Ableton Forum

I want to be able to control the level of several tracks with a knob on my MIDI controller. I know how to assign them, and I know how to set the range of the MIDI assignments. But when doing that, when I turn the knob all faders start to move immediately, and that is not what I'm after in this case. What I want is, that as I turn the knob, the channels are introduced one by one. For instance; when the knob is all the way down to zero, only track 1 is playing. When the knob is up to, say, 25%, the fader on track 2 begins to move. When the knob is up to 50%, track 3 begins turning up a.s.o. Sort of setting the range with an offset value.

The whole idea behind this is to create a scenario, where one loop is playing, and as I turn the knob, the whole arrangement is growing around that loop (or, as I turn the knob down, the arrangement is folded back).

Any ideas on how to accomplish this?

My solution so far;

1: Make a new audio track, with an Audio Effect Rack on it.

2: Create a new chain for each of the channels I want to control with the knob.

3: To route the audio from the tracks onto the chains, my best bet as of now is to insert a Compressor, sidechain the audio from the track (post mixer) into it, and set it to "Listen".

Now I can set up my mappings of the levels in the Chain Zone editor, and map the knob to the Chain Selector. Thus, I have used the Effect Rack to create a rack/sub mixer of sorts ... but my upbringing tells my, that a Compressor is not meant to be left in "Listen" mode. If it works, then all's good - but I fear that there may be some drawbacks to it, and I'd hate to discover those drawbacks while on stage ...

i'd try the idea of the chain selectors, but with utility plugins.

But how would you then get the audio into the chains? My only use for the compressors is as audio routing devices.

Leaving the compressor in listen mode has been working great for me for reaching similar solutions. No drawback as far as I know.