MiniLab Knobs Workaround (Ableton)

[bloo]

Hi all,

I don't know if anyone else has posted the below but I am one of the many who have been having issues with the knobs behaving in a weird manner. Yes, everything is updated, yes, I've read the manuals, I even uninstalled, re-installed software, packages, DAWs, but bottom line they don't work as intended. So I started trying all sorts of different settings just to make it work. This has only been tested on my end on Win7, in Ableton 9.7.1 on both native VSTs and 3rd party VSTs within the Ableton environment.

Long story short, I created a new template and switched the knobs' option values from Absolute to Relative#2 and then stored that to every memory. I know it doesn't make sense when you read the manual but for some reason it works. I stored the change in all memories apart from the one which is read only, so the issue is that although shift+2 to 8 work, shift+1 goes back to the global Absolute value and all knobs start acting up again.

Again I don't know if this has been mentioned, I know this is not an optimum solution but at least if anyone is going to use this for the time being or if that will help any of the developers to figure out where the issue might be, here is my feedback. Also, in my case, this has been like this since day one I bought Minilab Black Edition, which is around a year now.

In the meantime if anyone else has to offer any better solution, or somewhere a fix has been mentioned that I might have missed, feedback is more than welcome.

[leo.nerd]

Hi,

thanks for posting this - it didn't solve my problem which is that the knobs don't do anything in Ableton - the mapping of these knobs don't work, they're completely non responsive. They work fine in Logic. I followed the solution explained in this forum post but no luck. Has anyone managed to make this work?

[aldywaani]

I'm not surprise that no more replies for this issue.  I've read similar issue about this. But there's only a fix for MKII, not the the original.

So i have my work around for this.

First thing first. Forget about the Midi Control Center App. Don't change anything on it.  It's useless for me except for upgrade FW.  This app doesn't have any visual feedback if we select each memory. It just look the same. So we can't tell if it's loaded properly or not (except for the sync indicators)

Second thing:
We CANNOT use MiniLab both as a universal control for VSTs & DAW controller simultaneously as a Transport control (Play, Stop, Record, Loop, Metronome)

FIRST OPTION

By default in Ableton Live 9.7, MiniLab are available as Control Surface on the drop down list. You do not need to install or setup anything. It works perfectly. But No Transport Control.


If you use this default setting, You can control your VSTs with encoders on Set 1 and Set 3. While Set 2 and 4 are for DAW control (Navigate Tracks Vertical on Arrangement View and Horizontal on Session View, also Vol, Pan, Sends)

If you satisfy with this, then nothing else to do.  BUT, I'm not. I need to be able to use my MiniLab as a Transport Control.  So i manually mapped the MiniLab inside Ableton


By doing this, i will have all the encoders works normal, and as a transport control (Start from Pad 12-16)


SECOND OPTION

Use the Script provided here:    http://downloads.arturia.com/extra/minilab/MiniLab_Live.zip
How to install:
Mac:
Copy the Arturia MiniLab folder inside to Macintosh HD/Users/(username)/Library/Preferences/Ableton/Live (latest version)/user remote scripts/ (Copy Paste the FOLDER)
PC:
Copy the Arturia MiniLab folder inside to C:\Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\Ableton\Live (latest version)\Preferences\User Remote Scripts (Copy Paste the FOLDER)

Launch Ableton Live and open Preferences>Midi again.
You'll find there's new 'Arturia MiniLab' on the list



If you use this, your MiniLab will work as Transport Control on Pad 13-16

Here's the full map:


You cannot navigate tracks and control 3rd party vst, as well as Pan and Sends, but you still can control Volume both in Arrangement & Session view ONLY FOR 8 Tracks (8 Encoders).
BUT, By the time you insert an FX on a track. It will start misbehave (means it needs to operate on different Memory/Preset to control VST) 

For MKII users they can easily switch to Pad+8 or Memory 8 to control VST temporarily then go back to (Mem 1 i guess) to control your DAW.

This is very confusing. I have never succeed switching memories on my MiniLab. They all looked the same on the Midi Control Center and misbehave on Live.

So i stick with the First Option. Leave it default with MiniLab control surface then mapped manually the transport buttons. 

I hope this helps
Cheers!
A.W