Ableton Send Midi to Host

[thethirdman]

Hi Colin

I am new to Architect, bought a license recently. Think it is fantastic. I bought it for the Mono Step Sequencer alone because of its flexibility and having fun with it.

From the programming side of things I have basic Max skills but pretty novice. I have been playing around with good results - but inevitably I have some questions and as there isn't much to go on by way of guidance (I've read the help and checked out the macros of others), I'm writing this. Possibly the first of a few?

Basic starter question - in Ableton I can play with architect as a VST / AU but as it loads as an Audio generating plugin I cannot route the Midi from the MIDI Output module in Architect to the Host. I can select Host in the Output Properties in Architect, but cannot get the signal into Ableton. Normally with Midi routing in Ableton you can set a channels input to route in the Midi of another channel but Architect is set up to output sound in the way Ableton recognises the device.

I imagine this is because as an Ableton opens Architect as an Instrument outputting Audio and not as Midi Effect (comes before Instruments in the routing and outputs Midi) I can't get the midi out.

Any ideas? Hopefully I am missing something.

FYI I can route direct out to my external hardware or to Architect hosted plugs but no to Host. Ideally I could route the Midi out of Architect straight into the DAW and the I can record the midi out into Ableton clips and also host my plugins in Ableton which is just a much easier workflow which I am sure is what it is intended to do. (I know I could record midi in Architect and export it but its much more of a faff).

If this isn't possible would you consider making a version of Architect that is recognised as a MIDI plugin and then it could be used for Midi programming alone without having to host the plugin in Architect.

Hope that makes sense.

[michaelinmelbourne]

Hey mate

I'm not sure if you've tried this already but: you could try and use the midi out module and set the output to host, then in ableton, create a blank midi track and in the "midi from" box, select the instance of architect? Then just enable record and it should work. Also, this method of splitting midi out by channels was pointed out to me a couple of days ago, except you'd use [set channel] if routing audio from the step sequencers

fMieUiI.jpg

[colin@loomer]

Basic starter question - in Ableton I can play with architect as a VST / AU but as it loads as an Audio generating plugin I cannot route the Midi from the MIDI Output module in Architect to the Host.Hope that makes sense.

It should work how you expect: out of interest, which version of Live are you using? The only reason I ask is that someone told me that the MIDI routing changed with Live 11. I know for sure how to accomplish this with Live 10, and I'm happy to work it out on Live 11 for you, if needed.

[thethirdman]

Hi There

Sorry for the delay and thanks for the replies.

Yes, I had done exactly as you suggest Colin and I am pretty familiar with Ableton and its MIDI routing methods.

1, In Ableton - Architect placed on MIDI Track
2, Inside Architect, Mono Seq routed to Midi Output.
2, Midi Output set to "Host"
3, Ableton New Midi Track Made With MIDI FRIM Set to Ableton and Monitor Set to IN (have tried both(

No dice.

If I use the same routing for other onboard VSTS it works fine.

I have Ableton 11 Suite (not crackedd!) so I wonder if it is a bug you could research? I have also tested on Ableton 10 Suite. Im on a Mac, have tested on two setups, one Big Sure one High Sierra.

Thanks in advance.

Toby

[colin@loomer]

Thanks for the additional info: I'll take a look for myself, then, and see if I can get things working with your setup.

[colin@loomer]

I have this working with Ableton 11. The steps I took were:

- Add an instance of Architect to a MIDI track (which we will call "track 1").
- Inside Architect, add a [mono step sequencer], compose a pattern on it, and connect that to a [MIDI output] with device set to "host". (I believe you've already done these 2 steps from your description of the issue.)
- Create a new MIDI track (which we will called "track 2") for the instrument you wish to send MIDI data to, and add the VST to it.
- On track 2 choose "MIDI From" as "track 1" and then choose "ArchitectVST64" in the source dropdown below this.
- Set track 2's Monitor to In.
- Arm track 2's recording.

Now when you press play in Ableton, MIDI should be routed from the output of the Architect instance to the MIDI track.

If you're having trouble following these steps, I can send you the Ableton project itself, if that would help.

[thethirdman]

Hmmm. That’s exactly what I do. I’m going to check if maybe the audio unit performs differently to the VST. I’ll triple check thanks

[colin@loomer]

Please do. If these steps don't work for you, I'll upload a skeleton Ableton Live project. As you say, could be an Audio Unit vs VST thing as I did these steps on Windows.

EDIT: Also, could you post a screenshot, as I may be able to spot something awry with your routing setting in Live.