DIY: Automap in Ableton Live with Novation Nocturn

August 2nd, 2009

There are many people out there using the Novation Nocturn (me included), since it was one of the first controllers that did a lot for little money. The tight integration between hardware and software does the trick. Having read about the Automap-feature made me really looking forward to get this device into my hands, since it’s always such a hassle to manually assign each and every control you have.

However, the Automap-feature turned out to be useless for me. It works only with AU/VST-Plugins. Not right in Ableton itself. You can control Live with it, though: Turn on a Midichannel in the Automap server software and manually map Midi-controls within Live (see Novation FAQ for this). But this technique clearly has not the same ease-of-use and awesomeness as the Automapping feature.

I want to easily control Rack-Macros on the fly. Without assigning the knobs individually! And guess what? There is a way! There is a small hidden feature inside Live called Midi Remote Scripting. I recently read about it on CDM, did a custom script for my Nocturn, and – tadaa – Automapping inside of Live. Peter shared his Config-files for both Korg’s nanoPAD and nanoKONTROL. So I will share mine for the Nocturn, so you will not have to read the whole article on how to do it yourself. Just follow the steps!

Automap MIDI-Settings

1. Turn on MIDI

Make sure, that you have your Input- and Output-Ports activated. Decide which Channel you want the Map to send on.

You should see something like this now:

2. Download the Config-File

Find it here or here.

3. Move it to the correct directory

Unzip the file and move the complete folder (including the UserConfiguration.txt) to the following directory:

Mac: [Your home folder]/Library/Preferences/Ableton/[your version]/User Remote Scripts/

Windows: [Windows boot drive]/Users/ [your Username]/AppData/Roaming/Ableton/[your version]/Preferences/User Remote Scripts/

The foldername (in our case “Nocturn“) is the name that will appear in Ableton’s list of Control Surfaces. Rename it if you like.

4. Check if MIDI-Channels match

The Config-file I gave you is set up for MIDI-Channel 1. If you also activated Ch1 one, go on.
If not, change the GlobalChannel in line 11 of  UserConfiguration.txt.
Caution: if your desired Channel is 9, type 8 (as the 16 Channels are counted from 0 to 15).

5. Activate Control Surface inside of Live

In Live’s preferences go to the MIDI-Settings.

Make your selection like in the picture above.”Nocturn” (or the name you chose for your folder) will now appear in the list of available Control surfaces. Select it along with Input and Output on “Automap MIDI”.  It’s important to choose the Nocturn as Input and Output, so the Nocturn always reflects changes you do with your mouse.

6. Enjoy!

Now, if everything went right, you can control every device, that is in focus. The blue hand in the title-bar is the indicator for which device you’re controlling. Nice!

I know, for rack-macros it feels a bit strange to have Nocturn-Knobs 1-4 control the upper row and 5-8 the bottom row, instead of seperating the controls as it’s layed out on the Nocturn (feels a bit counter-intuitive). But this setting is the most flexible. Think of controlling EQ Eight with 4 bands, for example. Each 2 knobs control frequency and gain.

7. Niceness-Addon for the advanced ones…

If you have AutomapServer 3.0 as a PRO-Version, it is possible to assign Keystrokes to Nocturn-buttons. This comes very handy. Look at my example:

Shift+Tab brings you to your device-chain if you are in clip-view. If the focus is somewhere in the clip-grid, hit Alt+Down to bring focus to your device chain. If you have the focus once down there, you can navigate with the Left and Right buttons to switch between the different devices and effects you have.
With all of these Keystrokes layed down on the Nocturn you can tweak all of your effects without ever touching the mouse. Really nice…

If you have questions or problems, just let me know. There is always a way…

[UPDATE] I made this for Ableton Live 8.0.4. Can’t test it on other versions, sorry…
(Consider flattering if you took anything out of that tutorial. Much appreciated, thanks!)

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  • hawxer

    Hello could you please re-up the config file, the current one is missing. Thanks and keep up thte good work ;)

  • http://nckn.de Nicken

    heh, i knew sth would this would happen :)
    thanks for the hint, fixed the link, should work now…

  • hawxer

    Well done, you're a true life savior ;) and thanks again for the excellent job, I can finally use my beloved Nocturn with Ableton. Cheers mate.

