DJing at Ableton Live. Part 2. Deratization
Deratization - comprehensive measures for the destruction of rodents (rats, mice, voles, etc.).
Wiki
We continue the conversation started here .
When I first got acquainted with the program Ableton Live, I was just shocked by the endless number of possibilities that it offers to the DJ. However, my puppy enthusiasm of the slug subsided when I discovered that some of the Ableton functions could not be controlled via the MIDI controller. I was especially infuriated by the need to use the mouse to select and download tracks from the browser (in the Tractor, for example, there is no such problem at all).
Someone would have given up on such a trifle hand, but I, unfortunately, suffer from perfectionism in the terminal stage and could not accept the fact that during the set you need to grab alternately a MIDI controller, then a mouse.
Everything that is written here cost me in my time of a week of sleepless nights spent reading the kilometer branches of foreign forums, watching various training videos and conducting experiments using induction, deduction, extrapolation, scientific planning and scientific typing. The silence of these nights was repeatedly broken by the cries of despair “Damn, how can we do it ?!” and also (much less often) by the surprised exclamations “Your mother! Works!". During the experiments, no MIDI controller was hurt, although I really wanted to grab a hammer a couple of times.
It is very likely that the solutions described here will seem cumbersome and awkward to many; I will be immensely grateful if someone can offer a more elegant approach (I can even give a tip ; I myself, alas, am not strong in such technologies). Nevertheless, all of the following algorithms are fully functional and can be used quite easily for practical work.
')
Kurtz: Did they tell you that my methods are the methods of a madman?
Willard: I don’t see any methods at all, sir.
From the film Apocalypse Now
Unfortunately, it is impossible to organize a completely mindless management of Ableton by means of Ableton himself (in any case, this method is unknown to me; I have high hopes for AKAI APC 40 , but at the time of writing this article he had not reached Moscow yet). We will need two more utilities:
MIDI Yoke . A free program that creates virtual MIDI ports in the system.
Bome's MIDI Translator (Next - BMT). This software is able to convert keyboard commands and MIDI messages to almost anything - other MIDI messages, keyboard macros, mouse movements, and so on. The program is very good, but, unfortunately, paid and not cheap - the version of Pro, which I use, costs about $ 80. However, if for your purposes a somewhat trimmed version of Classic comes down, then it can be licensed for perfectly legitimate reasons, simply by sending a postcard to the program author (paper, not what you thought;)).
In addition, we will need some MIDI controller (at first, you can do with a computer keyboard, but more on that later). For the "sample of the pen" will suit anyone. If we talk about practical application, then your attention should be paid to controllers with a large number of push-button, sliders and rotary controls, but the jog dials will be practically useless.
From entry level controllers, Trigger Finger by M-Audio is perfect. Of the more expensive - AKAI MPD 24 or MPD 32. Of the top models - the entire Xone family from Allen & Heath.
Well, when the long-awaited AKAI APC 40 finally comes on sale, then the problem of choice will most likely disappear. Perhaps then all this text will be outdated.
Fully mindless management of Ableton (in the version in which it is known to me) is possible thanks to the fact that it has the Most Main Keyboard Command .
I discovered it completely by accident. Well, not entirely by accident - I have a bad (and sometimes just life-threatening) habit of poking at all the buttons in a row and watching what happens - I’m usually lazy to read manuals. However, in this case, the manual was read completely useless, so this command is undocumented. Why the developers did not consider it necessary to print it with the 48th size on the first page of the user manual - I really do not understand. Correcting their error:
So what does this mega-team do? In Session View mode, it transfers the current focus to one of three zones: Browser, Mixer Drop Area and Clip View / Track View.
Special attention should be paid to how this command works in Mixer Drop Area: depending on where exactly the focus was (whether the whole area was selected, whether one of the scenes / tracks was selected or one of the clips), for guaranteed the transition from the Mixer Drop Area “horizontally” (that is, in the Browser) requires a double repetition of the command, and “vertically” (in the Clip View / Track view) - three times; Alt (Up) sequence; Alt (Left) always shifts the focus to the Browser, wherever the focus is.
