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Ableton Script - monitoring looper devices

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systemexklusiv
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2016 10:54 am
Location: cologne

Ableton Script - monitoring looper devices

Postby systemexklusiv » Fri Jul 15, 2016 11:02 am

Hi everyone!

I wrote an ableton Live script, which I believe is for version 9 and upwards.

The script checks the names of looper devices dynamically in the current liveset and when a looper with a name (default) 'ssl1' - 'ssl10' is found, the respective pad's LED will monitor loooper states. Thus max. 10 loopers can be monitored max. For instance: If one drops a looper on a track and hits 'ctrl + r' to rename the device and enters 'ssl3' the third pad of the Softstep will monitor the states of this looper. If one wants to control the states then the usual midi mapping functionality of live should be used. I had some problems to control the looper with scripting to a satisfactory degree, so I decided to just monitor the states and everyone who wants to change the states can map the softstep pad to the looper multi purpose button herself.

Here is an overview& Instructions & Download https://bitbucket.org/drival/softstepper/overview

hope it works for you
jaypem23
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Mar 23, 2018 5:50 pm

Re: Ableton Script - monitoring looper devices

Postby jaypem23 » Tue Mar 27, 2018 9:58 pm

Hi there,

This is AWESOME, and just what I've been looking for/trying to replicate with Max for Live!

I'm not a programmer at all, but was wondering if/how it's possible to amend the LED behaviour relative to Looper status? I've come from using a Boss RC50 which has slightly more sophisticated LED feedback, and KMI SS2 has enough different LED states so I'm hoping to use many of them.

I use multiple loopers globally quantised, and use two buttons (paired vertically) per looper, and control them like this:

Bottom button: Record/play/overdub (Foot on)
Top button: Stop (foot on); Clear (long press); Undo (Double trig)

It's really helpful during a performance to know when any of the loopers are in a transition state - e.g. going from playing to stopping - so I can be certain that I hit the pedal correctly.

I had come up with this visual feedback structure for just the bottom button, and what you've got is a really helpful first step towards this!

Looper state: LED State
Stopped (empty): off
Stopped (recorded): green flashing
Recording: red on
Playing: green on
Overdubbing: orange (green and red) on
Stopping (end of bar):red flashing
Starting recording (next bar):red fast flashing
Stopping recording (end of bar):red flashing

Any advice/help greatly appreciated! Either way keep up the great work.

Best,

Jason
TheOtherSupport@KMI
Posts: 737
Joined: Fri Jan 31, 2014 5:31 pm

Re: Ableton Script - monitoring looper devices

Postby TheOtherSupport@KMI » Wed Mar 28, 2018 5:24 am

Don't know if that user is super active on the forum anymore so I'll chime in here - This should be possible, but I think setting up the conditionals will be the tricky part.

The looper's state only gives you updates when the action takes place. You would need to check that the looper is recording and that you sent the proper MIDI message to the Looper - BUT when MIDI mapping, that removes the MIDI message from being passed to the script, so you are in a bit of a pickle. You could make a duplicate 'dummy' modline that passed a similar MIDI message that it used for mapping into the script, but that seems convoluted.

I actually think that M4L would be the way to go for your particular situation. It's easier to combine the API with standard MIDI mapping there then in a script, especially if the conditionals depend on messages from both of those worlds (state of looper, and most recent MIDI message received).

Bottom line, Live's Looper is not great for dynamic and robust LED feedback. That's why I make my own ;)
jaypem23
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Mar 23, 2018 5:50 pm

Re: Ableton Script - monitoring looper devices

Postby jaypem23 » Tue Jul 10, 2018 7:16 pm

Thanks so much for the reply!

So you build your own Loopers or own pedal? Either way, keen to learn from / copy / steal whatever solution you think would work for what I'm trying to achieve! I'm not nearly technically capable enough to figure it out on my own haha

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