How to use the drum sequencer in ableton?

[thoughtquery]

Hi everyone,

I'm attempting to sequence with the drum track through ableton. I've got my associated drum track in ableton receiving channel 10 however if I use any of my pads in drum mode on the BSP(BeatStep Pro) it just starts triggering ableton clips to play in different columns. I cannot figure out how to change this behaviour and get them to trigger midi notes while in drum mode. Please advise.

[padbury]

Hi, I have a similar setup, so if you can be a little more detailed in your settings explanation I might be able to figure what is going on. Currently you have not given enough detail

[thoughtquery]

@padbury Thank you!


I've got the BSP midi out to midi in of a Vermona DRM mkiii, and the through from the Vermonda going to a DSI P12 midi in. I have the BSP on USB sync slaved to Ableton. I'm on the purple drum section of the BSP trying to trigger my Vermona to make a drum loop however instead of firing my Vermona it starts to trigger different clips in Ableton and moving my clip selection bar up and down and other crazy things. I don't want the BSP acting as a control surface to ableton and that's what it seems to be doing when in drum mode.

[padbury]

Ok so if I have the chain right we have:


Ableton providing MIDI notes and tempo via USB to Beat Step Pro (this can be a two way connection to Ableton unless preferences are set otherwise)


BeatStep Pro Sequence 3 (purple) via MIDI to the drum hardware (one way connection away from Ableton assumed)


Using MIDI Thru to pass Beat Step Pro MIDI (or drum hardware MIDI) on to Hardware Synth (one way connection away from Ableton assumed)


I assume you have audio out of drum hardware and synth going back to Ableton or off to a mixer or monitor speakers. But even if you were sending audio back to Ableton it would not fire MIDI tracks in Ableton Session view.


The only thing in this chain that can fire Ableton clips is the BeatStep Pro via the 2 way USB connection.


The two way USB connection carrying MIDI to / from Ableton is a preference that can be changed between: both ways, out only or in only, plus track, sync and remote control are sub groups of this also.


In Ableton preferences, your one way chain would probably succeed using the following.


MIDI ports in - Track OFF / Sync OFF / Remote OFF
MIDI ports out - Track ON / Sync ON / Remote OFF


If you are not intending to record MIDI from the BeatStep Pro to Ableton then the MIDI Track In track should be OFF.


If you are not intending to drive Ableton with the tempo from the BeatStep Pro then Input sync should be set to OFF


If you are not intending to control Ableton controls with the BeatStep Pro then the input remote needs to be OFF.


If you intend to send MIDI from Ableton to the BeatStep Pro then Output Track should be ON.


If you are using Ableton to provide the tempo signal to the BeatStep Pro, then the out Sync needs to be set to ON


If you are not intending to control the BeatStep Pro controls using Ableton then the Output Remote should be OFF


Also, the BeatStep Pro appears twice in Ableton MIDI preferences, the first one is the one you modify track / sync & remote. The second one you don't touch or use. It is a background channel needed by the BeatStep Pro to work properly. All Arturia devices have this pair of detected inputs, their literature say to leave the second one alone on default settings.


I did this from memory, with only a cursory look at Ableton during, so apologies if it is not entirely correct, but I tried to be accurate.

[thoughtquery]

I'm attaching a video of the Behavior.

You can see me pressing the pads which then trigger the Vermona to make a sound AND also start triggering the playback of clips inside of Ableton.

I currently cannot use the BSP in Ableton with the Purple Drum section as it starts acting like a controller to Ableton starting clips inside of different tracks.

In Ableton Prefferences -> Midi  I have Beatstep Pro INPUT and OUTPUT track,sync,remote on OFF.

https://youtu.be/gRLsRMAAWPE

[padbury]

Sorry,if you have everything off in Ableton preferences both in and out then I can't help you. That is not a standard way to use bsp in Ableton. All I can suggest is spend some time in Ableton midi preferences looking at All current settings there for everything, top to bottom. I believe the solution is there.


Actually the following day I had an idea, I notice that Ableton have added native control surface support for Arturia beat step. So in Ableton preferences midi tab at the top the drop down menu for control surfaces lists beat step. I'm thinking if you have selected beat step there as a control surface you might be instructing Ableton to watch for incoming commands from the beat step pro. I am assuming the two beat step hardwares are sufficiently similar that Ableton will respond to external commands from both. If you do have beat step listed as a chosen native control surface, use the drop down menu to return that row to "none"

[thoughtquery]

That solved the problem! Thank you so much dude, my life is now better.

[avsp]

By disabling it from Control Surface then you loose blue hand controls. That sucks