Ableton Live MIDI Learn

MIDI Learn

Step 1 — Tell Live to accept MIDI from your controller

1. Open Preferences → Link, Tempo, & MIDI.
2. In MIDI Ports, turn ON “Remote” for your controller’s Input (this is what enables custom MIDI mappings). If you also want to play notes from the same device, turn Track (In) on too.

Step 2 — Add Omnisphere FX Rack & MIDI CC Learn a Parameter

The procedure is the same whether you are loading the Omnisphere FX Rack plug-in as an insert on an audio or MIDI track. For our example, we will use a MIDI track.

1. Create 2 MIDI tracks by selecting Create → Insert MIDI Track from the menu bar. The 1st MIDI track will be for loading Omnisphere FX Rack (called OMNI FX in this example), and the 2nd MIDI track will be for routing MIDI to Omnisphere FX Rack (called MIDI Track in this example).

The tracks will look like this:

2. Load Omnisphere FX Rack onto the 1st MIDI Track (called OMNI FX in this example).

You can do this in Ableton’s Browser by going to Library → Plug-ins → FX-Omnisphere. You can choose either AU or VST, but please only use one plug-in type for your session.

3. In the Output menu on the 2nd track (called MIDI Track in this example), select your track that contains Omnisphere FX Rack (called OMNI FX in this example).

4. In “Track In” (below the Output selection), select “1-FX-Omnisphere”. This allows Omnisphere FX Rack to receive MIDI input.

5. Click the wrench icon in the device title bar for the plug-in, to bring up the plug-in window:

6. In the plug-in window for Omnisphere FX Rack, load up your desired Effect.

7. Next, make sure your MIDI track is ARMed for recording.

8. Next, right-click on the desired parameter in the plug-in window for Omnisphere FX Rack and select “MIDI CC Learn.”

9. Move the desired knob on your MIDI Controller. You should now be able to manipulate the parameter with your MIDI Controller, and record MIDI CC into Ableton.