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Setting Up the Tweaker As a Control Surface in Ableton Live

Note: The Tweaker Remote Script for Ableton Live must be installed before following these instructions. You can download the script here.

LivePrefs

In order for Live to respond to the TWEAKER’s commands, it needs to be setup as a control surface in Live’s MIDI Preferences. Once the Remote Script has been installed, it will become available in Live’s control surface chooser.

To setup the TWEAKER as a control surface:

  1. Open the Live preferences window and select the MIDI/Sync tab,
  2. Select Tweaker from the first control surface chooser,
  3. Select TweakerNav from the second control surface chooser,
  4. Set inputs and outputs for both control surfaces as Tweaker (Port 1),
  5. Make sure that Track and Remote are both on for Tweaker (Port 1) in the MIDI Ports menu

Setup Drum Rack to Work with Tweaker

For Ableton Live’s Drum Rack to respond to the TWEAKER,

  • set “MIDI From” on Drum Rack’s host MIDI track to “Tweaker (Port 1)”,
  • and set the MIDI channel to “All Channels” or “Channel 10.”

The track must be armed for recording so the MIDI input will trigger pads the Drum Rack.

Note: Track Input must be enabled for the TWEAKER’s In port in Live’s MIDI Preferences

Ableton Live Remote Script Versions Reference

Ableton has been known to occasionally make changes that break 3rd party remote scripts with software updates. There are several versions of the Tweaker remote script for different versions of Live. Make sure that you have installed the correct script for the correct version of Live, especially if you have more than one Live installation on your computer.

Below is a list of the different versions:

  • Tweaker Remote Script v1.05 works with Live 9 versions 9.1.7 and higher
  • Tweaker Remote Script v1.03 works with Live 9 versions 9.1.3 to 9.1.6
  • Tweaker Remote Script v1.02 works with Live 9 versions 9.0 to 9.1.2
  • Tweaker Remote Script v1.01 works with Live 8 versions 8.2.2 and higher

 

OS X Remote Script Installation “Disk is Damaged” Error

If you encounter a “disk is damaged” error while installing the Ableton Live Remote Script, you may need to change your Gatekeeper settings or manually allow the installation.

Gatekeeper prevents installing malicious or otherwise unknown applications in OS X. Gatekeeper options are found in Apple menu > System Preferences… > Security & Privacy > General tab under the header “Allow applications downloaded from:”

More about Gatekeeper

Uninstalling Ableton Live 9 Remote Script

To uninstall the remote script, you must navigate to Live’s MIDI Remote Scripts folder, and delete the folders named Tweaker and TweakerNav.

Windows

Ableton Live 9’s default installation location is the ProgramData folder located on the C: drive (C: >  ProgramData). This folder is hidden by default, so you may have to set Windows to show hidden files and folders.

  • Go to ProgramData > Ableton > Live 9 > Resources > MIDI Remote Scripts
  • Scroll down until you see the Tweaker and TweakerNav folders. Select and delete them.

OS X

Ableton Live 9’s default installation location is the Applications folder (User > Applications).

  • Find Ableton Live 9 in the Applications folder, right click on the icon and choose Show Package Contents.
  • Go to Contents > App-Resources > MIDI Remote Scripts
  • Scroll down until you see the Tweaker and TweakerNav folders. Select and delete them.

Installing Traktor Mappings (.tsi)

Download

There are three mappings  currently available from Electrix: Decks A/B, Remix Decks C/D, and Track Preparation. They are available on our downloads page. You will need to save the .tsi in Traktor’s settings folder. To do so:

  • Right click the mapping file and select ‘save target as’ and navigate to the following folder:
    Home (your user folder) > Documents > Native Instruments > Traktor 2.x.x > Settings

Install

  1. Launch Traktor, open the Preferences, and click on the Controller Manager Tab,
  2. Under Device Setup, click the Add button and select from the pull down menu Import TSI > Import Other
  3. Navigate to Traktor’s settings folder and select the TSI file you want to install

Screen Shot 2014-10-04 at 5.06.05 PM

Set Ports

Ports represent the physical connections on your hardware devices. Setting the ports tells Traktor where to send and receive MIDI messages. Having multiple mappings set to the same ports will cause the hardware device to behave erratically as it will receive conflicting messages.

  • Under the In Port and Out Port pull down menus, set the mapping you are currently using to Tweaker Port 1 (that’s the USB port).
  • You can only use one Tweaker mapping at a time. If you have more than one Tweaker mapping installed, others must be set to None.

Screen Shot 2014-10-04 at 5.05.25 PM

 

You are now ready to start using the Tweaker with Traktor Pro 2.

Checking Your Tweaker’s Firmware Version

The current firmware version is 5.2.

You can check your current firmware version at any time by holding down the three buttons shown below in red:

Tweaker-FW-Check

While these three buttons are held down, the firmware version will be indicated on the bottom encoder LED rings on both mixer channels.

