A velocity sensitive instrument rack to emulate the Velocity Range Parameter Inside Mainstage… And More!
But First, A Story.
Imagine you are in a mail sorting room in the basement of a huge company. (think the mailroom scene from Elf) Mail has come from all over the world to this very basement. The mail is all different sizes, and maybe even the envelopes are colored differently. Working alongside your coworkers, you look at each piece of mail and separate it. Some mail is made out to departments as a whole, some to individuals within departments. Your only job is to make sure that incoming mail gets where it is supposed to be going. THAT is exactly what an instrument rack does. It receives information from your keyboard, or another controller you may be using and sends it to the appropriate place.
What gets sent where… And why?
An instrument rack separates midi information by three factors; key range, velocity, and chain. These categories are just like the address on a piece of mail. Ableton looks at that information and then passes it along to the appropriate destination based on the what you have allowed to pass through in each category. Today, we will focus on the velocity section of the instrument rack to recreate the “velocity range” feature in MainStage. Both programs allow us to create dynamic custom instruments that react to how hard we are pressing the keys. An added bonus of using Ableton over Mainstage for this feature is Ableton allows you to slowly transition between two sounds by creating a customized velocity crossfade.
Here are 5 easy steps to creating a velocity sensitive instrument rack!
Step 1
Insert an instrument rack onto an empty midi channel
Step 2
Drop your instruments into your newly created instrument rack
Step 3
Adjust your chains (big red lines) to appropriate velocities.
Adjust your crossfaders (little red lines)
Step 4
From the “Midi Effects” category in your browser, insert a velocity plug-in before your instrument rack
Set the “Out Low” dial to about 70
Step 5
Map the power button of your velocity plug-in to either a key on your keyboard or a midi controller by right mouse clicking on the power button selecting either Midi or Key map, and pressing the button or key of your choice
You’ve done it!
Congratulations! You’ve created a simple instrument that responds to your playing based on incoming velocity. Now take time to experiment with placing your velocity chains in different locations to get a split that best fits your playing, and how your keyboard or controller reacts to being touched. Remember, what we have done above is just the beginning. Don’t stop with two instrument sounds, create something as robust as you can imagine. Design your instrument in a way that makes your playing feel great and organic to you. And when you’ve created it, share it with us on our twitter page @MStoAbleton. We can’t wait to see everything that you have created
A final thought on midi mapping
I find that for mapping anything within Ableton Live, it’s best to use either a MIDI CC or a key on the keyboard you use for typing. Using notes on your keyboard can be messy when you are in a live setting and you accidentally hit that note during a quiet section of your song and all of a sudden your buzzy pad is blasting at full volume while the lead singer is gently singing, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”. Also, as you grow more comfortable with Ableton, your set will become more complex, and so using Midi CC’s or a typing keyboard key helps to keep everything organized. Instruments for playing, CC’s or letters for controlling the software