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README-ADDING-PRESETS.md

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Adding or changing presets, and other advanced configuration

The remote script can be adapted in interesting ways: the mixer preset can be customised to your taste, device presets can be customised or added as well, and some other advanced configurations is possible. These are discussed below.

Changing the mixer preset

There is nothing specific about the design of the mixer apart from the MIDI channel, Electra One port and CC number assignments of individual controls. This means you can (more or less) freely redesign the mixer to your own needs, e.g one where tracks are laid out horizontally instead of vertically (such that all track controls are active at the same time). But please make sure that all controls retain both their original CC numbers and their original control id! And read the extensive documentation on the mixer too!

Warning: do NOT remove any controls; this may break the script/mixer preset. The reason is that controls associated with (return) tracks that are not present in Ableton are hidden using their control id; the LUA scripting embedded in the Mixer preset responsible for that assumes these controls exist.

As an example, an alternative mixer design is included in the distribution that shows the transport controls on all pages, at the cost of removing one return track and removing the rumble/high-pass toggle from the channel eq page. See Mixer.alt.eproj. To use it, copy config_mixer_alt.py to config.py.

(Note: this alternative mixer design uses features only supported on the E1 mkII for the tempo and position controls.)

Changing predefined device presets

You can modify existing predefined presets, or add new ones for other, non-standard, devices or plugins. Sources for the existing presets can be found in this repository of course, or in the E1 web editor: simply select 'Ableton' as brand in the Preset Library browser.

The remote script uses three pieces of information to enable a preset to control a device in Live.

  • The actual E1 preset, stored in <devicename>.epr, that can be edited using the E1 preset web editor.
  • A mapping of the controls in this E1 preset to the parameters of the Ableton device, stored in <devicename>.ccmap. This maps the name of each parameter in Live to the CC control numbers assigned to the controls in the preset.
  • (optional) LUA scripting code for the E1 preset, stored in <devicename>.lua, that can also be edited using the E1 preset web editor.

Modifying existing device presets

For existing predefined presets, these files can be found in the ./preloaded subfolder in the ElectraOne remote script folder.

To modify such an existing preset, proceed as follows.

  1. To edit the preset, import <devicename>.epr in the E1 web editor. Once you are happy with the result, export the preset <devicename>.epr and save it back into the preloaded folder (overwriting the existing file).
  2. If you modified the LUA script, cut and paste it into <devicename>.lua in the preloaded folder (overwriting the existing file).
  3. Restart Ableton.

If you now load the device again and select it, the preset you created should appear on the E1. (If the preset is preloaded - which is typically the case for predefined presets - set USE_PRELOAD_FEATURE=False to override their use; once you are happy with the design you can preload it too, see below.)

When editing the preset in the webeditor, make sure not to change any of the device and CC assignments of the controls; these need to stay the same in order to correspond to the definitions in the CC map. Sometimes the control-id is relevant and should not change. In that case, use cut and paste to move controls around without changing their control-id.

Apart from that, anything goes. This means you can freely change controller names, specify value ranges and assign special formatter functions. Also, you can remove controls that you hardly ever use and that would otherwise clutter the interface.

Adding new device presets

For devices that do not yet have a predefined preset, the remote script can dump the preset it created on the fly for this device. Configuration DUMP (see config.py) needs to be set to True for this. The dumped files (the <devicename>.epr and <devicename>.ccmap) can be found in the ./dumps subfolder.

Using such a device dump as a starting point for a new preset ensures that

  • all device parameters have a control in the preset, with some sensible default settings, and
  • a CC map with proper mapping definitions is constructed.

To create a preset for a new device, therefore proceed as follows.

  1. Enable dumping of presets (set DUMP = True in config.py).
  2. Start Ableton, and make sure the remote script is active.
  3. Load the device you want to create a preset for and select it; a blue hand should appear in it (and the preset that is constructed on the fly should appear on the E1).
  4. This should create <devicename>.epr and <devicename>.ccmap in the dumps directory in the remote script folder.
  5. Copy <devicename>.ccmap and <devicename>.epr to the preloaded folder. No LUA file is created.
  6. Continue with the steps described above for editing existing presets.

The construction of presets on the fly is controlled by several constants defined in config.py. See the documentation of advanced configuration options below.

Advanced features

For basic use, the CC map for a preset does not have to be modified. But to fine-tune value display, this may sometimes be necessary. For details, see the technical documentation. This also describes how to use LUA to format specific types of values.

For example, if you set the control identifier in the CC-map of a parameter to the actual identifier in the preset (instead of -1), the remote script sends the textual representation of the current value of the parameter as reported by Ableton Live to the E1. To make sure it is displayed, set the formatter function field in the E1 preset to defaultFormatter.

