Ableton Forum

Hello world!

Is there any way to record automation only to armed tracks in arrangement mode?

Say I have two midi tracks, each with a synth and I midi map filter envelope to the mod wheel (cc 1) in each track individually. I arm the first track and record a melody incl. mod wheel automation (all in arrangement view). The midi notes (incl. velocity etc.) is recorded only to the armed track, but the filter envelope automation is recorded to both tracks?

I can't find a way around this?

NOTE: This question has been posted elsewhere (e.g., viewtopic.php?f=1&t=240840&p=1782732&hi ... m#p1782732) but with no meaningful answer? Any max for live ideas? I've tried a few things but it all comes back to non-armed tracks that are affected by changes in armed tracks.

Using separate MIDI channels is not an option as I need more that 16 separate feeds (orchestral libraries), and using automation inside the midi clip does not work as there is no way to overview several channels simultaneously. I want it to be in arrangement view automation so I can just toggle A and see all automations.

Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

If I understand correctly your setup, then the problem here is with midi mapping (you're talking about Live's built-in midi mapping right?).
You should instead either:
- route your CC01 to your synth's filter internally (i.e from the synth's midi modulation routing/setup/mapping)
- control your filter from what Live calls a "Control Surface", that gives you a "blue hand" over the selected device.

What midi controler are you using?

Thank you for your reply!

Please, correct me if I am wrong, but: opt. 1 would produce automation inside the midi clip, not in the arrangement. This is perfectly possible but not what I was asking. Having the automation in arrangement mode is sometimes more convenient. For example it allows me to overview or copy/paste automation across tracks in a simple way.

Opt. 2 works fine too. Everything runs well with my push. I was not aware of this distinction between "Control Surface" and a regular Midi keyboard, but I guess that is a way forward. From what I learned after some research you can configure your own keyboard to be a "Control Surface" and hopefully that will solve this issue. I will try whenever I get some time over.

Relevant links:
https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/artic ... ace-script
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fO1RfijxJQ

Kind regards,
Andreas

Well, if you're looking for automation of mod wheel in the arrangement view using the red automation line, because you'd like to automate it throughout your entire song (across many MIDI clips in the same track) and see it all the time as any other automation, that's a tricky one in Ableton.

Important thing to understand is, that mod wheel is MIDI CC message (CC #1). So it's recorded and also it's editable in the MIDI clip itself only (the same way as MIDI notes are - doubleclick on clip to see it in detail at the bottom part of the screen and there you can see/edit "envelopes". Mod wheel is one of that envelopes). So it's not automation, it's MIDI data.

BUT ...

How to see it in arrangement as red automation line in the track?

a) you'll get used to the said fact, that you have to record/edit mod wheel envelope inside every MIDI clip alone.
There's an option to "unlink" the envelope from the clip length so you'll be able to define it across more clips, but you still have to doubleclick the correct clip to edit it (not practical)

b) you'll make use of Ableton's routing and you'll create a separate MIDI track to define only mod wheel envelope across entire song and you'll also create track for MIDI notes (shorter clips / many separate clips as you're normally used to do an arrangement) and then you'll route these two MIDI tracks into third MIDI track where your VST/instrument actually is (this will effectively merge the MIDI messages together). Then you always know where the mod wheel envelope is and it will be "song wide". But you still have to doubleclick it to see it

c) if you have Max for Live, then great! This it totally doable. There's Max device called "CC map8":
https://maxforlive.com/library/device/2560/cc-map8
We can use this device to generate MIDI CC #1 (mod wheel) messages upon knob change. And we can automate this knob.
Just put this device before your VST/instrument, assign to one of the knobs the "CC #1" and move/automate the knob.