Communication MC8 Pro <> Max For Live <> Ableton Live

Morningstar Gear MC Pro Series MIDI Controller
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1

Good morning @ everyone :sign_of_the_horns:

I’m taking my first steps at Morningstar with an MC8 Pro and I’m facing a small problem that I hope shouldn’t cause too many problems to solve given my level in MiDi.

I looked at the M4L tool a few weeks ago to create a small patch that would make it easier for me to work on the bass on Ableton. Until then I worked the bass on Guitar Pro but this DAW having no possibility of communication with a MiDi controller, the work could be frustrating if you had to let go of the instrument to increase the tempo with the mouse in full concentration… Yet Guitar Pro has a tempo management tool that I did not find elsewhere: increase the original tempo by steps of +5% or -5% with the + and - of the keyboard. The original tempo remains displayed, the % variation is displayed and the modified tempo as well. It is therefore as a pure neophyte, about 1 month ago (after years of work on GP!) That I started on M4L to create my first patch without even looking for whether this tool already exists or not, just for pleasure. The patch now works with the mouse on Ableton where I import my pieces or GP exercises in MiDi.

What an intro! It is therefore logical that from now on I would like to control this little patch with my MC8 Pro.

Situation:

On the patch, in Ableton Live, there are 4 objects of type “live.text” that need to be controlled each by a switch. Their sole purpose is to receive a single and simple MIDI information to fulfill their role.

The 4 “live.text” are configured in M4L like this:

  • Parameter :

    • Type : Int

    • Range /Enum : 0 1

  • Value :

    • Mode : Button

    • Bang when Transition from : Both

The 4 switches of the controller are configured like this via the editor:

  • Message 1 :

    • Action : Press

    • Type : Note On

    • Note : une note par switch

    • Velocity : 1

    • Channel : 1

Question 1 / Tests :

  • Each of the functions of the patch remains “pressed” during the action on their associated switch. I need to press the corresponding switch a second time to release them.

I then wondered about MiDi affections directly in the MAX editor, through “Assign MIDI map”, but the result is the same, when I assign the function and switch, it remains “pressed”.

I have also tested several controllers configuration cases with, for example, a second message per switch configured in Release and Note off, but nothing helps…

Does my problem come from the configuration of the controller in its editor? From the configuration of my patch when it works wonderfully with the mouse?

Question 2 :

I configured the MC8 Pro for each of the 4 functions with a name, a strip color etc. Once the above problem is solved..

  • Is it possible for the MC8 Pro to retrieve the patch values and display them?
  • If so, while keeping the name of each function?

If you are still here, thank you very much! :star_struck:

Dje26

2

Hi,

do you mean the MC shows that the preset is engaged, in that case disable toggle mode, or does the recieving device act as if the switch wasn’t released? If that’s the case my guess would be that you’d have to send two consecutive ‘note on’ messages. Add a short ‘delay’ (message type) after your first message and a second ‘note on’ message. Or programm a second ‘note on’ message on release.

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What patch values are you talking about exactly?

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Hi @GuitarWolf ,

Thanks a lot for your help! Adding a second message with the Action : Release and Type : Note settings works very well. I had tried something like this but I chose a Note Off which seemed logical to me, but I also changed the note number… don’t ask me why, I don’t know! :slight_smile:

Before your help arrived, I had set up a Shift configuration with Type: Set Toggle with 2 messages. But there were so many possibilities that I had to create an Excel table so as not to carry out duplicate tests… an unspeakable piece of machinery! Until I got stuck with my first MiDi loop. And it took me a long time to work it out! (I’m not very good at English, I have to translate everything…)

One of the 4 M4L objects assigned to the MC doesn’t work. The switch works as I want it to, but the object doesn’t perform its function, even though it does with the mouse… For that I’d have to explain the details of my patch. That might enable me to answer your/my 2nd question …

..more in the next issue ! :slight_smile:

5

The patch consists of varying Live’s tempo in steps of ±5%. So there’s an original tempo that I want to keep in Live, a percentage variation with 100% that’s equivalent to the original/initial tempo and the result is a modified tempo that’s displayed in the patch and that takes the place of the initial tempo in Live.

