Ableton Forum

Dear all,

I believe this is something quite easy to set up but I can't figure it out. Here's the situation:

1. Ableton live 8 with a drum rack on one track
2. Korg padKONTROL set up in MIDI parameters like so: Control Surface -> padKONTROL, Input -> padKONTROL (port A), Output -> padKONTROL (CTRL), Input: track on and remote on, Output: track on and remote on.
3. The default scene on padKONTROL goes from C3 (lowest left pad) up to D#4 (highest right)

What I'm trying to achieve here is to prepare 8 kits of 16 pads (full drum rack range) into the same rack and being able to switch between them with a midi controller. I believe the easiest way to switch would be to switch between scenes on my padKONTROL which has a very fast way of changing them. I should, thus, reassign different notes to all pads in different scenes.
It doesn't seem to work though when I'm trying this (some notes seem to overlap and play samples they shouldn't) and even worse: it all gets shifted when I move the rack focus. I think the focus issue can be avoided by another midi configuration in Live, right? If someone knows how to do it I'll appreciate your support.
Another (maybe even cooler) solution would be to find the way to assign the focus selector to a midi knob. So I don't bother reassigning different notes to 8 different scenes on my padKONTROL. I just shift the focus to another kit with a single twist of a knob. However I can't find the way to link it via midi (not selecting a rack with a mouse and than using keyboard arrows). Also, how can I set the focus increment rate to 4 cells instead of the default 3? Any clues, Ableton gurus?

Right now I'm not interested in solutions which involve multiple drum racks (and a potential chain selection with midi knob). I'm trying to keep it all as a very minimalistic "one rack" solution.

Please let me know if this makes any sense to you. Thank you in advance.

You should look into the NativeKontrol templates for the padKontrol.
Maybe Bomes Midi Translator.

I dont have a padKontrol but I assume it works much like many controllers. Offers a template editor? Can templates be recalled by function butons, or can you fast switch templates on the padKontrol by some internal function?

There' is definitely a way to keep things all in one drumRack.
Are you using Sampler?

IamAgar wrote:Dear all,

I believe the easiest way to switch would be to switch between scenes on my padKONTROL which has a very fast way of changing them. I should, thus, reassign different notes to all pads in different scenes.
It doesn't seem to work though when I'm trying this (some notes seem to overlap and play samples they shouldn't) and even worse: it all gets shifted when I move the rack focus.

make sure when you do this that the padkontrol is NOT selected in the control surfaces. I had the same issue, but the controller will work fine if you program all the notes ,without the padkontrol selected in control surfaces. the rack focus is the main concern for padkontrol when its selected as a mididevice so you need to disable that. the padkontrol will still work though. also, if you have any other midi controllers make sure they are on different channels. I think padkontrol is default channel 10, so you may need to open your editor and change the channel to avoid crosstalk.

Fabulous!
bartend7 > That's exactly what I was looking for.
JuanSOLO > Thanks for your input. Appreciate it!

Question is answered

Oh,
another related question:
Now that I've encoded 8 pads (somewhere in the middle of the rack), is there an easy way to grab all the samples and drag them to the very bottom of the rack or should I do it manually 8 times? It doesn't bother me at all but I'm just curious.

Thank you in advance.

here's a thread about getting visual feedback to work with loops. set up on the padkontrol


http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/ ... hp?t=68290



thought maybe you'd be interested.

Thanks bartend7. This could be cool indeed.

bartend7 wrote:

IamAgar wrote:Dear all,

I believe the easiest way to switch would be to switch between scenes on my padKONTROL which has a very fast way of changing them. I should, thus, reassign different notes to all pads in different scenes.
It doesn't seem to work though when I'm trying this (some notes seem to overlap and play samples they shouldn't) and even worse: it all gets shifted when I move the rack focus.

make sure when you do this that the padkontrol is NOT selected in the control surfaces. I had the same issue, but the controller will work fine if you program all the notes ,without the padkontrol selected in control surfaces. the rack focus is the main concern for padkontrol when its selected as a mididevice so you need to disable that. the padkontrol will still work though. also, if you have any other midi controllers make sure they are on different channels. I think padkontrol is default channel 10, so you may need to open your editor and change the channel to avoid crosstalk.

Wait, Wait! Are you saying in MIDI to NOT have it as the control surface/selected (track/remote parts yes/no?)? I would also like to just spin the dial/scene knob to move it 4 rows/cells at a pop should I have a need for more than 16 drum sounds. So esplain lucy what you meant in regards to not have padKontrol selected as control surface with respect to Live Preferences. I think I know what you meant but just for clarity's sake and my aging brain.

just dont select it in midi preferences. just plug it in and you should be good if you have the scenes programed to whatever notes/ccs you want to use.

bartend7 wrote:just dont select it in midi preferences. just plug it in and you should be good if you have the scenes programed to whatever notes/ccs you want to use.

Yeah, there is one scene that when loaded it starts off on lower left side as C3 I think and works its way up from right to left and so-forth up the cell. Will double check that. If I recall one scene loads in/lines up properly in Live, one of the others I think is off by an octave or I could be thinking something else. Thanks for reminder! If it isn't set up under preferences I won't since this makes it that much easier to use per cell, and if I can get it to use a knob to move up/down the rack via a twiddle that'd be perfect if/when I get to needing more than 16 cells. I have hardly used it lol...

Is the focus selector in drum racks even MIDI mappable?