HELP me SYNC my MPC500 as Master with Ableton Live 8

I have scoured online forums and all the relevant manuals to no avail, so I'll try my best to be as concise and specific as possible. My issue is similar to the one found here. https://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=118025 In the third post of that thread, the OP seems to have figured out his problem (which I believe is identical to mine) but I can't seem to figure out what he meant by "One of my friends helped me out, the problem was switching the track on a midi channel." Can anyone help me with how to do that? Otherwise, here are more details.

EQUIPMENT: M-Audio Fast Track C600, MPC500, Macbook Pro Retina 15", Live 8

GOAL: I want to use my MPC500 as a controller for Live 8, primarily to use the pads to trigger Live 8's drum pads.

ISSUE: So far, I am able to start and stop Live with the MPC, as well as change the tempo, but pressing the pads doesn't send any MIDI signal that I am aware of. Proof (?) of this is when I attempted the MIDI assignment tutorial (that Ableton provides), none of the pads seemed to be recognized.

These are the steps I took:

1. I plugged a MIDI cable into the OUT of my MPC, and into the IN of my M-Audio Fast Track C600, which is plugged in via USB to my MBP. (Drivers are installed, blah blah blah)

2. On my MPC, in the MIDI/SYNC settings, the Receive Channel is set to 1, Soft Thru is set to OFF, Pad to Sampler is set to ON, Sync is set to Master, and the pad's assignments are the the Default Assignments (ex: pad A10 is set to C#2 (49) )

3. In Live, in the MIDI SYNC tab, Track, Sync, and Remote are all set to ON. The Sync Type is set to MIDI Clock. I have enabled the EXT button.

What steps must I take in order to get my MPC's pads to trigger the drum sounds? Am I missing something obvious here?

Sidenote, I'd like to use any of the MPC's other physical controls, such as the Q-Link slider, to control certain parameters in Live as well.

Thanks for your help.

I think on the 500 you have to set the track type to MIDI. (I use 1000/2500JJOS so I'm not 100% sure on the 500).

Make sure the track with the Live Drum Rack has the red record monitor button (under solo) selected or you won't hear anything.

You may need to create a custom PGM in the 500 to match the mapping in Live. I prefer to do it that way rather than use MIDI learn. With MIDI learn in Live (which is still fantastic) you end up having to save the song as blank template so you don't have to keep mapping it. (Again still cool). But if you have your MPC or pad controller/keyboard match the default numbers you don't have to map anything in Ableton. (Just have the MIDI send PGM loaded in the 500) Just enable View/Ins/Outs in Live (top left corner) and then choose "All ins" or I'm assuming the M-Audio's MIDI ports if you want the MPC only controlling the Drum Rack.

The default MIDI mapping of a Live Drum Rack is this -

Pad 1- Note # 60
Pad 2 - Note # 62
Pad 3 - Note # 64
Pad 4 - Note # 65
Pad 5 - Note # 67
Pad 6 - Note # 69
Pad 7 - Note # 71
Pad 8 - Note # 72
Pad 9 - Note # 60 (On MIDI Channel 2A)
Pad 10 - Note # 62 (On MIDI 2A)
Pad 11 - Note # 64 (On MIDI 2A)
Pad 12 - Note # 65 (On MIDI 2A)
Pad 13 - Note # 67 (On MIDI 2A)
Pad 14 - Note # 69 (On MIDI 2A)
Pad 15 - Note # 71 (On MIDI 2A)
Pad 16 - Note # 72 (On MIDI 2A)

You can stop there if you like because to the right of the Drum Rack interface you'll see that narrow rectangular grid of pads. If you move the focus of the square icon here (highlights 16 pads at a time) those above assignments will follow the focus of the square icon.

You see the highlighting icon here



If you don't want to use the highlighting icon you can go ahead and map the rest of the pad/sound slots to their default MIDI Note #'s.

Pads 17-32 - Pad B01= Note # 36 to Pad B16 = Note # 51 (All on MIDI channel 3A)

Pads 33-48 - Pad C01= Note # 52 to Pad C16 = Note # 67 (All on MIDI channel 3A)

Pads 49-64 - Pad D01 = Note # 64 to Pad D16 = Note # 79 (All on MIDI channel 3A)

Obviously this with 16 pads x 4 Banks, so for your 500 that's 12 pads x 4 Banks and you'll only be able to assign 48 pads in one PGM. But you could always make a second one to toggle into for those last 16 pads.

MIDI CC's sent from the 500's Q-links is a no I believe. But for things that are just On/Off toggles you can use the MPC's pads to map to stuff in Live's Remote mode. Like a pad to control the channel solo buttons or the yellow exclusive track buttons. Just use MIDI note #'s and channels to send on that don't conflict with triggering sounds.

Thank you so much for your help!! My MPC and Ableton are speaking to each other perfectly now!

remypham wrote:Thank you so much for your help!! My MPC and Ableton are speaking to each other perfectly now!

My pleasure man. MPC+Live is a great combination.