Using Ableton and VCV Rack 2 to control lights on MIDI controllers

Sorry for the shaky video, I have been working on a live looping performance with Ableton and VCV this weekend, and I wanted to share this idea while it was fresh. I haven’t seen anyone doing this yet.

Most controllers expect that if you send the same signal from the controller back into itself then the controller buttons light up. Nothing new or exciting there. However inserting VCV in the mix makes it possible for me to turn little sections of my controllers into sequencers, looped phrases, etc. to become part of the performance. The lights add a significant context clue for the viewer to gain some small insight into what is going on.

This video also documents a technical limitation and workaround based on Ableton not being able to send multiple channels of MIDI data out from VCV Rack. Hope that gets fixed soon! What a pain!

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