Naming

In all of the above <devicename> is the device name used by Ableton for the device, e.g. Echo.

For Max devices and external plugins (AU, VST) a slightly different naming scheme is used (as there is unfortunately no reliable way for the remote script to get the device name for a plugin or a Max device).

The remote script uses the following hack to still allow a fixed device name to be found. Enclose such a plugin or Max device as the only device in an instrument, midi, or audio rack and rename that enclosing rack to the device name of the device. In this specific case, the remote script uses the name of the enclosing rack as the name to use for the plugin or Max device when dumping its preset or when looking up a predefined or preloaded preset. So if a plugin is in a rack with name MiniV3 then MiniV3 is used as the device name to lookup any predefined preset. (If a plugin is not enclosed in a rack, then its own preset name is used as the device name.)

Note that in order to distinguish names for presets for racks themselves from the names used by an embedded preset, the remote script adds a hash (#) to the preset name of a rack. So in the example above, if you would select the rack with name MiniV3 the remote script would look for a preset called MiniV3#. (This compromise was chosen as it is less likely people will want to make custom presets for racks; after all, the order of parameters in a Rack can already be controlled in Live itself.)

Defining presets for specific versions of Live

To include presets for specific versions of Live, append the version number to the devicename. E.g. MidiRandom.12.epr would be used for all version of Live equal or above version 12. And, say Echo.11.3.10 would be used for all version of Live equal or above version 11.3.10.

Tips and tricks

For consistency, all predefined presets use the same colour and control for the same type of parameter. These are documented in this preset in the web editor.

In Ableton, the visibility (or type) of certain parameters may depend on the value of other parameters in the device. This can be emulated in a preset for such a device with some LUA programming. The following examples come from the Echo preset.

The LFO modulation settings are good example for a simple scenario, where the setting of one parameter determines which of a set of other controls for other paramters (in this case two controls) needs to be shown in the same slot. Echo defines a Mod Sync parameter telling Echo whether to speed of the LFO should run in sync with the current tempo (controlled by the Mod Rate parameter) or should run at a particular frequency (controlled by the Mod Freq parameter). If Mod Sync is true, the Mod Rate parameter control should be shown. Otherwise the Mod Freq parameter control should be shown.

The preset editor allows one to provide a callback function for a control, that will be called whenever the value of that control changes (either by turning the pot on the E1, or because of an incoming MIDI message). The name of this callback function can be set in the left settings pane for the control on the webeditor. The name should refer to a function defined in the LUA section of the preset. This function should accept two parameters: valueObject (the control id of the object triggering the function) and value (containing its new value).

In the case of Echo, the value of this function for the Mod Sync control is set to modsync (see the figure).

Callback function

And the corresponding function is defined as

function modsync(valueObject, value)
    modfreq:setVisible(value == 0)
    modrate:setVisible(value ~= 0)
end

The LUA function control:setVisible(v) changes the visibility of control depending on the (boolean, true or false) value of v. In the example above v is an expression: value == 0 (returning true if value equals 0) and value ~= 0 (returning true if value does not equal 0).

control should refer to a internal LUA representation of the control shown by the E1. This representation can be obtained using the controls.get(index) function, provided one knows the control index of the control. This index is visible in the web editor when selecting the control. (See the figure for the control index of the Mod Freq control.)

Control index

In case of the Echo preset, the following LUA code obtains the necessary references:

modrate = controls.get(32)
modfreq = controls.get(30)

The only thing that remains to be done is to ensure that both controls are shown in the same slot. The web editor does not allow us to create presets that have more than one control in a slot, but the E1 firmware does allow for this. In the case of Echo the Mod Freq control is shown in the correct slot (slot 7 on page 2), but the Mod Sync control is shown on page 7 in the preset (this page is marked as invisible). To move this control to the correct slot, the following LUA code is executed:

modrate:setSlot(7,2)

For more complex scenarios where the visibility of a control depends on more than one parameter, a different approach should be used. For each such parameter controlling visibility, define a variable in LUA that follows the value of that parameter. For example, the Echo preset defines the state variable

islinked = false

to follow the state of the Link parameter in Echo (that controls whether the right channel settings should follow the left channel settings).

Next define a callback function for that parameter that updates the value of this state variable, and assign its name to the parameter control in the web editor. Echo defines

function lrlink(valueObject, value)
    islinked = (value ~= 0)
    setvisibility()
end

and assigns its name to the Link callback function.

