LK - for Ableton Live & Midi by Imaginando - AUv3 Clip Launcher Finally Available in AUM!!

skrat

@sinosoidal said:

@gregsmith said:
I’m arranging a full song for the first time in a while and it’s so much easier since last time I used LK. The scene follow actions and length properties are very quick and useful. It’s really feeling like a mature app now. @sinosoidal you and the team have outdone yourselves 🙏

Thanks for your feedback. LK has been growing because of the feedback of this wonderful community. It's your needs that drive our development efforts. 🙏

LK todo list is always long and decide what should be the next effort is not easy sometimes. Some of our big tasks in the list include:

• CHORDER module revamp
• Improve MATRIX automations editor
• Custom layouts on CONTROLLER module

Of course there are ton of other small issues and bug but those we always try to fit in revision builds.

In summary, what would be your next BIG wish for LK? Think out loud.

@tahiche @wim @Jeezs @RajahP @branis

With all these things, I'd suggest focusing on what LK is the best and unique and it's the Matrix module. It's the only scene-based, Ableton Live-like sequencer, with very cool piano roll and a lot of features. The other modules are nice, but there's quite a lot of similar AUs that do it very well too. You probably know the numbers, but my gut feeling tells me that Matrix is by far the most popular module in LK. For custom controllers, you have unbeatable TouchOSC (although not AU yet, but that may change any time...), also Mozaic fills a lot of gaps when you want some custom controller stuff, for chords you also have many options.

So my bet would be to bring Matrix to next level:

• Custom key maps as already requested above. It's great that so many drum machines and AUs are covered, but you'll never cover e.g. a sampler with custom samples like 1. fx impact, 2. bass hit, 3. synth chord, 4. vocal shout, etc. It's nice to see your own structure than trying to reorganize them to match some existing mapping.
• Custom mapping for controllers, or at least add AKAI APC40 please! You added some other AKAI controllers and forgot about the flagship one! But anyway I would really love not rely on the developer to support a controller. It would be the best, if I could simply customize the colors and blinking state MIDI messages (the controller usually receiver some MIDI note number with specific velocity to define the color, as seen e.g. here: https://remotify.io/sites/default/files/community-forum-uploads/TechHippAPC40MK2RGBVelocityColorChart2016-02-13 (1).jpg)
• The only thing LK would need to do is to simply send the notes to controller on every state change (loading from AU host, loading a project inside LK, adding a new clip). There could be an extra AU MIDI output for this and user can do the routing to the controller by himself in the host.
• Piano roll timing is still not reliable. If I record notes from some other source and quantization is off in LK, I can see how notes are placed earlier or later than on grid as they are replaced every time the clip loops. This does not happen when e.g. recording from the same source to Atom or other sequencer. With quantization set on e.g. 1/16th note, it's OK. But if you want to record "human" feeling, it's near to impossible with LK piano roll.

I don't want to sound harsh, of course I love LK, but these are the missing things that made avoiding LK in my setup and look for other solutions. Unfortunately, there is virtually no scene-based piano roll, Atom 2 has a bit different approach, so I am always somehow coming back to LK

krassmann

Piano roll timing is still not reliable.

If this is true then I would say it must be fixed with priority.

I think Zenbeats comes even closer to Ableton Live as clips can be Midi or audio. Of course you need to like the whole package and you can not integrate it into your AUM setup.

xglax

@Jeezs said:
For me multi midi output bus is great feature when using sequencing many auv3 instruments.

Can you please give us an idea on how you would use this feature?

xglax

@soundtemple said:
Fixing this issue where there is no way in AUM to stop LK receiving midi from the Launchpad would be great. Disabling all midi controllers and all midi inputs in settings and removing all AUM midi sources and midi channels in f the AUM channel filter does not stop LK receiving midi from the LP. It's really annoying if you have LK and want to use your LP for something else, as I do.

