How to match MIDIBuddy outputs to Live inputs with different ranges

Hi Steve,

I've hit a hurdle in using MIDIBuddy.  While MB works perfectly when mapped to, say, two volume faders in Live, it isn't working well for me because I map the Mouse Move Up/Down Relative output to a volume knob and the Left/Right output to a pitch transpose knob which has 12 steps (12 semitones). For reference, these are  the Volume knob and Pitch knob for the Live Beat Repeat function.

The X axis movement required to go 0 pitch transpose to -12 semitones is very small, while the Y axis movement required to go from 0 volume to full volume (Y-axis) is relatively much greater.... not really usable.

I've tried changing this by ignoring 3 out of every 4 outputs of the X axis but this leads to very erratic movement of the pitch transpose knob.  I think that's because MB outputs bigger numbers as the speed of trackball -right-movement increases (and conversely, smaller numbers as the speed of trackball - left movement increases.  I tried always outputting 63 for Left Movements and 65 for Right Movements, but that led to pretty strange effects also.

I also tried using absolute outputs of MIDIBuddy for the X-Axis and changing the mode of the Live pitch control to Absolute, but in this case, the X-axis movement required is much much greater than the Y axis movement partly because (during programming at least) I use two screens and the limits MB uses are related to the screen size.  Even with a single screen (assuming that using a single screen would change things), I think the required movement would still be too great.

Can you think of a way to get the two required movements to match.  Maybe changing the limits for MIDIBuddy itself, when it outputs Cursor/Pointer Screen position? or any other way?

I think you have Live, so you could set up the same scenario as I have in order to see the problem I'm experiencing.

Thanks,

Gabriel

Hi, Gabriel, look at this later today and see what I can come up with. Best to handle it in Bome MT.

Steve

Hi Gabriel,

 

Give this a try. I had to make transpose absolute controller as Ableton really did not react well for relative.

I set it up for high sensitivity but limited output to +- 13 semitones. Ableton filter is set for +-127 semitones because if I set it differently, it seems to want to filter out too much. I’m posting both MT Pro project file and Ableton Live Set File.

See if this works better for you. It seems the behavior of this filter is much different than other controller behavior in Live.

 

Hi Steve,

I tried your solution.  Up-Down works fine for volume.  Right-Left seems not to change value at all.  The output remains constant at 70 decimal.

One point, though.  The pitch shifter in Beat repeat is somehow already set to respond in 12 steps, so I think it won’t react correctly even if the Right Left code were to work – though I don’t know for sure.

I’ve attached your Live file, but with the addition of Beat Repeat mapped to Up-Down and Right Left, just as you’ve done for Pitch and Volume.  Could you try to make that work instead of the separate pitch bend effect?

Thanks,

Gabriel

I’ll take a look.

Hi Gabriel, Try this. Please unmap the mouse for the -12 pitch but leave it mapped for the Beat Repeat Pitch.

These controllers have different outputs and interactions.

 

If Left right does not change hit ESC to reset the global variable I’m using.

Hi Steve,

Success!  The solution was to use MIDIBuddy relative outputs just as you programmed them, and then:

• send up-down output to a Macro control (named “Repeat”) in Live’s Beat Repeat effect (mode = Relative (lin. BinOffset)  This is as I’ve always done.  The Macro is mapped to several parameters in Beat Repeat.

now for the little wrinkle – instead of sending right-left MIDI directly to the pitch control in Beat Repeat as I was doing before:

• send right left output to a second macro (named “Pitch”) in Beat repeat.  This macro is mapped to the Pitch function in Beat Repeat.

Mapping right left output to pitch through a macro instead of directly has the effect of scaling the output so that it matches up down.

thanks for your thought provoking examples.  I’m super pleased,

Gabriel

I forgot to say that your solution with a separate pitch shifter didn’t work for me because the pitch shifter is a MIDI effect. I needed to have something control the pitch function in Beat Repeat, which is an audio effect.

Wow, I probably would have never thought of that. Probably because I’m really not an Ableton Live expert. I just bought it to help others out with MT Pro. Maybe someday I will put it to more useful use.

Thanks for the follow-up. Gabriel!

I’m not an expert either, though I’ve spent several years working with Live. It’s incredibly deep and it seems for every situation that seems like a dead end, there’s a way around it.