Perhaps I did not explain very clearly, but when you try this command in practice, you will immediately understand everything.
The mega-team does not work in one single case - if you allocated Loop Brace before this (or rather, it works, but the result is not the one you need). However, as far as I know, Loop Brace can only be selected with a mouse, and we decided not to touch the mouse. If you nevertheless decide to lay straws in this place, then you will need to add two commands to the corresponding scripts - turn off and re-enable the loop, and the Loop Brace selection is removed.
All other keystrokes used are completely trivial.
The general logic of the work of the described construction is as follows:
1. The MIDI controller sends a MIDI message.
2. BMT receives a MIDI message
3. Depending on the presence of this message in the BMT template, it either sends a keyboard (macro) command to AL or skips a MIDI message using the port created by MIDI Yoke.
4. Ableton live receives a MIDI message or keyboard (macro) command.
Anticipating a possible question, I answer: MIDI Yoke is needed, without it, the system does not work.
CREATING A BMT TEMPLATE
1. In the MIDI In menu, select our MIDI controller, in MIDI-out - any of the MIDI Yoke ports.
2. In the Options menu, check the MIDI Thru box, otherwise the BMT will intercept all MIDI messages from the MIDI controller, including those not written in the template.
3. Create a new preset.
4. We create a new translator and give it some name that you understand.
5. Right-click on the created translator, select Edit and go to the Incoming tab.
6. Put a tick Capture MIDI and press the selected button on the MIDI controller.
If you see several intercepted MIDI messages (as in the picture above), the first sometimes works, and sometimes the last. Why - I don’t know if there are MIDI protocol specialists here - explain, pliz.
7. Go to the Outgoing tab and select from the drop-down menu Key Stroke Emulation.
8. Then the fun begins - writing the script "live" and, in part, "blindly" - the corresponding window in the BMT is very small. This is done very simply - consistently press keys (or shortcut keys), and BMT fixes this.
Naturally, before you write a complex script in BMT, you need to step through it in Ableton Live and, possibly, write it down on a piece of paper. If the script recorded in BMT does not work for some reason, then to search for an error, you can select it with a mouse and copy it to some text editor.
Q: Can I use non-MIDI messages as triggers, but keyboard commands?
Answer: It is possible, but the following should be considered:
- For this, you need a BMT version of Pro, worth the money.
- In real life, a good MIDI controller is much more convenient than a laptop keyboard (the buttons are bigger, they are located at a greater distance from each other, there is a backlight).
- The selected keyboard commands should not be used as stitched Ableton live commands (and there are quite a few of them - see the manual), otherwise it may turn out to be completely different from what was intended.
- When writing scripts, you need to disable the current preset in the BMT; otherwise, you run the risk of getting a series of macros nested in each other, which then without a half liter will not understand.
A complete listing of the scripts that I use in my working template, along with comments, will take more than a dozen pages. However, they are all the same type, and, having understood the logic of one, you can easily write all the rest
Alt (up)
Alt (left)
// Transfer the focus to the browser.
Up or Down or Left or Right or Page up or Page Down or Home or End
// Can I not paint it? :)
// This script uses a hot key (Hot Key) assigned in Ableton to
// select the entire track.
Alt (up)
Alt (left)
// Transfer the focus to the browser. These commands are added “just in case” - if you
// selected the * .als file, and then accidentally shifted the focus from the browser to somewhere else.
Ctrl (C)
// Copy the file * .als
Hot key
// Select the track. Focus is transferred to the Track View.
Alt (up)
// Go to the Mixer Drop Area.
Ctrl (home)
// Go to the first slot of the selected track (Page Up in this case is not always
// works as needed).
Up
Down
// We check that we really hit the first slot of the track, and did not select the entire track
// entirely (this happens in some situations).
