How to connect midi keyboard ableton

How To Connect MIDI keyboard To Ableton Live – Step By Step

One of the first upgrades you can do as a music producer is to connect a midi keyboard to your computer. In addition to being able to play or record chords and melodies in a conventional way, you will have more control over the parameters you choose within your DAW.

Although you can produce music with just a mouse or computer keyboard, developing musical ideas on a MIDI keyboard can be more fluid. For example, playing notes on a keyboard is not the same as “painting” notes with the mouse on a piano roll.

If you are looking for how to connect a midi keyboard to Ableton Live, this article will solve all your doubts. It is a relatively simple process that will help you become a better music producer.

How To Connect MIDI keyboard To Ableton Live – Step By Step

In short, you will need to connect the MIDI keyboard to your computer via a USB cable (in most cases, it is included with the keyboard). Then, after ensuring that your computer recognizes the MIDI keyboard, it’s a matter of setting specific parameters in the Ableton Live settings.

To begin with, you must connect the supplied USB cable from the keyboard to the computer. If the keyboard needs a power supply to operate, you need to connect it beforehand so it can power up.

In general, current MIDI keyboards are class compliant, meaning they do not need additional drivers to be used. As it connects to the computer, Ableton Live can automatically detect it, and it will be ready to use (especially with macOS computers). However, if it ever happens that you plug it in and the computer doesn’t recognize it, make sure to check for and install the latest driver update. You can use google or search on the official website of your keyboard brand.

Ableton Live preferences are divided into eight categories, the fourth being the Link MIDI menu. Click on that one to open all MIDI inputs and outputs preferences.

How to open MIDI preferences in Ableton Live.

Under the Link MIDI tab, you can set specific parameters regarding the connection of the MIDI keyboard and Ableton Live. Live will automatically detect the device. To verify this was well done, check if your device appears in Midi Ports as activated. If your keyboard has not been automatically detected, manually turn on the track and remote options under Midi Ports.

In this case, I turned on the Track and Remote for a DIY MIDI keyboard called Pico.

After your keyboard is turned on under the MIDI ports, you can now test it by touching any keys on your keyboard. In the control bar of Ableton Live, you will see a yellow light blinking every time Ableton receives a MIDI signal.

The small square on the top right will flash yellow every time Ableton Live receives a MIDI signal.

Most current keyboards come with a default template for controlling Ableton Live. Therefore, when you connect the keyboard to Ableton Live, each knob, button, or fader on your keyboard will already have a function assigned to it. That is called the control surface. If your MIDI keyboard has an Ableton default template, it will appear on the control surfaces in this section.

Ableton Live can recognize up to 6 control surfaces at the same time.

Now that your keyboard is already sending MIDI data to Ableton Live, you must create a MIDI channel that your MIDI keyboard will control. So first, create a MIDI channel (right click – insert MIDI track or CMD – shift T (Mac) / CTRL – shift T (Win) shortcut.

Now, there are two main ways to prepare your MIDI track. For the first one, you must turn the Monitor of the MIDI track to Auto. After that, please turn on the arm recording button to make that track reproduce the MIDI signal it receives from your keyboard.

Two MIDI tracks, one with the arm recording turned on and the other turned off. You must turn Monitor to Audio.

Both tracks are playing MIDI; the first one’s Monitor is set to In, while the second is armed to record.

You can search for sounds in the browser of Ableton Live. You can see on the top right that now the MIDI track has the same name as the preset under Synths Keys.

After loading an instrument, you’re ready to play your MIDI keyboard. To record a sequence, you have two options:

MIDI recording from the Arrangement view.

2) From the live session screen, you can press to record a midi clip ; Ableton Live will record all the notes you play with your keyboard.

MIDI recording from the Session view.

By following these steps, you are ready to use your keyboard as a midi controller in Ableton Live. The process is very similar to other DAWs; you need to verify the MIDI settings within the software for proper operation.

How many MIDI devices can I connect to Ableton Live simultaneously?

You can follow the previous steps to connect a second MIDI keyboard via a USB cable. After your second controller is already connected, let’s say you would like both MIDI keyboards to control each one a different MIDI track. First, you must correctly assign each keyboard’s MIDI signal to Ableton.

The MIDI track on the left is being controlled by my laptop keyboard, while a MIDI keyboard is controlling the MIDI track on the right.

If you want both tracks to be armed to record, click on both arm recording buttons while holding down CMD (Mac) / CTRL (Win). Now each MIDI keyboard can control the selected MIDI tracks separately.

How to fix out-of-tempo recorded notes

Due to latency, recording some notes that might be out of tempo is usual. However, a quick way to fix this issue on Ableton Live is using the quantize option. While selecting a MIDI clip you wish to correct, right-click on the piano roll and click quantize or CMD – U (Mac) / CTRL – U (Win).

After selecting a MIDI track, right-click on the piano roll and select quantize.

For example, 1 Bar of global quantization is the most common one.

On the top: An unquantized MIDI recording. On the bottom: After quantizing the MIDI recording.

Conclusion

With several MIDI keyboards connected simultaneously, you will have more control over Ableton MIDI tracks. However, don’t rush yourself into it. One is more than enough for playing like a pro using Ableton Live.

