Re: Echoloop VST MIDI controller

[Phil Clevenger <phil.clevenger@gmail.com>]

Wow - thanks so much Per and Ricky.

Ricky, your file tests well and perfectly illustrates the solution. And I bet your steak was delicious :) Can't wait to get home later and do the real work with incoming MIDI from the LG.

Per... THANK YOU ! Yes there is a reasonable explanation in the abstract about MIDI routing in the manual. And in the help, rollover and panel-bound. But this kind of application of MIDI command assignment is one I have not come across before, so it did not occur to me that this was a *routing* issue. I spent easily 8 hours poring over the old EDP assignment texts, the updated Echoloop assignment texts, Ableton's assignment texts in the manual and helps, searching LD and other internet forums, checking my work in the Gordius, engaging in some trial and error in case the manuals were in any way erroneous, trying out different MIDI pref settings, and so on. Was not at all sure this was an Ableton problem anyway... (meanwhile my wife keeps popping in and poking me for 'geeking out,' asking why I don;t just 'pick up the guitar and play some freaking songs...lol )

SO you see I thought this to be an assignment or compatibility issue, rather than a routing issue. I could have spent another eight hours and still not found the explanation, because I was looking for the wrong solution !

And in the end, Per, your explanation is so much better than those in Ableton... For instance, read the text for the Track/Sync/Remote prefs in the rollover help, unless you are a MIDI pro they make little sense. Your explanation has helped me to grok that for the first time :D  Maybe you should write their manuals :)

So huge thanks to you folks. I am sure there are others who will also benefit from this exchange here besides just me. What on earth did we ever do before the interweb?

Phil :D

On Tue, Feb 28, 2012 at 12:20 PM, Ricky Graham <rickygrahammusic@gmail.com> wrote:

Sent

On Tue, Feb 28, 2012 at 7:55 PM, Ricky Graham
<rickygrahammusic@gmail.com> wrote:
> yep. just frying a steak. i will eat that steak. and then i will send
> on the ableton set to both of you.
>
> r
>
> On Tue, Feb 28, 2012 at 7:51 PM, Per Boysen <perboysen@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Tue, Feb 28, 2012 at 7:46 PM, Phil Clevenger
>> <phil.clevenger@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> And Per, regarding this:
>>>
>>> "Instead you could set up a direct MIDI path into the Echoloop and feed it
>>> directly from your external MIDI control gear. "
>>>
>>> Not sure what that means but it sounds damned sexy ! Can you clarify?
>>
>>
>> Sorry, I took that for understood, as it is explained quite well in
>> the manual that comes with Live and also is included within the
>> application's GUI (the "Info View" box that can be kept open in the
>> lower left corner. Any object you hover the mouse pointer over will be
>> explained in that box)
>>
>> There are two ways to pipe external MIDI directly into a plugin hosted
>> in Ableton Live.
>>
>> 1) Set up the plugin to listen to a MIDI In port.
>> I'm not sure Echoloop will let you do that, so let's skip that for this time.
>>
>> 2) Route incoming MIDI by Live's preferences settings and Live's mixer
>> into the Plugin.
>>
>> MIDI comes in through the MIDI In port. Your MIDI interface's MIDI
>> ports will be visible in Live's preferences setting's "MIDI Sync" tab.
>> For piping a MIDI In port's data directly to a plugin (but through a
>> Track) you need to set this MIDI In port as active for "Track" (there
>> are also "Sync" and "Remote"). Then close the preferences window and
>> chose a MIDI Track in Live's mixer. In this track's input slot you
>> chose the appropriate MIDI In port (if you want you can filter to pass
>> only one MIDI channel here). Set the track's Monitor to "In" (there
>> are also "Auto" and "Off"). In the "MIDI To" slot select the MIDI
>> Track where you have opened the plugin. Now, you may regard it tricky
>> with an audio looping plugin hosted on a MIDI Track, how to get your
>> audio input into the looper? Well, in Live the usual routing for that
>> is to first use an Audio Track to fetch the signal from the physical
>> audio input then send that track (by its "Audio To" slot addressing)
>> to a Return Track. The good news here is that a Return Track's output
>> can send to both Audio and MIDI Track's inputs.
>>
>> Happy looping!
>>
>> Per
>>