How to map a Korg nanopad2 x-y pad to Live controls
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2022 4:16 am
My nanopad2 arrived today and I was irritated that the x-y pad didn't work automagically. I fished around forums without much luck, then tried this. Seems to work. Thought I would spare you the irritation, dear reader.
TL;DR: Create a custom control script for your nanopad2. Ta-da!
At length:
1. Create a custom control surface script as explained on the Ableton site:
https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/artic ... ace-script
You don't even need to edit the default script— you just need Live to recognize the nanopad2 as a control surface.
Put it in a folder with a nice name.
2. Restart Live and select your newly named control surface in Preferences > Link/Tempo/MIDI
(Or whichever tab has MIDI prefs in it in your version of Live.)
See https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/artic ... l-Surfaces
3. Still in the MIDI preferences, choose how you want your MIDI ports to sync up with Live. I've got mine set as:
In: Track, Remote
Out: Sync
I'm not sure this is correct, strictly speaking, but it seems to be working so far.
(Presumably the Sync Out will help if/when I figure out how to sync the nanopad2's arpeggiator with Live's MIDI clock. No luck yet, will repost if I figure that out.)
Close Preferences.
4. Now get into your device, enter MIDI map mode (Cmd-M/Ctl-M), click the first control you want to map, engage the X or Y axis on your pad, do it again for the second control you want to map, hit Escape to close MIDI map mode, and you're on your way.
TL;DR: Create a custom control script for your nanopad2. Ta-da!
At length:
1. Create a custom control surface script as explained on the Ableton site:
https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/artic ... ace-script
You don't even need to edit the default script— you just need Live to recognize the nanopad2 as a control surface.
Put it in a folder with a nice name.
2. Restart Live and select your newly named control surface in Preferences > Link/Tempo/MIDI
(Or whichever tab has MIDI prefs in it in your version of Live.)
See https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/artic ... l-Surfaces
3. Still in the MIDI preferences, choose how you want your MIDI ports to sync up with Live. I've got mine set as:
In: Track, Remote
Out: Sync
I'm not sure this is correct, strictly speaking, but it seems to be working so far.
(Presumably the Sync Out will help if/when I figure out how to sync the nanopad2's arpeggiator with Live's MIDI clock. No luck yet, will repost if I figure that out.)
Close Preferences.
4. Now get into your device, enter MIDI map mode (Cmd-M/Ctl-M), click the first control you want to map, engage the X or Y axis on your pad, do it again for the second control you want to map, hit Escape to close MIDI map mode, and you're on your way.