  • http://nckn.de Nicken

    you're welcome! tweak the knobs like you never did before… :)

  • http://createdigitalmusic.com/2009/08/03/ableton-live-hacking-novation-nocturn-scripts-music-more-apc40-setup/ Create Digital Music » Ableton Live Hacking: Novation Nocturn Scripts, Music; More APC40 Setup

    [...] DIY: Automap in Ableton Live with Novation Nocturn [...]

  • http://www.jackmenhorn.com/ Jack Menohrn

    CC3-4 and CC6-7 dont seem to function correctly for me. (Others do). 3 and 4 start and move the playback bar. Although since im using Live Lite 7 Jeebus knows whats going on there.

    Thanks for this info though! This device might actually prove useful to me (at least in Ableton, not so much in Logic)

  • nominalvox

    Hello could you please re-up the config file, the current one is missing. Very great job, thanks.

  • http://nckn.de Nicken

    Hello, are you sure you pressed the right link? Works fine for me… Anyway, I re-upped it on Dropbox, check here

    http://files.getdropbox.com/u/1263241/nocturn_m…

    good luck :)

  • http://nckn.de Nicken

    have your encoders the midivalues as in the picture above? from cc#0 – cc#7 ? should work correctly.
    when this doesn't do the trick, maybe your live-version does not support it fully. i run live 8.0.4.
    can't test it on other versions, sorry…

  • http://www.jackmenhorn.com/ Jack Menhorn

    CC#3 and 4 were mapped to play and stop functions ( I didn't do it) but once I deleted those assignments the Nocturn started working exemplary~ Thanks again for this wondeful setup! I am glad my Nocturn is useful!

  • http://www.uptownboogiedown.com/news/ableton-live-hacking-novation-nocturn-scripts-music-more-apc40-setup Ableton Live Hacking: Novation Nocturn Scripts, Music; More APC40 Setup | uptownboogiedown

    [...] DIY: Automap in Ableton Live with Novation Nocturn [...]

  • Cityrocker

    Hmmmm

    Still not showing 'Nocturn' anywhere :(

    I rebooted

    I'm on L V7.10 on macbook pro 10.5.7

    Any ideas?

    Danke :)

    Cristo

  • Cityrocker

    as a footnote

    There wasn't a zip file only a text file

    is this right?

    Thanks

    Cityrocker

  • http://nckn.de Nicken

    hey, the links point to a zip file. maybe (if you use safari) it was automatically unzipped after download. the point is, that you put the entire folder inside the directory, so that the folder “Nocturn” lies in “User Remote Scripts”, not merely the text-file.

  • Cityrocker

    Thanks dude

    I'll give that a go

    It does work with version 7 though right?

    Thanks anyway

    Cheers

    Chris

  • samelion

    how have you been able to get the keystrokes working in ableton 8.04.. i tried everything no problem with automap pro to assign.. but ableton doesn't respond…
    thanks for evrything

  • http://nckn.de Nicken

    didn't do anything special – it just worked as exected. mind, though that the keystrokes only work within the application with current focus. so if, for example, your automap-client is in focus, keystrokes don't do anything in ableton.
    and: turn off keyboard-input in the right upper corner (right beside midi-learn-buttons).
    hope that helps…

  • http://me2day.net/jorumkim/2009/09/11#00:27:47 jorumkim’s me2DAY

    DDEMM의 생각…

    DIY: Automap in Ableton Live with Novation Nocturn__이렇게 기특한 사람을 봤나!!…

  • topperman

    This is great and everything works… except for the left/ right button assignments for switching device focus. I've tested LIVE versions 6 and 8 using Automap Probut can't get them to work at all!!! : (

    Any idea of a way to fix?

  • http://nckn.de Nicken

    hm… the only reason i can think of is, that live's did not have focus. could it be, that automap-server was still in foreground?
    these midi to key-translator always act on the upper window. try it in a text editor.
    if this is not the case, i'm sorry, no idea…
    good luck,
    nicken

  • grt1977

    Maybe you prefer a dedicated script for Novation Nocturn:
    http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=12…

  • http://www.twitter.com/jamescamargobr James Camargo

    Hi,
    On this case, the pages in Nocturn function?
    The pages for my ocasion are so important.
    Thanks

  • http://caluh.com/ cazalu

    Your Script Looks AmazinG! but I'm doing something wrong :( I have tried to Install it and get in it to work with no luck. Been using Live for a while but Im new to AutoMap. I followed your instructions to the bone. It seems easy and simple. I feel so dumb because it seems like I'm the only one with the issue. My settings read: MIDI IN/OUT +AutoMap. Channels 1 2 3 4 Activated. (also I tried just with Channel 1) Thank you so much for the script !! and thakx in advance to the help. peace.

