The 6 in 1 Controller Trick !

[3dot...]

Hi All !!!

This is a little trick I use nowadays (Since v6)
to get the most out of Live's new auto mapping features and my BCR...
Using 'Userscripts' ...
(can be used with all editable Midi controllers)
Had'nt seen it anywhere on this forum...so here goes:
(MAC users just need to find the appropriate folders)

Live offers up to 6 'Control Surfaces' in the Preference Menu
With this method you will be able to utilize all 6 from a single controller...
Therefore 'Lock' to the BCR Surface:
6 'Banks' or Devices
(One can map almost the whole 'Operator' banks quite painlessly...)
I found it to be very Usefull and fun...

Phaze I : preparing the controller+userscript.

1. We have to choose which free Midi CH we have...I chose ch 15
(I also use 'mackie emulation' from my BCR which utilizes ch 1 - 8 )

We're gonna map
4 Grps of knbs+buttons on top (4 device controlls+banks)
(knobs CC 1-32 Abs/ buttons CC 33-64 Toff)

2 rows of buttons+2 rows of knobs (2 device controllers+banks)
(knobs CC 65-80 / buttons CC 81-96)
4 buttons on the right will be used for 'Bomes' shortcuts (CC 97-100)
for the arrow keys...

ALL CH 15

2. now Go to :
\Program Files\Ableton\Live 6.0.7\Resources\MIDI Remote Scripts\_Tools

make new folders and name them CTRL 1-6
copy the file 'UserConfiguration.txt' to the new folders ,Enter the 'CTRL 1' folder
and open the file for editing:

3. in [GLOBALS] change 'global channel' to 14
in [DeviceControls]
change 'Encoder1-8' to 1-8 ,
do not touch 'EncoderChannel1-8' ,
change 'EncoderMapMode' to Absolute
change 'Bank1Button' to 33 and so on...

I don't use [MixerControls] section so I delete it...
of course you can choose to use it if you like
...if you do you only need to map them once.

4. Repeat Steps 1-3 for all others (ctrl 2-6) map the rest of the CCs accordingly.
Then copy the folders you've made to :
'C:\Documents and Settings\%your_user%\Application Data\Ableton\Live 6.0.7\Preferences\User Remote Scripts'

5. in 'Bomes Midi Translator' Create 3 Shortcuts
"ALT+downarrow,downarrow" (for focus on the devices)
"left arrow"
"right arrow"
map them to the buttons on the right
(I map the fourth to tap tempo...you can map to whatever)

Phaze II : setting up in live.

in the midi preferences you'll find your new controllers
named CTRL 1 through 6 in the dropdown menu of 'control surfaces',
Choose the BCR as Input And Output for all of them...
Now you have 6 'Virtual controllers'
which can be freely mapped to all live devices and Racks
using right click and 'Lock to..' function!!!

HAVE FUN !!!

[warabunga]

sounds interesting!

could you please post the userconfig.txt and als files?
would be helpful for full understanding!

cheers
*s*

[ckluxen]

Hi, nice, but for what are the banks, what do they do? Do they switch between envelopes and LFO for example? I did never think that way about banks! Am I right?

[timbreland]

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[timbreland]

interesting and thanks for the info. So if I understand, this enables you to lock one control surface (BCR) to several live devices simultaneously and switch between them with the bank select buttons on you BCR. Correct?

Could you post the userconfig file? I am just learning remote scripts and that would help alot.

[3dot...]

interesting and thanks for the info. So if I understand, this enables you to lock one control surface (BCR) to several live devices simultaneously and switch between them with the bank select buttons on you BCR. Correct?

Could you post the userconfig file? I am just learning remote scripts and that would help alot.

...because each is 8 encoders and 8 buttins
then u can have them laid out on a single preset as well...

I will try and post the files as soon as I can,. but I've got to go now....work...

[Patch]

This sounds pretty interesting - can you explain a little further waht is possible with this set-up?

