Any chance the tempo knob could control Ableton tempo in the future?

Any questions about the Midronome
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DryArmadillo
Posts: 5
Joined: 01 Jun 2024, 23:29

Any chance the tempo knob could control Ableton tempo in the future?

Post by DryArmadillo »

Pardon my ignorance here with this questions. Also, I do realize that the Midronome isn't intended to be an Ableton "sidekick" but rather a master clock for hardware MIDI devices. However, since using U-SYNC, I feel like it would be really nice if I could adjust the Ableton tempo with the nice big knob on the Midronome. Just a thought - again, sorry if this is a dumb question based on how the Midronome works "under the hood."
Simon
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Joined: 09 Jan 2022, 22:08

Re: Any chance the tempo knob could control Ableton tempo in the future?

Post by Simon »

Thanks for asking, and there are no dumb questions! :D

But the answer is yes you can control Ableton (its tempo but also start/stop) with the Midronome. Simply check the "sync" checkbox in front of "Midronome Clock" in the Ableton MIDI preferences ;)

Simon

PS: moving this topic to questions as this is not a feature request
DryArmadillo
Posts: 5
Joined: 01 Jun 2024, 23:29

Re: Any chance the tempo knob could control Ableton tempo in the future?

Post by DryArmadillo »

Hi Simon, thanks for reply but even with U-SYNC running and the Sync checkbox selected in the MIDI preferences, the big knob on the Midronome isn't adjusting the Ableton project tempo up/down (like a MIDI Control Surface Script would - Example: Like the "Tempo" knob on an Akai APC40 MIDI controller using Ableton's included control surface script).

Am I missing something or is this not possible? I assume that this functionality would require a custom MIDI remote script running of which does not currently exist but please correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks again!
Simon
Posts: 957
Joined: 09 Jan 2022, 22:08

Re: Any chance the tempo knob could control Ableton tempo in the future?

Post by Simon »

Hi :)

So first thing is: U-SYNC controls your Nome from Ableton, and if you also want to control Ableton from the Nome, that will be a very weird blocking result. So you can only do one or the other (at the same time), it's quick and easy to switch between the two.

As for syncing Ableton to the Nome, it's very simple (it's nothing to do with the Nome really, it's just about configuring Ableton to follow MIDI Clock).
  • To sync the Nome to Ableton, you can use U-SYNC as you already know.
  • To sync Ableton to the Nome, follow the official Ableton documentation, in the section "Syncing Live to another device or application". The device you want to use is the one called "Midronome Clock" (or "Nome II Clock" if you have a 2nd generation Nome).
To activate/deactivate:
  • U-SYNC: simply bypass/deactivate the U-SYNC plugin
  • MIDI Sync: press the "EXT" button in Ableton at the top left
I hope that helps :)
Simon
DryArmadillo
Posts: 5
Joined: 01 Jun 2024, 23:29

Re: Any chance the tempo knob could control Ableton tempo in the future?

Post by DryArmadillo »

Thanks for the detailed breakdown - I completely understand the difference in these use cases.

But I think it would just be really cool and intuitive if the physical tempo knob on the Midronome could be used to adjust the global Ableton tempo while using U-SYNC to sync the Midronome from the Ableton clock.

I assume that this would likely require a MIDI Remote Script to be run so Ableton could recognize the knob as a MIDi controller. (Or possibly a M4L device could achieve this goal but that is even further outside of my area of expertise).

I understand it's not currently possible to do this but maybe it can be food for thought for future development, perhaps. :)
Simon
Posts: 957
Joined: 09 Jan 2022, 22:08

Re: Any chance the tempo knob could control Ableton tempo in the future?

Post by Simon »

DryArmadillo wrote: 01 Dec 2024, 20:15 But I think it would just be really cool and intuitive if the physical tempo knob on the Midronome could be used to adjust the global Ableton tempo while using U-SYNC to sync the Midronome from the Ableton clock.
Yes I would love that too - I agree that would be a really nice integration :)
It has been spoken about before a few times, on the Features Requests forum.
See that topic: viewtopic.php?t=117 - I've just added a reference to your topic here as there are interesting info :)

There is always a way, the question is how much customization will be needed for it. There is unfortuantely no "common" way to control a DAW's tempo, so this will have to be custom to every DAW using Control surface interfaces, which in most cases are not publically available.
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