Disabling the controller under LK settings is supposed to work. If it is not working maybe it is a regression. We have just tried with APC Key 25 and it works. What is the controller you are using?

Jeezs

@xglax said:

@Jeezs said:
For me multi midi output bus is great feature when using sequencing many auv3 instruments.

Can you please give us an idea on how you would use this feature?

Say on bus 1 midi channels you control your external devices, on bus 2 midi channels you can drive your separate drums elements and bass synth.
On bus 3 midi channel I can control synthesizer and audio tracks.
In my case all those tracks numbers goes fat beyond the standard 16 lido channel that’s why bus is needed.
It may be even more essential when loopy pro will be available to trig audio tracks.
This means that on each Lk channel you will chose a bus and a midi channel.

branis

@Jeezs said:

@xglax said:

@Jeezs said:
For me multi midi output bus is great feature when using sequencing many auv3 instruments.

Can you please give us an idea on how you would use this feature?

Say on bus 1 midi channels you control your external devices, on bus 2 midi channels you can drive your separate drums elements and bass synth.
On bus 3 midi channel I can control synthesizer and audio tracks.
In my case all those tracks numbers goes fat beyond the standard 16 lido channel that’s why bus is needed.
It may be even more essential when loopy pro will be available to trig audio tracks.
This means that on each Lk channel you will chose a bus and a midi channel.

If you are using AUM, as a workaround, you can limit the note range response per channel. Drum sounds are usually one-shots of a single note, so you could have all your drums on the same MIDI channel, but on separate AUM tracks where each track responds to a different note.

This can also work for synths if melody lines don't overlap in range.

skrat

BTW as people mention recording, I have also noted that in LK I always struggle to get the recording working on a first try - it seems unnecessarily complicated. I'd love to just open e.g. Chorder, tap one button, wait for pre-roll and record my performance into a new clip. Currently you need to un-arm LK like an atom bomb to just start recording I always miss some step and find it frustrating going through all the parts what could I have missed...

To give some ideas for improvement: One issue is, you don't see to which clip you record the notes. Even if you have no clip selected, there is this indicator with beat counter + progress bar on the top, your only way to know that no clip is selected is that it stays on 0.0 when playback is running. Quite confusing.
I'd love to see this indicator replaced with actual clip button, ideally with displaying the notes, similar to the "navigator" in piano roll (the scrollable area in top right of piano roll, where you see minimized clip notes), so you'd directly see what you record. Then if the track is armed, you just tap it to play / stop / record - the same as it behaves in Matrix. This will also allow easy access to "free clip length recording" (empty clip in armed track) and make the recording to clip very transparent and convenient.
If you'd be able to e.g. slide down over this clip in to get a dropdown and allowing you to select other clips on the track, that would be supercool - giving you access to all the Matrix clips without leaving the other module! Last but not least: if this dropdown contains "new scene" as a last row, that would be supercool to quickly record ideas one after another (I would also welcome "add new scene" and "add new track" button directly in Matrix, without the need for context menu).

Another confusing thing related to recording from modules is that you need to change the input from LK input to e.g. Chorder inside the track MIDI routing options. This is really hidden and I could see it brings the most confusion when people try to record in LK. When in Chorder, you also have the "output" options, but that's just the global routing, not per-track inside LK. Also there's "None" option, which I don't see much use for (you simply not touch buttons for no output ).
What I'm rather missing is something like "send to currently selected track", since you already see and can change selected tracks from within module, and I'd go for having this as the default option - if you're in e.g. Chorder and try to record, you want it to end up in some clip, there's actually AFAIK no other recording option than to Matrix module (unless you're confused and want to record into other AU in the host or so, but that requires some understanding )
This would save you from coming back to Matrix, opening routing options, selecting the module from dropdown, going back to "performance" module, hitting record etc... This would be especially great combined with the above option for being able to directly see the clip, record into unlimited length clip, trigger another recording. No need to switch back and forth between Matrix and the module, dig into menus etc...