  • http://nckn.de Nicken

    hm, it's hard to fix sth when not on your computer.. the only reasons i could think of so far:
    1) you got the files in the wrong folder (§3)
    2) you got that channel-assignment wrong. when you want to use channel1, in the script you specify the GlobalChannel to 0. (§4)

    i'm sorry if that doesn't help you getting started, but can't look into your setup.
    good luck!

  • http://nckn.de Nicken

    yes you can use pages as usual, but there is no functionality automatically assigned.

  • http://www.twitter.com/jamescamargobr James Camargo

    thanks!

  • Ymer

    sorry, but it doesn't work for me. I followed your instructions to the point.
    I'm able to select nocturn in prefs (and appropriate input/output), but nothing happens.
    I can see that ableton receives midi input but still nothing
    Ableton 8.1 / Windows 7 64-bit

  • Sebastian Rothermel

    he. i have the same problem. could some help us please. the scripte is cool, but only if it works.

    thx

    seb

  • sebastian

    same here… would be cool if someone can fix this or tell me whats the problem. i tryed some things but nothing work. is it possible that this wont work with the new version of live 8.1 ?

  • the Cat

    Please, can you programming the Mixer section for 16 Channels?

  • http://nckn.de Nicken

    i'm sorry, no. not possible.

  • http://nckn.de Nicken

    guys, I'm sorry, right at the moment i have no time to test it, i'm not even at home. as soon as i'll have my nocturn again, i'll check it. cheers

  • sebastian

    he nicken, sorry for the confusion but it was my misstake. first there was the automap hui activated and second thing was that i copy the remoteskript to the folder with all the other pyhton scrips and not the midiremotescript folder in my user libary (i use os x). so now it works fine.
    but i have another question. did you have a idea how i could change between the tracks and clips and the racks and clipview. i found no shortcut but there must be a way because i have seen a video on youtube by flechtmusic. and this guy have this option. this is the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1As9_wfnQU

    would be cool if someone have an idea. thx

  • sebastian

    @ the cat

    i think it is possible, but you have to find someone who can write a phyton script.

  • http://nckn.de Nicken

    i think you refer to alt-up and alt-down.
    with alt and the cursor-keys you can cycle your focus through the different areas of ableton.

  • http://nckn.de Nicken
  • sebastian

    thx, could be possible. but it looks like he is just pressing one button for up and one for down focus. if i use the alt-curser combination im must press the button 2 times for focus up or down because there are 3 areas, with browser 4.

    if someone have another idea, let me know. thx

  • http://www.marcreck.com/ Marc Reck

    You can shift the focus to browser by alt-left and elt-right. How to shift the focus to browser using the nocturn control map stumped me for last hour, but just worked it out thanks to this site and the vid and some random button pressing :)

    As you say it seems you need more keys to get into the browser menu. From the control map posted on the video you mention, you can focus on the browser by holding down the browser toggle button and then using the (assigned) arrow key buttons. :) Hope that help mate.

    Massive thanks to Nicken & to Fletchermusic on youtube for making this happen. Hugely appreciated :)

  • http://www.marcreck.com/ Marc Reck

    Sorry, should have read can shift focus to the browser, by holding down the browser toggle button, so its showing, clicking the focus up button, and then up-down-left-right to browse :)

    (Fletchermusic should be fletchmusic too ;)

  • Duncan

    hi. i'm having so many issues with my nocturn but your mapping seems to be the best luck i had, however i have one question. can you or how could i change the script so that the page buttons can be used to control more parameters? at the moment your script only controls 8 paramters. great for instrument racks but sadly not much use for other devices. on my novation remote sl the rotaries perform automap and the buttons on the side can be used to bank accross more parameters in the device. i would lke to achieve this with the nocturn. can you help in anyway? provided your no busy of course… thanks

  • http://nckn.de/ Niklas

    hey! I'm sorry the 8 parameters are a limitation within the remote-scripts. the only thing that could help you out here is a dedicated (python)-script [search the ableton-forums] or max for live.
    best luck!

  • http://fletchmusicblog.wordpress.com/2010/01/06/midi-remote-scripting-with-ableton-live/ MIDI Remote Scripting – with Ableton Live « fletch music blog

    [...] can read more about it here & [...]

