I am using Bome MIDI Translator Pro together with an Akai APC40 MK2 and Ableton Live 12 (Windows 11).
My goal:
I would like to convert the APC40 MK2’s button presses ( toggle-style messages (press = on, press again = off), into momentary CC messages (127 on press, 0 on release) so they behave like a sustain pedal mapped in Live. This would allow me to use the APC40 MK2 buttons in Live as momentary mutes, momentary effect activators, etc.
The sustain pedal works perfectly when mapped directly in Ableton, but the APC40 buttons only act as toggles unless I can translate them.
My question to Bome:
Could you guide me step-by-step on how to set up a Bome Translator rule so that an incoming APC40 note (button press) outputs CC 127 on press, CC 0 on release?
Is there perhaps a ready-made preset or example project for this use case?
This is a key part of my performance workflow, and I believe Bome could be the solution, I just need help setting it up correctly.
You can learn more about aliases from this tutorial.
Translator 0.3 sends a SysEx string that makes the APC-40MK2 all momentary. This is an interal mode of that specific controller. The translator is triggered by the perform ‘Init’ function. (Requires 1.9.0 of Bome MIDI Translator Pro or later). The mode value is constructed in the rules of translator 0.3.
Perform “Init” is triggered by translator 0.0 when the project is open (translator 0.1), if you enter a keystroke CTRL-Right Arrow, (translator 0.2), or when the APC-40 MK 2 MIDI port is opened (translator 0.4).
The following are possible modes of the APC-40 MK2. The programming manual can be found on the AkaiPro web site.
SysEX
F0 47 7F 73 60 00 04 pp 08 01 01 F7
Where Mode (pp)=
0x40 Generic (Startup Default) Track select Radio- Channel Toggle
0x41 Ableton Live (LED Ring Remote Controlled) Momentary All
0x42 Alternate Ableton Live Momentary All
Thanks a lot for the explanation and the sent project.
I’ve got one more question; I actually don’t want the whole APC40 to flip to momentary mode, but only a few specific buttons. I would like the rest to stay the same (as they are by default), but assign a couple of specific buttons to act as a sustain pedal.
The controller itself has to switch them all or none. Also, you cannot use Bome MIDI Translator Pro (or any other program) to change toggle to mementary since toggle button only sends a MIDI message when pushed and not released.
So the strategy would need to be to switch everything to momentary and then use translators in Bome MIDI Translator Pro to convert whichever buttons you want as toggle to to toggle.
Which buttons that are currently toggle do you want to switch to momentary (leaving the rest in their default state)?
Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care
Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
