Setting up MIDI & Audio preferences in Ableton

Overview of Ableton Live Preferences for Inputs and Outputs

Okay, so now let's just have a little look inside Ableton Live at how all these various inputs and outputs are represented and how we get them set up.

Opening Preferences

To start, we'll need to open up the preferences inside Live. You can use:

• Control + Comma (Ctrl + ,) on Windows
• Command + Comma (⌘ + ,) on Mac

You should be at least reasonably familiar with the various tabs in the preferences pane. I'll run through the relevant tabs and point out where I've got specific things assigned.

Audio Tab

The first tab of importance is the Audio tab:

• This tab enables you to define the audio input and audio output devices.
• All audio signals are coming from and going to the selected device, which, in my case, is the TC Connect.

Input and Output Configuration

• In the drop-down boxes for the input and output device, I've selected the TC device.
• Depending on your audio device and sound card, you may have different selections of inputs and outputs available. By default, they may not be activated.

Activating Inputs and Outputs

You may need to go into:

• Input Configuration
• Output Configuration

You'll see different inputs and outputs, some of which are active (clicked on in yellow) and some inactive (grayed out).

• For this particular performance and set, I'm only using the four analog inputs and four analog outputs, so I've only activated those.

If you've just installed a new sound card and opened the preferences pane, you might find that only one output is active. You will then need to activate the necessary outputs and inputs.

Audio Quality and Latency

There are a few settings regarding:

• Audio Quality
• Latency: This is the amount of time it takes for the computer to handle audio and MIDI signals, process them, and output sound. It represents a response delay between your actions and the resulting sound through Ableton Live.

MIDI Synchronization Tab

The next most important tab is the MIDI Synchronization tab:

• At the top, there are various control surfaces parameters. For the most part, we won't be using these.
• I have the Push and VCM600 selected as control surfaces.

Control Surface Functions

• The default control templates for these devices will be used by Ableton.
• With the Push, I'm using the default control template. With the VCM, I'm remapping the entire device to have different functionality.

Deactivating Control Surface

I need to deactivate the VCM600 as a control surface, so it doesn't interpret my parameter changes as default assignments.

MIDI Ports

Underneath the control surfaces, there's a selection labeled MIDI Ports:

• This lets us see what's connected and how those devices are receiving and transmitting information.

Columns in MIDI Ports

• Track Activator Switch: Dictates whether the device receives information from specific tracks within Live (such as MIDI clips or automation).
• Sync Column: Relevant if you're using an external sequencer. I'm using this with the Analog Rhythm, where it plays patterns independently.

Output for Analog Rhythm

• I've activated the synchronization tab for the Analog Rhythm's output. This ensures that whenever I press play in my set, the Analog Rhythm starts playing simultaneously.

Remote Tab

The third tab is the Remote tab:

• This allows a device to send and receive parameter changes.
• For instance, I want changes made on the VCM600 to be transmitted into Live and vice versa.

Two-Way Communication

This two-way communication means:

• If I change a parameter in Live, it reflects on the controller.
• I can easily see the status of all tracks and parameters.

Final Review of MIDI Ports

Let's go back into the preferences pane once more:

• There are a couple of things in the MIDI ports that are irrelevant to this setup (like network input and output).
• The important ones include:
  • Ableton Push
  • VCM
  • Analog Rhythm
  • The four MIDI ports, where outputs 1, 2, and 3 are going to the Volca Beats, TR505, and Nord Rack.

This covers the essential setup within the preferences pane to get these various devices communicating with each other and ensure your Live set is synced properly with them.