If you have problems due to latency, always remember the quantize option. Right-clicking on the piano roll of any MIDI track will let you select quantize for fixing any out-of-tempo notes. Even without latency problems, quantization might help but take caution to avoid abusing it. For example, it might kill some vibe by removing groove and swing played on purpose.

29. MIDI and Key Remote Control

To liberate the musician from the mouse, most of Live’s controls can be remote-controlled with an external MIDI controller and the computer keyboard. This chapter describes the details of mapping to the following specific types of controls in Live’s user interface:

29.1 MIDI Remote Control

Live can be controlled remotely by external MIDI control surfaces, such as MIDI keyboards or controller boxes. Live also offers dedicated control via Ableton Push (see Chapter 30) and Push 2 (see Chapter 31).

Before we explain how remote control assignments are made and implemented, let’s first make the distinction between MIDI remote control and a separate use of MIDI in Live: as the input for our MIDI tracks. Let’s suppose that you are using a MIDI keyboard to play an instrument in one of Live’s MIDI tracks. If you assign C-1 on your MIDI keyboard to a Session View Clip Launch button, that key will cease playing C-1 of your MIDI track’s instrument, as it now ”belongs” solely to the Clip Launch button.

MIDI keys that become part of remote control assignments can no longer be used as input for MIDI tracks. This is a common cause of confusion that can be easily resolved by observing the Control Bar’s MIDI indicators (see 15.3.4).

29.1.1 Natively Supported Control Surfaces

Control Surfaces are defined via the menus in the Link/Tempo/MIDI tab. Up to six supported control surfaces can be used simultaneously in Live.

Setting Up Control Surfaces.

Open the first chooser in the Control Surface column to see whether your control surface is supported natively by Live; if it is listed here, you can select it by name, and then define its MIDI input and output ports using the two columns to the right. If your controller is not listed here, don’t fret — it can still be enabled manually in the next section, Manual Control Surface Setup (see 29.1.2).

Depending on the controller, Live may need to perform a ”preset dump” to complete the setup. If this is the case, the Dump button to the right of your control surface’s choosers in the Live Preferences will become enabled. Before pressing it, verify that your control surface is ready to receive preset dumps. The method for enabling this varies for each manufacturer and product, so consult your hardware’s documentation if you are unsure. Finally, press the Dump button; Live will then set up your hardware automatically.

Instant Mappings

In most cases, Live uses a standard method for mapping its functions and parameters to physical controls. This varies, of course, depending upon the configuration of knobs, sliders and buttons on the control surface. These feature-dependent configurations are known as instant mappings.

Within Live’s built-in lessons, you will find a Control Surface Reference that lists all currently supported hardware, complete with the details of their instant mappings. Lessons can be accessed at any time by selecting the Help View option from the View menu.

Note: You can always manually override any instant mappings with your own assignments. In this case, you will also want to enable the Remote switches for the MIDI ports that your control surface is using. This is done in the MIDI Ports section of the Link/Tempo/MIDI Preferences tab, and is described in the next section.

Instant mappings are advantageous because the control surface’s controllers will automatically reassign themselves in order to control the currently selected device in Live.

Control Surfaces Can Follow Device Selection.

Getting Hands-On: Control Surfaces Can Be Locked to Devices.

A hand icon in the title bar of locked devices serves as a handy reminder of their status.

Note: Some control surfaces do not support locking to devices. This capability is indicated for individual controllers in the Control Surface Reference lesson. Select the Help View option from the Help menu to access Live’s built-in lessons.

29.1.2 Manual Control Surface Setup

If your MIDI control surface is not listed in the Link/Tempo/MIDI Preferences’ Control Surface chooser, it can still be enabled for manual mapping in the MIDI Ports section of this tab.

Defining Control Surfaces Manually.

The MIDI Ports table lists all available MIDI input and output ports. To use an input port for remote control of Live, make sure the corresponding switch in its Remote column is set to ”On.” You can use any number of MIDI ports for remote mapping; Live will merge their incoming MIDI signals.

When working with a control surface that provides physical or visual feedback, you will also need to enable the Remote switch for its output port. Live needs to be able to communicate with such control surfaces when a value has changed so that they can update the positions of their motorized faders or the status of their LEDs to match.

To test your setup, try sending some MIDI data to Live from your control surface. The Control Bar’s MIDI indicators will flash whenever Live recognizes an incoming MIDI message.

Once your controller is recognized by Live, you have completed the setup phase (but we recommend that you take the time to select a Takeover Mode before you leave the Preferences behind). Your next step will be creating MIDI mappings between your control surface and Live. Luckily, this is a simple task, and you only need to do it for one parameter at a time.

29.1.3 Takeover Mode

When MIDI controls that send absolute values (such as faders) are used in a bank-switching setup, where they address a different destination parameter with each controller bank, you will need to decide how Live should handle the sudden jumps in values that will occur when moving a control for the first time after switching the bank. Three takeover modes are available:

None — As soon as the physical control is moved, its new value is sent immediately to its destination parameter, usually resulting in abrupt value changes.

Pick-Up — Moving the physical control has no effect until it reaches the value of its destination parameter. As soon as they are equal, the destination value tracks the control’s value 1:1. This option can provide smooth value changes, but it can be difficult to estimate exactly where the pick-up will take place.

