Pre-gig planning with an APC40 and masking tape
Hey y’all, just had a great opportunity pop up and I did a lot of prep work for it. Most of the effort was because I was going to bring my netbook, APC40, Strat & Line6 MicroSpider amp and wanted to show up to the ‘traditional venue’ (as in stage geared toward bands) with a plan in hand - using 2 main feed tracks, 2 send/returns (EQ3 on A and TalkBox Solo on B) and a handful of film quote samples on another track…to me, it was important to not get too ambitious and redline it.
Here’s my self-imposed discipline:
First job was to pre-mix and cue and work individual track levels to fit with the big picture of consistency. Got all the faders in the right places, and then I used one of the little jeweler’s screwdrivers, a small phillips, to work under the fader controls and gently lift them off. Masking tape because the APC40 metal chassis means it will both stick and can be removed without too much trouble (after stripping I used rubbing alcohol and there’s almost no evidence).
The bonus was I could take a fine-tip Sharpie and write notes for which track was what - T1, T2, T3/SFX, SFX, Axe (line-in record), Send A for EQ3 and Send B for Talkbox Solo.
And yeah, the gig went great. Got a more prime time slot in 3 weeks. Hope this little neurotic undertaking can help one of y’all. Cheers!
Not to bash your method or anything. All of my controllers are covered with masking tape. But, couldn’t you have just set the max down a little bit in the midi mapping?
That’s a valid question, no offense taken. My first reaction, and the line I’ll stick with, is that I’m coming from an analog dominant background. Your approach idea has a lot I can learn from. The gig was short notice and I just took a short-cut for the specific performance. For me and the others here, if you could do a quick post about how to set the range in Ableton Live via MIDI, I would really appreciate it and put it to use. Thanks again and lates.
So does Rexas assist with setting up all this hardware?, or does he just bounce people at the door?
Either way, I wouldn’t fuck with him.
It’s really simple in live actually.
First, after the set is loaded, click the “Midi” button in the top right.
Then click the fader that you wish to control, on the screen in live.
Now move the fader up and down on the apc40, Now you will see a new line in the “MIDI Mappings” window on the left.
Next adjust the “Max” value to the appropriate setting. 1 being all the way down, 127 being all the way up.
Repeat this for each fader, and adjust to suit.
Hope this helps.
If not i might be able to make a little video for you.
Many thanks for this gem, been just plugging in the APC40 or nanoKontrol, some mapping here and there…like disabling the default Stop button that I’ve drunkenly hit when mixing A/B crossfader EFX…but haven’t grasped all the in-the-box has to offer.
And to answer the other question, Rexas does love to romp and stomp through the area. It’s a great play on the local anti-littering, anti-getting caught campaign:
You can maybe find him here:
i dont like hard mapping my faders to max out at zero. it caused to many other midi mapping problems with my other controls. i usually just try to keep an eye on them
