Help with a midi controller for Zebra2

[sambi]

Hello,

I'm new to this forum. I am considering to buy the Zebra2 and the Dark Zebra.
I have read some of the topics concerning midi controllers and u-he products but I'm new to this stuff and there is to much technicality mentioned.
I have been testing the following controllers: Cakewalk/Roland A-500PRO, AKAI MPK49, Novation 49 SL MKII and the m-audio axiom pro at the store with the demo version od Zebra2 in Ableton 2. Now what I want to get from a control surface point of view is to be able to click with the mouse on a segment (for example the LFO) and than to be able to control all controllers in this segment. Is this possible?? The only thing I could do while I was testing is to MIDI Learn one controller in the segment and then I was stuck.

Does anyone have a manual how to set-up one of these controllers??

[bmrzycki]

Hi sambi,
Zebra's midi implementation isn't that sophisticated. There are no midi messages sent when you click and select a module (like LFO2). People have tried to work around this by assigning CC values to as many knobs as possible and then intelligently grouping them with tools like Automap for Novation controllers. If you do some searching around these parts you'll see users trying to find the ideal workflow.

I tried for a while to do what you are doing but I've since moved away from that. I build sounds with my mouse and then I add key parameters to the XY's which I have mapped to my 8 rotary encoders on my keyboard. This gives me quick expression controllers for when I'm in the moment.

It's possible this will change for Z3, Urs and team hasn't really talked in detail about what they are planning for us. I imagine it will be good though.

[sambi]

Thank You Brian for your reply. That explains a lot.

So basically speaking a controller like the Novation Nocturn or even an AKAI LPD8 could do the job with controlling the XY performance. I just need to setup a patch with my mouse and than assign the parameters to all the axis and than I can tweak whatever I want.

Thanks for the tip.

[Andi_Paulo]

On my APC 40 I have the 4 x/y mapped to 8 rotarys. Just put Zebra in Ableton into a rack and map them to the macros.

[bmrzycki]

Thank You Brian for your reply. That explains a lot.

So basically speaking a controller like the Novation Nocturn or even an AKAI LPD8 could do the job with controlling the XY performance. I just need to setup a patch with my mouse and than assign the parameters to all the axis and than I can tweak whatever I want.

Thanks for the tip.

Yep, sounds right to me. BTW midi assignments in Zebra are not per-patch and you can only have 1:1 CC:parameter. That means you can't have CC21 mapped to both X1 and X4. The last assignment you assign CC21 to will be the only one that responds to the messages. The LPD8 would be a good option, inexpensive and last time I touched it I thought the knobs had a decent amount of resistance, they didn't feel cheap or plasticy.

[sambi]

Just put Zebra in Ableton into a rack and map them to the macros.

Sounds like a good idea, but I have to study the manual for Ableton to do this . In other words for now you're talking magic to me . Is there any tutorial how to do it on youtube?

BTW I should have bought the APC40 instead of the APC20.