Value Scaling — This option ensures smooth value transitions. It compares the physical control’s value to the destination parameter’s value and calculates a smooth convergence of the two as the control is moved. As soon as they are equal, the destination value tracks the control’s value 1:1.

29.2 The Mapping Browser

All manual MIDI, computer keyboard (see 29.2.5) and Macro Control (see 20.1.2) mappings are managed by the Mapping Browser. The Mapping Browser is hidden until one of the three mapping modes is enabled. It will then display all mappings for the current mode. For each mapping, it lists the control element, the path to the mapped parameter, the parameter’s name, and the mapping’s Min and Max value ranges. The assigned Min and Max ranges can be edited at any time, and can be quickly inverted with a context menu command. Delete mappings using your computer’s Backspace or Delete key.

Note that Instant Mappings are context based and are not displayed in the Mapping Browser. Their mapping structure can be displayed while working in Live by choosing the Help View option from the Help menu and then opening the Control Surface Reference lesson.

29.2.1 Assigning MIDI Remote Control

Once your remote control setup has been defined in the Link/Tempo/MIDI Preferences, giving MIDI controllers and notes remote control assignments is simple:

29.2.2 Mapping to MIDI Notes

MIDI notes send simple Note On and Note Off messages to Live’s interface elements. These messages can produce the following effects on controls in Live:

Hint: Session View slots can be assigned to a MIDI note range for chromatic playing: First play the root key (this is the key that will play the clip at its default transposition), and then, while holding down the root key, hold one key below the root and one above it to define the limits of the range.

29.2.3 Mapping to Absolute MIDI Controllers

Absolute MIDI controllers send messages to Live in the form of absolute values ranging from 0 to 127. These values lead to different results depending on the type of Live control to which they are assigned. A value message of 127, for example, might turn the Volume control on a Live track all the way up or play a Session View clip. Specifically, MIDI controller messages from 0 to 127 can produce the following effects on controls in Live:

Live also supports pitch bend messages and high-precision (”14-bit Absolute”) controller messages with a 0. 16383 value range. The above specifications apply to these as well, except that the value range’s center is at 8191/8192.

29.2.4 Mapping to Relative MIDI Controllers

Some MIDI controllers can send ”value increment” and ”value decrement” messages instead of absolute values. These controls prevent parameter jumps when the state of a control in Live and the corresponding control on the hardware MIDI controller differ. For example, imagine that you have assigned the pan knob on your control surface to the pan parameter of a track in Live. If the hardware control is panned hard right, and the Live control is panned hard left, a slight movement in a hardware pan knob that sends absolute values would tell Live to pan right, causing an abrupt jump in the track’s panning. A pan knob sending relative messages would prevent this, since its incremental message to Live would simply say, ”Pan slightly to the left of your current position.”

There are four types of relative controllers: Signed Bit, Signed Bit 2, Bin Offset and Twos Complement.

Each of these are also available in a ”linear” mode. Some MIDI encoders use ”acceleration” internally, generating larger changes in value when they are turned quickly. For control surfaces that are not natively supported, Live tries to detect the controller type and whether acceleration is being used or not.

You can improve the detection process by moving the relative controller slowly to the left when you make an assignment. Live will offer its suggestion in the Status Bar’s ”mode” chooser, but if you happen to know the relative controller type, you can manually select it.

Live will do the following with relative MIDI controller messages:

Please consult the documentation that came with your MIDI controller if you need further information on relative MIDI controllers.

Relative Session View Navigation

Notice that you can make not only absolute mappings to individual slots and scenes, but also relative mappings to move the highlighted scene and operate on the highlighted clips.

In both MIDI Map Mode and Key Map Mode (see 29.2.5), a strip of assignable controls appears below the Session grid:

Relative Session mapping is useful for navigating a large Live Set, as Live always keeps the highlighted scene at the Session View’s center.

Mapping to Clip View Controls

The Clip View (see Chapter 8) displays the settings for whichever clip happens to be currently selected, but it will also display the settings of multi-selected clips. To avoid unpleasant musical surprises, it is important to remember that creating remote control mappings for any control in the Clip View interface could potentially affect any clip in the Live Set. For this reason, we recommend mapping Clip View controls to relative MIDI controllers to prevent undesirable jumps in parameter values.

29.2.5 Computer Keyboard Remote Control

Creating control surface assignments for your computer keyboard is straightforward:

Keyboard assignments can produce the following effects in Live:

Please be sure not to confuse this remote control functionality with Live’s ability to use the computer keyboard as a pseudo-MIDI keyboard (see 15.3.2) that can generate MIDI notes from computer keystrokes for use with instruments.

Download Live 11 manual (PDF)

Note: in some internet browsers the manual will be opened directly in the browser and not downloaded. To download the file, right click on the link and select «Download linked file» from the context menu.

Different ways of connecting MIDI keyboard to hardware (via audio interface or via MIDI USB)

Here is a photo that shows different ways of connecting your keyboard to Ableton Live.

I was wondering what are some of the benefits to each different version of the setup?

For example, if I’m looking to connect my keyboard (Roland FA08) to my laptop and have the output come out of my studio speakers, do I need an audio interface? My keyboard has an USB cord (NOT THE USB MIDI interface cord) that connects from the keyboard to the computer.

Is it better to connect the keyboard to the computer (like the 1st setup) or connect my keyboard to the audio interface via MIDI cable and connect the audio interface to the computer?

