Ableton Forum

Dear Ableton support and all users, let me outline how to replicate the bug that is still here in my 64bit Ableton 9.6.1 on Windows7:

1) Create 2 tracks (of any type).
2) Place any device on track 1.
3) Map that device's header (not the track header) to a hardware MIDI controller (I used a button on a MIDI keyboard).
4) Select track 2 by clicking on the track header (so the focus is set to something different than the device on track 1).
5) Now use the mapped hardware controller to remotely select the device on track 1.
6) Press 0 on your computer keyboard.

Expected behavior: The power button of the selected device is switched off, deactivating ONLY THE FOCUSED (PERTINENT) DEVICE.
Actual behavior: The yellow track activation button is switched off, deactivating THE WHOLE TRACK.

Please, may we await a fix?

hi there
i am by no means an expert but i just today watched a bill burgess video where he downloaded an editor for the control surface he wanted to map, and then double-checked the programmed knob/key behaviours in the said application. have you tried that? eg "korg kontrol editor.app"
hope that helps but it could be a bug as you said...

i don't think it's buggy. the problem you're having is in step 4: when you click on track 2 and back again, you're shifting the 'blue hand' focus away from device control to track control.
instead of clicking track headers, try mapping them instead - then the focus will remain on the devices.

Zero on the keyboard is multi-function, and I'm pretty sure it is more related to mouse behavior than midi behavior.

It can deactivate midi notes, clips, whole channels, selected devices, all based on the last thing you've done. I would not consider it a reliable way to turn a device off and on with midi-based selection.

Well, I hear all of you...

But could at least someone tell me that the behavior exists on their computer as on mine? Anyone able to reproduce that situation?

Yes, it’s easily reproducible and not specific to Live, Windows or your particular system. It’s simply how input from the keyboard works. It’s focus-based (dependent on which window is active and which part of the window has the focus) and, in some cases, such as this one, selection-based (based on what is selected in the part of the window that has the focus).

0 isn’t the only key that works this way. For example, if you replaced 0 with Delete, you’d be deleting the track, not the device. Some shortcuts (such as Ctrl + R) also work like this.

Definitely not a bug as the mapping works as it should; it selects the device and makes it visible. And 0 does what it should; it applies to the item within the focus that is selected.

If you want to explicitly turn off the selected device, you don’t want to use 0. You want to use something that only applies to devices. ClyphX and MIDI Remote Scripts in general allow for that and are much more reliable than using keystrokes and much more flexible than MIDI mapping.

Thanks all.

Will have to test more as it is possible that it's a just problem of correctly understanding the matter.