Retain Ableton Live 9 'Configure Mode' MIDI Mappings Across Sessions
Section 17.2.1 ("Plug-Ins in the Device View") - https://www.ableton.com/en/manual/working-with-instruments-and-effects/) - states the following about "Plug-In Configure Mode":
The parameters that you assign are unique for each instance of a given plug-in in your Set, and are saved with the Set. If you would like to save a setup using a particular collection of parameters, you can create a Rack (see Chapter 18) containing the configured plug-in. Racks can then be saved to your User Library and loaded into other Sets.
For a VSTi, an Instrument Rack is the way to go to preserve 'Configure Mode' selections across Live sessions. Unfortunately, Live is unable to preserve MIDI mappings to 'Configure Mode' parameters. This means that via 'Configure Mode' one could take on the task of mapping a VSTi's parameters (potentially, many dozens or more) to MIDI CC messages, for example, that are MIDI mapped in Live to some external hardware or software controller, only to discover that this exercise is lost once one either (a) another instance of that Instrument Rack is loaded onto another Live Track, or (b) a new Live Set is created with an instance of the Instrument Rack loaded onto some track(s). In short, the MIDI mappings to the 'Configure Mode' parameters are not saved with the Instrument Rack.
This is frustrating, since it makes external control a tedious challenge that requires a 'remapping' to 'Configure Mode' each time the Instrument Rack containing the VSTi is instantiated. For example, in creating a Lemur (for iPad) template and then MIDI mapping its objects' MIDI assignment values to 'Configure Mode' parameters of some VSTi within an Instrument Rack, one discovers that the Lemur object-to-Configure Mode parameters' MIDI mappings cannot be saved with the Instrument Rack.
Enter Max (currently using Max 6)... Is it possible to use the Max 'pattrstorage' object to preserve the MIDI mappings? The idea would be to include a Max for Live patch as part of the Instrument Rack in order to execute and preserve these mappings. I wonder if 'Configure Mode' parameters are accessible as part of the Live Object Model, say as an array. Granted, the array would simply store sequential references to 'Configure Mode' parameters as they are created an would be without design-time knowledge of the actual parameters, but I envision it to be a dynamic array that can grow and shrink as 'Configure Mode' parameters are added or deleted, respectively. The goal is for an M4L patch to take a snapshot of the 'Configure Mode' parameter MIDI mappings, preserving the MIDI channels and values within the snapshot so the MIDI mappings would be retained and appear with any new instantiation of the Instrument Rack.
Any thoughts?
Thank you.
Have a look at this device I made a while back, it remembers mappings. I'm not sure if it will work when saved in a rack and recalled from the browser but if you save it in a track in a Live set you can recall that track from the browser and I'm pretty sure mappings will be intact..
Thank you. I will take a look at it.