And some extra ideas I had which popped up as I was writing this comment:

• If you switch between modules, e.g. Chorder and Matrix, then Matrix loses the layout. Let's say you open piano roll, switch to Chorder, then back to Matrix and piano roll view is gone. It'd be best to keep it exactly the same as user left it. Interestingly, seems like in standalone app the view is persisted, it resets to default view only in AU (note I am on beta currently).
• Showing the notes similar to navigator view would be lovely also in default Matrix clips overview. I love this feature in e.g. GarageBand, Zenbeats, Beatmaker 3 or Bitwig. Sometimes you don't need labels when you see the notes shapes and making up a name for every clip is a bit annoying - the notes talk for themselves. It's usually easy to distinguish e.g. drums from chords from bass, the variations of them etc...
• The bottom row with transport controls is really overcrowded, one option for giving it some space to breathe is combining play and stop buttons into single one. I am used to such way from e.g. Drambo or AUM and never missed separate play/stop button. Especially in AU where I believe most users anyway sync to host tempo, so they don't use transport in LK.
• Another "clutter free" improvement would be to hide the bottom row buttons that are used only for Matrix when in other modules - MIDI routing and mute/solo row.
• This could enable to add up/down arrows to select scenes, allowing you to precisely select clip to record to, not needing the dropdown I mention above, but still allowing you to freely navigate to next clip (still would love the option for "add scene" from modules outside Matrix).

Sorry for the wall of texts, but these are the nuances that make the difference between mediocre and great experience

skrat

@krassmann said:

Piano roll timing is still not reliable.

If this is true then I would say it must be fixed with priority.

Tried now very quick test on iPhone and AUM and seems like except the timing was a bit earlier, the notes didn't move that much as I experienced with Drambo, so I may do some more testing and report it properly to compare with Atom, in other hosts etc.

I think Zenbeats comes even closer to Ableton Live as clips can be Midi or audio. Of course you need to like the whole package and you can not integrate it into your AUM setup.

Yes, I'd so much like to love Zenbeats but... I just can't it's exactly the example where total lack of focus on user makes the app very frustrating to use. I even gave feedback to the developer (it was StageLight at the time I think) and after each update I reopen the app, go trough my list and of course all the old bugs are there. It's so tempting since the clip launching grid is actually very nice and not so buggy. But using AUs in Zenbeats is a pain, also processing samples, using file browser, all of these are terribly buggy. It seems like they just ported Zenbeats from other platforms via some "make it work on iOS" wrapper and didn't really test the app on iOS.
But yes, if developers would pay some more attention to Zenbeats, it would be the perfect environment for me.

soundtemple

@xglax said:

@soundtemple said:
Fixing this issue where there is no way in AUM to stop LK receiving midi from the Launchpad would be great. Disabling all midi controllers and all midi inputs in settings and removing all AUM midi sources and midi channels in f the AUM channel filter does not stop LK receiving midi from the LP. It's really annoying if you have LK and want to use your LP for something else, as I do.

Disabling the controller under LK settings is supposed to work. If it is not working maybe it is a regression. We have just tried with APC Key 25 and it works. What is the controller you are using?

Launchpad Mini Mk3.

I use a different device to trigger clips in LK. I cant use channel 1 to midi learn those clips because the Launchpad triggers them. There seems to be no way to prevent the launchpad from triggering midi learn assignments that use the same midi messages as its pads.

So the issue is related to midi learn assignments rather than midi in for note record etc.

Hope that helps.

sinosoidal

We have made available LK 1.11.2 beta (build 254) with the following changes:

• Add recording on scene launch option (located in settings) @paikan777
• Add new clip follow action last played @soundtemple
• Add multiple output midi bus to AUv3 (4 midi buses) @Jeezs
• Allow drag and drop midi files from other apps (Helium for instance)
• Fix midi input events timings @skrat

@White says he can't restore purchase with the beta. Is anyone else having this problem?