4 Answers 4

This is too much for a comment, but can’t be a full answer without knowing the OP’s actual use-case.

It rather depends on what you think you are going to be listening to.

Neither USB or MIDI from your keyboard will transmit sound. They will both, in fact, transmit only MIDI data [just by different routes] to the computer.

The computer will then have to have some type of DAW, midi recorder plus some type of ‘sound module’, VST instrument etc to make any sense of the incoming note data.

That ‘sound module’ then needs to play that sound out to somewhere you can hear it. That will be either headphones, or a more sophisticated audio converter/mixer/amp/speaker structure.

Given the diagram you’ve shown;

The first line shows a keyboard connected to a Mac using USB (this is fine, and the current way of doing it). The Mac then connects to the interface using USB (again, fine). The diagram then shows the interface going through a DI box to connect to the mixer. If you’re playing on stage, and you’re quite a distance from the mixer, this is how you’d do it. In a bedroom scenario, you don’t need the DI box; just take your two TS cables from the interface, and put them straight into the mixer.

One caveat on this solution; do NOT have the keyboard and interface going into the same USB hub if it’s unpowered. You’ll probably overload it, and strange things will happen. Use a powered hub, or just two separate USB ports on the Mac.

The second line you’ve shown will work, but by taking away the Interface, you’re relying on the Mac to produce the actual sounds. The Mac sound card isn’t the greatest, and it adds extra load on the CPU. However, because you don’t need the DI Box in a bedroom, you’re looking at the lowest cost solution.

How to use Ableton Live with MIDI keyboards

The humble MIDI keyboard is often still seen as the most universal way to interact with your music software. But why do we need it with Ableton Live, when we have Push?

The good old MIDI keyboard might seem a tad redundant when we have so many high-tech ways to control Live, but it can still be one of our best friends. Unlike Push, for example, a keyboard simply works with any music software on your computer – and maybe with iOS and Android devices, too. If you have a keyboard at home already, make sure to give it some love from time to time and find it a space next to your fancy LED boxes.

For the actual playing of musical parts, nothing has ever overshadowed the basic keyboard, even if it gives you nightmarish flashbacks to childhood piano lessons. Maybe the most important reason to keep a keyboard handy is that using it can impart transferable skills. It’s never a good idea to get too dogmatic or too invested in one particular piece of music software. In the future, you might be in a band or studio situation where you need to hook up to Cubase, Logic or Pro Tools and a keyboard will keep you more versatile than a grid of pretty lights.

Exotic creations

To understand the full benefits of using a MIDI keyboard with Live, you could also explore some of the more exotic creations that are on offer. At the moment, if you want to kind of keep a keyboard layout while getting groovy hands-on control, you could look at offerings such as the Novation SL MkIII, ROLI’s Seaboard or LUMI, Native Instruments’ Komplete Kontrol, or the Akai Advance range. All of these will make you feel at home as far as note layout goes, while adding various levels of software integration.

There is no official ‘Push Keyboard’ as such at the moment, although the Novation probably comes closest, but I’d love to see one, with the physical controls and the display from Push, but with a 49- or 61-note keyboard added.

Our walkthrough uses Live 10, but any recent version of the Live Suite, with the additional instruments will see you through. If you don’t have that, use your favourite third-party instrument plug-ins, if they have suitable controls. If you have the luxury of choosing whether to connect through either USB or MIDI, use whichever is most convenient in terms of cable management.

With USB, power shouldn’t be a consideration, either, as they mostly run on the power provided by the connection, while with MIDI you might need a mains power supply. Keyboards are great for anything that requires a dynamic musical performance, but I’m well aware that they meet resistance in certain quarters; as a teacher, I’ve seen kids flat-out refuse to touch a ‘piano’, but give them some drum pads and some colourful lights and you can’t hold them back. Also, if you’re performing established music rather than creating new material, a piano layout is a much better bet – that’s what they were made for.

There’s no point in using a new musical interface unless you’re actually going to create new music. A cheap MIDI keyboard is also a generic platform for live use, and is both effective and disposable. At different times in a set, it can be used to play instrument parts; at others, it can be a controller, if it has knobs and buttons and faders. Do bear in mind that, thanks to MIDI mapping, the keys can also be used as buttons in themselves, which can lead to a couple of interesting functions. First, there’s the mapping mentioned in the walkthrough, where a range of notes is assigned to play an audio clip at different pitches. This creates some great effects, depending on the clip content and on the settings you make in the Launch box; I’ve even used it to create 80s-style sample hits for remixes.

Map Quest

On a similar theme, if you map a single audio clip to a keyboard note, then go in the Launch box, and set a % value in the Vel box. The sample will respond with volume changes as you play. These are really old features in Live, and usually overlooked because of all the other great ways we can work, but they are still fun and creative. If you’re using a keyboard like this, you’ll find it helps to grab some masking tape and a marker pen and label the keys with text or icons that’ll help you keep track of the various assignments.

And before you ask, no, we’re not having a big downer on Push, Launchpads or whatever when we talk about keyboards. We’re just keeping it real and realistic, as those types of products can be expensive, and in many situations they’re just not as versatile or functional as a keyboard. If you’ve got a MIDI keyboard, dust it off, hook it up and see what happens.

