JuanLittleDevil

*** UPDATED! ***

* Cleaned up the interface up a bit to make it pretty -enjoy.

* The stop and play buttons under the arrow keys have to be mapped manually to the “Stop Clips” and “Launch Scene” buttons on the master track. If you know of a way to do it using just startup scripts please let me know.

Last weekend I found myself on flight to Seattle working on a track and wishing I had the same kind of control I get from my APC40 with my iphone. One of the great things about having a control surface that Live recognizes is that you don’t have to map your controls each time you load a new set. So I did some digging around and found some great articles on using user configuration script with Ableton.

The idea is simple really, since Live 6 Ableton has given users the ability to write configuration files for auto mapping devices to live. Though what you can auto-map is somewhat limited compared to my APC-40, it sure is a HUGE benefit when all you have is an iPhone or iPod touch and your laptop as I did. All you really have to do is edit one file… Well sorta. They trick is Ableton expects midi devices. Luckily for me I already owned a copy of TouchOSC for my iPhone and OSCulator so this was a no brainer.

I created a template for TouchOSC which takes advantage of most of the mappable controls in the UserConfiguration.txt file. The template consists of 5 panes, one for drum pads and transport, one for device control with up to 8 sets of 8 controls just like the APC-40, one for volume and arm buttons (unfortunately no mute or solo), the one for send1 and one for send2. The device control pane is dynamic and works with whatever device you have selected. I used sliders rather than rotary as I find that the sliders are easier to control with your fingers. So far I’m fairly happy with the results, and let me tell you I’m looking forward to my next trip

Drum Pads

Device Control

Mixer (Volume, Master, Arm Buttons)

Sends

Transport

Here is how to set it up!

What you need:

1. TouchOSC (iphone App)
2. TouchOSC Editor
3. OSCulator
4. AbletonLive 7 or higher. (I’m currently running Live 8 and it works fine)

Installing the TouchOSC template:

1. Using the TouchOSC Editor open the file LiveControl.touchosc. You’ll need to make sure that your iPod Touch or iPhone is on the same wireless network as the Editor.
2. One the template is loaded on the editor “Click the Sync Button”
3. Launch the TouchOSC app from your iPhone.
4. Go into “Layout” -> “Add” -> “Computer name” your computer will show up automatically. If it doesn’t then you are not on the same network.
5. Once it’s been copied to your iPod Touch make sure the layout is selected “LiveControl”

OSCulator:

1. Launch OSCulator.
2. Open the file “LiveControl.oscd” (You may want to copy the file to your OSCulator template folder)
3. ensure that OSCulator is working, green means it’s working red means it’s not.

Ableton Live:

The Live mappings live in a file called “UserConfiguration.txt”, the file must be placed in a folder with the name of your device. This device must be named with the same name as it is seen by Ableton Live. To install:

1. Place the folder named “OSCulator” to your “/Library/Preferences/Ableton/Live 8.0.5/User Remote Scripts” Note that there is a folder for each version of Live installed on your system, so make sure you place it in the correct location. At the time of writing this document I was on Live 8.0.5 so that is what I used.
2. Launch Ableton Live.
3. Open Preferences.
4. Click on the “MIDI Sync” tab.
5. On the control surface pane select your control surface “OSCulator”
6. Select “OSCulator Out” as your Input.
7. Select “OSCulator in (8000)” as your Output.

Download the supporting files:

LiveControl

Enjoy.

– JuanLittleDevil