SOLUTION for MIDI mapping of Audio Track SOLO switch
Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2018 9:59 pm
Problem Description
I was trying to use a MIDI message to toggle the SOLO switch on the audio tracks that I have configured in a Live Set. That seemed to work the first time I sent the MIDI message, ie, the SOLO switch for the desired track would engage. However, I ran into the problem that when trying to SOLO a different audio track, the SOLO switch for both tracks would be engaged. This happened even though the Exclusive->SOLO option in the Preferences dialog was set.
Research
I did many searches and it turns out that this is a common complaint. None of the search results provided a fix for this though. Some reported that perhaps Live version 10 or Max For Live may solve the issue. I didn't really want to spend more money so I thought I would just have to live with it.
I continued doing some searches and found this article regarding Momentary and Toggle MIDI functions:
https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/artic ... -functions
Turns out the SOLO switch requires a Momentary MIDI message. To be honest, I didn't know what a Momentary MIDI message was - I had to Google it.
After reading the article and messing around a bit, I found a solution.
My Configuration
Here's my configuration:
SPD-SX -> AudioBox audio Interface -> MIDI-OX -> LoopdBe1 -> Ableton Live
In my case, I'm using a Roland SPD-SX sampling drum pad to send Program Change messages to my Windows 8 PC via a PreSonus AudioBox audio interface. I use MIDI-OX to translate the Program Change messages into momentary MIDI messages and send them to Ableton Live via LoopBe1 (http://www.nerds.de/en/loopbe1.html). [I would have used MIDI Yoke instead of LoopBe1 but I'm running a 64-bit version of Live.]
Solution
The key is in the MIDI-OX translation. For each Program Change message, I would send 2 NoteOn messages to Ableton. The first has a velocity of 127 and the second note is sent with a 10 msec delay with a velocity of 0. I added this type of translation for each track that I wanted to SOLO.
Here's a screen capture of the MIDI-OX Translation Map that shows the translation for each Program Change message.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1InCno ... 6S1xK4sZt7
This translation provided the functionality that I was looking for: to select one and only one track to SOLO.
Hope this helps!
--jack
My config:
Roland SPD-SX
PreSonus AudioBox 22VSL
Windows 8 PC
MIDI-OX
LoopBe1
Ableton Live Standard version 9.7.1, 64-bit version
I was trying to use a MIDI message to toggle the SOLO switch on the audio tracks that I have configured in a Live Set. That seemed to work the first time I sent the MIDI message, ie, the SOLO switch for the desired track would engage. However, I ran into the problem that when trying to SOLO a different audio track, the SOLO switch for both tracks would be engaged. This happened even though the Exclusive->SOLO option in the Preferences dialog was set.
Research
I did many searches and it turns out that this is a common complaint. None of the search results provided a fix for this though. Some reported that perhaps Live version 10 or Max For Live may solve the issue. I didn't really want to spend more money so I thought I would just have to live with it.
I continued doing some searches and found this article regarding Momentary and Toggle MIDI functions:
https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/artic ... -functions
Turns out the SOLO switch requires a Momentary MIDI message. To be honest, I didn't know what a Momentary MIDI message was - I had to Google it.
After reading the article and messing around a bit, I found a solution.
My Configuration
Here's my configuration:
SPD-SX -> AudioBox audio Interface -> MIDI-OX -> LoopdBe1 -> Ableton Live
In my case, I'm using a Roland SPD-SX sampling drum pad to send Program Change messages to my Windows 8 PC via a PreSonus AudioBox audio interface. I use MIDI-OX to translate the Program Change messages into momentary MIDI messages and send them to Ableton Live via LoopBe1 (http://www.nerds.de/en/loopbe1.html). [I would have used MIDI Yoke instead of LoopBe1 but I'm running a 64-bit version of Live.]
Solution
The key is in the MIDI-OX translation. For each Program Change message, I would send 2 NoteOn messages to Ableton. The first has a velocity of 127 and the second note is sent with a 10 msec delay with a velocity of 0. I added this type of translation for each track that I wanted to SOLO.
Here's a screen capture of the MIDI-OX Translation Map that shows the translation for each Program Change message.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1InCno ... 6S1xK4sZt7
This translation provided the functionality that I was looking for: to select one and only one track to SOLO.
Hope this helps!
--jack
My config:
Roland SPD-SX
PreSonus AudioBox 22VSL
Windows 8 PC
MIDI-OX
LoopBe1
Ableton Live Standard version 9.7.1, 64-bit version