Using MIDI keyboards with Live: step-by-step

2. MIDI keyboards of a more recent vintage should connect up to your computer via a standard USB cable and socket, but be aware that some smaller examples might need a USB A-Mini B cable.

3. Older keyboards will have the standard MIDI DIN-type plug. You can connect that using a USB-to-MIDI adaptor cable, which is quite affordable, or use the MIDI input on your audio interface, if it has one.

4. Most MIDI keyboards are driver-free, which makes things a lot easier to set up and it’s usually plug and play. Launch Live, open Preferences/MIDI Link. If your keyboard is listed as a Control Surface, set it up; otherwise’ set it manually.

5. In Live’s Browser, go to Instruments/Simpler and load an instrument, such as a piano. If you’ve got Grand Piano, use that. With a traditional instrument, you’ll be reminded how music theory and composition are entwined with the instrument.

6. The familiar layout of the black and white keys and the octaves fits the piano perfectly. And they should, as they’ve evolved together over hundreds of years. If you can play keyboards properly, you need a piano-style interface.

CONNECTION IS MADE Nearly every MIDI keyboard can work as a Live controller. I say ‘nearly’, because a very few of them require USB drivers, which may not still be supported and compatible with recent computers. Use a USB-MIDI adaptor cable, or go through your audio interface’s MIDI input.

7. But this being software, there are, of course, many other things we can add to this. Just like the best grid-style controllers, or drum pads, the MIDI piano has velocity – it responds to how hard you press/hit the keys.

8. You can change the behaviour according to velocity and edit the relationships between filter cutoff, volume, and velocity. If you go through the instruments in the Live Suite, each of them has a parameter that responds to velocity.

9. Look at the Tension instrument, for example. It has at least 10 parameters that are assignable to velocity. In fact, if you load some of the presets, such as Synth Keys/Celestaclav, you’ll see that some are preconfigured.

10. Look out for the Key assignment value which, for example, appears in Operator where it can be set up so that incoming note pitch affects filter frequency. It’s preconfigured to 32% in the Synth Lead/FM Short Lead preset.

11. The keyboard has often been forgotten for recording beats, but as it’s got a clear note layout and is velocity sensitive, what else do you need? It’s the original finger drummer! In Live’s default drum racks, C1 triggers the kick, so take it from there.

12. I often compose and perform beats by tapping on a tiny keyboard, because I’m so used to working that way. Of course, there might be no velocity with that option, so you would have to add it in after the fact.

GET DIRTY WITH QWERTY No keyboard, no Push, no nothing? Tap ‘M’ on your computer keyboard in Live 10 to enable the Computer MIDI Keyboard. Row keys A to L are white keyboard keys, and Q to P are the black keys. Z and C will transpose octaves, and C and X change velocity.

13. We can use instrument racks to take it to another level. Imagine a virtually unlimited number of instruments being played simultaneously from one keyboard input, then imagine them laid out across a split keyboard.

14. When working with an instrument rack that has two or more chains, we can use Zones to divide the keyboard according to Velocity (different velocities trigger different zones) or Key (different groups of notes trigger different zones).

15. Connect a MIDI keyboard and play the instrument rack in track 1 of our example project. As you play softer or harder, you’ll notice the mix between the chains evolves, as different elements become more or less prominent.

16. Now try the instrument rack in track 2, and check the Zone Editor. This time we’re using pitch to trigger or fade between, different chains. The potential here is mind blowing when you can also use Simpler to add loops or beats.

17. Track 3 has a rack that combines these methods. Play your keyboard and hear the sound change with velocity and with pitch. The example provided is obvious, but in the real world, you could use something more discreet. Or not.

18. Enter MIDI Map Mode (Cmd-M) then click the audio clip in track 4. Press the highest and lowest notes on your keyboard, and they’ll be superimposed on the clip. Exit Map Mode, play some notes, and hear the sample at different pitches.

For more Live tutorials and workshops, check here.

Ableton Live MIDI mapping tutorial

Ableton Live’s MIDI mapping is an essential tool, but it can be confusing to a new comer of Ableton or even music production in general.

Today we’re going to go through everything you need to know in order to understand this powerful feature.

From explaining how MIDI works, setting up, to advanced techniques for creating sets of MIDI mappings inside Ableton Live versions 9, 10 and 11, which you can use again and again in all of your projects!

If you’ve came here looking for an answer to why Ableton MIDI mapping is not working for you, check the step in the how to set up your MIDI controller section.

table of contents

What is MIDI?

If you’ve been producing or performing music for any amount of time, I’m sure you’ve heard the term “MIDI”. But to make sure we’re on the same page, let’s just quickly go over what MIDI actually is.

Originally developed back in the 80s, Musical Instrument Digital Interface (or MIDI for short) is a communication standard for musical hardware which allows separate pieces of equipment to “talk” to each other by sending performance data back and forth.

This is why MIDI keyboards and controllers don’t produce any sound, their use is to simply interact with the software by sending MIDI messages.

What is MIDI mapping?

The ability to MIDI map is one of the most useful features in Ableton Live. Rather than being tied to your mouse and computer keyboard, MIDI mapping enables you to connect a performance friendly instrument to your computer such as a MIDI piano keyboard (i.e. LPK25 mini) or MIDI controller (i.e. APC40) and control functions inside Ableton.

