How to map your Kaoss Pad to 8 different racks (mouse free!)

Michael-SW · Post by **Michael-SW** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 2:01 am

With a bit of testing and helpful input from the forum, I've managed to find a way to automap my KP to different racks when you press the preset buttons.

First set up your KP to look like a BCR2000 to Live. This will allow you to control up to 5 parameters (X, Y, fx depth, touch and mute on the KP) from the KP on any rack you select with the mouse. Just set the KP to send CC 1-5 and it will automatically control the first 5 dials on any selected rack as soon as you enable the KP as a BCR2000 in the prefs.

More details found here:

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=53721

That is nice, but you still need the mouse to actually select the rack you want to control. Wouldn't it be nice if you could select which rack you like to control with the 8 preset buttons on the KP?

Well that is possible, with a bit of fiddling. The thing is, you can't select racks or other devices remotely, only with the mouse. Stupid, eh?

Or you can use the alt-arrow keyboard command. So if you select a track, then alt-uparrow a couple of times (to "reset" where selection where previously) follow by a couple of alt-downarrows, you will have selected the first rack/device on that track. If you follow by a single alt-rightarrow you will select the next rack/device etc.

But we don't want to use the keyboard, we want to use the preset buttons on the KP. They can only send Program Changes.

So, to achieve this we use Boomes Midi Translator. Map the appropriate Program Change to a letter followed by a lot of alt-uparrows followed by a lot of alt-downarrows (and optional alt-rightarrows). Map that letter in Live to a track selection. Now when you press the preset button, that track will be selected and the first rack on that track will also be selected. This means that the KP will automatically control parameters 1-5 on the rack. Press another preset button and you will control another rack.

Cool eh?

Johnisfaster · Post by **Johnisfaster** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 7:18 am

wow dude I'm going to have to try this. I thought about this exact solution to the problem a while back but never got around to fiddling with it.

raspa · Post by **raspa** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 5:17 am

could someone help me to do this with kaoss pad 3 please,i am getting crazy trying to control diferent fx independently from kaoss pad but it seems that kaoss pad cc´s keep mapped to all the fx at the same time,please help

Michael-SW · Post by **Michael-SW** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 10:35 am

Try reading through the above again, including the linked thread. Skip the stuff about Boomes midi translator for now.

If you followe the instructions you should be able to get the KP to automap to any device you select with the mouse (the device will get the little hand icon).

Now, that mapping won't make sense in many cases, you will not be able to control the parameters you want in the way you want. This is why you want to embed the effect(s) in a rack and make a sensible mapping from controls 1-5 on the rack to the relevant effect parameters.

ijed · Post by **ijed** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 11:58 am

raspa wrote:could someone help me to do this with kaoss pad 3 please,i am getting crazy trying to control diferent fx independently from kaoss pad but it seems that kaoss pad cc´s keep mapped to all the fx at the same time,please help

are they all set to the same cc 95?
the kp3 touchpad sends x and y cc info + also sends an on/off cc when you touch it so if you're using live 6 you could be automapping them all to the cc it sends when you lift your hand off the pad.
you can click the midi learn touch the pad then turn off midi learn before moving your finger.
you can also change the controllers around and set the pad to control up to 8 different CC's with the KP3 editor
You can check my post in the korg forums for more info on this:
http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/ ... 054#161054

raspa · Post by **raspa** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 10:40 pm

i´ve been able to map kaoss pad to diferent fx but i can´t control them independently(not trying to do with macros just mapping to fx)and also i would like to know how to choose wich fx(or rack if i have to do it that way)to control from kaoss pad(i.e. number pad or program wheel while in ext ctrl mode)if possible i tried to do this with kaoss pad editor with no result,i don´t know how to assign diferent cc to the pad,wheel,etc and store them into diferent prgrams in kaoss pad so i can be able to choose what i control changing the program number in kaoss pad o pressing the numbers o something while in ext ctrl mode.Sorry if i post in the wrong place and if my questions are not very clear(my english if very bad).Thanks

ijed · Post by **ijed** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 2:05 pm

i´ve been able to map kaoss pad to diferent fx but i can´t control them independently(not trying to do with macros just mapping to fx)and also i would like to know how to choose wich fx(or rack if i have to do it that way)to control from kaoss pad(i.e. number pad or program wheel while in ext ctrl mode)if possible i tried to do this with kaoss pad editor with no result,i don´t know how to assign diferent cc to the pad,wheel,etc and store them into diferent prgrams in kaoss pad so i can be able to choose what i control changing the program number in kaoss pad o pressing the numbers o something while in ext ctrl mode.Sorry if i post in the wrong place and if my questions are not very clear(my english if very bad).Thanks

the program wheel sends program change (PC not CC) commands. some VST's accept PC to change presets but they have to be on a midi track with midi in turned on.

Live doesn't use PC commands much. and have to use another program like bomes to send info live can use like this tip posted by Michael-SW

or

you can set up 8 different ext ctrl presets on kp3 to output different CC's and cycle through them with the wheel to control different things in live.

So, to achieve this we use Boomes Midi Translator. Map the appropriate Program Change to a letter followed by a lot of alt-uparrows followed by a lot of alt-downarrows (and optional alt-rightarrows). Map that letter in Live to a track selection. Now when you press the preset button, that track will be selected and the first rack on that track will also be selected. This means that the KP will automatically control parameters 1-5 on the rack. Press another preset button and you will control another rack.

You could also assign 4 buttons to be Alt+up, Alt+down, Left and Right so you could navigate through all the tracks, windows and effects.
guess you'd also need one for shift+tab to switch between track/clip view

raspa · Post by **raspa** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 3:15 pm

so can´t i edit the #cc with kaoss editor,assign´em to beat repeat in track 1 for example,store this program into P.001 in kaoss pad while it is in ext ctrl mode.Then assign another cc to the pads with the editor,map´em to another fx(beat repeat2 in track 2)and store it in anothe rprogram in kaoss pad(P.002,ext ctrl mode),then change from program 001 to 002 to control beat repeat 1 o 2??I can do this with my remote 25 pretty easy.Thanks again in advance