Need to map record arm for several tracks to single button
I'm in need of a way to map the record arm button of multiple tracks to one m4l device button.
Is there any existing device that will allow me to do this? Does anyone know if/how you can make a device that will do this?
I've seen devices that can map one or several track controls to a knob with either a 1-100 or 1-127 value like a macro control. But I haven't been able to find any way to map a button to toggle the record arm for several different tracks.
The reason this is needed: I have a very elaborate set with multiple groups of audio and midi tracks to manage MIDI and audio recording of a multi-output virtual drummer plugin. It's really tedious to unfold all of the groups for each of the different drums to record arm the MIDI or audio tracks individually.
Alternatively, if I could use a m4l device to output an assignable MIDI CC which live would read as input from a MIDI controller, I could map the various record arm buttons to a MIDI CC, then use the button on the m4l device to control that CC as if it were an external MIDI controller.
Basically, I have a number of different situations like this where I need to control multiple toggles of various parameters on different tracks in live, and am trying to avoid needing to rely on external MIDI controllers because, when I'm on the go, I won't have those devices with me - just my laptop.
Please help if you can. Thank you!
This should get you started:
I would ditch the MIDI CC thing and just use the Live API. I've posted the basic way to arm tracks, and I'll leave it up to you how to want to generate/store/recall the lists of tracks you want to arm.
Thanks, Evan! Although, I must admit, I'm not too sure how this would work. I've only modified some existing devices so far, but haven't made a new device from scratch.
Also, how would I specify the track names from the live set? Do I just add a message object in the max patch with a string of the track names?
I was hoping to use this device for more than one situation, not to just record arm specific tracks in one live set. In other cases, I would want to map the device to toggle other tracks solo on/off, activate/deactivate, change input monitoring from in to auto, and to do a number of other things. This is why I was hoping to create a device that would allow me to map button toggles from multiple tracks to a single button, rather than something I would need to somehow feed a list of track names to, and that is only set up to record arm tracks. It's also why I thought it might be easier to send MIDI CC input to live from a device, and just use MIDI mapping to map the various parameters via a chosen CC I set in the device.
If there is some way to create something like this that would allow me to map parameters from multiple tracks, and possibly even see a list of the mapped parameters in the device, that would really be the ideal setup.
This patch can easily be adapted to do all the things you suggest, you'd just call 'set solo' instead of 'set arm' for instance. You would make a list
If you want something that functions more as a MIDI 'duplicator', that's pretty easy if you're on Mac using the IAC bus(for Windows you need third party software).
Create a MIDI device, make a live.button/live.toggle in the patch, have it send a CC out of the [midiout]. route that MIDI track out of Live, then back in, and map it to whatever you want.
If you want to see the name of mapped parameters, you're back to using the API. Check out the MultiMap device (i thinks it part of the max for live essentials).
Still not clear on how to do this stuff. I guess I'll need to look into it more when I have time one of these days. :/
Yep, that's what it looks like :). I could build the MIDI patch for you, but then you wouldn't learn anything. A simple patch that sends MIDI is a great beginner's task.
Again, check out the MultiMapper device. It literally does EXACTLY what you want.