Weird problems , assigning MIDI notes, mapping. ABLETON and APC40

[nateybird]

Help, what am I doing wrong here or what am I missing in settings? Thanks!

Assigning sounds to NOTES on a staff or piano roll in Ableton Live:
I need to be able to go Spark VDM VST in Ableton Live and tell it what corresponding note assignments I want for each pad on Spark: “I want you, Spark VDM, to sound the kick pad when I write a c zero on piano roll editor. I want you to sound the snare when I write a c# on piano roll. I want the c hi hat on d, ohh on d#, low tom on e, mid tom on f, hi tom on f#, and crash on g. FURTHERMORE I want you to stay this way when I close and reopen the ableton set.” This would be awesome in and of itself, but would also alleviate the woes below.

Weird stuff when using APC40 or MAudio controller:
In mapping to APC40, I have the pads “learn” and then play beats. Nice. But then when I close and reopen the Ableton set, the MIDI information is there, but the assignments have changed and no longer play the sounds I initially intended. I have to highlight and drag the notes in piano roll to the correct corresponding sound. Why did this change and how can I get it to stick? No other VST behaves this way, live drum racks do not behave this way. Waddup?

Last night, I couldn’t even get the pads on the Spark VST to “learn” the desired corresponding pads on my APC. The APC was working fine as I was able to use it with other aspects of Ableton. I closed and reopened, restarted, and the same problem occurred. Why did Spark decide it did not want to learn the APC assignments last night as it had before?

Additionally, when I reopened, suddenly the Spark note assignments in piano roll had changed, and now hi hat and snare are BOTH assigned to the snare note. So hi hat and snare on Spark are both playing on the previously assigned snare note in piano roll and the hi hat is no longer playing the written pattern on the note that had previously played as hi hat.

I would love it if Spark would play the information I wrote the same way the next time I open a file. I would love to decide what I want each note in piano roll to correspond to on the vst, and I would love to use any controller with ease and without worrying that the next time I open the ableton set that everything is gonna have to be reassigned again. 

HELP
 

[vaikl]

To permanently replace the current MIDI assignments in Sparks' software (and thus be able to save and reload them) you need the Spark MIDI controller software, which is bundled with the normal Spark (not VDM!) software.

But afaik the MIDI controller software works only with the Spark hardware, because all MIDI templates will be stored there.

[nateybird]

vaikl - question: you state "you need the Spark MIDI controller software" to change the note assignments.

I was wondering how the note assignment then got changed here in my initial post - I was trying to map spark vst pads to my APC40, and in the process, the default note that had previously triggered just the snare was suddenly triggering both the snare and the hi hat simultaneously, and the default note that was previously triggering the hihat is not sounding anything at all on the spark. Now I cannot separate it back out again. If it got tied together without that software, surely I can separate it out again without that software...

[vaikl]

Yes, you'll need the Spark hardware controller to work with the Spark MIDI controller software, it's like a dongle.

The VDM software has an in-build, source-coded MIDI template that can't be changed by other software. Even a DAW software with "total recall" functionality for plugin parameters can't change it. You can override this template during a DAW session, but you can't save those temporary changes.

It's possible that because of this limitation another MIDI controller (and perhaps it's templates you've created) gets confused and exposes you to such crazy mappings.

[nateybird]

GOT IT.

I guess in connecting the apc40, the VST switched settings from General MIDI to custom, and the problems ensued.

I found that the setting had changed in preferences on the step sequencer panel.

I reverted it back to general midi, and now my sounds are back to the correct note assignments.

[vaikl]

Glad to hear it!

It's really strange that a 100-dollar-software nowadays is made like a 1-dollar-software of the "good-old" shareware times, but french peoples have always been "special" peoples.