Ableton Forum

jestermgee wrote:The strange thing about this is that when you look at products like the launchpad, every pad is exactly the same colour. Granted, they don't show white but they do mix colours to get the different shades and not a single feedback on these or APC from what I have noticed.

What about anyone with a Maschine MK2? Granted it only has 16 pads but in theory, if the issue was an issue of not being able to get the mix right between LEDs consistently "in the real world" then this would affect other things like the Maschine, LED lighting strips etc.

I can agree that it's not something that really affects performance and if the unit was $300, there would be no grounds to really complain but $600 is not a toy and with some of the units having serious mixes of colour, not just small variances, I wouldn't be happy about the cost.

there is more info on LEDs here:

http://www.acquris.se/media/index.php?id=34&lang=en

i'm pretty sure the Launchpad doesn't mix colours, it has one LED for each of its three shades (red/green/orange).

the Maschine probably has an RGBW or RGB+W setup. the Push has a lot of pads though, so i guess the added cost of going RGBW or RGB+W would have bumped the cost up too much...

warp100 wrote:Wow, mine looks worse than the other pics on here. I thought some of the pads were supposed to be purple at first: http://imgur.com/h7ZgYZf

Mine is at least that bad... otherwise I quite like Push so far.

jestermgee wrote:The strange thing about this is that when you look at products like the launchpad, every pad is exactly the same colour. Granted, they don't show white but they do mix colours to get the different shades and not a single feedback on these or APC from what I have noticed.

What about anyone with a Maschine MK2? Granted it only has 16 pads but in theory, if the issue was an issue of not being able to get the mix right between LEDs consistently "in the real world" then this would affect other things like the Maschine, LED lighting strips etc.

I can agree that it's not something that really affects performance and if the unit was $300, there would be no grounds to really complain but $600 is not a toy and with some of the units having serious mixes of colour, not just small variances, I wouldn't be happy about the cost.

I bought a Maschine Mk2 instead of PUSH back in March only because I didn't want to wait 6 months for the PUSH. I'm happy it worked out that way! Maschine is amazing and there is definitely no RGB issues whatsoever.
I'll still be getting a PUSH though. Hopefully the color issues are sorted by then. If it were me I'd just change the color scheme and not use white.

I definitely understand the frustration. At $600.00 I expect quality. Sure it doesn't affect usability but it becomes a problem when it's literally staring you in the face every time you look at it! It's a controller based on PADS, and the PADS are fucked up!!! I'mquite certain I'd be raging too!

altus wrote:

warp100 wrote:Wow, mine looks worse than the other pics on here. I thought some of the pads were supposed to be purple at first: http://imgur.com/h7ZgYZf

Funny, you'd think if it was a variation in the LED brightness/color, the differences would be random, but mine has EXACTLY THE SAME PATTERN OF PURPLE LEDs as yours. That is, all the LEDs that are purplish on yours are purplish on mine. Could this be a software issue then?

Mine looks a LOT like that one. I actually thought some of the keys were supposed to be pink in note mode and I actually googled pink pads. Then I found this thread.

Mine arrived 2 days ago. 2nd batch. Same issues. I really wish I could have just bought this in a store. I would have returned it for another unit already and checked in store the LED's.

Minor "variation" is a slight color cast not an entirely different Hue!

my push is two weeks old but doesn't look nearly as bad as the photos i see in this thread. Although i have to admit that the color differences are much more visible when i use the push in a dark environment.

This is how my push looks like in the dark:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... df678c93d8


But when i'm using it in a bright room then you can hardly notice it, just watch my video when i switch to note mode to see how white it looks. (skip to 1:50 to see the white note panel)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep6avuvdSlA

So there is obviously a difference between the models, the photo that was posted here earlier would be unacceptable for me.

Ableton has got back to me after sending them a photo. They now say their developers are working on a solution and Ableton will extend my return period so that I can wait to see if they are successful.

You know, this issue may not necessarily be an LED quality issue (at least on the fairly consistantly pink LED's). It could be a firmware issue with the wrong values being sent to the LED's. In which case a fix is possible with firmware/software.
Alternately they could provide a manual calibration method, though without it being saved in the unit itself this would be annoying to have to bring a file with y ou when you are using push on multiple (often not your won) computers.

I'll wait and see and if they are not successful I will send my unit back for a properly working one. (If they have any that is. lol)

Aaargh, then why didn’t they say that when I mailed them? Their answer was basically live with it or send it back. So I did.
Hope they’ll fix it so I can get it again.

Hi

My issue is with the brightness of the side buttons. I find they are so dim that I can only use Push in a dark room and still find it difficult to read the buttons. This seems truly ridiculous for an expensive item as this. The white Note and Session buttons are fine.

the color issue is not firmware related, its a hardware issue so far.

the LED brightness is controller by the so called PWM method (the LED will be turned off and on very quickly
that makes it looks like it more dark or bright)

this value is static, means it would be the same problem on every push, but it looks different.
the problem is the resistance of the soldering of the LED itself. each soldering haves a different resistance which means
each LED doesn't not get the same voltage. OR the LEDs itself are cheap and don't have the same brightness levels.
Both Problems are not fixable in theory. Practically it might be possible and i think Ableton is currently trying to fix that.

as we know, brightness is set by PWM. you you are able to set the brightnes of each LED. I think they will implement a method
to manually callibrate each pad for brightness with PWM as normal settings.


Sad to hear, it is well known that RGB leds NEVER reach a pure white and that the have quality differences.
I Can't understand why Ableton dindn't used RGBW LED's which haves a separated LED for white, might be to expensive for production.

I have the same general problems with lights...

If you ask really nicely they might give you the beta version of an app and firmware that allows you to change the color of individual LED's. Current app has no adjustment for brightness, just color, but it is a night and day difference. Adjustments are stored in firmware.

hey guys,
there's a file called "PUSH_RGB_Calibration_Tool.zip" in the beta community ( https://ableton.centercode.com )

Bumping this because I just got a Push last night and they haven't changed a thing with the LEDs. I thought the shade differences were part of Note Mode scales lol o.O I only ran across this thread looking to see if Push would be brighter off a USB 3 port than 2 (500mA vs 900mA, though I'm thinking Push only takes 500mA off a 3 port anyway)

But yeah. It makes my eyes 'vibrate' if that makes sense. I'm liking the workflow, but these LEDs are funky to look at day or night It's just distracting.

sure looked all pretty and smoothly consistent in the advertising, Ableton

psybrain wrote:hey guys,
there's a file called "PUSH_RGB_Calibration_Tool.zip" in the beta community ( https://ableton.centercode.com )

Apparently you have to be part of the alpha/beta team, it's not available for public beta.

Email Ableton t/s and ask:

support@ableton.com

KrisM wrote:Bumping this because I just got a Push last night and they haven't changed a thing with the LEDs. I thought the shade differences were part of Note Mode scales lol o.O I only ran across this thread looking to see if Push would be brighter off a USB 3 port than 2 (500mA vs 900mA, though I'm thinking Push only takes 500mA off a 3 port anyway)

But yeah. It makes my eyes 'vibrate' if that makes sense. I'm liking the workflow, but these LEDs are funky to look at day or night It's just distracting.

sure looked all pretty and smoothly consistent in the advertising, Ableton

psybrain wrote:hey guys,
there's a file called "PUSH_RGB_Calibration_Tool.zip" in the beta community ( https://ableton.centercode.com )

Apparently you have to be part of the alpha/beta team, it's not available for public beta.

I already did. Johannes answered this morning, asked for a pic of my Push (it's not yet registered with Ableton), and seems to be willing to give me a copy of the RGB Tool