Ableton Forum

Hey guys - can anyone help with the following ?

I want to set up a midi controller for use with ableton to DJ. How this works will more than likely affect what controller I buy..

Where in ableton do I go to set up buttons/joystick (such as on the hercules) on my controller to work in place of the cursor buttons on my keyboard or my mouse - so that when I am in my session view I can use these buttons to move between and then start clips.

I know how to use midi learn to set triggers for clips to start - but if I dont know which tracks I am playing depending on the crowd and I drop a tune into the session view I have to set up midi learn again...

Is what I am asking impossible?

Surely people out there know how to do this? Or is there a work around?

Do most DJ's drop all there tracks into the session view first with pre-programmed starts? or do they play it by ear and drag the files in from their browser - like you would have flicked through your record box in the old days?

Any insight/help is greatly appreciated.


Thanks

Jip wrote:Where in ableton do I go to set up buttons/joystick (such as on the hercules) on my controller to work in place of the cursor buttons on my keyboard or my mouse - so that when I am in my session view I can use these buttons to move between and then start clips.

Nowhere. Live doesn't support this. There are workarounds using things like Bome's MIDI Translator. Or you might be able to do it by emulating a Mackie Control.

Jip wrote:I know how to use midi learn to set triggers for clips to start - but if I dont know which tracks I am playing depending on the crowd and I drop a tune into the session view I have to set up midi learn again...

Isn't the trigger associated with a clip slot rather than a clip? So if you replace the clip in a MIDI mapped slot, the trigger should still work. But I could be wrong...

Jip wrote:Do most DJ's drop all there tracks into the session view first with pre-programmed starts? or do they play it by ear and drag the files in from their browser - like you would have flicked through your record box in the old days?

I used to bring stuff in from the browser on the fly. But I'm now thinking about using a Live Set (in Session View) as my "record box" instead, so that I can avoid suing the browser (and hence minimise my reliance on the mouse).

Cheers Rob - I have tried and good news - the trigger is assosciated with the clip slot rather than the clip itself...

guess the launchpad / APC40 & Maschine made this post defunct! My prayers got answered!