Ableton Forum

Does anyone know how to assign MIDI control numbers for the MachineDrum - in other words, so that you can draw MIDI actions in the envelope view in Live that will modulate the MachineDrum's controls.

The MachineDrum manual contains an index of MIDI Control numbers but I can't for the life of me understand it, in part because it seems to require sending over different channels. I can figure out the controls to drum slots 1-3 (BD, SN, LT) by trial and error, but above that I'm stumped.

Thanks!

Really the best way to use the machinedrum with live is to sequence everything on the MD and then trigger MD patterns from live. This way you can get the most out of the MD sequencer with parameter locks etc.

Are you psherburne the music critic?

thanks for the tip! honestly i haven't waded into sequencing w/ the MD at all, preferring to write patterns in Live, but i may shift my method.

and yes, one and the same...

I didn't know you were producing your own stuff now. Cool.

Anyway, I think the sequencer is really the key to getting the most out of the Elektron stuff. The tight integration with the internal machines makes it possible to do things that would be very difficult in a conventional midi sequencer. Parameter locks are key.

well, it's a very amateur attempt... not really for public consumption, ha ha.
but anyway, thanks for the tip. i've starting to suspect that i'm sort of going about the MD backwards, so maybe i'll give this method a shot... cheers!

hi philip!

Controlling the MD using CCs appears quite confusing at first, but actually it's quite straightforward. The reason it uses multiple MIDI channels is that the MIDI specification only allows for 127 different CC numbers per MIDI channel. The MD has many more than 127 different parameters to control, so Elektron had to come up with a different way of doing things. What they did is split the controls for the the machines over 4 different MIDI channels, with 4 machines per MIDI channel. By default, its set up like this:

MIDI Channel 1: BD, SD, HT and MT
MIDI Channel 2: LT, CP, RS and CB
MIDI Channel 3: CH, OH, RC and CC
MIDI Channel 4: M1, M2, M3 and M4

On MIDI channel 1, the controls for the BD are spread out over a number of CCs, say 10-30 (I don't have my manual here so I don't remember the exact numbers). Similarly, SD might use CCs 40-60, HT 70-90 etc...

To control the other machines, you just use the same CCs but on a different MIDI channel. LT uses the same CCs as BD, but on channel 2. OH uses the same CCs as SD, but on channel 3. You get the picture.

Having said all that, I'd agree with kuniklo and recommend you just use the MDs internal sequencer. It's much more hands-on and inspiring!

thanks! that's about what i expected, but my cursory trial-and-error (ha, cursory - first i tried mapping all the numbers in a damn spreadsheet!) yielded poor results. i will try again - and will take both your advice about learning to sequence the sucker directly.