I’m a Synthesist, Sound Designer, Electronic Musician, and Multimedia Artist out of Boulder, CO. I perform solo and in multiple ensembles including the Carbon Dioxide Ensemble. I’ve done freelance sound design work for Ableton Berlin working on MPE sounds for Drift, Wavetable, and Sampler. I’m also the founder of the Rocky Mountain Synthesizer Meet and the Synth Patrol.
I’m the proud owner of the new Akai APC40. I’ve already integrated it into my workflow along with my Novation Remote SL. I’ve put together a video of how I’m using these controllers with Live 8.
This video is a step-by-step tutorial describing Ableton Live 8’s new custom parameter mapping methodology. The video illustrates how to map select parameters from VST plug-ins into devices and then control these parameters via the Novation Remote SL and the new Akai APC40. The video also discusses how to add and access more than 8 parameters. Lastly, the video covers use of instrument racks and macro controls to map parameters from multiple devices to an 8 knob group.
Stay tuned for more posts on controllerism and the Akai APC40.
Hi, it’s Mark. I’m a Synthesist, Sound Designer, Electronic Musician, and Multimedia Artist out of Boulder, CO. Subscribe if you’d like to receive emails when I post.
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Re 1) No the devices themselves are not synchronized in that way. You could control two different sets of 8 tracks
2) No. 8 is the max for a macro. You can of course midi map individual knobs to more than this. You can nest racks, but this wouldn’t help you focusing on more than 8 at a time.
FYI I’ve sold my APC 40 and now I run with Remote SL 25 MKII + Launchpad. I find this combination offers the most flexibility for me plus it all runs on bus power. APC40 is good if you want a one-to-one instant mapping to Live for for me I prefer more flexibility. Here is a pic of my rig http://bit.ly/qAWZve
Mark, I just stumbled upon this excellent posting after researching for new midi controllers in my dual Cubase/Ableton studio setup.
I am leaning towards an APC40 and a Remote SL MKII, as you got here basically.
What I’m wondering is the following, which doesn’t become clear after watching your video:
1) When you shift the APC40 into the second bank of 8 controls of the device, is the Remote SL also looking at the second 8 controls, or still setup to control the first 8 parameters?
2) Can instrument racks be setup to have more than 8 macro’s?
I really enjoy seeing this kind of workflow, as I have the same general setup (swapping the Novation for a MPK49). One further step I am curious about is after setting up this instrument rack and controller mapping, how can you go about saving it so that its easy to call up for other projects. Maybe I am missing a step of programming in my controller, but my process of midi learning nobs never saves and is a very tedious task everytime I want to do something as complex as in your example above. Thanks in advance for any tips, or if you could point me to another video that explains setting up controllers. Live 8 looks great and probably remedies the problem I’m having.
Mark Mosher Multimedia 
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