The left LED ring indicates the number before the decimal point, and the right LED ring indicates the number after the decimal point. Include both red and blue LED’s when counting.

For example, to indicate version 5.2, five LED’s will light up on the left ring, and two LED’s will light up on the right ring.

Note: If you think you have 4.1, you most likely have 5.2. Make sure to count both red and blue LEDs. 

Updating the Tweaker Firmware

Note: Make sure you check your current firmware version before updating.

  1. With the Tweaker unplugged, hold down the round rubber button located in the center of the four directional navigation buttons, while connecting Tweaker to your computer,
  2. A volume named TweakerDisk will mount on your system,
  3. Drag the Tweaker firmware binary file and drop it onto the TweakerDisk volume,
  4. The velocity pads will flash while the firmware is updating. Do not disconnect the USB cable during this process,
  5. It is safe to disconnect the USB once the pads have stopped flashing. Once the update is complete you must reconnect the TWEAKER to return to normal operating mode.

Tweaker Default MIDI Settings

Tweaker-Default-Mapping-

The following is a list of the TWEAKER’s factory default MIDI note and CC settings.

Soft Touch Buttons

Mapping: MIDI Notes 1-38
MIDI Channel: 1
No Speed Control Buttons Enabled

RGB LED’s
Mapping: MIDI Notes 1-38 MIDI Channel: 1
Auto-light (Local Control): Off

Soft Touch Navigation Buttons

Mapping: MIDI Notes 39-43
MIDI Channel: 1
No Speed Control Buttons Enabled

Red LED’s
Mapping: MIDI Notes 39-43
MIDI Channel: 1
Auto-light (Local Control): Off

Encoder Push Buttons

Mapping: MIDI Notes 44-50
MIDI Channel: 1
No Speed Control Buttons Enabled

Blue LED’s
Mapping: MIDI Notes 44-50
MIDI Channel: 1
Auto-light (Local Control): Off

Potentiometers (Including Faders)

Mapping (normal output): MIDI CC’s 51-55
Mapping (Center-Note): MIDI Notes 51-54
MIDI Channel: 1

Force Sensitive Pads

Mapping: MIDI Notes 63-70
Mapping: MIDI CC’s 71-78
MIDI Channel: 1
No Speed Control Buttons Enabled

Red LED’s
Mapping: MIDI Notes 63-70
MIDI Channel: 1
Auto-light (Local Control): Off

Rotary Encoders

Mapping: MIDI CC’s 56-62
MIDI Channel: 1
Encoder Speed1: 5
Encoder Speed2: 1
Output Mode: Absolute Mode (except Navigation Encoder which is in Relative Mode)

LED Rings
Mapping: MIDI CC’s 79-84
MIDI Channel: 1
Encoder Link: On
Ring Mode: EQ Mode

General MIDI

Local Control: Off
Omni Channel: Off
External MIDI Jacks: Enabled

Check Your MIDI Settings Using Tweaker Editor Tools

The Tweaker Editor features several handy tools to test your MIDI and hardware settings, including MIDI input tools and MIDI output tools.

  • To view the Tools window, simply click on the Tools button located in the lower right hand corner of the Tweaker Editor window.

Screen Shot 2015-03-24 at 11.17.02 AM

The view MIDI input tool shows you messages sent by the Tweaker. While this window is open, move any of the controls on the Tweaker and watch as the incoming messages are displayed in real-time.

  • Make sure to set the correct port from the pull down menu. The default value is Tweaker Port 1, which is the USB port on the Tweaker. If you are using the MIDI connections, or if you have more than one Tweaker connected, make sure you change the default value.

The MIDI Output Tools let you send messages to the Tweaker. This is most commonly used to test the LED’s.

  • Try this for a bit of fun: under Send Many Notes, change the interval to 100 (default is 1000), press go, and watch the LED’s trigger on the Tweaker.

What just happened? You just sent note on and note off messages to every control on the Tweaker sequentially. The min value represents the first note and the max value represents the last note in the range. In our case, note 0 is assigned to the first button in the grid, and the last note is note 70, which is the last drum pad. The interval is how quickly each note is triggered.

You might have noticed that the LED rings did not trigger using the Send Many Notes tool. That’s because the rings are not controlled by note messages, but rather control change (cc) messages. To test the LED rings, use the Send CC Ramps tool instead.

Reset Tweaker to Factory Defaults

With great power comes great responsibility!

The Tweaker is a highly customizable control surface. Which means it is also easy to mess things up! If your Tweaker is acting strangely, or if factory mappings are not responding correctly, simply reset it to the factory settings using the Tweaker Editor. Note: You may want to save your current settings as a preset first, so you can recall them later. View information on saving presets in the Tweaker Editor Reference Guide

are u sure

  • To reset the Tweaker to factory settings, press the RESET TO DEFAULTS button located at the bottom of the Tweaker Editor control panel. You’ll be asked for confirmation before you commit this change!
  • Then press the SAVE TO TWEAKER button to save the defaults settings back into the Tweaker’s on-board memory.

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