I have been using a Looptimus pedal as my primary MIDI controller for about 4 years. It finally died on me and I outgrew its capabilities.
Started looking for a new controller and found the M8 which blew my mind in regards to the ability to control Ableton, pedals and its flexibility.
The only downside is that the flexibility also means that I have to do all the programming on the pedal where the Looptimus I think was pre programmed to just plug in and go.
My question: Is anyone else leading worship or using the M8 in a music director praise and worship situation.
My current idea for the set up is
Send program changes to Ableton to cue up sequence tracks for live music.
Send program changes to Line 6 and Time Line Pedal as well for each song and have them pre programmed.
At first I thought about using the M8 to send all three simultaneously BUT then I realized that it would require me to re-program the M8 every time I changed my set list.
At this point I am leading 3 sets each Sunday of 8 songs each with presets for each pedal.
That has led me to the idea of using the M8 to trigger a sequence track that also sends MIDI preset to each pedal from Ableton.
Before I get into programming and setting all this up I was wondering if anyone out there has already done this or something similar to it and if not then I am more than happy to share what I create once I am finished.
So this is what I am thinking about programming
Assign
A - H to corresponding CC numbers starting at 0
A=0
B=1
C=3
etc etc
Use A for the sequence track. B for a track with click shaker and pad. C for a track with only click track. I do this in case I want to sing the song without the order of the track or get off the sequence
D for stop
That leaves E- H open and I may assign it as a tap tempo for Ableton.
Totally do-able. I would get an MC to do your Ableton and effects changes in one go, why not? You’ll do your programming in a web gui rather than on the pedal, it’s a simple UI and allows easy copy/paste and storage of common commands you use time and again when programming in User Library.
I would suggest viewing the MS YouTube. Really good vid on using Banks, and that’s the key here… what each switch does can change between banks.
So for me I have some sounds set up in (let’s say) bank 20 which is a “some sounds” bank).
Then in bank 2 (which is a “song” bank) I use Engage Preset to call a bank/preset.
So that way I can have a stock of sounds and then engage them using other banks. And if your set list changes, no probs - you can bank up and down easily, or (using the editor) drag banks into a custom sequence
I did buy an MC8 and I guess I am just thinking out loud on how to program it to be flexible for my needs.
At this point I have decided to make a modified Looptimus Clone.
Ive set Ableton up with a library of all of our songs and 1 sequence track, 1 click only, 1 click and loop and 1 click and pad track.
I like having that flexibility. Each bank is a song and has those 4 options plus a tap tempo i added to modify any loop/click to a quick song change and a stop all function in each bank.
The reasons for the clone is to have the old looptimus backstage and make program changes before services or on the fly without having to move my entire pedal board back and forth.
So, 2 controllers connected simultaneously.
As far as pedal control.
I am going to see if I can use the Midi through option to send preset changes from Ableton.
This is my goal and idea:
MC8 → Midi note to Ableton to select song → sequence starts → Midi note sends program changes → Line 6 Pedal and Strymon for song specific snapshots and delays tempo and preset for strymon.
Had the first rehearsal with the new set up and it worked great. My next hurdle is sending midi clock via usb to the MC8 and then output that midi clock signal to the timeline and Line 6.
Any ideas? Is it possible. I have Midi program changes going from Ableton to the pedals and a tap tempo button set up to set tempo.
But I would like it to just send program change and tempo together.
Yes, it’s possible. Just be sure to update to the latest v3.8.7 (if not on it already) for the MC8 as there were some bug fixes. Turn off Ignore MIDI Clock and turn on Cross MIDI Thru in the controller settings.
