The Chain Selector Patch List

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

 

Instrument rack drop

 

 

 

Step Two

Drop at least two instruments into your instrument rack

 

Instruments in patch list

 

 

Step Three

 

Adjust your chains to desired locations

 

Offset chains

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.

 

Mapping view

 

 

 

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.

 

Min max value

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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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