Creating A Patch List In Ableton Using The Chain Selector
Mainstage makes creating a patch list very simple. Its entire design is based around that. However, when you look at the root of what MainStage is doing, it is broken down into three parts. Part one, receive midi. Part 2, tell midi where to go based off what is selected on the left side of the screen. Part 3, allow you to switch between sounds easily from a mapped controller. Ableton has all of these features already built into it’s “instrument rack”. Let’s take the instruments rack already intended design and set it up to make it work for our patch list by making use of its chain selector, and a single button on your controller or keyboard!
Step One
Insert an instrument rack onto an empty midi channel
Step Two
Drop at least two instruments into your instrument rack
Step Three
Adjust your chains to desired locations
Remember that you can use overlapping chains to layer your sounds
Step Four
Map a button to your chain selector by right mouse clicking on the chain selector, choosing midi or key map and pressing the desired key.
If you are using a midi controller, I recommend using a CC message to map to the chain selector and not a midi note.
Step Five
Set maximum velocity value to match the number of instruments in your instrument rack, starting at 0. So in my example, since i have two instruments, my maximum value will be 1. Yours may by 2, 3, 4, or even more depending on how many instruments you’ve chosen to use.
Now the key you’ve assigned will scroll through your patches! However, it will only scroll up until you get to the maximum assigned value. If you need the flexibility to go either direction, check out my post on using dummy clips HERE
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