This way of working is much more natural for music creation and performance, plus it’s a lot more enjoyable than being hunched over a computer screen for hours, clicking away.

Ableton’s built in MIDI mapping engine allows you to select what each button/knob/pad on your MIDI controller/keyboard will control inside Ableton when you press/turn/tap it, allowing you to take any controller or keyboard which sends MIDI data, connect it to Ableton and create a set of custom controls, specific to your own unique workflow requirements!

For example, lets say you want to focus your attention on mixer controls, you can map your MIDI controller to functions like track volume, panning & mute. Or if you want to control the various parameters of a virtual instrument or device then you can map it to those.

We will go through the steps involved in creating MIDI mappings but first and most importantly, you need to make sure that your equipment is setup correctly inside Ableton.

How to setup up your midi controller / keyboard ready for midi mapping in Ableton Live

Setting your equipment up correctly is super important. It’s actually a very simple process but this is often the point where people not familiar with the process are left wondering: why is Ableton MIDI mapping not working? Below we will explain how to setup your MIDI device correctly.

Alternatively, if you have your MIDI keyboard setup but can’t hear sound, read our article on having no sound in ableton live and how to fix it.

1. Connect your MIDI keyboard/controller to your computer

First things first, connect your equipment to your computer. This will be via USB which you can plug directly into the computer’s usb port and you’ll be ready to go.

Some people use a piece of equipment called an audio interface as a hub between the computer and equipment. An audio interface is normally used for connecting analog gear such as microphones and other instruments to a computer but an audio interface can also act as an external sound card.

If you’re experiencing latency issues between your equipment and computer then using an audio interface can help remedy this.

Once connected, fire up Ableton Live.

2. Set your preferences

Go to the preferences menu inside Ableton. In mac, this is found inside the Live menu and on Windows you’ll find it inside the Options menu.

In the preferences menu, click on the “Link Midi” tab and look for the MIDI Ports section. If you have connected your midi controller and Ableton has recognised it then you will see its name listed here twice, both as an input and output option.

You now just need to turn Track and Remote on for both of these and close the preferences menu. That’s all there is to it and should only need to be done one time, your equipment is now ready to be MIDI mapped!

How to MIDI map a control

Ableton’s midi mapping engine is simple to use, here are the steps you need to create a mapping.

1. Turn on MIDI Map Mode

The first thing you need to do is put Ableton into MIDI map mode. To do this, find the MIDI Map Mode Switch (labelled MIDI) which is located in the top menu bar towards the right hand side.

When you click this, you’ll notice a lot of things turn blue. This means you’re in mapping mode and Ableton is waiting for you to add some mappings.

2. Select a parameter you want to control

Everything displayed in blue is MIDI mappable, which as you can see is quite a lot! click a control you want to map and you’ll see that it becomes highlighted in color or a border appears around it.

3. Attach it to a physical input on your controller/keyboard

Now turn/twist/press the physical input on your MIDI controller/keyboard that you want to control it with and you will see a value appear over the control. This tells you that a MIDI mapping has been attached to the parameter.

4. Test your mapping

To test that the control was mapped correctly, turn off MIDI Mapping Mode and move the physical input on your MIDI equipment. If all went well then the corresponding parameter inside Ableton will also move / change.

That’s really all there is to it, to add more mappings simply turn MIDI Mapping Mode on again and create some more.

Managing MIDI mappings

You can see a full list of all the mappings you have created inside the Mapping Browser. After turning MIDI Mapping Mode on, the main browser window on the left hand side automatically switches to the Mapping Browser. So just ensure that you have this viewable by clicking the arrow near the top left of the screen so that it points to the right.

To delete a mapping, you can either select the parameter directly or in the mapping browser and press delete on your computer keyboard.

Tweaking MIDI mappings

In the Mapping Browser, there a some controls which can be tweaked depending on what they are.

Track Activator Buttons (also known as mute buttons) can be inverted, meaning if you use a toggle control on your controller, you can reverse it so that when your controller toggle is on, mute will be off and vice versa.

Device parameter mappings have 2 extra options which allow you to specify min & max percentage values. For example, you can tell Ableton, to only turn a device parameter to 70% when the physical knob on your MIDI equipment is turned all the way to right.

How to Save MIDI mappings in Ableton Live

The obvious way to go about saving your mappings is to simply save your Ableton project, then whenever you open that project again your mappings will be there and ready to go.

This way of saving mappings has a major drawback, you need to re-map everything each time you create a new project, this isn’t really the best workflow and needing to re-map all of your parameters with each new project can get very time consuming. A great way to save your mappings which can be used in all of your Live sessions is by creating a control surface script (also known as MIDI remote scripts). You can create them in just a few minutes using this free Ableton script building app.

However, if you just want to stick with using Live’s internal mapping mode, there are a couple of ways you can get around this problem of saving MIDI mappings with varying degrees of success.

1. Save your mappings to a blank template

Rather than starting with a completely blank project each time, this method works by creating all of your MIDI mappings in a blank project and saving it.

Whenever you start a new project you should then open this specific project as your starting point and go from there.

Unfortunately If you forget to use it as a starting point and get deep into a new project before realising your mistake, then you’re out of luck, you’ll need to re-map everything manually.

