Ableton Forum

Hi Guys,

Just road testing Ableton Live 4. As with all other MIDI based packages there is a facility to add INSTRUMENT DEFINITION Files. These are small files that relay the patch information in any attached synth. For example if you own a Creative Labs Card you are using the GM [ General Midi ] Soundset. The first 3 or four patches in this soundset are pianos, then organs etc all the ways up to patch 127. All GM compliant synths use the same naming criteria. If you wish to use a GM Instrument with Ableton, how would you be able to add such definitions if they exist to identify what patch you are using by name as opposed to the default number set 1 to 127.

Cheers
CTGuitars

As yet you can't do this, 'it's numbers or nowt lad', as my mum may never have said.

so what is the best way to perform patch changes using the abilities that Live has currently. For instance, most of the stuff I write is on Sonar which uses program changes to change patches on either my Alesis QS8 or Proteus 2500 (both synths have instrument definition files which I imported to Sonar). I'm starting to move all my songs into Live so I can perform them during gigs and it would be great if I could use program changes to get to my patch settings at the start of selected songs instead of having to find them manually.