Custom Ableton Live Drum Rack

There’s popular video on Youtube “The Last Drum Rack You’ll Ever Have To Make” by Chris Petti, Ableton Live Certified Trainer. In the video he shows a technique in Ableton Live using Macros and Sampler, to group drum samples and easily go through them with the Macro knobs, instead of searching via the Browser.

I made a custom version inspired by this video. It’s an empty Drum Rack preset that you can download for free (link below). You can then populate the preset with the samples of your library, save it again, and it will  be ready to use any time in your projects. The difference with his version is that I used Simpler instead of Sampler, which is only available in Ableton Live Suite edition. This preset should work with all editions of Ableton Live 11.

This Drum Rack is based on 8 drum pads. Each pad has 50 empty Simpler devices. You select each Simpler and drag and drop your samples there. Everything is already mapped to be used with the Macros. The Macros select the samples and volumes of the pads,  plus I added additional settings like a Hi-Hat Doubler, an Offset and a control of the Velocity range of all pads. The preset doesn’t have any audio effects, but has four Return chains that you can route to the same Drum Rack or to the Returns in your project.

Watch the following video where I explained the Drum Rack in more details and download it for free with the link below.

If you want to try out AudioSwift for macOS for the first time, there’s a 15 days free trial and we have tutorials on how to set it up in you computer.

Download Custom Drum Rack

Try AudioSwift Beta version for macOS

Learn more about the Ableton Live Control Script

 

Ableton Live Control From Trackpad with AudioSwift

Ableton Live Script

I’ve made a custom Ableton Live Script for AudioSwift to control the macros and device parameters directly from a trackpad with simple touches. This is great for quick access to the devices or for write automation in real time, specially when working mobile with a MacBook.

If your are new to AudioSwift, it’s a macOS app that transforms your trackpad into MIDI tools like sliders, XY pads, triggers, MPE and more. It has different controller modes, and one of them is the Slider Mode. It divides the trackpad into 4 touch sliders in 4 banks, for a total of 16 sliders. We activate AudioSwift with a five finger tap gesture, start touching the sliders to send MIDI and when we finish, we press the Esc key to turn AudioSwift off.

The Slider Mode can now communicate with Ableton Live via a custom script. The script updates the values of the device parameters to the AudioSwift’s Console and Trackpad windows, making it easy to know what we are controlling from the trackpad.

Here is a quick video demo:

Download the script and the current AudioSwift Beta version from here

In the following video tutorial, we’ll go through the steps to configure the script and we’ll show how it works with AudioSwift. NOTE: One command that is missing from the video because it was included later, is to jump between tracks. Use the Left and Right arrows to change between tracks.

If you want to try out AudioSwift for the first time, there’s a 15 days free trial and we have tutorials on how to set it up in you computer.

Find the blog post about Instant Mapping in Ableton Live mentioned in the video tutorial here.

MPE Modifier – A New MaxForLive Device

MPE Modifier is a free MaxForLive device that does two simple tasks. It changes the incoming Slide and Pressure MPE messages into Control Change messages per voice, and also replicates global messages like ModWheel, Pitch Bend, and Aftertouch to all MIDI channels.

I designed this device to be used with the MPE Trackpad option in AudioSwift, but it should work with any MPE controller like Ableton Push 3. I also did it with U-he synths in mind, but feel free to use it with other virtual instrument plugins that don’t have full MPE support and work with multichannel MIDI, like Native Instruments Kontakt or Spectrasonics Omnisphere.

The main idea of MPE Modifier is to change the default MPE messages to other CC numbers the virtual instrument usually works with. Also, any other MPE MaxForLive device before the instrument will keep responding to the default Slide CC74 and Pressure messages.

Before designing MPE Modifier…

U-he synths like Hive and Diva are multichannel but don’t have full MPE support. They don’t usually work with the MPE standard Slide CC74. All of their patches have parameters mapped by default to CC1 (ModWheel), CC2 (Ctrl A) or CC11 (Ctrl B). We would need to manually map those parameters to CC74 inside the plugin or change the CC number sent in the MPE controller. Both workarounds come with limitations, specially changing the CC inside the controller, since we can’t later edit the MIDI clip envelopes per voice if the CC number recorded is not the default Slide CC74.

The other problem is with global messages that apply to all notes or voices. The MPE standard uses a Manager Channel (MIDI channel 1), to send the global ModWheel, Pitch Bend, and Aftertouch messages. U-he synths don’t use this Manager Channel and don’t apply the messages to the notes played in the Member Channels (MIDI Channels 2 to 16). Instead, the synths only apply these types of messages if they come in the same Member Channel as the Notes On/Off.

Welcome MPE Modifier!

Here is a video using the MPE Modifier with Diva and Arpex, an expressive MPE arpeggiator device designed by Mark Towers and sold on IsotonikStudios.

AudioSwift is sending the standard Slide CC74 and Pressure messages via X and Y axes on the trackpad. Arpex is only reading Slide CC74 to add octaves notes to the pattern. Pressure is passed thru to the MPE Modifier, which changes the messages to CC1 or ModWheel. Diva then uses CC1 to modulate the filter cutoff frequency.

If you want to try MPE Modifier, AudioSwift for macOS or get Arpex, please click the links below (Arpex is an affiliate link). And when you try AudioSwift, make sure to download our latest beta version, which includes a special Ableton Live Control Script for macros using your trackpad.

SPECIAL NOTE: Sustain is another global message sent through the Manager Channel. However, depending on your current Ableton Live version, sending Sustain to all Member Channels could not work and could cause the notes to hang on. If this happens, disable the virtual instrument or press the stop button several times. This is not a bug of MPE Modifier. As of this writing, MPE Modifier was tested with Ableton Live 11.3.12 and sending sustain to all channels doesn’t work.

Download MPE Modifier

Get Arpex at IsotonikStudios

Try AudioSwift for Free

Free Trackpad MPE Pack for Ableton Live 11 + Tutorial

The Trackpad MPE Pack is a free collection of 12 MPE Instrument Racks for Ableton Live 11 Suite, originally designed to be used with a trackpad and AudioSwift. AudioSwift for macOS transforms your MacBook or Magic Trackpad into a grid-style MPE controller for expressive sounds. It’s a great handy tool that takes advantage of Live 11’s support for MIDI Polyphonic Expression or MPE.

Listen to some of these instruments in the following demo video:

These Instruments Racks are built with Wavetable as the main sound generator and no samples. They come with macro variations and include the MPE Control device to tweak the response curves of the controller. 

Variations and MPE Control

The MPE presets vary between drones, pads, leads and rhythmic patterns. They can also be played with any MPE controller besides AudioSwift or with a regular MIDI keyboard using the mod wheel, aftertouch and pitch bend.

If you want to try these sounds with your MacBook or Magic Trackpad, download AudioSwift’s 15-days trial demo. Check out this tutorial on how to use AudioSwift with Ableton Live devices and third party instruments:

Be sure to download Trackpad MPE Pack for Ableton Live 11 Suite and have fun!

Links from the tutorial:

Click to learn more