Creating "Momentary On" button using IAC, and dummy clips
Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 10:27 pm
I've been playing around with different control methods in ableton and i stumbled across a solution that some of you might also find helpful...
the problem:
I've been on a quest for the ability to map a key so that, when i press it, the effect starts happening. then when i release the key i want the effect to fade out. If you map the button straight with ableton's mapping you get one press turns the effect on, and a second press turns it off. it makes it hard to keep up with what effects are on, and which are off in the heat of the moment. I watched Dylan's video about the DJ template and how he uses aftertouch on the trigger finger to solve this. the trouble is there's no aftertouch for a computer keyboard, or regular midi note. I wanted a solution that didn't require MFL or automap.
The basic solution is this:
1) Create 1 midi channel called "pulses", and create a clip sending out a pulse of notes (in this case d#3 every 1/16 note) set to 16th note quantize, and gate mode. Send that midi channel to the IAC bus (IAC bus must be on and ableton must have remote input set to "on").
2) create 2 audio channels, set the audio channels up:
Ch 1: Monitor=auto; output= sends only.
Ch 2: monitor=in; input=ch1; Effects=simple delay
Then create 2 "dummy clips" on Ch2 (one bar of blank audio will work) label one "delay on" and the other "delay fade out"
3) edit modulation envelopes on the Ch 2 "Dummy clips" so that the first clip has "Dry/wet" all the way up, and the second fades from all the way up to all the way down.
4) Set follow actions. set the launch follow action for "delay on" to 0.0.2 and "Next". this means that once the clip has played for 2 16th notes it will go to the next clip which will fade the effect out. make sure that
5) Here's the trick, you map the "delay on" clip to IAC to the midi pulse coming from the "pulses" channel and you map the clip on the pulses channel to the button you want.
What this does is send a new start message to the "delay on" clip every 16th note. if it ever fails to get a pulse, then the follow action will cause it to go to the "fade out" clip.
Does that make sense? is there an easier way to do this? It's a somewhat clunky workaround, and there may be a better way to do this.
here's an example:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9511064/Momenta ... utton.alp
any questions/comments/refinement are welcome.
Thanks so much to the community on the ableton forums. I don't post much, but i read it often and have learned a lot for these boards. Thanks guys.
AF
[edit: I have a friend who wants to do this on PC but, alas, no IAC bus what's the best solution there?]
the problem:
I've been on a quest for the ability to map a key so that, when i press it, the effect starts happening. then when i release the key i want the effect to fade out. If you map the button straight with ableton's mapping you get one press turns the effect on, and a second press turns it off. it makes it hard to keep up with what effects are on, and which are off in the heat of the moment. I watched Dylan's video about the DJ template and how he uses aftertouch on the trigger finger to solve this. the trouble is there's no aftertouch for a computer keyboard, or regular midi note. I wanted a solution that didn't require MFL or automap.
The basic solution is this:
1) Create 1 midi channel called "pulses", and create a clip sending out a pulse of notes (in this case d#3 every 1/16 note) set to 16th note quantize, and gate mode. Send that midi channel to the IAC bus (IAC bus must be on and ableton must have remote input set to "on").
2) create 2 audio channels, set the audio channels up:
Ch 1: Monitor=auto; output= sends only.
Ch 2: monitor=in; input=ch1; Effects=simple delay
Then create 2 "dummy clips" on Ch2 (one bar of blank audio will work) label one "delay on" and the other "delay fade out"
3) edit modulation envelopes on the Ch 2 "Dummy clips" so that the first clip has "Dry/wet" all the way up, and the second fades from all the way up to all the way down.
4) Set follow actions. set the launch follow action for "delay on" to 0.0.2 and "Next". this means that once the clip has played for 2 16th notes it will go to the next clip which will fade the effect out. make sure that
5) Here's the trick, you map the "delay on" clip to IAC to the midi pulse coming from the "pulses" channel and you map the clip on the pulses channel to the button you want.
What this does is send a new start message to the "delay on" clip every 16th note. if it ever fails to get a pulse, then the follow action will cause it to go to the "fade out" clip.
Does that make sense? is there an easier way to do this? It's a somewhat clunky workaround, and there may be a better way to do this.
here's an example:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9511064/Momenta ... utton.alp
any questions/comments/refinement are welcome.
Thanks so much to the community on the ableton forums. I don't post much, but i read it often and have learned a lot for these boards. Thanks guys.
AF
[edit: I have a friend who wants to do this on PC but, alas, no IAC bus what's the best solution there?]