Shift (Page Down)
// Select all slots on the track
Delete
// Remove all the clips from the track
Page up
// Go to the first slot
Ctrl (V)
// Insert the clips of the * .als file
Page up
// Go to the first slot
Question: MIDI controller, MIDI message translator, virtual MIDI ports, keyboard macros .... All this strongly resembles a bearded anecdote:
“Dear passengers, on board our Boeing-7777 superliner there are 2 tennis courts, 3 swimming pools, 6 hairdressing salons, 18 restaurants and 9 discos. And now, please, buckle up tight, now we are going to take off with all this garbage. ”
How stable is such a bulky construction?
Answer: Being once debugged, the system works surprisingly steadily, if during its operation you do not step on the agricultural equipment widely used in Russia, which is called ...
Rake number 1. Russianroulette layout.
With the Russian layout turned on, BMT honestly emulates clicking bukaf ruskava language, which Ableton does not perceive at all, categorically and in any way. Personally, on my laptop, the Russian layout is eliminated as a class. I recommend to do the same.
Rake number 2. HELLO, FEMALE !!!
When I first stepped on this rake, I almost lost my mind, trying to find the cause of the partial failure of the system that had just worked flawlessly; and when in half an hour I realized what was the matter, I almost broke my laptop about my head out of anger at myself.
Yes, you guessed it correctly - Ableton distinguishes between lowercase and uppercase letters, so that when you press Caps Lock all macros are executed a little more than half. How to fight - you know.
Rake number 3. Enemy with a thousand faces.
A different button called by different manufacturers, including an alternative layout on laptops (usually emulating a numeric keypad). As in the two previous cases, pressing it can lead to partial system failure. Usually can be disabled.
Well, here, perhaps, all wisdom. Questions, critics and examples of your own interesting scripts are strongly welcome.
Taking advantage of myofficial position , I inform you that free registration is currently open on the portal beatsfactory.net administered by me. Welcome!
Wiki
We continue the conversation started here .
When I first got acquainted with the program Ableton Live, I was just shocked by the endless number of possibilities that it offers to the DJ. However, my puppy enthusiasm of the slug subsided when I discovered that some of the Ableton functions could not be controlled via the MIDI controller. I was especially infuriated by the need to use the mouse to select and download tracks from the browser (in the Tractor, for example, there is no such problem at all).
Someone would have given up on such a trifle hand, but I, unfortunately, suffer from perfectionism in the terminal stage and could not accept the fact that during the set you need to grab alternately a MIDI controller, then a mouse.
Everything that is written here cost me in my time of a week of sleepless nights spent reading the kilometer branches of foreign forums, watching various training videos and conducting experiments using induction, deduction, extrapolation, scientific planning and scientific typing. The silence of these nights was repeatedly broken by the cries of despair “Damn, how can we do it ?!” and also (much less often) by the surprised exclamations “Your mother! Works!". During the experiments, no MIDI controller was hurt, although I really wanted to grab a hammer a couple of times.
It is very likely that the solutions described here will seem cumbersome and awkward to many; I will be immensely grateful if someone can offer a more elegant approach (I can even give a tip ; I myself, alas, am not strong in such technologies). Nevertheless, all of the following algorithms are fully functional and can be used quite easily for practical work.
')
1. MATERIALS AND METHODS
Kurtz: Did they tell you that my methods are the methods of a madman?
Willard: I don’t see any methods at all, sir.
From the film Apocalypse Now
1.1 MATERIALS
Unfortunately, it is impossible to organize a completely mindless management of Ableton by means of Ableton himself (in any case, this method is unknown to me; I have high hopes for AKAI APC 40 , but at the time of writing this article he had not reached Moscow yet). We will need two more utilities:
MIDI Yoke . A free program that creates virtual MIDI ports in the system.