Thanks!

sinosoidal

@Krupa said:
Delete / reinstall worked, weird city 🤷‍♂️

Maybe you had shift toggled while you were trying. If you double tap shift, it will stick enabled. The color variation is very subtle which can be disleading

branis

@sinosoidal said:
@White says he can't restore purchase with the beta. Is anyone else having this problem?

No problem with the purchases here. I’m logged in LK with my Imaginando account BTW.

White

@branis said:

@sinosoidal said:
@White says he can't restore purchase with the beta. Is anyone else having this problem?

No problem with the purchases here. I’m logged in LK with my Imaginando account BTW.

I'm logged in with my Imaginando account too, but nothing happens when I tap on restore purchases.

I have tried to:

• Delete LK
• Restart the iPad
• Install LK from the app store
• Open standalone and restore purchases. And they are restored.
• Install LK from testflight and then open standalone. Then I have to restore purchases, but again nothing happens when I try to do that.

skrat

@sinosoidal said:
We have made available LK 1.11.2 beta (build 254) with the following changes:

• Add recording on scene launch option (located in settings) @paikan777
• Add new clip follow action last played @soundtemple
• Add multiple output midi bus to AUv3 (4 midi buses) @Jeezs
• Allow drag and drop midi files from other apps (Helium for instance)
• Fix midi input events timings @skrat

@White says he can't restore purchase with the beta. Is anyone else having this problem?

Thanks!

Great job! Will try to test today the timing.
Also confirming I had issues with restoring purchases in last beta, will let you know if it still appears in this new build.

Krupa

@sinosoidal said:

@Krupa said:
Delete / reinstall worked, weird city 🤷‍♂️

Maybe you had shift toggled while you were trying. If you double tap shift, it will stick enabled. The color variation is very subtle which can be disleading

Ah that’s possible, I’ll try that on the other iPad that i haven’t deleted/restored the app on 👍

sinosoidal

@skrat said:

@sinosoidal said:
We have made available LK 1.11.2 beta (build 254) with the following changes:

• Add recording on scene launch option (located in settings) @paikan777
• Add new clip follow action last played @soundtemple
• Add multiple output midi bus to AUv3 (4 midi buses) @Jeezs
• Allow drag and drop midi files from other apps (Helium for instance)
• Fix midi input events timings @skrat

@White says he can't restore purchase with the beta. Is anyone else having this problem?

Thanks!

Great job! Will try to test today the timing.
Also confirming I had issues with restoring purchases in last beta, will let you know if it still appears in this new build.

This is strange. Me and @xglax can restore purchase successfully on the beta. But there is more than one single report. There must be a pattern here.

paikan777

@sinosoidal said:
We have made available LK 1.11.2 beta (build 254) with the following changes:

• Add recording on scene launch option (located in settings) @paikan777

Waou I am so so happy about that thank you !!! will be using it when the update is out with the greatest joy

sinosoidal

@paikan777 said:

@sinosoidal said:
We have made available LK 1.11.2 beta (build 254) with the following changes:

• Add recording on scene launch option (located in settings) @paikan777

Waou I am so so happy about that thank you !!! will be using it when the update is out with the greatest joy

Are you in the beta? I would be great if you could test this and give your feedback.

paikan777

Are you in the beta? I would be great if you could test this and give your feedback.

Well dear friend , i would be happy to have this privilege and honour your work
Please just dont tell me i have to jump out of a plane or swim with sharks to be worthy !

Lets go for it , how shall i proceed ?

Krupa

@Krupa said:

@sinosoidal said:

@Krupa said:
Delete / reinstall worked, weird city 🤷‍♂️

Maybe you had shift toggled while you were trying. If you double tap shift, it will stick enabled. The color variation is very subtle which can be disleading

Ah that’s possible, I’ll try that on the other iPad that i haven’t deleted/restored the app on 👍

I just checked this, both before and after updating the beta to no avail… I deleted and reinstalled the beta and it worked straight away… some flag most have got tripped that gets reset when I reinstall I guess?

sinosoidal

@paikan777 said:

Are you in the beta? I would be great if you could test this and give your feedback.

