Match Ableton Clip Color to reflect as LED state on MIDI Pads for Akai APC40 MK2
A lot of use on the forum are asking for this feature. We want the Akai APC40 MK2 PADS to light up based on the clip color of the Ableton clip that gets loaded on that PAD.
why did you choose to only go with 3 states for LED feed back? what are you going to implement so that we have LED color matching to clip color on Ableton?
we bought and purchased CSS with the idea that MIDI Mapping would go by a lot faster with your tool you created, so far it’s been more of a hassle trying to get your program to work appropriately mainly because the APC40 has 3 modes like MCBeats has mentioned on multiple forum posts and responses.
MCBeats has even provided the solution to set the modes (giving us a template ready for you to update on your program so that it’s easier on the users to choose between modes (mode 0, 1, and 2).
Here’s the current state of this project. I added a version for the APC40 MK2 (untested, because I don’t own the device) and a version for the MIDI Fighter Twister (tested).
What the script does in its current state:
– Sets button colors to Clip colors if the the Clip colors are made of “valid” color indices (i.e. color indices that have a velocity assigned to them). On invalid color index, a default “Off Color” will be assigned (in case of the APC40 that’s black, in case of the MFT that’s whatever Off Color has been installed in the first virtual bank using the MIDI Fighter Utility)
– Clip slots without a clip also get the default Off Color assigned.
– The updating of button colors happens when:
– the script is initialized
– a color index of a clip inside session box has changed
– the session box is moved
What the script does NOT do in its current state:
– It doesn’t work as expected when using the in-app Session Box mapping for more than just setting the boundaries of the session box (i.e. if you assign buttons or colors inside this Session Box mapping, my script won’t behave as we would want it to)
– Button colors aren’t updated if you change Clip colors indirectly (e.g. when you use the right-click option on a Track to change all its Clip’s colors into the Track’s color).
– There are probably a lot more ways this script doesn’t work in a useful way.
This comment by JohnC helped me find a way to make the colors on the controller adapt after a clip color was changed within the session box.
I’ll put this project on hold for now, as I’ve lost my interest in it a bit + it basically does what I set out to accomplish; it only doesn’t react well with extra stuff. I might return to it from an angle, by using the “user.py” custom coding method (which I just recently learned about).
I also think it might be possible to use Ableton’s colors on the APC40 via SysEx messages. SysEx is entirely new terrain for me which I want to explore on another controller first, one that I own: a Nektar Pacer. The Pacer doesn’t allow its colors to be changed using MIDI velocity but I’ve reached out to Nektar and they’ve sent me documents on its SysEx messages, which should be able to change the colors dynamically, using the “Send raw MIDI data” action. If this works, I’ll return to this project and I’ll try to make all 70 Clip colors appear on the APC40’s pads.
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