Area Of Expertise

For no other reason than it was “availableton” I opted to use a FCB1010 midi foot controller, a decision I almost regretted when I started to try and programme it. I decided that I wanted to program it to trigger the scenes in Ableton Live. The FCB1010 can send or receive any midi message. After reading the manual I decided to program the FCB1010 to send a midi note from each foot switch. This means assigning a note to each foot switch on each bank. I will not go into detail on how it’s done however, bank 01 footswitch 01 sends note G0, bank 01 footswitch 02 sends note G#0 each footswitch programmed to send a note ascending chromatically. For this project all messages are on channel 1.

FCB1010 Midi Foot Controller Tascam USB Audio/MIDI Interface.

The FCB1010 now needs to be connected to the computer. This has to be via a Audio/MIDI Interface which enables the foot controller to ‘talk’ to Ableton Live. Now to assign MIDI foot controller messages to Ableton live. Turn on Midi Map Mode Switch (as shown) highlight the control you want activate – in this case scene 1 Intro. Now press the button on the foot controller that you wish to assign in this case Bank 01 Button 01. This now shows as 1/G0.

Building The Project

External Instruments and devices such as audio effects and synths can be used in Ableton. They are known as ‘plug-ins’ or ‘virtual studio technology’ (VST). Available devices are listed in the Plug-in Device Browser at the left side of the session view. Drag and drop the device into the required track.  I opted to use the Dimension LE because I was looking for a cello sound which was not available in the intstruments in my Ableton Live.

Plug-In Browser	VST Instrument Dimension LE
Some of the loops/samples I used in this project were in the wrong key. To fit the project they had to be transposed. To do this, double-click the clip that needs to be transposed. This will bring-up the Clip View. In the Sample Section of the Clip View highlight the Transpose knob and adjust transposition to the required key/pitch.

Outline Project.

Using Ableton Live to bring together a collection of loops/samples both ‘aquired’ and ‘homemade’ that i have been working with in Sonar. I think that Ableton Live will give more flexibility when making and putting loops and samples together using the ‘warp’ control (unique to Ableton i think).

My Goal.

I would like to make a project that is listenable, entertaining and perhaps thought provoking, which will demonstrate an ability and understanding of Ableton Live.

Readiness.

Although i have all the samples i need for this project work is needed to make them blend seamlessly.