The patch offers 4 objects assigned to 4 switches on the MC:

  • INIT resets the patch completely:
    • By assigning the tempo displayed in Live to the patch’s Original tempo,
    • The percentage variation is reset to 100%,
    • The Live (Patch) tempo display is reset to the Original tempo.
    • The modified tempo of the patch takes the value of the Original tempo,
  • +5% increases the Original tempo per step by 5%.
    • The Original tempo is always displayed on the patch,
    • The percentage change increases from 5% to 5%,
    • Modified tempo = Original tempo +5% , +10%, +15% etc.
  • -5% idem +5%
  • RESET allows you to simply return :
    • at Original tempo before variation,
    • to the percentage variation at 100%,

In my case, the first 3 objects now work very well with the MC, i.e. INIT, +5% and -5%, but not RESET, whereas, as I said above, it works very well with the mouse.

My basic question no. 2 concerns the display of the Original tempo, the Live tempo (which may be different from the Original tempo, during variation, which is interesting for knowing whether INIT has been played or not) Variation percentage and modified tempo. Is it possible to retrieve these displays from the MC? …so something to think about, maybe not all 4, but at least the % variation and ?

ps: The idea for this patch came to me because basically I use Guitar Pro to work on bass and this software offers this tempo management option but it’s not open to MiDi assignment. So when you’re in the middle of practising a song, you have to let go of the instrument to increase or decrease the tempo: too frustrating. I was already using Ableton Live as a sound bank for Guitar Pro, so I started exporting/importing my songs and exercises, then M4L and buying an MC8 Pro (after a bit of research) to get to where I am today. As far as the M4L patch is concerned, I really enjoyed creating it, especially as I started from 0 with Max. It took me 4 weeks. I started with ChatGPT, then I got help on the forum, I read a lot… And I’m still really enjoying discovering the power of the MC8 Pro. I’ve got tons of ideas floating around in my head between M4L, Ableton and the MC, like getting Guitar Pro back as a plugin for Live? but I’d especially like to play bass!

6

Salut @ tous !

Petit Up du sujet pour vous faire part du fonctionnement de la version actuelle du patch, car très satisfaisant !

Pour résumer, j’étais à la recherche d’une drum box bien efficace pour bosser la basse à la maison. Le seul outil bien pratique que je possédais déjà (et que je possède encore !) et qui répondait parfaitement à mes attentes était le Drummer de Logic Pro. Mais travaillant la basse majoritairement sur Guitar Pro et utilisant Ableton comme instrument via MODO Bass et MODO Drum, le problème commençait à devenir complexe. D’autant plus que je voulais contrôler le Clock du Drummer (play, stop, up and down bpm et+…) ainsi que le synchroniser avec Ableton…

Ma solution : un patch M4L…

  • Ableton : Link activé, le patch via M4L affecté à une piste midi. Le MC8 Pro en bluetooth défini comme entrée MIDI.
  • Logic Pro : Link activé également. Je construit mes rythmes via Drummer

Le patch me permets de :

  • Play & Stop Logic Pro
  • Augmenter ou diminuer le BPM de Live et donc de Logic Pro
  • Choisir un step de +/- entre 1 et 5 (via un potar)
  • Choisir l’unité de ce step entre BPM ou % du BMP en cours
  • Le patch affiche :
    • Le BPM d’Ableton Live : qui affiche le BPM que je renseigne manuellement dans Ableton, comme début d’exercice, ou un BPM spécifique d’un morceau
    • Le BPM Target, soit le BPM en cours
    • Le Memory Patch BPM : soit le BPM du départ de l’exercice par exemple, qui est en mémoire dans le patch
  • Un bouton “CAPTURE” qui enregistre le BPM d’Ableton Live dans la mémoire du patch
  • Un bouton “RESET” qui permets de revenir au BPM de la mémoire du patch, si différent du BPM Ableton,

Sur mon MC8 Pro :

  • Une page avec : Play, Stop, BPM+, BPM- , STEP+, STEP-, CAPTURE, RESET
  • Une seconde page avec. :
    • Prev. Pist & Next Pist : pour changer de piste sur Logic Pro entre la batterie et les percus
    • Mute Pist & Solo Pist
    • TAP : un TAP Tempo, je ne m’en sers pas…
    • BPM or % : choix de l’unité du Step
    • Tempo List : un raccourci qui ouvre et ferme la fenêtre Liste de Tempo dans Logic Pro qui m’a permis parfois de debug tout le bordel en supprimant la ligne du tempo affiché

Voilà ! assez fier de moi pour un premier patch !

Aujourd’hui j’aimerais rajouter petit truc à tout ça : serait-il possible d’afficher mon TEMPO TARGET sur le MC8 ? car parfois je ne sais plus où j’en suis, j’ai bien d’autres choses à l’écran qu’Abelton ou Logic comme mes partitions etc…

Merci !