  • john

    Hello

    Can you assist with this if possible. Well let me know if it is possible. I want to have the device controls on channel 2 and the mixer controls on channel 1. So that i can pick either mixer or FX button from the nocturn to determine if i am controlling the fx or the mixer controls. May make more sense if i post my userconfig

    # Config File for User-defined Instant Mappings

    # We assume that the controls on your MIDI controller
    # send CCs (except for pads). All controls that do not have
    # an explicit channel setting are expected to use the
    # global channel. CCs & Notes are counted from 0-127
    # and channels from 0-15.

    [Globals]
    # The channel that the controller should send on
    GlobalChannel: 0
    # If your controller is connected via USB, replace ControllerName
    # with the name of the respective port. Live will then try to
    # recognize the ports for you when you select your Instant-Mappings
    InputName: Automap MIDI
    OutputName: Automap MIDI
    # If your controller has pads that send notes, you can use them to
    # play the visible pads in your DrumRacks. Just replace the -1 for
    # the note (and channel) of the respective pad. The arrangement of
    # the pads in the DrumRacks is as follows:
    # 1 2 3 4
    # 5 6 7 8
    # 9 10 11 12
    # 13 14 15 16
    # (If you leave the channel of a pad at -1, Live will assume that
    # the pad uses the global channel)

    [DeviceControls]
    # The Encoders will control the device parameters (you can also
    # use knobs or sliders). Replace the -1's with the CCs sent by
    # the respective controls on your controller. You can also set
    # the channel for each controller if it differs from the global
    # channel (if you leave the channel of an encoder at -1, Live
    # will assume that the encoder uses the global channel).
    Encoder1: 0
    Encoder2: 1
    Encoder3: 2
    Encoder4: 3
    Encoder5: 4
    Encoder6: 5
    Encoder7: 6
    Encoder8: 7
    EncoderChannel1: 1
    EncoderChannel2: 1
    EncoderChannel3: 1
    EncoderChannel4: 1
    EncoderChannel5: 1
    EncoderChannel6: 1
    EncoderChannel7: 1
    EncoderChannel8: 1
    # Enter the respective map mode for the encoders here. The following
    # map modes are available:
    # – Absolute
    # – Absolute14Bit
    # – LinearSignedBit
    # – LinearSignedBit2
    # – LinearTwoCompliment
    # – LinearBinaryOffset
    # – AccelSignedBit
    # – AccelSignedBit2
    # – AccelTwoCompliment
    # – AccelBinaryOffset
    # Consult the controller's documentation to find out which mode to use.
    EncoderMapMode: Absolute
    # Buttons used here are expected to not be toggles (i.e., sending
    # value 0 every second time you press it).
    Bank1Button: -1
    Bank2Button: -1
    Bank3Button: -1
    Bank4Button: -1
    Bank5Button: -1
    Bank6Button: -1
    Bank7Button: -1
    Bank8Button: -1
    NextBankButton: 8
    PrevBankButton: 9
    LockButton: -1

    [MixerControls]
    # Again enter the appropriate CCs for the respective controls.
    # If all sliders use the global channel to send their data,
    # you can leave the channels at -1. You can, of course, use
    # encoders or knobs instead of sliders.
    VolumeSlider1: 0
    VolumeSlider2: 1
    VolumeSlider3: 2
    VolumeSlider4: 3
    VolumeSlider5: 4
    VolumeSlider6: 5
    VolumeSlider7: 6
    VolumeSlider8: 7
    Slider1Channel: 0
    Slider2Channel: 0
    Slider3Channel: 0
    Slider4Channel: 0
    Slider5Channel: 0
    Slider6Channel: 0
    Slider7Channel: 0
    Slider8Channel: 0
    MasterVolumeSlider: 119
    MasterSliderChannel: 0
    Send1Knob1: 16
    Send1Knob2: 17
    Send1Knob3: 18
    Send1Knob4: 19
    Send1Knob5: 20
    Send1Knob6: 21
    Send1Knob7: 22
    Send1Knob8: 23
    Send2Knob1: 32
    Send2Knob2: 33
    Send2Knob3: 34
    Send2Knob4: 35
    Send2Knob5: 36
    Send2Knob6: 37
    Send2Knob7: 38
    Send2Knob8: 39
    TrackArmButton1: 8
    TrackArmButton2: 9
    TrackArmButton3: 10
    TrackArmButton4: 11
    TrackArmButton5: 12
    TrackArmButton6: 13
    TrackArmButton7: 14
    TrackArmButton8: 15
    VolumeMapMode: Absolute
    SendsMapMode: Absolute

    [TransportControls]
    # The transport buttons are also expected not to be toggles.
    StopButton: -1
    PlayButton: -1
    RecButton: -1
    LoopButton: -1
    RwdButton: -1
    FfwdButton: -1

    so device channel (FX) is sending on channel 2 and mixer channel is sending on channel 1. Well this is what i think it happening but its not working. Any ideas.

