how do I make the FCB1010 work with Ableton?

Hillyhi11s · Post by **Hillyhi11s** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 12:37 am

Hi, (this is a beginner question i am sure)

I am pretty new to Ableton and very new to the FCB1010 (just bought it a week ago). I cant seem to get it working with Ableton. I have not been able to find any info on this either. How do I hook up the FCB1010 to work with Ableton Live?

Currently I have live 6.0.7, a PC (win xp), Bome's Midi Translator (trial), the FCB1010, and a M-Audio uno. I have tried to hook it up and it does not seem to be responding with the software at all. I am hooking the midi's from the FCB to the M-Audio Uno then its usb into my computer. Should work, but doesnt (Ableton recognizes the Uno however). I have a trigger finger and it works fine with Live. Is there something i need to do on the foot controller 1st??? Please help. Its all very confusied at this point...

Thanks

studiesinsound · Post by **studiesinsound** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 12:52 am

I mean this with all due respect:
Do a search on this forum for fcb1010, you will find TONS of info.

also, there is an excellent yahoo group on the fcb1010 with even more info, and some geat articles on programming teh fcb1010 for use with ableton.

You really do need to read those articles because there's some knowledge you need and I can't explain it near as well as what's already been written.

For starters though, out of the box the fcb1010 is programmed with presets geared towards controlling behringer amp equipment.
IF you are still using teh default config on the pedal, each press of a button sends multiple types of midi messages. These include program change, cc, and midi note messages.
therefoe it's hard to simply use the midi learn featue in ableton because each press of a button is throwing so many midi messages.

Don't be discouraged by teh learning curve.
the fcb1010 is a great pedal.
there are any number of ways to control ableton with it
but you have to read up.

sorry, hope this didn;t come off as a dick answer

studiesinsound · Post by **studiesinsound** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 12:55 am

here's a good start:
http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=63839

the dudes on this forum have some serious knowledge.

Yoseph · Post by **Yoseph** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 5:06 am

I had the same problem when I first started using the FCB1010.

The reason is because right out of the box, the FCB doesn't send midi commands to ableton; it's meant to work with other behringer equipment(like said by studiesinsound). In order to get it synced with ableton you have to change the settings on the FCB. I'll try my best to give you an easy step-by-step tutorial on how to change it.

First off, there's probably other ways to do this, and I'm still trying to figure out how to program the expression pedals.
You'll also have to do these steps for each pedal that you want to change.

1. Turn it on, go to the first bank [00], and press button 1. It will light up.
2. Hold down the DOWN[switch2] button until a green light labeled "SWITCH 2" starts blinking.
3. Press the UP[enter] button. Now, buttons 1 8&9 are lit up. Hold each down until no button is lit up.
4. Now hold down button 6[CNT1/SYSEX SEND] until it's lit up.
5. Press 6 again to make it start to blink and press UP.
6. Now you basically give this pedal a number name. Since this is the first bank and the first button, I'll name it: "1". So just press 1, and press UP.
7. Now you're giving the pad a velocity value. Enter 127, and press UP.
8. 6 should now be the only thing lit up now. Hold down DOWN to exit.
9. Now go into ableton and see if it recognizes it in the blue midi mapping thing. It should come up as 1/1 or something.

Now just repeat these steps for all the other buttons. The only thing you'll change is the number name you assign to it [this was 1, next you'll do 2,3,4...10 etc.]

I hope this has helped you. If I can figure out how to change the expression pedals then I'll most likely post that also, but I've been unsuccessful in previous attempts.

Angstrom · Post by **Angstrom** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 8:54 am

that is correct, but something missing ...
but you may notice an oddity, the 'expression' or wah/rocker pedals may work and then don't work.

The reason is :
each of those main pedals you just assigned (pedals 1 to 10) are to behringer 'preset' pedals. What that means is - to you they are midi buttons which send out a value to Live, but to behringer they are intended to select a preset on a guitar amp simulator.
For each 'Preset' (pedals 1-10) you can set the 'expression pedals' to send on a different controller number. That means the expression pedals might be working fin while you have pedal 3 illuminated, but when you press pedal 9 the expression pedals suddenly don't work !

so remember to set up the expression pedals to the same output every time you set the values for the main footswtiches . There are editors to make this task easier.

Hillyhi11s · Post by **Hillyhi11s** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 1:57 pm

studiesinsound wrote: Do a search on this forum for fcb1010, you will find TONS of info.

also, there is an excellent yahoo group on the fcb1010 with even more info, and some geat articles on programming teh fcb1010 for use with ableton.

You really do need to read those articles because there's some knowledge you need and I can't explain it near as well as what's already been written.

sorry, hope this didn;t come off as a dick answer

No worries, i did find the fcb1010 yahoo user group about 30 mins after posting this. Also, the link you gave: http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=63839 is great and I have already seen it (printed it out) and gone through it all (but using my trigger finger to test). Its a lot of good info. I just having trouble finding a set of instructions for the FCB like Yoseph posted. Thanks for that Yoseph, I am going to try it when i get home from work today! I have a good feeling about it.

feyshay · Post by **feyshay** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 6:30 pm

I have a certain setup with my FCB 1010.
I can post my configuration later. I'm curious how most people have their FCB 1010 configured for live/practice or recording purposes.

Yoseph · Post by **Yoseph** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 7:37 pm

Yeah. All of my ideas for the exp pedals don't work.

I'm in bank 00, pedal 1. What I've done so far is hold 8 until it's lit in the selection menu, so now 6 and 8 are lit up. The light above the exp pedal A is lit. I just don't know what to do from there.

In reply to feyshay:

I have an interesting setup that I've been altering around a little bit over the last few months. I use live drums with a M-Audio Axiom 49 mounted right over my bass drum. I have the 1010 right by the bass pedal.

I use my 1010 to launch samples, loops, and scenes. I also use it for live looping and stuff for midi patterns from the Axiom.

Skeyelab · Post by **Skeyelab** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 10:02 pm

user here "kramerica" does this.

he may have some insight

Yoseph · Post by **Yoseph** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 5:24 am

does what?

Hillyhi11s · Post by **Hillyhi11s** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 11:20 pm

thanks again Yoseph. I got the FCB1010 working and with chelfyn's link:
http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 68b7fa1065
I am able to get ableton to basically do what i want (i think).

1 small problem though. On chelfyn's tutorial, he makes track 9 for the input and says to monitor it with "In" selected. When i do that it records but with a huge echo. This is probably another beginner issue, but how can i still record with no echo? I Tried turning the Monitor to "Off" then "Auto" but it just does not record when those are selected. Any suggestions?

Thanks

Yoseph · Post by **Yoseph** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 5:08 am

turn all the other channels to off?

Yoseph · Post by **Yoseph** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 4:31 am

So does anyone actually know how to set up the expression pedals?

fatrabbit · Post by **fatrabbit** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 1:11 pm

Get a software editor for the FCB. There are free ones for PC, and iFCB for Mac OS X (which only costs a few bucks).

Yoseph · Post by **Yoseph** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 6:40 pm

Yeah, I tried that, but I only have one midi cable and it wouldn't connect. Is there a way to program it on the controller it's self?

how do I make the FCB1010 work with Ableton?

how do I make the FCB1010 work with Ableton?

FCB instructions

i got it working