Tascam US2400 DAW Controller and Live 5 using Mackie Control

[tonfabrik]

Hi,

I've got my Tascam US2400 controller working in Live 5 using Mackie Control emulation and most of the controls work fine (although some have to be accessed whilst holding SHIFT or the F-KEY e.g. resuming playback from a point during the song requires SHIFT+Play and launching clips requires F-KEY+RECORD)...

...but there are still some functions I can't get to work, e.g. the IN and OUT buttons, the SCRUB function and the SELECT button for the Master volume. Has anyone come up with a way to assign these controller functions with Live 5 and the US2400? I tried midi mapping them using the MIDI button in the top right hand corner of Live5's screen but IN and OUT seem to want to be controlled by the same button and it just doesn't work. I can just about live without these, but I would really like to be able to SELECT the MASTER channel, as I can with the other 24 tracks - the SEL key does nothing - anyone got a fix for this? I'm looking for a definitive, complete solution - step by step if possible as I am fairly new to Midi controllers. Can I use Midi mapping at the same time as Mackie Control? I'm not even sure if I have the interface setup correctly (seems to work okay but perhaps it could be better?) under Midi/Sync
in Live's Preferences under INPUT i have US2400 Ports 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 (separately) set to TRACK and REMOTE (with SYNC switched off) - Under OUTPUT i have the same arrangement. Each of the inputs is set to Midi Timecode under Midi Sync (don't know if I need this) and then under CONTROL SURFACE I have Mackie Control (with INPUT and OUTPUT set to US2400(Port1), then Mackie ControlXT (with INPUT and OUTPUT set to US2400(Port2) and finally Mackie ControlXT (with INPUT and OUTPUT set to US2400(Port3). I don't even know if I am supposed to use all XT or none but don't want to change it without guidance as it seems to work at the moment - are these the best settings though? Can I get better functionality with the controller by getting those extra buttons working? Has anyone had any luck with the US2400 in native mode or has anyone got a US2400 'template' or similar for the US2400? If anyone from Ableton is reading this, please could this be introduced, if not now, then in Live 6?

Thanks in advance to any US2400 users who may be able to help - I am aware of the other US2400 posts but they were getting so diluted with other topics that I thought it was time for a new thread.

Cheers everyone!

[longjohns]

I don't have this controller but will comment on what I can.

My understanding is that the 'scrub' feature in ableton is not really the same as in some other programs. In Live, I beleive to "scrub" requires holding down the mouse button, and I'm not aware of a way to get around this.

I don't think that if you are using Mackie Control in Live, that you can also make custom midi assignments on that controller. The exception might be if you have somehow programmed your own Mackie emulation. I have recently found that you do not need the controller which you are using for Mackie emulation to be enabled in the top track/sync/remote section. If it is selected in the bottom drop-down menus, that's all you need. I am guessing that you have it correct, using port 1 as Mackie control, ports 2 &3 as Mackie XT. Probably the order in which you have them selected will effect which tracks they control. You might test this out - set the first box to Mackie control Port 1, the second box to Mackie XT Port 3, and the third to Mackie XT Port 2. Then see if you now have tracks 1-8, 17-24, 9-16 across your controller. I'd be interested if that's the case.

If you have control over the messages which the US2400 sends, then that might be the easiest way to get the missing controls you need. (Change a button's output to the Master Track select, for example) There are lists of the Mackie Control message #'s on the web.

[longjohns]

Check the Live manual regarding how the Mackie protocol is implemented in Live. For example, the Mackie SCRUB command will either fire the selected clip or [+option] stop all clips.

[tonfabrik]

Thanks for the reply. Will have a look at the manuals and online for more about Mackie control. If I can reassign these buttons to do other functions in Live, that'll be just as useful.

[Jajah]

TonFabrik,

You may want to give a try at MCmu.
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