Extensive Augustus Loop/FCB1010 looping tutorial published
Ever since I figured out how to remote control clip recording in Ableton Live 7 over midi, which was about a year ago, I’ve been trying to build the “ultimate computer based loop station”. I’ve built increasingly more complex Live Sets utilized all sorts of routing tricks and midi conversion scripts and always ended up sort of discontent, because my setups could not be operated effectively with just the 10 switches and two pedals my Behringer FCB1010 midi controller provided. No matter what I tried, I always seemed to end up staring confusedly at the floor board wondering where the hell I was while my potentially brilliant musical idea vanished into thin air.
Then I stumbled over Expert Sleepers Augustus Loop 2 which provided a completely programmable midi control environment and I knew this would give me all I needed to come up with a controlling setup I could use to actually control my loops. The main remaining problem now was that if I used more than one loop the FCB1010 out of the box wouldn’t give me any feedback on what loop I was operating on. Then I found out about the unofficial Uno firmware upgrade (http://www.ossandust.be/). I had a friend burn the downloaded image file on an eeprom chip and was now able to operate the unit in “stompbox mode”. In short, this makes it possible to have one row of buttons on the FCB1010 act as pedals that operate independently of the selected patches in the other row. Now, I can select a loop to control by stepping on one of the buttons in the lower row and the LED on this button stays on even when I press buttons in the upper row to manipulate the loop.
I have written my own lua midi script and gui for Augustus which I’ve been able to extend even further since Os, its ever helpful developer, has built in some event timing support. So, for the first time since I discovered the joys of live looping I’m very content with my setup. That’s why I’m making it public here. Maybe someone finds it useful, too. And hopefully I’ll get to making more actual music now instead of working on my setup (well, one can dream).