MAX/MSP Screen Shots

The first screen shot is for the Drum Trigger:

Fairly self explanatory up to 'p timedlatch' which cuts off the signal for a short period when it's been hit to prevent double bangs coming through... Then as the 'incdec' object increases it opens a different path through the gate and the second bang from 't b b' (trigger bang bang) sends a bang through the corresponding number of the gate. Difficult to explain but not that complicated!

The next screen shot shows how the FCB is routed through MAX to Ableton Live.



The FCB is programmed to send '127' out on notes 22, 23, 24 etc, these messages go either straight through to another control message into Live or they trigger a different control value... This method is still a bit messy at the moment...

Drum Trigger

When playing drum kit in a piece I use a cymbal pad from an electric kit that's connected straight into the computer. MAX/MSP then triggers actions when the pad is hit (the pad acts like a microphone, when hit it sends a massive audio signal).

This means I can trigger a set of changes that are sent to Ableton Live using a counter. Every time the pad is hit it counts up one number and sends whatever action is programmed for that number.

Behringer FCB1010

I've recently replaced my home-brew foot controller with the FCB1010... One major factor was the expression pedals, which I can use to control hundreds of effects. Plus it's laid out nicely and offers 10 banks of 10 switches, all fully programmable with MIDI notes/control messages.

I still haven't fully got my head around MIDI but for now I'm using the FCB in conjunction with MAX/MSP in a similar way that Zoe Keating and Kid Beyond use their pedals. Often it's necessary for 2 or more actions to occur at once within Ableton Live, although you can program two note commands from one switch on the FCB, I've started using MAX to receive MIDI notes from the FCB and send them out to Ableton Live. This means I can not only send loads of commands at once but I can also just hit the pedals in order, 1, 2, 3, 4 etc meaning it's less likely that I'll mess up because I've forgotten which pedal does what!

It also means I can program some automation into the foot presses such as fade ins/outs...