[bland_handl]

Do you mean with a BCR it's possible to automap/lock different parts of the unit to the 6 available Control Surfaces in midi prefs?

If so can you choose to use different Rows of 8 /top Encoder-Groups / or just presets?

And are the channels not used in Automap still freely assignable?

Much appreciated for your work... hope this is indeed possible!

[3dot...]

so...

4 encoders groups on top can be used as 4 'virtual' controllers....

then there is space at the bottom for 2 additional controllers (16 buttons / 16 encoders)

I use 'mackie emu' for transport and such... .

and bom'es for navigation within live....


so on the 'user scripts' I just leave them...

I use only the : 'encoders' / 'encoder groups' / 'lock'

this way you can 'lock' a device to a certain set of knobs/buttons.


mackie uses midi ch : 1-8

so for user scripts and bome's I use midi ch 15-16...

map all of ch 15 CCs to user remote scripts...

I will try to send you guys some files...

[3dot...]

This sounds pretty interesting - can you explain a little further waht is possible with this set-up?

... I can decide that the top 4 controllers (i.e 4 encoder groups )....

controll 4 racks on aux channels... (if I lock them to those racks...)

this way when I move around they will still controll those racks...

I can of course unlock each one and move it...

this is done so easily buy just clicking the appropriate 'lock' for the specific 'virtual' controller...


antoher use is to map almost a whole synth... ( 6 banks )

4 on top can be 4 oscillators on operator...
then the next 2 can be 'filter sect' and 'LFO sect'....

its a whole lot better than mapping each knob... espppecially if you got your own RACKS...

[3dot...]

of course this could be done with any controller which has suffucient knobs and buttons...

...not just the BCR...

[rbmonosylabik]

I use four automap scripts on the BCR to map one BCR preset to the 4 instruments I use in my Acid live set. The rest of the BCR is mapped to the mixer and FX using live's Midi map, and I use a patch in PureData to select the track's proper drum loops.

[forge]

... and I use a patch in PureData to select the track's proper drum loops.

interested to hear more about this...

[rbmonosylabik]

... and I use a patch in PureData to select the track's proper drum loops.

interested to hear more about this...

Well, I made the patch to overcome the problem that comes when the BCR doesn't update it's display when you switch presets. The original plan was to simply duplicate 1 preset as many times as needed and just modify the CC's sent by 16 buttons to launch the current drum tracks, but this problem made it harder than I thought.

To overcome it, I made the Puredata patch, which looks something like this:



I can't really remember off the top of my head what does what, and because it was made in a rush from one day to the next, it could be far cleaner and better. The idea goes like this:

The patch takes the CC's from 64 to 80 coming from channel 1 and substitutes their incoming channel (1) for any channel from 2 to 16. The right side of "pd channelswitch" takes CC 105 in CH 1 and uses it's value to set the output channel of the buttons.

The way this works with the BCR is that the 16 top buttons are set to CCs 64 to 79, one button from the bottom right 4 is set to CC 80, and two other buttons there are set to CC 105 and programmed to send +1 and -1 each limited to a range between 2 and 16. So, these two buttons are used for the song selection, the top 16 buttons launch the drum loops for the selected song, and the CC 80 button is mapped to launch the appropriate synth lines for the track, which I tweak and mix in and out with the rest of the BCR.

The session with MIDI map on looks like this:



This setup allows me to have 16 drum loops per track. What I do is I use the top 8 set to Global Quantize to launch reliably synced, and the bottom 8 are usually duplicates, drum fills or variations set to 1/16th Quantize and Legato mode. With some pseudo drumming and a little sense of timing I can create tons of drum variations by banging on these, then simply jumping back to one of the preprogrammed loops on the top row. Mad fun I tell you.

Here's how my BCR would look like if it had red text all over it instead of fluorescent orange stickers all over it:



I still have 8 knobs and 1 button to map (not counting the top 32 encoder buttons or the 31 remaining presets), so I guess the madness isn't over yet .

[forge]

thanks!

shame I only have a UC-33!