On synths a sound is assigned to a MIDI channel and MIDI note data changes its pitch. MIDI on drum machines works a bit differently to synths and other MIDI instruments. In the MIDI To drop down menu, select your drum machine (if connected via USB) or interface (if connected via classic MIDI connection), and In the Audio From, select the channel input from your interface. We use this device to route MIDI note data to your drum machine and receive its audio via your audio interface. Now drag an External Instrument device from the browser to the first cell. Then, create a MIDI channel and load a blank Drum Rack from Live’s browser.

In Live’s preferences, under the MIDI tab, make sure Track and Remote for the drum machines MIDI out ports are selected. You’ll then need to connect the audio output of the drum machine to an audio input on your audio interface. In this instance the Drumbrute Impact has a USB MIDI connection, so all we have to do is plug it in. The first thing you need to do is get your drum machine hooked to your computer via MIDI so it tempo syncs and we can send it MIDI data to trigger the drum sounds from the unit while simultaneously capturing the audio. You can use any drum machine that has a MIDI in capabilities (via MIDI cable or over USB) – In this example we’ll use one of my favourite drum machines, the Drumbrute Impact from Arturia. This workflow also means you can utilize the hardware sequencer in a live scenario, programming additional improvised rhythms over the top of your clips coming from Ableton Live, without destructively editing your carefully programmed clips. Having your core drum loops programmed into clips in Live means you have those rhythms on hand at all times, and (in my opinion) it makes sense to have these all housed in one place rather than spread across software and hardware. Fair question! Creating custom drum racks to sequence a machine that already has an on board sequencer can be a more cohesive workflow and opens the door to some interesting possibilities - particularly for live performance. The question came up of why I had my drum machine connected to the Push when it already has a sequencer. In my ‘ Push New Ideas’ presentation, I demo’d a performance setup using Ableton’s Push controller, that was controlling external hardware synths and drum machines (see video below).

In early September, the Noisegate team went to the BIGSOUND festival/conference in Brisbane to host music-making workshops with Ableton Live.

Drum machine midi out