Bome's MIDI Translator (Next - BMT). This software is able to convert keyboard commands and MIDI messages to almost anything - other MIDI messages, keyboard macros, mouse movements, and so on. The program is very good, but, unfortunately, paid and not cheap - the version of Pro, which I use, costs about $ 80. However, if for your purposes a somewhat trimmed version of Classic comes down, then it can be licensed for perfectly legitimate reasons, simply by sending a postcard to the program author (paper, not what you thought;)).
In addition, we will need some MIDI controller (at first, you can do with a computer keyboard, but more on that later). For the "sample of the pen" will suit anyone. If we talk about practical application, then your attention should be paid to controllers with a large number of push-button, sliders and rotary controls, but the jog dials will be practically useless.
From entry level controllers, Trigger Finger by M-Audio is perfect. Of the more expensive - AKAI MPD 24 or MPD 32. Of the top models - the entire Xone family from Allen & Heath.
Well, when the long-awaited AKAI APC 40 finally comes on sale, then the problem of choice will most likely disappear. Perhaps then all this text will be outdated.
1.2 METHODS
Fully mindless management of Ableton (in the version in which it is known to me) is possible thanks to the fact that it has the Most Main Keyboard Command .
I discovered it completely by accident. Well, not entirely by accident - I have a bad (and sometimes just life-threatening) habit of poking at all the buttons in a row and watching what happens - I’m usually lazy to read manuals. However, in this case, the manual was read completely useless, so this command is undocumented. Why the developers did not consider it necessary to print it with the 48th size on the first page of the user manual - I really do not understand. Correcting their error:
So what does this mega-team do? In Session View mode, it transfers the current focus to one of three zones: Browser, Mixer Drop Area and Clip View / Track View.
Special attention should be paid to how this command works in Mixer Drop Area: depending on where exactly the focus was (whether the whole area was selected, whether one of the scenes / tracks was selected or one of the clips), for guaranteed the transition from the Mixer Drop Area “horizontally” (that is, in the Browser) requires a double repetition of the command, and “vertically” (in the Clip View / Track view) - three times; Alt (Up) sequence; Alt (Left) always shifts the focus to the Browser, wherever the focus is.
Perhaps I did not explain very clearly, but when you try this command in practice, you will immediately understand everything.
The mega-team does not work in one single case - if you allocated Loop Brace before this (or rather, it works, but the result is not the one you need). However, as far as I know, Loop Brace can only be selected with a mouse, and we decided not to touch the mouse. If you nevertheless decide to lay straws in this place, then you will need to add two commands to the corresponding scripts - turn off and re-enable the loop, and the Loop Brace selection is removed.
All other keystrokes used are completely trivial.
2.MODEL FOR ASSEMBLY
The general logic of the work of the described construction is as follows:
1. The MIDI controller sends a MIDI message.
2. BMT receives a MIDI message
3. Depending on the presence of this message in the BMT template, it either sends a keyboard (macro) command to AL or skips a MIDI message using the port created by MIDI Yoke.
4. Ableton live receives a MIDI message or keyboard (macro) command.
Anticipating a possible question, I answer: MIDI Yoke is needed, without it, the system does not work.
CREATING A BMT TEMPLATE
1. In the MIDI In menu, select our MIDI controller, in MIDI-out - any of the MIDI Yoke ports.
2. In the Options menu, check the MIDI Thru box, otherwise the BMT will intercept all MIDI messages from the MIDI controller, including those not written in the template.
3. Create a new preset.
4. We create a new translator and give it some name that you understand.
5. Right-click on the created translator, select Edit and go to the Incoming tab.
6. Put a tick Capture MIDI and press the selected button on the MIDI controller.
If you see several intercepted MIDI messages (as in the picture above), the first sometimes works, and sometimes the last. Why - I don’t know if there are MIDI protocol specialists here - explain, pliz.
7. Go to the Outgoing tab and select from the drop-down menu Key Stroke Emulation.
8. Then the fun begins - writing the script "live" and, in part, "blindly" - the corresponding window in the BMT is very small. This is done very simply - consistently press keys (or shortcut keys), and BMT fixes this.
