exotic idea: step sequencing a vst instrument via midi contr

ultrasonyk · Post by **ultrasonyk** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 10:14 am

adventurepants_ wrote:You said in your original post that you were hoping to setup a BCR2000 to allow you to control a step sequenced drum machine.

i was just pointing out that if you were going to go to the trouble of controlling it externally via a midi controller, then a cheap X0x drum machine will give you all the control you need, in an interface thats setup for making drum beats.

probably for less than $100 on ebay.

plus you get a drum machine to use away from your computer.

Well yeah. But that would still be a workaround instead of trying the
thing i really want to do. Your suggestion is good ofcourse, i just wanted
to say that i thought about that one already.

I just like pain-in-the-ass projects

ultrasonyk · Post by **ultrasonyk** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 11:23 am

Ok guys,

here are the results of a quick look-into of your solutions/suggestions

the step sequencer project of SELTHYM

i absolutely do not get a clue how this setup works and can't get anything
to work. i'm pretty new to ableton and yes, i have RTFM, but this seems
to be too complicated for my knowledge.

the java application of BDHM's suggestion:

this app has serious bugs, at least on my machine. the window is drawing
double buttons when you click them and after all half of the application
becomes unusable. also, i can't get any midi input to this app. the options
do not show any midi device i have connected.

the project of hoffman

may be a good thing, but i don't plan to spend money on an experiment.
rather buying a cheap hardware seq and do it the "right" way.

is somebody willing to help me get one of the apps/projects working
or has another solution?

Thanks a lot for your replies guys.

selthym · Post by **selthym** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 12:08 pm

ultrasonyk wrote:
the step sequencer project of SELTHYM

i absolutely do not get a clue how this setup works and can't get anything
to work. i'm pretty new to ableton and yes, i have RTFM, but this seems
to be too complicated for my knowledge.

You may need to change the audio output of the master channel to 1/2, I have mine sending to channels 5/6 of my soundcard. I can't right now but I will upload my padKontrol scene so you can download this.

ultrasonyk · Post by **ultrasonyk** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 12:11 pm

well i figured that out already. but i don't have any clue where to edit
my midi buttons. i tried what you said in the post, setting 1 button
on the BCR to send note C3 for example.

result is, that it plays a kickdrum live but doesn't remember anything
in the sequencer

Lord Kahn · Post by **Lord Kahn** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 1:27 pm

Can you route midi from Live into rebirth? ie does it understand the GM standard for drums? If so you can do what you want with a bit of rack know how in Ableton

selthym · Post by **selthym** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 1:40 pm

There have been other step sequencers posted on this forum recently that may be more appropriate. Mine was made specifically for the padKontrol and not BCR, however you should still be able to get this to work.

On mine, I have the same 16 midi notes mapped to each sample (ie. channel 1 C3-C4 Kick, channel 2 C3-C4 snare etc.), however have each sample set up to receive a different midi channel. I also have the note and channel mapped to mute on/off buttons of a rack for each sample.

Try mapping the midi messages from the 16 buttons of the BCR to the mute on/off buttons (the speakers) for each step and instrument. You will more than likely need to use the banks of the BCR to switch between which midi messages the 16 buttons send.

ie. Bank 1 = Kick - C2 to C4 - mapped to mute on/off for each step (c2 = step1, d2 = step 2) and the rack triggers the kick
Bank 2 = Snare - C4 to C6 - mapped to mute on/off for each step (c4 = step1, d4 = step 2) and the rack triggers the snare

ultrasonyk · Post by **ultrasonyk** » Tue Oct 09, 2007 8:04 pm

Ok. i seem to be too stupid to set this baby up.

i have configured everything so far that i can trigger the mute buttons in the
16 steps of the kickdrum step track. but nothing comes out of track "drums".
also not if i set it to monitor "Auto".

But when hitting the trigger button in impulse of that same track i hear
audio. so i guess the routing is somewhere messed up.

can somebody figure out of this screenshot what may be wrong?

http://quattroworld.ath.cx/tmp/drummachine.JPG

Thanks a lot in advance

selthym · Post by **selthym** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 12:02 am

In Track 25 - Drums, change the midi from to No Input.

Let me know how you go.

From what I have read about Live 7, it looks like I will be able to do all this in 1 rack. Can't wait til that comes out.

ultrasonyk · Post by **ultrasonyk** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 7:51 am

hi selthym,

i tried that no input setting too, without success....

hoffman2k · Post by **hoffman2k** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 8:21 am

Just FYI. Thanks to a little improvement to the pitch plugin, The Covert Seq will soon see a major update.

The Range of the pitch plugin in Live 7 has extended from -48/+48 to -128/+128.
This means you can transpose a C-2 to a G8 and back in one sweep.

I've used this pitch plugin to update the Sequencer and I made a new chord plugin rack.
So coming soon is The Covert Seq 3 with pitch controls that are equal to MIDI Note Numbers. And a chord/drum layering plugin that covers the entire range of a drumrack.

selthym · Post by **selthym** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 9:05 am

Although I am not a beta tester...

Throw in Lives new "External Instrument Effect" and a note length midi effect at the end of each chain and those of use that have a padkontrol will be able to get visual feedback. Also a scale plugin at the end and you never go out of tune!!!

ultrasonyk · Post by **ultrasonyk** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 9:17 pm

well, i got it running somehow. i sort of figured out my own setup,
pretty similar to machinate's step sequencer.

now the problem is, as described in another thread (see below),
i have 16 tracks for that 16-step seqencer for only 1 sound!
because with that setup i would need to configure a second sound
on another midi channel, i would need to make 16 more tracks.

counting, to have the complete impulse mapped, with 8 drum sounds,
i need 16x8 tracks. that's 108 tracks (if i calculate correctly) plus at
least one track for impusle. and that's only drums, let's not think
about one or another synth track coming in.

can't this be done with less tracks?

@mods

by the way, could this thread be merged with these ones:
http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... c&start=15
and maybe also this one:
http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... highlight=
..since both are pretty much about the same topic and the people
waiting for informational replies, are waiting for the same thing