Launchpad - can I do this!?

Hello guys,

I'm hoping you guys can help me out by letting me know if the following scenario is achievable with Bome's Midi Translator, or if there are easier / better solution's to what I need

Downsizing the DJ setup and this means using the launchpad.
Essentially what I want is the first 4 columns of the launchpad working exactly as it already does in session mode (ie. navigates and gives LED feecback for the clips in your Ableton project).
The 2nd 4 columns and side buttons custom mapped to various tasks I've decided on - but with LED feedback (you can do all of this with standard ableton midi mapping, but without LED feedback).

I've been reading countless threads across the internet and it would seem that this is only achievable but using a custom script or with something like Bomes.

Can you let me know if I can do this and how to go about it?? Also if I can use standard LP functionality (like user 1 mode for controlling my drum racks) but be able to switch to this mapping above easily.

thank you!

hello there hellothere (I know, I'm hilarious)

What you want to do is completely doable. We have some threads up here on working with the APC40 in Ableton and this would be pretty similar. There should even be some threads on this board about how to do this with a Launchpad. Effectively you would have your first four columns of the Launchpad pass through MT and the other four columns be captured and retranslated.

http://www.bome.com/forums/viewtopic.ph ... =Launchpad

That thread should help, even though it's old. I know MIDIKatapult is listed there, which is pretty much discontinued, but it can be fun for Launchpad.

Hello there,

I liked the joke... I'm turning into my dad... crap.

Thanks for the reply and thread link. I have to say that my experience of midi mapping goes as far as cmd+m on Ableton and a little daunted by anything beyond this, so your advice is really valued.

MIDI Katapult does look like a good solution, but I saw on the site there is no support available now and I'm the sort of person that will almost definitely need support in order to make it work. Can Bome's do the same thing, but have the added benefit of support / this forum?

Just to ensure I'm on the right track, here's exactly what I want it to do:

Columns 1-4 stay exactly as they are with default session mode
Columns 5-8 are now FX on / off switches, track cue arm, channel select, 3 button crossfader and the circular buttons on the right hand side of the launchpad are now mapped to jump to specific tempos (each button is a 2bpm increment within my main range, top and bottom are +/- 1bpm respectively)
All FX on / off, cross fader position and which tempo selected must give LED feedback!

Could you confirm the simplest way to do this?
Thank you and sorry for my lack of knowledge in this area and if your last post kinda answered this (I didn't understand it!)

a year ago i used bomes to set up a system where launchpad controls vaz modular via flstudio. Everything you want to do is quite do-able (i never payed attention in maths class, but i worked it all out). I guess first question is - do you have a midi map or anything that tells you which control messages do what in ableton? re the code for buttons/ switches/ crossfaders, etc - it will all be in this forum, or if you are getting stuck, post here, and ill see if i can assist.

good luck, dont go too crazy on this project, my quick launchpad tweak turned into an obsessive few weeks/ months of tweaking.

Great, I'll download the free trial, but I may as well say from the off that I am not confident at all and will likely need hand holding until I get my head around the code sorry.

I've googled a list of Ableton commands and the associated code, but couldn't find one - my search terms may be the problem though.

The only bit of info I found that may help me at some points was this thread below, which shows the code for ensuring the LED stays on after the button in pressed until you turn off / change value.
http://www.bome.com/forums/viewtopic.ph ... pad#p11888

I literally have no idea where to start...

that's fine, we are here to help you get set up.

I would glance through the manual, if I were you, to get a handle on the interface and how it is structured. Just reply to this thread and people will be able to get back to you.

J

Thank you dude, I've downloaded the demo and this weekend I'll be going about the first attempt at mapping.

If it's OK with you guys, I was going to ask if I can walk through 1 particular mapping as a test bed and if you could tell me the next steps?

I thought that as well as helping me out, would be good reference material for absolute beginners who come to the forum in the future.

So, I’ve decided to use the 3 button cross fader mapping as the test case, as it’s what I want the most (left button = left channel, right button = right channel, middle button = mix). I need LED feedback so I can see which of these cross fader settings is in play.

Add Translator
Click the other + button
Tick capture midi
Press the button I want to map to push the cross fader fully left
What next!?

This is literally as far as I have got…

hi there hithere,

while DvlsAdvct is on vacation, you might want to check out the user's manual. The first chapters try to achieve some hand holding...

let us know here how far you progress!

THanks,
Florian

Hi guys

Alright, so if you want to set up a basic crossfader with three buttons and LED feedback then you will need six translators. I'm assuming the three messages are C3, C#3 and D3, but they could be anything. Just select Learn whenever you are coding each message. I'm also assuming they are not keyboard keys, but on/off buttons that send 127 when pressed and a 0 when released. I would also recommend reading the manual, as it walks you through the basics.

We aren't going to use rules for this, but we will be sending multiple messages on the output. You will also want to set up your Default Incoming Port to your controller and your Default Outgoing Port to your Virtual Port that's connected to your application. I'm assuming your application will receive a CC for the crossfader.

The three translators sent to your application will be:
The three messages that need to be sent for LED control can go in the same preset, you just need to change the Port in the Outgoing Message to the controller itself. Those will look like
That work?

Thanks for this!

I've read the manual but it's basically russian to me! Sorry.

I have added a translator, double clicked the incoming column, opened up the incoming tab, ticked capture midi, pressed the launchpad button acting as left fade, the code that came up was:
90 75 7F
90 75 00
I then unchecked capture midi.

Now I have literally no clue what to do.

Apologies for my stupidity, I just don;t understand having never done anything like this before. Could you help me with the next step? I've re-read the manual but none the wiser

P.S. I have the midi input and output set to the launchpad in the settings section.

Alright, MIDI 101 here:

Most MIDI actions are comprised of a series of bits of data: a Command type (such as note or continuous control) and a channel; a note or number value of the command; and a velocity or position value. Those are shown in MIDI Translator using Hexadecimal code.

So when you press the button you get a value of 90 75 7F and when you release it you get 90 75 00. This means that when you press it you get a full On state (127: the max value MIDI can transmit) and 0 (the minimum it can value, expressing an off state). In MIDI translator, when you press and release a button, or turn a knob with Learn checked you will get the last bit of information come through as pp. pp is a local variable, which tells MIDI Translator to only pay attention to the first two bytes of information (90 and 75) and to pass through whatever the last value is. This would mean that your translator would trigger on press and release, regardless of the last value. If, however, the incoming signal is set to 7F that would mean it only triggers on a downpress.

In this example we only want the commands to react when the button is pressed, not when it is released, which is why we want the incoming signal to be 127 (or 7F), so nothing happens when we release the button.

I think you need to do some research into MIDI as a whole, because this is going to be really advanced stuff. If you want I can set some time with you over Skype and give you some sessions, but we'd need to discuss that off this chain.

Thanks
J

Thanks for the MIDI 101, really useful 

To be honest, I think the problem is about using the programme – although the above information was new to me, it makes total sense, where as I have no idea of how to actually go ahead and implement this using the translator, I was playing with it for ages last night and I was going around in circles.

Thank you for the offer of help, it’s really appreciated – Just penning you a message through the main Bomes site (couldn’t see PM function on here).

Cheers!

Yeah there's no PM function. I'll chase Florian about that again.

You can just email me at jlhelfer [at] gmail [dot] come

We can set up a Skype session or just go back and forth off the grid.

The level of support here for a noob is outstanding.

Thank you very much guys.