to program change". This one, changes the PC for the whole track, not for just 1 scene. The problem is: this band is massive here in Brazil, Our Live session has more than 200 songs, I can't create 1 extra track for each song.

thanks.

Bot
Drum Tech @ Jota Quest

chapelier fou
Posts: 6011
Joined: Mon May 15, 2006 12:15 pm

Re: Program Change during music

Post by chapelier fou » Sat May 27, 2023 5:29 am

I’d be super surprised that a PC program would not be already on maxforlive. If it’s the case, drop me a PM and I’ll send you my device. Or maybe should I simply upload it to maxforlive.com….
MacBook Pro 13" Retina i7 2.8 GHz OS 10.13, L10.0.1, M4L.
MacStudio M1Max 32Go OS 12.3.1

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