To avoid your inevitable forgetfulness, you can set it to be used automatically whenever you start a new project. To do this, use the “save current set as default” button found inside the preferences > file / folder.

2. Save instrument rack mappings

If you only want to save mappings for devices and VSTs (Virtual Studio Technology) then its possible to export these separately for re-use in any project.

An ‘adg’ file can be pulled into a project with all midi mappings instantly available. This method is limited to instrument racks only, saving tracks in the same way doesn’t save mappings.

Here’s a great video which quickly walks you through this process

3. Use a MIDI Remote Script

MIDI Remote Scripts are similar to MIDI mappings but one of their big bonuses is they’re totally separate from your projects. You can load one at any point from the Preferences menu and all of the mappings contained in it will instantly automap to your controller/keyboard.

Any equipment which has its own custom set of Ableton functions that automap to the controller, will most probably be using a Remote Script to achieve this.

Ableton provides a large collection of Midi Remote Scripts purpose built for specific controllers. Inside the ‘link midi’ tab of the preferences menu, you’ll see the title ‘control surface’. You can select upto 6 different control surface scripts.

You can create multiple Remote Scripts and switch between them whenever you need to, or even add shift buttons to give each control on your equipment multiple functions.

As well as being able to do everything that regular MIDI mapping can, MIDI Remote Scripts have the ability to dig deep into the Ableton Live API in ways which the internal MIDI mapping mode can’t.

For example, with MIDI Remote Scripts you can control anything on the currently selected track inside Ableton, this includes volume, sends, mute, panning etc. Just create one set of mappings and control any track in your project.

Also, if you’ve ever used a MIDI controller such as an APC40, you’ll have seen that it puts a red outline around an 8 by 8 grid of clips inside Ableton, similar to the one in the picture below. With this you can control the clips and tracks contained within it as a group.

Plus you can move the position of the redbox around your project, giving you access to multiple groups of tracks.

The drawback of these scripts is how complex they are to write, you will probably need to be an expert in coding python which has always been the barrier holding alot of people back.

You can however, generate these scripts automatically, using our app which you can find here. It contains a massive selection of dynamic MIDI mappings for building the perfect setup for your MIDI controller or keyboard. Plus its all done from an easy to use point and click interface, no coding required. Have a look at this tutorial on creating a midi remote script using the remotify app

How To Delete MIDI Mappings In Ableton Live

Deleting MIDI mappings from an Ableton Live session can be done by firstly switching MIDI Map Mode ‘on’. Once this is on, then you can delete a MIDI mapping be either right clicking the parameter and selecting ‘delete’ or via the browser (which will display to the left of your Ableton Live session).

See below for details on both of these methods. For details on how to turn MIDI Map Mode on/off, see the section above how to MIDI map a control.

1. Right Clicking The Parameter To Delete The Mapping

With MIDI Map Mode on, you can right click any mapped parameter and select ‘delete mapping’.

You can see which parameters are MIDI mapped as they will have 2 numbers with a forward slash displayed over them i.e. 13/3.

This indicates the MIDI channel and MIDI value which the parameter is mapped to.

2. Deleting The Mapping Via The Browser

The browser can be shown/hidden by clicking the arrow icon near the top left of the screen.

Once the browser is displayed, turn the MIDI Map Mode button ‘on’. Then the browser will change to ‘MIDI Mappings’ view, which displays a list all mappings created in the session.

You can identify what each mapping does by reading the ‘Path’ and ‘Name’ columns.

The ‘Path’ column tells you the location of what is mapped, and the ‘Name’ column tells you the name of the parameter.

To delete any mapping listed in the MIDI Mappings area, click it and then hit delete or backspace on your keyboard. Or open the ‘Edit’ menu and click ‘Delete’.

Full list of Ableton Live MIDI Mapping options

Tap Tempo

Ableton will automatically change the song’s bpm and all warped audio clips to match the tempo at which you tap this button.

Tempo (MIDI continuous controller)

Set the current song’s current tempo using a MIDI CC style control.

Tempo nudge down

Temporarily decrease the the tempo of the song. This is helpful when attempting to syncronize your song with another source such as a live musician.

Tempo nudge up

The same as Temp nudge down but this button temporarily increases the song’s current tempo.

Metronome

Turn on and off the Metronome.

Quantization Menu

Choose the global launch quantization. This can be done with a button mapping (each press will move the quantization selection down one) or with a portimento/knob/endless encoder.

Follow on/off

Turn follow on and off, when on, the display will scroll along during playback and keep the song’s current position visible.

Start playback of the song.

Stop playback of the song.

Arrangement Record Button on/off

Turn arrangement record on/off, when this is on it will record into the arrangement.

Midi Arrangement Overdub on/off

When this is on, existing notes in MIDI clips in the Arrangement will be mixed with, rather than replaces by, newly recorded notes.

Automation Arm on/off

When turned on, any parameter changes you make, will be recorded the session clips. This is a great way to record varying versions of a clip directly in the session view.

Re-enable Automation on/off

When you press this, any parameters that are currently being overridden in the arrangement or session clips will be re-activated.

Session Record Button on/off

This toggles between playback and overdub for any playing clips which are currently playing in armed tracks. In MIDI clips, notes and automation can be overdubbed where is only automation can be overdubbed in audio clips.

