One thing that life does really well is midi mapping and that's the process of taking a piece of hardware and assigning it to control parameters inside of the software. So this creates this real-time interaction and like tactile relationship between what's happening with your hands and what's happening inside of the computer and it's super, super simple to do. So, what I'm going to do is map three different parameters in the software to three different types of controls on this MIDI controller. I'm going to use a rotary knob, a fader and a key. So you can see this happen in three different ways as midi controllers come in many different shapes and sizes. Some only have keys and buttons, some only have knobs, faders, there's a whole kind of array of things that your MIDI controller might have. So I'm going to show you how to map parameters and control them with the majority of things that you'll be encountering. So first things first, we need to make sure that our MIDI controller is set up to act as a remote control. So we need to do that by heading to the Preferences menu and in the midi tab on the left hand side. If we go down you can see that the Launchkey 49, which is the name of this particular controller is listed as both an input and an output. So in order to record midi sequences with it, in order to track seat midi with it, we need to turn that on. But additionally, we need to turn remote on which is going to let this controller act as a remote control. So if you begin midi mapping and you're like, why is this not working? This is probably why it's not working. You need to have remote on for whatever MIDI controller it is that you are mapping. So heading out of here. What I'm going to do is open up this Midi map mode, so you can see everything turns purple and I'm going to open up the browser and this becomes now a display of the things that are mapped. So I'm opening up the Breakbeat track here and I've added a native Effect called Vinyl Distortion, which is going to give this sort of like crackling sound as if we were listening to an analog vinyl record. So all I need to do is just click on the parameter that I want to map, in this case tt's volume. And then I'm going to adjust and move the fader or Knob or key or whatever it is that I want to map to on the controller and you can see that it just popped right up. It up. It says CC 7 which is the message that is assigned to that fader is going to the Breakbeat track on the Vinyl Distortion. It's going to be affecting the crackle volume and then I can also set a minimum and a maximum amount. So just quickly to exit and show you this working in action now, I'm going to turn this knob up and down. You can hear that Vinyl Distortion coming in and out. So if I wanted to limit it to a smaller range, I could go back into midi map here and I could say at the very minimum, you're going to be a third of the way up and at the maximum you're going to be two-thirds of the way up, let's say. So now I'm only moving between a really small set of values and I can dictate that myself, and then to set this one down because at one point I want 0 Crackle. And I'll set the maximum out about half way because halfway's the top of where I want to go with this. All right, let's keep mapping. The chords, I'm going to perform this filter sweep that I had automated previously. So I'm going to just click on the Frequency parameter here and then assign it to this knob. So again just touching it, here's the pathway, CC 21, it's track 5, which is called Chords on the auto filter, I've mapped the frequency parameter. Okay, and then last but not least in this sliced vocal. I have put a chorus effect on which is really pronounced and I wanted to come in at a certain point of the song. So what I want to do is turn it on and off. So this is not a range of values, this is either on or off. So this is perfect to map a key to. So I can just click on this On/Off button here and then I'll map it to this C. So here on the pathways, it says note C 3, moving to the sliced Vocal Track, the chorus device and it's going to turn the device on or off. And in this case, we don't have a set of values to assign since this is binary, it's either on or it's off. So I'm going to actually delete this one and I'm going to exit midi map mode and I'm going to show you how to map that exact same parameter to a note on your computer's keyboard, which is referred to as key mapping. So I'm going to hit Key here and it's the exact same process except instead of purple now everything's the sort of orange color. And I'm going to click on the power button here for this course device, and I'm going to map it to the Q button. So now it says key Q going to slice vocal chorus device on, all right. So just checking make sure this is working I'm going to hit Q, the devices on, the device is off. I wanted to start off, I'm going to turn it on at a certain point during the process. So I've got my Vinyl Distortion, my Frequency, Filter Sweep and turning the chorus on and off here. So you can pretty much outfit your controller to do whatever it is that you want to do. I mean, there was a time when this is all automation have to happen by hand and be performed in. So in a way, we're using new digital tools to do something that is kind of an older way of approaching something like automation. So here I go, I'm going to just hit Record and I'm going to play a bunch of this stuff. I'll record some Filters Sweeps, I'll mess with the Vinyl Distortion and Alternate course at a certain point too. [MUSIC] I'll then turn the Distortion down. So it recorded every move that I made on the hardware using the MIDI controller, using my computer's keyboard. You can see it's all recorded in there for me. I can do any editing at this point or I could just do a whole another pass if I wanted to play it again. And it's this sort of interaction with the software that makes me excited about using Live. I want to feel connected to my creative process and a lot of times that's going to require that I'm not using a trackpad or mouse, I want to put my hands on something. And so Live makes this very easy, it's a great way to get a little bit more connected with what it is you're doing in the software.
