Launchpad controlling a MAQ16/3 using Live

Thanks to YouTube user audibleobsession I managed to program Ableton Live to be able to control the Doepfer MAQ16/3 sequencer with the Novation Launchpad. There are still 2 problems with that:
1- When I push the buttons in user1 mode I can hear the MAQ16/3 going a little out of sync with the Live tempo. I managed to work around this by disabling the MIDI output to the Launchpad in Live. Disadvantage is that all the LEDs are disabled in the user1 and user2 modes so there is no visual feedback.
2- When I push a button (e.g. first step = 2) for sequencer row 1 and then switch to sequencer row 2, when pushing the same button the MIDI message does not seem to be sent. I first have to push another button (e.g. first step = 3) which then transmit OK and then push the button I intended to push which then also transmits OK. I guess it has something to do with AutoMap.

Another limitation is the Ableton Live version that comes with the Launchpad which has a maximum of 8 MIDI and 8 audio tracks. I used 5 MIDI tracks in Live to control the MAQ16/3 in nearly the same manner I did in the last video. I am only using the top 4 rows in user1 mode. The buttons on the first row turns step 1 to 8 off and the second row turns step 1 to 8 on. The third row sets the first step of the 8 step sequence and the forth row sets the last step of the 8 step sequence. Also the top 4 arrow buttons on the right are used. The first one turns all the steps off and the second all the steps on. The third one chooses the first row on the MAQ16/3 sequencer and the forth one chooses the second row on the MAQ16/3 sequencer. You first have to choose the row on the sequencer whereafter the buttons apply for that row.

The first row on the MAQ16/3 sequencer drives the Synthesizers.com Modular and the second row the self-built Modular. The MAQ16/3 is also synchronized with the tempo from Live. Vertical row 7 controls the Creamware MiniMax ASB which does the bass notes. The other rows contain samples from Live and some of my own.

I intended to also capture the Ableton Live screen to give you a view whats going in Ableton Live but that AVI file turned out to be corrupt after the recording was finished. The full video is about 13 minutes which I will upload soon to my website.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Modular
• Sequencer
• Electronic
• Synthesizers.com
• DotCom
• Formant
• Novation
• Launchpad
• Ableton
• Live
• Tutorial
• Creamware
• MiniMax
• ASB
• Martin
• Peters

[electro257]

do you have to use ableton to control the MAQ with the launch pad? i hough it was all done setting / mapping controllers directly from the launch pad?

[attorks]

@electro257 I have tried to control the MAQ16/3 without Live (see my video 'Launchpad controlling a Doepfer MAQ16/3') but it is not that straigthforward. The AutoMap software is just not up to it which is a pity.

[FlametopFred]

I have been looking at either this or the Livid Block / Builder stuff to serve as MIDI controller for a lot of purposes ... I am leaning towards the LIVID Builder so I can get exactly what I want, configuration wise. Cool ideas here though -- about time

[attorks]

Thanks. It's just to bad there is no dedicated program to use the Launchpad without Live. And AutoMap is to limited.

[alicia2oal]

how much are thees thing!? LOL I WANT ONE!

[skywojto]

It sounds as bad as Yamaha Tenori.

[silverdroid]

Very nice MIDI implementation, I'm impressed. I got rid of my MAQ 16/3 a few years ago and using something a bit better now. :P

[XHALE303]

A good synth musician has 2 be both :)

Hardware 4 life

[mattsynth]

Good idea. These days I find myself using up a lot of time trying to make equipment work together instead of writting music. There is always timing problems with software that does not work together well. Sometimes I feel more like a Technician instead of a Musician.