Naturally, before you write a complex script in BMT, you need to step through it in Ableton Live and, possibly, write it down on a piece of paper. If the script recorded in BMT does not work for some reason, then to search for an error, you can select it with a mouse and copy it to some text editor.
Q: Can I use non-MIDI messages as triggers, but keyboard commands?
Answer: It is possible, but the following should be considered:
- For this, you need a BMT version of Pro, worth the money.
- In real life, a good MIDI controller is much more convenient than a laptop keyboard (the buttons are bigger, they are located at a greater distance from each other, there is a backlight).
- The selected keyboard commands should not be used as stitched Ableton live commands (and there are quite a few of them - see the manual), otherwise it may turn out to be completely different from what was intended.
- When writing scripts, you need to disable the current preset in the BMT; otherwise, you run the risk of getting a series of macros nested in each other, which then without a half liter will not understand.
3. EXAMPLES OF SCRIPTS
A complete listing of the scripts that I use in my working template, along with comments, will take more than a dozen pages. However, they are all the same type, and, having understood the logic of one, you can easily write all the rest
3.1 Scripts for browser navigation
Alt (up)
Alt (left)
// Transfer the focus to the browser.
Up or Down or Left or Right or Page up or Page Down or Home or End
// Can I not paint it? :)
3.2 Script for uploading a * .als file (or * .wav) to an audio track
// This script uses a hot key (Hot Key) assigned in Ableton to
// select the entire track.
Alt (up)
Alt (left)
// Transfer the focus to the browser. These commands are added “just in case” - if you
// selected the * .als file, and then accidentally shifted the focus from the browser to somewhere else.
Ctrl (C)
// Copy the file * .als
Hot key
// Select the track. Focus is transferred to the Track View.
Alt (up)
// Go to the Mixer Drop Area.
Ctrl (home)
// Go to the first slot of the selected track (Page Up in this case is not always
// works as needed).
Up
Down
// We check that we really hit the first slot of the track, and did not select the entire track
// entirely (this happens in some situations).
Shift (Page Down)
// Select all slots on the track
Delete
// Remove all the clips from the track
Page up
// Go to the first slot
Ctrl (V)
// Insert the clips of the * .als file
Page up
// Go to the first slot
Question: MIDI controller, MIDI message translator, virtual MIDI ports, keyboard macros .... All this strongly resembles a bearded anecdote:
“Dear passengers, on board our Boeing-7777 superliner there are 2 tennis courts, 3 swimming pools, 6 hairdressing salons, 18 restaurants and 9 discos. And now, please, buckle up tight, now we are going to take off with all this garbage. ”
How stable is such a bulky construction?
Answer: Being once debugged, the system works surprisingly steadily, if during its operation you do not step on the agricultural equipment widely used in Russia, which is called ...
4. THE RAKE
Rake number 1. Russian
With the Russian layout turned on, BMT honestly emulates clicking bukaf ruskava language, which Ableton does not perceive at all, categorically and in any way. Personally, on my laptop, the Russian layout is eliminated as a class. I recommend to do the same.
Rake number 2. HELLO, FEMALE !!!
When I first stepped on this rake, I almost lost my mind, trying to find the cause of the partial failure of the system that had just worked flawlessly; and when in half an hour I realized what was the matter, I almost broke my laptop about my head out of anger at myself.
Yes, you guessed it correctly - Ableton distinguishes between lowercase and uppercase letters, so that when you press Caps Lock all macros are executed a little more than half. How to fight - you know.
Rake number 3. Enemy with a thousand faces.
A different button called by different manufacturers, including an alternative layout on laptops (usually emulating a numeric keypad). As in the two previous cases, pressing it can lead to partial system failure. Usually can be disabled.
Well, here, perhaps, all wisdom. Questions, critics and examples of your own interesting scripts are strongly welcome.
Taking advantage of my
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/74021/
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