Midi map layer select issue (user error?)

[DHoude]

I have an APC40 mkII that I have layer select buttons mapped to each layer of my composition. There seems to be a problem with these buttons selecting a layer now, where they worked flawless before. All other mapped buttons seem do as previously programmed to, just my existing layer select buttons don't select any layer at all.

I don't have screen shots right now, but when I edit the midi map I can select a layer button to see the mapped properties. I was playing with this last night to set the Velocity properties (color & status). When the buttons were not working at all I decided to clear the shortcuts and remap them. When I remap each layer button the Velocity options are gone and I can't get them back without restoring an old copy of my midi map.

Any ideas? Still working on getting shows so I don't use this controller much yet. I do not know when this stopped working but I thought I used it with 6.09 with no issue though.

[DHoude]

Ok, so here here is the way the layer button was mapped and working previously

Midi map before.jpg (31.27 KiB) Viewed 7642 times

Because that was not working anymore I cleared the Shortcut and re learned it. Looks totally different now with no Velocity settings.

Midi clear and reprogram.jpg (32.52 KiB) Viewed 7642 times

I even notice that the Midi note is different. Both maps should be to the "None" button, just under the Clip Stop #1 key. Again, only the layer select keys are giving me an issue. All others seem to work fine.

[Zoltán]

Midi mapping stores the last received command from your midi controller for a shortcut.
Looks like you touched a dial, when you had the layer select mapped, the same dial that is mapped to your Layer dashboard link 8. (CC23 is the Device control knob 8)
It sends a Controller change message instead of a note. That's probably not what you want for layer select.

The first image looks about to be correct to me.
D#2 is what I get when pushing the channel 1 "none" button on my APC40mp2 AND have Midi middle C=C3 selected.
Open up the Midi preferences and open the midi inspector with the

inspector.png (1.96 KiB) Viewed 7626 times

button.
Push the button on your controller you used to use for layer 1 select.
Which message you get displayed?

[DHoude]

Thanks for the help, after reading what you said I now have a theory. The layer buttons worked fine until I mapped those top control knobs to each layer's transition time. I can assure you that I did not accidentally touch that knob all 10+ times that I have tried clear and reprogram this. So I wonder if there is some kind of feedback going on here. To isolate it (and because I don't have my gig machine here) I hooked my APC up to a different laptop and installed Resolume as a demo. Here is that "None" button working as I would expect on another machine:

Resolume.jpg (12.72 KiB) Viewed 7616 times

Here is the Midi OX data for the same "None" button:

Midi OX.jpg (21.72 KiB) Viewed 7616 times

When I get home, I have 2 things to try. Remove the knobs from the transition time. If that does not work, then turn off Midi out for the APC.

I was originally trying to get the layer select button LED color to match the color of the layers in Resolume and the knobs I put on my APC. I have ADD, so I started mapping other things and you know what good that did now . In a dream world I would like to get the Clip stop buttons to only light up when a clip is playing on that layer and maybe even make the LED color match the layer. But I don't think the control options are there yet. It would be nice to get some good feedback of what layer is active right on the controller so I am not looking at the screen and crossing that to the controller. Then I could see all my active layers to kill and know what faders below are usable in my 9 layer composition.

[Joris]

You changed your APC Mode to Generic. Set it back to the recommended Alternate Ableton Live mode

[DHoude]

Thanks, I was in there I did not intentionally change that but you may be onto something.

Edit: I will say that when I restored my old map it unmapped the Transition time to the knobs on the top. So that can't really be it.

Not that I am surprised, but I think you have it Joris. I loaded my full Resolume folder with settings from my gig machine and this test machine. My settings seem to be set to the recommended Abelton one. But I don't put tons of faith in that to be restored. Maybe I need to set that to General and then back again. I won't know until I get home tonight.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions!

[DHoude]

Joris, wishing I took a screen shot before I tried this. That General/Ableton drop down box that is normally right below Midi Out for the APC was actually missing on my gig machine.

I un-selected Midi input for the APC and then re-selected Midi Input and the Ableton drop down came back. So there is some glitch that caused this. I know I can't remove the box as a user, but that is probably why it was in "General mode".

The old map seems to work for layers now. Thanks for the help, there is probably something to look into there.

[Joris]

Sure, we'll take a look.

Keep in mind that the mode switching on the APC40 adds a whole other level of complexity to an already very versatile controller. It requires some nerdy handshake where we send SYSEX messages back and forth between the application and the controller. If anything goes wrong during that initial courtship, the APC can get very confused and we might not even be able to see that we're dealing with an APC at all, let alone say with any certainty what mode it is in.

All in all, if you ever find that your APC is not sending the messages you expect it to, your first troubleshooting step would be to power cycle it and then open the Midi prefs in Resolume to make sure everything is set up as it should. 9 times out of 10, that solves any issues you have.

[DHoude]

Thanks, makes sense what you are saying. Power cycle, restart Resolume & PC where all things I did before posting. Keep in mind I was using the controller the following day on another PC. Then went back to my gig machine to find it was still hung up in the same way.

The only thing that fixed the main problem (General mode due to missing drop down box) for me was to cycle the Midi In toggle in Resolume Midi preferences. I have never done that as a fix because the APC 40 always just worked. I was familiar with the General/Ableton box but I have never knowingly messed with it. I have no idea how it disappeared totally, and on its own while I was programming other things.

The best advice I can give to reproduce this is that it broke when I had just turned on Midi Output and I was messing with Velocity values (on/off & the number for color). The color values from the manual never did anything for me, but it may have had the "glitch" at that point. I will try to set those again and if it breaks, hopefully I can come up with a set of actions that is reproducible.