Ableton Forum

Hello,
I have an Evolution mk-449c midi controller keyboard, with faders and knobs which I would like to use to control live. However, I'm not sure if its capable of doing what I want, or how to go about doing it.

What I want is this:

1. One setup where the fader control the volume faders on the mixers, and the knobs control, say, the panning (for the first 8 tracks in Live)

2. Then to be able to switch to another setup where each fader or knob controls parameters for just one track.
e.g. If all my tracks have an EQ III on them, then the first three knobs could control the gain for different frequencies.

This would mean - I assume - setting up 8 such setups, one, for each track.
Or maybe you could do this part with just one extra setup, so you somehow select a track that you want to effect, either by selecting it in Live, or using some of the buttons/keys on the keyboard (???)
I would be happy to have a standard template song with an EQ on each track, etc to enable this to work.

Is this possible?
or even a good idea?

I have heard the Korg microKontrol may be better for this sort of thing - in that it has endless knobs (making them easier to re-assign to different parameters) and uses this "scene" metaphor, which, I beleive is like the setups I'm talking about above.

Is this true? Should I sell my mk-49c and get a mK if I want to do the above?

Thanks for any help.
Andy

well, i´m not intimately familiar with those keyboards but i myself use a emu launchpad as a mdi controler and that one has a nice knob to instantly select what midi channel it broadcasts on. i set up some midi channels for different purposes, for example one midi channel might have the keys set up to select and trigger scenes and deal with transport controles while the same keys on another channel might translate to normal keyboard style asignment on some synth or simpler and on a third channel the "white keys" might switch channel mutes on and off. the same goes for the faders, the one exception is the pitch wheel which i like to assign to filter cutoffs because the spring snaps it back to the preset position when i´m not tweaking it.

everybody has his own preferences but if your controler alows for fast midichannel switching i recomend you try that. endless knobs are obviously a big pre for controling live too.

So is the secret in switching midi channels?
Is that how you address different tracks in live?

(I mean, I know you can just select a knob onscreen in Live and then twiddle a knob on the controller to assign it, but I want to be able to switch between different sets of assignments on the go...)

Try this page:

http://www.charlie-roberts.com/controlAid/


This guy has written a little app I think it will do what you want.

Or search the ableton forum for "control aid".

Cheers.