MPC to send "midi pgm change" to Ableton Instrument rack

Hi everyone,

I was searching the forum, google, TFM, the mpc-ableton tutorial from Tutor and can't find anything relevant to my case.

Very simple: Let's say I have my mpc1k with jjos2XL as master sequencing Ableton drumracks witin an instrument rack.

I want to be able to use the "program change" function of my mpc tracks to change the drumrack within the Instrument rack as I go from sequence 1 to sequence 2 on the mpc.

I already do this with my hardware synth presets.. so would this be possible with Live?

Thanks for your help!
Philippe

I don't know but that is similar to what I'm about to set up. (haven't had an MPC hooked up in a while) So I'll be scratching my head on this too, probably today.

I found this in the Live forum - https://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=167642

The posters didn't seem to have an answer either but one guy suggested this

"You could put 2 different kits on 2 different chains in an instrument rack. Map something to the chain selector, and you would be able to switch that way. Not sure about using program change to do that without some 3rd party help."

By 3rd party help I assume he means something like MIDI Yoke.

Cool idea, but you still have the sync to the sequence changes to figure out.

I'll pull out my 1k and see if I figure anything out.

Sounds nice, let me know what you come up with.

There's is indeed always the solution to macro-map all chain selectors to a knob to switch between drumracks from one song to another and hope for the best...

But it's be SO easy with program change from the mpc to be understood by Live.

Not familiar with MIDI Yoke thing. For some reason my brain gets foggy as soon as I hear "3rd party help"

I'll dig on my side as well this afternoon... slow day at work.

Cheers

MIDI Yoke is just a free app that creates Virtual MIDI ports to have more options to route you MIDI data.

Pretty sure that's what the guy was getting at.

"You could put 2 different kits on 2 different chains in an instrument rack. Map something to the chain selector, and you would be able to switch that way."

What I posted initially was essentially the same as this. So, I will just agree in that that is a very simple way to do what you seem to be attempting.

I do not believe Ableton's Drum Racks nor Instrument Racks use traditional programs and banks. The only place I've ever seen those types of parameters were in the MIDI Clip View > Notes.

Thanks for your help so far guys.

Although not sure I understand exactly what this means, not having the stuff in front of me.
Would this last trick work with more than 2 drumracks in the instrument rack?

What I had in mind was having 8 channels (#1 drums, #2 synth, #3 bass, #4 etc, etc,) in session mode containing one instrument rack each.

Each instrument rack contains 10 to 15 drumracks.

Each drumrack layer corresponds to a beat so I can switch from one beat to another seamlessly when changing sequence (ideally).

That would essentialy be a liveset with 10 to 15 beats.

Thanks for your time

The Chain Selector has up to 127 positions on it's "ruler". Each position can, in theory and in this context, be a Drum Rack in a chain.

You should also try dedicating unused pads (MIDI notes) to switching between the Drum Racks by using the actual Chain Activator (speaker icon) and mapping them to actual pads. This way you can actually switch within your running sequence by dropping the appropriate note into it or playing it live from the MPC alongside the actual MIDI data used for your drums. The only problem with this is that you will have to pay attention to the placement of the notes to make sure that none of your drum tails are cut off since this is essentially muting and lacks a fade function unlike the Chain Selector. Just make sure you setup your MIDI Channels and such correctly or you will be triggering all kinds of shit. Give it a try, it may work for you.

There are probably many many solutions, to be honest.

haha exactly.
I'll try all the different chain activator and chain selector mapping solutions and pick the best.
Thanks for your help!
Philippe

Definitely try it. However, I would go with the Chain Selector though. It requires less resources. Also, don't forget the obvious. As you likely already know, if your kits aren't that large you could always use the Key Zone Editor with key splits or even multiple kits per single Drum Rack since it has so many "pad slots".

Oh the keyzone editor, never heard about that one!

Or simply take a rubber band, one end placed on the mpc jog-wheel and the other one on the macro knob of the midi controller selecting the drumracks. So when I turn the jogwheel it turns the knob

It is a struggle to find the ultimate live set-up. I just would like to use the best of both mpc and live. The mpc for its playfulness, its sequencing and semi-live trackmutes, etc and Live8 for it's endless sound design possibilities.

So close!!!!!!!!!!

At this point I just need to practice with the best work around.

Have a good one and best of luck with your set-up !

Are u using max4live..

You might be able to get this one to work
http://www.maxforlive.com/library/devic ... -presetter

It seems It reads program change messages of Certain midi clips to recall presets. Perhaps if u send your mpc pc changes to those clips u might be able to get it to work

Although its been a while for me and I can't remember if ableton clips can respond to pc, or if they just send them based on the pull down selector.

Interesting, golfdogz. When you brought up M4L the first thing that came to mind was Kapture, for this type of stuff, however that looks really useful. I've never come across that one before.

NICE ONE!

I'll take a look this weekend.

Thanks
Philippe

Undertow for the win. Thanks for all the great breakdowns.

I haven't got a chance to go into my DAW in a while, but I could not have contributed what Undertow has, and Golfdogz has my mind sparked with bringing up Max4Live.

Dope stuff guys, thanks.