Prepare Scene for new recording

This will stop playback for all clips in armed tracks and start a new recording for each of them in a scene where new clips can be recorded. It will create a new scene if necessary.

Punch In Switch on/off

When you activate this, it will prevent recording in the arrangement view prior to the “punch-in point”.

Punch Out Switch on/off

Just like the Punch In Switch, when activated it prevents recording after the “punch-out point” in arrangement view.

Loop Switch on/off

Turn the Arrangement Loop on and off.

Draw Mode Switch on/off

This turns draw mode on and off which is used inside Clip View for drawing MIDI information and automation curves inside clips.

Track Select

Map buttons to the title bar of individual tracks, this will select the track when the button is pressed on your controller/keyboard.

Clip Slot Select

Map a button to a specific clip slot. If the clip slot is empty and the track is armed, clicking the clip slot will begin a recording. If the slot contains a clip then the clip will begin playing. When it will begin playing is based on its quantization settings.

Clip Stop Button

Stop the clip that’s currently playing in the track.

Track Launch

This will launch the clip in the currently highlighted scene.

Monitoring

You can switch a track between 3 monitoring settings. When this is set to “on”, it will play any externally connected signals (or other tracks) through its own mixer and devices. You can also use MIDI from other sources to play instruments / drum racks that are on the track. When set to “Auto” it will only do this when the track is armed. “Off” means that it will only use its own clips or instruments as the sound source.

Send (MIDI continuous controller)

Set this to a knob/endless encoder etc type control on your MIDI equipment to adjust the track’s contribution to the corresponding return track’s input.

Track Pan (MIDI continuous controller)

Adjust a specific track’s position in the stereo field.

Track Volume (MIDI continuous controller)

Adjust the output signal of a specific track in your project.

Track Activator / mute

Activate this button to hear the output of a specific track or disable it to mute the track.

Solo/Cue

This switch has 2 different uses. When set to ‘Solo’, turning the switch on will mute all other tracks except for this one. When the switch is set to ‘Cue’, enabling the switch will send the track’s output to the channels selected in the Session mixer’s Cue out chooser. Cue is useful in a DJ style setup for preparing clips using headphones.

Arm Session Recording

Turning this on will record-enable a track’s clips. Armed tracks record signal set in the Monitoring settings for the track.

Scene Launch

Set a button on your equipment to launch all clips in a specific scene.

Stop All

This will stop all clips currently playing in your project. When they stop is based on the global quantization settings.

Back to Arrangement

Use this button to make Live play the contents of the Arrangement view. Any changes you have made in session view will stop.

Scene Up & Down

Move the selected scene up & down

Preview/Cue Volume (MIDI continuous controller)

Adjust the volume of the preview/cue dial. Any tracks which have ‘cue’ turned on will be affected by this.

Crossfade Assign

Set a button on your controller to this and loop through 3 settings which determine how a specific track is affected by the crossfader. If both A and B are off then the crossfader has no effect. If A is on then the track fades out as the crossfader moved right across its center position. If B is on then the track will fade out when the crossfader moved across the center to the left.

Crossfader (MIDI continuous controller)

You can set this to a slider control on your MIDI instrument for a smooth fade from left to right (see crossfade assign) or you can map buttons to the left and right positions of the crossfader for quick position toggling using buttons on your equipment.

Set / Delete Locator

Assign this a button on your controller and you can drop locators in your arrangement at any point during playback.

Previous Locator & Next Locator

Jump to the previous locator / start of the song and the next locator / end of the song.

clip view

Clip mappings aren’t clip specific. They usually apply to whichever clip is selected.

nudge backward

(The left button in the image) Set this to one of your buttons/keyboard keys and you can jump backward in the playing by the amount set in the global quantization.

nudge forward

(The right button in the image) The same as nudge forward but jumps forward in the playing clip based on the global quantization.

clip scrub control (MIDI continuous controller)

(The middle button in the image) With this set to a control on your equipment you can scrub the clip play position forward and backward. Think of it as the same functionality as a jog wheel on a DJ Controller.

clip quantization

Change a specific clip’s quantization setting.

Clip Transpose (MIDI continuous controller)

Adjust the pitch of the clip in semitones

Clip Gain (MIDI continuous controller)

Adjust the clip’s playback volume

set start & set end

(The 2 set buttons in the image) Assign these to button’s or notes on your equipment to set the start and end markers at the current play position.

start & end (MIDI continuous controller)

(The 2 sets of 3 boxes in the image) You can scroll the start and end positions in the clip to specific values.

loop switch

Turn on and off the clips loop switch.

set loop position

(The top set of 3 boxes in the image) Set the loop position, this can be done while the clip is playing

loop position (MIDI continuous controller)

Move the clip’s loop position

set loop length (MIDI continuous controller)

loop length (MIDI continuous controller)

(The bottom set of 3 boxes in the image) Select the length of the loop inside a clip

Midi step input left & Midi step input right

Set these to buttons or keys on your controller to move a clip’s insert marker to the right or left, one step at a time.

midi editor preview

When enabled, this will allow you to listen to all changes or modifications made to MIDI notes as they’re created and moved.

Device Select

Select a specific device on any track in your project.

Device Activator

Activate or deactivate a specific device in your project.

Device Parameter controls (MIDI continuous controller)

Map controls to specific device parameters.