Ableton Controltablism & Cue Point Mapping

The combination of Turntablism and Controllerism, originates the Controltablism and the musical figure of Controltablist, which expands the possibilities of DJing with the Digital Vinyl System associated with sequencers. In the video being shown Serato DJ on Mixars Duo, combined with the sequencer of Ableton Live and Push 2 controller. After inventing the innovative technique of the Cue Point Sequencing, John Type presents for the first time the Ableton Cue Point Mapping, which allows you to record on Ableton, a sequence of cue points directly from your mixer, player or controller, equipped with cue point buttons.

Description of the video performance

To better understand the demo of Controltablism with Ableton Live, the performance in the video is simplified as much as possible, as the choice to use the famous song “I Want You Back” by Jackson 5.

The video focuses on 4 main steps:

1. Ableton Cue Point Mapping: a way to record MIDI messages of cue points, from Serato to Ableton directly from your mixer, player or controller

2. Cue Point Sequencing: a sequence of cue points recorded in a sequencer, in this case recorded with Ableton Cue Point Mapping

3. Controllerism: launch and recording of clips in Ableton Session View and synth chords with the Note Mode of Push

4. Turntablism: scratching on guitar Cue Point Sequencing on Deck 2 and a sax solo on Deck 1

The cue points at the beginning of the song “I Want You Back” used in the Cue Point Sequencing of the video

Syncing Serato DJ with Ableton Live

The original speed of “I Want You Back” is 98 bpm, with the turntable pitch is sped up to 104 BPM of Ableton Live session. However, you can synchronize the Bpm of Ableton and Serato with the Ableton Link technology. The original key of the track is preserved with the Key Lock function Serato, or Pitch ‘n Time DJ.

Ableton Cue Point Mapping Tutorial

First at all, it is important to understand the same cue point is divided into 2 parts:

• Hardware Cue Point > physical button on the mixer
• Software Cue Point > virtual button in the softwareFrom hardware Cue Point to Software Cue Point, 2 signals are sent in parallel: both the factory mapping and Ableton Cue Point Mapping. We will use IAC Driver to emulate a virtual machine and make believe to Serato, our MIDI signal comes from an external device.

Requirements

• Mixer, player or controller compatible with MIDI, equipped with cue point buttons
• Serato DJ Software
• Ableton Live Software

Push 2 and other controllers is not essential in the mapping operation, but during the live performance.

Settings

Enable IAC Driver in Mac OS X:
Application > Utility > Audio MIDI Setup
Menu > Window > MIDI Studio > Driver IAC
Checkbox: Device is onlineEnable IAC Driver in Serato DJ:
Setup > MIDI > MIDI Devices
Select: Driver IAC Bus 1
Checkbox: Enable MIDI Device

Enable MIDI ports in Ableton Live:
Preferences > MIDI
Input: Ableton Push 2 > Track > Yes
Input: Mixars DUO > Track > Yes
Output: Drive IAC (Bus 1) >Track > Yes
Settings in the Session View of Ableton Live:
1. Create MIDI track and name it “SERATO”
2. MIDI From: select Mixars DUO
3. All Channels
3. Monitor: Off
4. MIDI To: Driver IAC (Bus 1)
5. Ch. 8 (select a free MIDI channel)

Depending on requirements, create one or more MIDI tracks with the same settings, to control more Serato decks independently.

Mapping operation

Before starting with the mapping, load any audio track on the Serato deck, with some cue points stored.

1. Select the cue point you want to map in Ableton, for example: Hardware Cue Point 1 (red) to be mapped with Software Cue Point 1 (red).2. In Ableton, arm the MIDI track “SERATO” and click in the empty slot, to start the recording of the clip3. As soon as it starts recording, press the physical button of the Hardware Cue Point, to record MIDI data into Ableton clip

4. Press the clip again, in order to switch from recording to playback, is extremely important keep the clip in playback and loop, before moving into the Serato window5. Open the MIDI mapping on DJ Serato (next to Setup button)6. Click the Software Cue Point, which will receive the MIDI message from Ableton clip and voilà the cue point is mapped!7. Close the Serato MIDI mapping and repeat the whole operation for the other cue points on your mixer

In the video was used the following equipment

Mixer: Mixars Duo
DVS Software: Serato DJ 1.9.4
Sequencer: Ableton Live 9.7
Ableton controller: Ableton Push 2
Turntables: Technics 1210 MkII & Vestax Pdx 3000
Computer: Apple MacBook Air 11″ Intel Core i5
Operating system: OS X Yosemite 10.10.5

Final recommendations

In Ableton there is the possibility to use the outputs of some mixers, controllers and devices with an internal sound card, like the Mixars Duo. However, this audio routing associated with the use of IAC Driver, can overload the USB bus data flow and cause usb dropouts with audio glitches in Serato.

The options for the audio output of Ableton in case of usb dropouts, is to use the mini-jack audio output of the Mac / Pc and connect it to Aux In of the your mixer, or use a FireWire or Thunderbolt audio interface, in order to give more bandwidth for the USB data stream of Serato.

When a computer is not powerful enough, in order to reduce the CPU usage, it is recommended to disable the Expansion Packs of Serato DJ when not in use: Serato Video, Sampler, Flip, Pitch ‘n Time DJ, FX, etc.

F.A.Q.

• My operating system is Windows, how can I activate the IAC Driver?
The equivalent of IAC Driver in Windows, is called MIDI-OX and is free download.

• What is the difference between Serato Flip and Cue Point Sequencing?
Serato Flip is similar to an audio loop, it can not be changed after recording. Cue Point Sequencing is MIDI, more flexible and changeable with a step sequencer.