After updating islinked this function calls setvisibility. This is defined elsewhere as follows.

function setvisibility()
    ltime:setVisible(not islsync)
    l16th:setVisible(islsync and isl16th)
    ldiv:setVisible(islsync and not isl16th)
    rtime:setVisible(not islinked and not isrsync)
    r16th:setVisible(not islinked and (isrsync and isr16th))
    rdiv:setVisible(not islinked and (isrsync and not isr16th))
    rs:setVisible(not islinked)
    rm:setVisible((not islinked) and isrsync)
    lm:setVisible(islsync)    
end

It sets the visibility of a several controls (like the different left and/or right tempo controls) depending on the values of several state variables, including islinked.

Preloaded presets

You can also manually upload a preset to the E1 (mkII only!) to create a preloaded version of it. For this, upload the new versions of both <devicename>.epr and the <devicename>.lua to the E1 at ctrlv2/presets/xot/ableton. (The CC map does not have to be copied.)

Make sure to include the following line

require("xot/default")

at the start of the <devicename>.lua file. This includes some common LUA functions used by the remote script and the preset.

Note that you need to keep the original ccmap, preset and LUA files also in the ./preloaded folder of the remote script. (Otherwise the remote script cannot properly control the preset.)

Advanced configuration

The behaviour of the remote script can be changed by editing config.py:

  • E1_PRESET_FOLDER subfolder on the E1 where the preloaded presets are stored, relative to ctrlv2/presets (only possible for E1 mkII with firmware 3.4 and higher). The default is xot/ableton.
  • E1_LOGGING controls whether the E1 should send log messages, and if so how detailed. Default -1 (which means no logging). Other possible levels: 0 (critical messages and errors only), 1 (warning messages), 2 (informative messages), or 3 (tracing messages).
  • E1_LOGGING_PORT controls which port to use to send log messages to (0: Port 1, 1: Port 2, 2: CTRL). Default is 2, the CTRL port.
  • DUMP controls whether the preset and CC map information of the currently appointed device is dumped (to ./dumps). The default is False.
  • RESET_SLOT (default (5,11) i.e the last, lower right slot in the sixth bank); when selected the remote script resets.
  • EFFECT_REFRESH_PERIOD amount of time (in 100ms increments) between successive refreshes of controls on the E1 whose string values need to be provided by Abelton (default is 2).
  • E1_PORT port number used by the remote script for input/output (0: Port 1, 1: Port 2, 2: CTRL), i.e. the one set in Ableton Live preferences. (Default is 0).
  • E1_PORT_NAME (default is Electra Controller Electra Port 1), the name of E1_PORT to use to upload presets using sendmidi

The following constant deals with the slot where device presets are loaded.

  • EFFECT_PRESET_SLOT E1 preset slot where the preset controlling the currently appointed device is stored. Specified by bank index (0..5) followed by preset index (0.11). The default is (5,1).

The following constants only influence the construction of presets 'on the fly' and do not affect predefined or preloaded presets:

  • MAX_CC7_PARAMETERS and MAX_CC14_PARAMETERS limits the number of parameters assigned as CC7 or CC14 parameters. If -1 (the default) all parameters are included (limited by the number of available MIDI channels and CC parameter slots): this is a good setting when dumping devices and/or when setting ORDER = ORDER_DEVICEDICT.
  • MIDI_EFFECT_CHANNEL is the first MIDI channel to use to assign device parameters controls to. The default value is 11.
  • MAX_MIDI_EFFECT_CHANNELS limits the number of MIDI channels used in a preset constructed on the fly; -1 means all MIDI channels are used. If this means that there are more parameters then available CC numbers, those parameters are not assigned. The default is -1.

The following constants deal with the mixer preset.

  • MIXER_PRESET_SLOT E1 preset slot where the master preset is stored. Specified by bank index (0..5) followed by preset index (0..11). The default is (5,0).
  • MIDI_MASTER_CHANNEL, MIDI_TRACKS_CHANNEL and MIDI_SENDS_CHANNEL set the distinct MIDI channels to map the master, track, and sends controls to. See the technical documentation for details.
  • MAX_NO_OF_SENDS sets the maximum number of sends (and return tracks) present on the controller (currently 6).
  • NO_OF_TRACKS sets the number of tracks present on the controller (currently 5).
  • FORW_REW_JUMP_BY_AMOUNT the number of beats (i.e. quarter notes) to jump ahead or back when rewinding or moving forward. The default is 1.
  • TEMPO_JUMP_BY_AMOUNT the amount to increase or decrease the tempo with. The default is 0.5.

The following constants deal with the equaliser devices managed through the mixer preset

  • TRACK_EQ_DEVICE_NAME and MASTER_EQ_DEVICE_NAME: (class)name of the equaliser device (on the normal tracks and the master track respectively) to be managed by the mixer preset.
  • TRACK_EQ_CC_MAP and MASTER_EQ_CC_MAP: CC mapping information describing which equaliser controls are mapped, and through which CC.