  • jonathan harker

    hallo! focus up and down doesn´t work for me ! what are the exact shortcuts for these commands? i tried alt+down, but this didn´t work. cheers! alex

  • http://nckn.de/ Niklas

    Hello, yes the focus-commands are alt-up and alt-down. you can tell which area of the interface is focused by watching the border. once you are down in your devices you can navigate the blue-hand-focus with the arrow-keys. should work imo…
    cheers!

  • http://nckn.de/ Niklas

    i'm sorry, but i think this does not work. you cannot split up the channels within one single config-file. never tried, though. if you succeed please let us know how you did it!
    thanks for coming by! cheers, nik

  • jonathan harker

    thanks niklas! but for some reasons only alt+left / right is working and up and down not!? nevermind! i have an additional question: how can i implement a simple mixer function to your script? i want the 8 knobs on the nocturn to control the volume faders of ableton live. that is all i need. is this possible with bankswitching? ( use the pages as banks with 8 volumecontrols in it). i try to get my head around this and have no clue! cheers!

  • A.e music

    Many thanks for this great tutorial and for the config file awesome!!

    GReetings from Turkey

  • http://nckn.de/ Niklas

    well, sorry for the late answer, but if you're still searching for the answer: you should be able to do this. simply check the cc-values of the encoders on the page you want to control the volume with and put them in the UserConfiguration.txt und the headline [MixerControls]. right now there are a lot of -1 because i did not use that for my script. (i have a nanoKontrol for volume-faders). i hope that helps – cheers, niklas

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Benjamin-Sochko/526223637 Benjamin Sochko

    THIS IS AMAZING YOU LITERALLY SAVED MY LIFE… i bout the damn thing… hated automap and just wanted a similar controller to the nankontrol and you mad eit happen!!! seriously THANK YOU ON THE HIGHEST LEVEL!!

  • http://nckn.de/ Niklas

    ha! :) much appreciated. you’re welcome!

  • Jzwart

    Thank you very mutch. I allmost gave up. Than I found the link in the Ableton forum. Now i finally can use my Nocturn with the live plugins.n(Live 8.1.4)

  • Jtc9242

    AH! Looks amazing. My Nocturn is in the post as I type, and I was mortified to find how lacking it is with Ableton by default, but this looks perfect for what I want. So am I right in thinking that, without something like this, the Nocturn (and Automap) doesnt do that blue hand thing where it maps the first 8 parameters of an effect? Because I use effects racks for live stuff and I just need it to be able to control the parameters on different effects racks as I select them, and control a crossfader. Thanks again!

  • http://nckn.de/ Niklas

    you are right. this functionality does not come out of the box… this is why you are here :) somehow the novation-people thought, that automap should refer to AU/VSTs only…

  • akil bilgi

    Same problem facing in ableton live with me,i cant find nocturn in my Midi settings in Ableton prefernces,please do help me if u solved u r prblm,
    akilbilgi@gmai:disqus l.com

  • radu dumitrescu

    Thank you a million for this. Really, thanks from the bottom of my heart.

  • Johnny

    All sorted, thanks a lot for this dude

  • Ennoson

    ahoi und dankeschön…nach monaten der nichtbenutzung macht das nocturn durch dein script für mich augenscheinlich mehr sinn:)
    wünsche feinen tag onno ennoson

  • http://www.klavier-lernen.ch/ Klavier Lernen

    This site is interesting for other site I like this and play the next two side by side. The piece by Shinichiroa presents the sound of some untroubled times.

  • feltmakingworkshop

    hi Niklas. This is still awesome 2 years later (& is the reason I bought a Nocturn anyway). It makes Max for Live far more hands-on too.

    When I upgraded to Automap 4.x – it looks like the encoder CC assignment got cleared or something. I had to reassign CCs (the ones used in your remote script) to the rotary encoders under Automap’s ‘user’ preset. All OK now & big sigh of relief.

  • http://nckn.de/ Niklas

    Good to know, it’s still working, and glad you found a solution.
    Have fun!
    Niklas

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