Ableton Forum

I'm sure this is something really simple I just don't get, but here's the deal:

A friend recently gave me an old Zoom guitar effects controller, basically a bunch of footswitches and a rocker pedal which send midi to a DAW to control in-the-box effects. After getting it working, I was able to map it all okay but the problem is if I map a switch to either an effect on/off or a channel on/off, pressing the button has the desired effect until I release it, where it goes back to its original state. How can I set it so that each button press acts more like a mouse click, where the state change is held even after the button release?

Thanks in advance.

That's most probably because your Zoom pedals are sending note-on/note-off messages on each press rather than CC. I'm not 100% sure but that's a very possible thing.
In Live, when you open midi map mode you should be able to tell which type of midi message is used for every mapped parameter. Can you check this and let us know what's written here?
In any case, the best solution would be to edit the Zoom's midi settings so that it sends messages relevant for you. Check its manual.
If it's not possible then you'll probably need a middle-man midi converter software.

Also, check whether the Zoom is sending a momentary or toggle message. Momentary only has an effect while the button is depressed whereas Toggle changes the state (typically on/off) each time it's clicked.