HowTo: sending midi from VCV to Ableton

Hey guys! I could send audio in both directions, and send midi from ableton to vcv. Is there any possible to send MIDI from vcv rack to ableton??

1 Like

Yes, using a virtual MIDI cable and the MIDI output modules:

Oh thanks! I tried with these modules and i could. not. Can you explain me please?

Also, this module is one way to sync them - the VCV midi clock is not working well, It can not be accurate the way it is implemented.

Presuming Windows 10 or 11 - you didn’t specify what OS you’re using.

Make some ports in loopmidi

Set up ableton to use one virtual cable as input and a different virtual cable as track output. You can probably use MPE too - I haven’t played much with that yet.

IF the input doesn’t show up in ableton, you have to add it as sync too (I think this is an Ableton error). Select sync type “none”, the sync from VCV is not great (>5ms jitter)

image

make a patch in VCV that use the ports in its MIDI input and output modules.

With the link module allready in VCV Rack, start the link from Ableton - it turns from grey to blue (top left corner)

image

Select the output from your midi track to the “from Ableton” virtual midi cable.

image

If you want VCV to play to an Ableton track:

image

expect to see some delay in the recorded midi track. a handfull of youtube videos teach you about latency compensation in Ableton.

2 Likes

You should be able to use the Ableton “External Instrument” with a virtual audio cable + virtual midi cable - or use Ableton CV tools - or perhaps a sound card built in loop to transfer audio between the apps… It’s a big mess of latencies, so if you really want to use VCV rack with a DAW, the VCV Rack Studio Edition (as a VST2 plugin) is being released soon™.

And youtube search “vcv ableton” returns a bunch of videos demonstrating the now deprecated vcv-bridge - which may or may not work for you.

Thank you sooo much! This is very useful and well explained!!!

1 Like

Hello! I am asking for a little bit of help from you guys. I am trying to send midi (using CV-MIDI module) from VCV Rack (latest update) to Ableton 11 on Windows 10 machine but it is not working. The other way, from Ableton to VCV using MIDI-CV works fine.

1 Like

There were some tips in a previous thread:

It should work now, AFAIK.

This simple midi send/receive test seems to work OK.

Thank you! I was using VST3. I was thinking about trying with VST2 but I guess it slipped away.