Well dear friend , i would be happy to have this privilege and honour your work
Please just dont tell me i have to jump out of a plane or swim with sharks to be worthy !

Lets go for it , how shall i proceed ?

Send me a private message with your email and I will add you

Jeezs

@sinosoidal said:
We have made available LK 1.11.2 beta (build 254) with the following changes:

• Add recording on scene launch option (located in settings) @paikan777
• Add new clip follow action last played @soundtemple
• Add multiple output midi bus to AUv3 (4 midi buses) @Jeezs
• Allow drag and drop midi files from other apps (Helium for instance)
• Fix midi input events timings @skrat

@White says he can't restore purchase with the beta. Is anyone else having this problem?

Thanks!

thanks a lot. you are so fast, it's incredible!!
the multi bus facilities will make my music production far easier now!!!

Pierre118

@sinosoidal LK is really great. Is it possible that you add me to the test users? Thanks!

sinosoidal

@Pierre118 said:
@sinosoidal LK is really great. Is it possible that you add me to the test users? Thanks!

Thanks for your feedback! Yes sure, all feedback is welcome. Please send me pvt message with your email.

sinosoidal

@Jeezs said:

@sinosoidal said:
We have made available LK 1.11.2 beta (build 254) with the following changes:

• Add recording on scene launch option (located in settings) @paikan777
• Add new clip follow action last played @soundtemple
• Add multiple output midi bus to AUv3 (4 midi buses) @Jeezs
• Allow drag and drop midi files from other apps (Helium for instance)
• Fix midi input events timings @skrat

@White says he can't restore purchase with the beta. Is anyone else having this problem?

Thanks!

thanks a lot. you are so fast, it's incredible!!
the multi bus facilities will make my music production far easier now!!!

Please give it a go and let us know if it meets your expectations. Looking forward to hear your feedback.

soundtemple

@sinosoidal Last Played follow action —- Well played —- Thank you! —- 🙏🏻 🙏🏻 🙏🏻

paikan777

@paikan777 said:

@sinosoidal said:
We have made available LK 1.11.2 beta (build 254) with the following changes:

• Add recording on scene launch option (located in settings) @paikan777

Waou I am so so happy about that thank you !!! will be using it when the update is out with the greatest joy

Well , been playing with the app
first thing , the beta doesnt want to restore my purchases , i resintalled to try the non beta version a restore is ok so no bigdeal .
So , first issue i can see : exemple = track 1 armed / option record on launch activated /
I launch the scene and record a 2 bars clip , it does record on track 1 a 2 bars clip .
If i launch another scene then come back to the one i just recorded , works fine .
But : if I record then relaunch this same scene ? the clip keeps the notes recorded But 1/ there is no playback although the midi notes are recorded 2/seems to recieve the order keep on recording after the 2 bars which "elongates " the clip since it is again in recording mode

xglax

@paikan777 said:
Well , been playing with the app
first thing , the beta doesnt want to restore my purchases , i resintalled to try the non beta version a restore is ok so no bigdeal .
So , first issue i can see : exemple = track 1 armed / option record on launch activated /
I launch the scene and record a 2 bars clip , it does record on track 1 a 2 bars clip .
If i launch another scene then come back to the one i just recorded , works fine .
But : if I record then relaunch this same scene ? the clip keeps the notes recorded But 1/ there is no playback although the midi notes are recorded 2/seems to recieve the order keep on recording after the 2 bars which "elongates " the clip since it is again in recording mode

Wasn't able to replicate this issue. Can you please send us a video demonstrating that particular issue so I can see if there's something that I'm missing?

paikan777

a

paikan777

@xglax said:

@paikan777 said:

Wasn't able to replicate this issue. Can you please send us a video demonstrating that particular issue so I can see if there's something that I'm missing?

Voilà