I have no experience with Ableton, but I wanted to start learning by recording some drums samples with my e-drums (Alesis Crimson 2). I already set up the instrument and it sends and receives MIDI correctly through the USB cable, but I cannot use the sounds present on the machine as MIDI, I can only map sounds from Ableton to the drums. I can also connect it with a jack and record the sounds of the drums as audio. Is it possible to use the sounds of the instrument as MIDI? How? Do I need to do something on the drums? (I think I can record all the sounds of the rack with single strikes as audio and then convert them to MIDI, but I'd rather go with something more direct. I think it's plausible that there's a way to do it, but I can't find any documentation)
1
-
Regarding documentation, here is the online Live manual: ableton.com/en/manual/welcome-to-live and there's a link to download a PDF here: ableton.com/en/manual/credits– Todd WilcoxCommented Jun 13, 2019 at 17:17
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
I think you're confusing MIDI with audio here.
MIDI has no sound by itself, it's simply data. So, when you strike your electronic snare, Ableton doesn't receive "Snare Sound 12" but instead receives "MIDI channel 200" (all numbers made up).
Thus, what sound Ableton plays depends on what sound is mapped to the received MIDI channel -- this is typically done by mapping sounds to an instrument on that track, as you correctly pointed out.
There would be two ways to achieve what you're describing:
- Download the samples from your electronic drum amp, or find similar ones online, and import those into Ableton so you can map those samples to the MIDI instrument on your Ableton track, or
- Instead of recording MIDI, record your sounds onto an audio track by placing a microphone in front of your electronic drum's amp, so your drumset will be creating the sound and Ableton will receive the sound channel (no MIDI involved)
