I've recently upgraded to Live 12 and it really disappoints me that it is still not possible to exclude one or more devices from being counted as one of the "All Ins" in the MIDI From track setup.
I don't think that my use case is unusual - and I'm surprised it isn't a problem for lots of people. Is there a workaround I'm missing?
If you have a couple of control surfaces, like a Keylab and a Launchpad, then it is preferable to have most MIDI tracks set to listen on All Ins - that way you can be flexible with which tracks you arm and play. But if you also have a hardware synth that you would want to dedicate to one track, either as MIDI or an Ext. Instrument - and be able to record knob CC alongside playing another track with the control surface... the knob movements get picked up on other armed tracks.
I don't want to disable the MIDI in on the hardware synth - I want to be able to record MIDI CC from it on its instrument track But I also don't want to pick that MIDI data up via the All Ins.
Locking the other tracks down to a particular control surface is also not ideal - I've got more than one. It makes the setup very inflexible.
Here's an older thread that raises the same problem but it didn't get much engagement:
viewtopic.php?t=225171
Again - with so many control surfaces and controllers coming out, and a lot of people using hardware synths... why is this not more of a problem?
Exclude MIDI devices from All Ins
Re: Exclude MIDI devices from All Ins
Midi channel is another possible filter option, but I dunno if that’d do any good.
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Bortmeister
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2023 6:23 pm
Re: Exclude MIDI devices from All Ins
It's fine to ensure Port/Channel setup is not causing problems with playback - my issue is more about recording.
I'm using mostly desktop (keyboard-less) synths, so use a control surface across multiple instruments to play them. Leaving the MIDI From assignment on All Ins works until I want to record notes on one track/synth, but turn knobs on a different synth. Those knob movements get picked up on All In, even if they're not from the synth I'm playing notes into.
I can't disable the MIDI Input Port for that synth in Preferences because there will be times when I want to record knob movement. I can do this on a track locked to that particular Input Port. But that still leaves it running through All In.
I think my beef is mostly that I'm using desktop modules, and so I need my controller keyboard to be always usable on the selected track, but I also want to ensure the synth controller data is only coming through on a specific track. I'd never want that data on a track that's not linked to that external instrument. To me, it would never make sense for CCs specific to a synth to be part of 'All In' and echoed to any other track?
The workaround is a) to switch all the main "Ext. Instrument" tracks away from All In to the specific control surface, and b) have a secondary MIDI track for each synth I want knob movements. The drawbacks include a) constant reassigning if you happen to have multiple controller keyboards and b) knob data on separate clips from note data.
If you strictly only deal with one instrument/track at a time, I guess it's less of an issue. But I want to record a bassline and tweak the lead synth cutoff at the same time!
I'm using mostly desktop (keyboard-less) synths, so use a control surface across multiple instruments to play them. Leaving the MIDI From assignment on All Ins works until I want to record notes on one track/synth, but turn knobs on a different synth. Those knob movements get picked up on All In, even if they're not from the synth I'm playing notes into.
I can't disable the MIDI Input Port for that synth in Preferences because there will be times when I want to record knob movement. I can do this on a track locked to that particular Input Port. But that still leaves it running through All In.
I think my beef is mostly that I'm using desktop modules, and so I need my controller keyboard to be always usable on the selected track, but I also want to ensure the synth controller data is only coming through on a specific track. I'd never want that data on a track that's not linked to that external instrument. To me, it would never make sense for CCs specific to a synth to be part of 'All In' and echoed to any other track?
The workaround is a) to switch all the main "Ext. Instrument" tracks away from All In to the specific control surface, and b) have a secondary MIDI track for each synth I want knob movements. The drawbacks include a) constant reassigning if you happen to have multiple controller keyboards and b) knob data on separate clips from note data.
If you strictly only deal with one instrument/track at a time, I guess it's less of an issue. But I want to record a bassline and tweak the lead synth cutoff at the same time!
Re: Exclude MIDI devices from All Ins
This is the power and strength of Ableton: they do not look for simple solutions, but will always offer a complex workaround instead: if you ask them to add a MIDI-assignable Pause button when recording, they will refuse, but will offer you to buy Push or M4L; if you want to use a multitimbral instrument on some track, they will refuse too, but they will tell you that you can add fifteen additional ones to this track and configure the routing from them to the desired one; however, if you start a midi clip and want to add your own keyboard passages to it on the same track, then they will not object, but if you decide to record your work in arrange mode, they will only record the clip, but not your playing.. .