Ableton Forum

Hi, I use Ableton 8 to run my live synth rig. Each song is a new scene and the scene change is triggered by the drummer sending a midi control. I just jumped the gun and bought 2 lasers to add to our live show not realizing they didn't have remotes and there is no way to turn them on/off for each song. Right now, I really only want to turn them on and off based on a new scene change. I'm going to have them slaved together and just running in auto mode until I get more into programming dmx.

My question is, if I buy one of the lesser expensive USB to DMX controllers will I be able to see that controller in Ableton somehow or will I need to also tie in some sort of external lighting SW that will accept Midi control?

I'm hoping I can just see the controller, add it to a new track, have a beginning signal sent when the scene starts to start the laser and then even if we have to manually hit another trigger to stop the laser I would be ok with that.

Any ideas if this is possible on short/cheap order? Our gig is in 1 week! My bad!!!

I am running the latest version of Ableton 8 on a Macbook running OSX 10 (Yes, I want to upgrade to Live 9 but dont' have the downtime to do it yet)

THANK YOU so much for any help you can provide!!!

Here are the controllers I'm looking at:

http://www.amazon.com/VenueMagic-VM-USB ... rds=enttec

http://www.amazon.com/DMX512-Interface- ... rds=enttec

http://www.amazon.com/DMX512-Controller ... rds=enttec

You can't do it in Live without extra software.

If you have Max For Live then you can do it all inside Live no problems.

I use a cheap adapter from DMX King - http://www.dmxking.com - because they are 100% ENTTEC compatible! (fast shipping!)

then use this Max For Live patch - http://www.theimpersonalstereo.com/software/dmax/

I actually demonstrated this plugin at an Ableton User Group meeting in my city earlier this year. It's very easy to set up and use.

Hope this helps!

mode:masters wrote:You can't do it in Live without extra software.

If you have Max For Live then you can do it all inside Live no problems.

I use a cheap adapter from DMX King - http://www.dmxking.com - because they are 100% ENTTEC compatible! (fast shipping!)

then use this Max For Live patch - http://www.theimpersonalstereo.com/software/dmax/

I actually demonstrated this plugin at an Ableton User Group meeting in my city earlier this year. It's very easy to set up and use.

Hope this helps!

Dude... You are in my City. Where do you run these meetings? Not part of Fresh or SAE is it? I'm always looking at expanding my knowledge and I was looking into DMX control only a few months ago just for fun.

EDIT: Sorry, don't want to derail this thread but I have been interested in DMX integration but haven't anything to integrate.

Hey the user group is run by Adrian from SAE.

There is a Facebook page - Ableton User Group - Adelaide, join it and watch for the next meetup !

mode:masters wrote:Hey the user group is run by Adrian from SAE.

There is a Facebook page - Ableton User Group - Adelaide, join it and watch for the next meetup !

PS - going to try for certification in December, hoping to be Adelaide's 1st

Cool... Was looking at SAE a while ago but in the advanced audio engineering sector. Would have taken 6 years of my work time just to save for the diploma so I had to face reality but I am off to join that page for sure.

Man, it's a very small world sometimes.

Indeed it is

I have been away from the forums for ages too, you got me on my first day back, how's that for timing?

Be great to meet you at the next User Group!

Ok, Thanks for the responses. I ended up going with the Enttec DMXIS package. It included both the hardware and software and got me started quickly! I just got it and plugged it in tonight. Does exactly what I want it to do. Now I can trigger everything right from within Ableton!

mode:masters wrote:You can't do it in Live without extra software.

If you have Max For Live then you can do it all inside Live no problems.

I use a cheap adapter from DMX King - http://www.dmxking.com - because they are 100% ENTTEC compatible! (fast shipping!)

then use this Max For Live patch - http://www.theimpersonalstereo.com/software/dmax/

I actually demonstrated this plugin at an Ableton User Group meeting in my city earlier this year. It's very easy to set up and use.

Hope this helps!

SO, If I buy (for example the ultraDMX Micro) from DMXKing.com.. I can download and use the DMXIS vst software with it??
just don't want to spend the $$ on the dmxis box. -- might end up going Dmax via ableton instead.
Informative thread, thanks. seems hard to find info on this topic on the web.

mode:masters wrote:You can't do it in Live without extra software.

If you have Max For Live then you can do it all inside Live no problems.

I use a cheap adapter from DMX King - http://www.dmxking.com - because they are 100% ENTTEC compatible! (fast shipping!)

then use this Max For Live patch - http://www.theimpersonalstereo.com/software/dmax/

I actually demonstrated this plugin at an Ableton User Group meeting in my city earlier this year. It's very easy to set up and use.

Hope this helps!

I recently bought a usb->dmx cable on ebay from some generic seller (looks similar to the 'ultraDMX Micro' on usbking.com)
you think i'll be able to use this with DMaX via Enttec DMX USB Pro interface? or is there something about the ones on that site that make them more compatible?

Hi xdadex, I don't know the specific software you're referring to, however, when I use the DMXIS software it checks for the interface and I believe the software is licensed to the ID of the DMXIS hardware. I suspect there might be some check in the SW to make sure the hardware is a valid DMXIS interface. I would say try it. But it may fail if it doesn't recognize the device.