Ableton Forum

Random question: as I've started to add more and more external gear to my setup, I'm running into occasional MIDI weirdness (ie a random synth fires a note, some notes get stuck on, turning a knob on the Moog makes some random parameter on the Virus change). Is the best practice to assign each piece of gear it's own MIDI channel exclusively to prevent misfires? Seems like it should work,but just wondering if I'm missing something.

I'm pretty sure that's why MIDI Channels even exist

have fun

That's what I do, and I even assign different parts on one device to different channels: Moog Sub Phatty on channel 1, Korg ESX keyboard parts on channels 3 and 4, and Korg EXS drum parts on channel 10. Works great.

Awesome, thanks guys.

Related: does this graphic represent all the MIDI info the APC40 sends, and if so, does that mean I need to dedicate 9 channels to it?

Those aren't channels - they represent notes and control change info. I think you could set up the ACP in Live so that it sends/receives info on all channels. Then, set your external gear up to receive send on specific channels. That way you can use the APC to control everything.

Well, unless I'm reading this wrong, all the messages for column 1 are sent on Midi channel 1, column 2 sent on 2, etc. Volume sliders all use CC 7 on their respective track's channel, etc. It uses 9 different channels that I can see - obviously not every note and CC on each of those 9 channels, but probably smart to start at channel 10 with my other gear.

You're correct - I didn't even notice that part. My bad. Just keep in mind that you don't have to do it this way. But you could.