Ableton Forum

Most of the hardware devices on the market that use Mackie Control mainly rely on the software implementing it correctly. I loaded up a Live session and started turning, pushing, tapping to see how Live reacted to the various changes made on a Behringer X-Touch using Mackie Control Protocol.

Some functionality doesn't line up as anticipated. Will we be able to edit the Mackie Control implementation in Ableton Live? Is there a STANDARD? And some of the links are not quite lined up properly? I'm not sure how better the Mackie Control works on an actual Mackie device. Is this a Behringer issue?

Is this possibly an editable XML file or something that we can fix?

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CHANNELS
MAIN is linked to MASTER
FLIP works on PAN, SEND
Scribble Pads look great
REC, SOLO, MUTE and SELECT work as anticipated
Faders work nicely, but do not "SELECT" the track when touched. But, when touched, they do temporarily show the current level in the scribble pad.

ENCODER ASSIGN
TRACK switches between selecting Input, In channel, Output
Panning works nicely, tap rotary centers pan
EQ not selectable and does nothing
SEND shows sends for selected track (12 returns displayed nicely over all scribble pads)
PLUG-IN selectable, but doesn't serve a purpose
INST not selectable and does nothing

DISPLAY Transport time/beats displays as anticipated
Display Name/Value not selectable and does nothing
SMPTE/BEATS toggle works as anticipated

VIEWS
GLOBAL VIEW toggles between channels and returns
Remaining VIEW buttons are not selectable and do nothing

FUNCTION
F1 - F8 do not function out of the box
(1) The F Keys send Note F#2, G2, G#2, A2, A#2, B2, C3, C#3 and can be mapped to control things.

MODIFY
SHIFT
CONTROL
OPTION
*/ALT

AUTOMATION
READ/OFF toggles Session [Light ON] and Arrangement [Light OFF] Views
TOUCH Shows left browser panel
WRITE Shows and toggles Clip & Device bottom panel. Enables next LATCH button.
LATCH Toggles [Light ON] Shows or [Light OFF] Hides bottom panel
TRIM When I modify a song, the TRIM button lights up instead of UTILTY/UNDO
GROUP behaves like a REDO function

UTILTY
SAVE not selectable and does nothing
CANCEL Places a MARKER in Arrangement View
UNDO Toggles Draw Mode [Light ON/OFF]
ENTER Toggles the Follow clip feature, No light indicator


TRANSPORT
MARKER jumps to the previous Marker
NUDGE jumps to the next Marker
CYCLE works as anticipated, toggles LOOP mode
DROP toggles the Punch-In Switch
REPLACE toggles the Punch-Out Switch
CLICK does not toggle Metronome
(1) CLICK Key sends Note F5 and can be mapped to toggle click. Light on X-Touch not toggled.
SOLO not selectable and does nothing
RW Moves 1 measure back
FF Moves 1 measure forward
STOP works as anticipated
PLAY works as anticipated
REC works as anticipated

JOG WHEEL cycles forward and back through the scenes
SCRUB launches the current Scene

FADER BANK Left and Right work as anticipated
CHANNEL Left and Right move the X-Touch view but not the selected channel

Navigation Up, Down, Left and Right work perfectly in the Session View. Center Zoom button launches the selected clip.

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*1 - If you enable "MIDI Remote" for the X-Touch MC Devices, most buttons on the X-Touch send Key Notes and can be mapped to toggle click.

I will update this post as I determine more functionality between the Behringer X-Touch and Ableton Live 9.7.x.

any update on this?

Thanks.

I seem to be running into this as well using the Asparion D400 control hardware. Buttons are assigned to Mackie Control codes but don't do anything in Ableton (for example CLICK / Metronome doesn't do anything). Has anyone figured this out in more detail?

Nikolai

Ah so I'm not the only one having this issue. I'm using the Behringer Motor 49 and having almost identical issues, especially with the Mackie V-Pot Assign Buttons (Encoder Bank Buttons on the Behringer default). I'm able to partially get away with some functionality by messing with the control changes from the MIDI>Control Change menus on the Behringer. But, without being able to change the auto-mappings, Mackie control is taking away a lot of options for me. Would love to just use the Encoders to dial similar parameters across whatever instrument/track I have selected.

HEY! NOT OP BUT I GOT TIRED OF GOOGLING THIS STUFF TOO AND SPENT MORE TIME PRESSING BUTTONS. HERE'S WHAT I FOUND, THIS IS WITH USING ABLETON 11 AND THE LATEST FIRMWARE ON MY XTOUCH. I AM JUST COPYING AND PASTING WHAT I HAVE TYPED OUT.

Encoder Assign
Track – Cycles Track IN/OUT on scribble strips, V-Pot to select
Pan/Surround – Displays panning on scribble strips, V-Pot to pan left and right, press to center
EQ (Page Left) – Scroll send, and effects rack scribble strips left
Send – Displays sends on scribble strips for selected channel, V-Pot to increase/decrease
Plug-In – Displays selected channel’s effects rack on scribble strips, press V-Pot to open parameters
Inst (Page Right) – Scroll send, and effects rack scribble strips right

**PLEASE NOTE THE EQ & INST BUTTONS WILL ONLY WORK WHEN THE AMOUNT OF SENDS OR EFFECTS/PARAMETERS EXCEEDS THE AMOUNT OF SCRIBBLE STRIPS YOU HAVE. WHICH VARIES BETWEEN MODELS.**

Automation
Read/Off – Toggle between session/arrangement view
Write – Toggle clip/effects racks in detail view
Touch – Show/hide browser
Latch – Show/hide detail view
Trim – Undo
Group – Redo

Utility
Save – Back to arrangement
Cancel – Insert/delete marker
Undo – Draw mode switch
Enter – Toggle follow

Transport
Marker (Locator Left) – Jump to left marker
Nudge (Locator Right) – Jump to right marker
Cycle – Toggle loop
Drop – Punch in
Replace – Punch out
Click – Jump to beginning of arrangement
Solo – Jump to end of arrangement

Misc.
Global View – Toggles track/return channel faders
Flip – Flips fader and V-Pot controls (Works w/ Pan/Surround, Send, and Plug-In parameters)