Hi, this Hawk the intern here at Livid and I’m here to teach you how to use a Livid Code midi controller to manipulate the iElectribe app for your iPad!  You can download the code editor mapping preset here, or follow my tutorial and program it yourself.  Then you can try customizing it to your preferences and if you have a Livid Block too, you can plug into a multi-usb hub and program both to get maximum control. But let’s start with the Code first.

In this tutorial I am using a prototype code controller with a built in iPad dock, but this will work with any code.

Here is a step-by-step tutorial:

Plug your Code into the computer and then open the code editor. For reference you can go here for the complete midi mapping instructions.

It’s important to know that iElectribe uses channel 10 for all messages, so you’ll need to reassign all of the controls to channel 10 when you do your mapping. You can either follow the mapping instructions below, or just go here to download the preset for Code editor that does it for you.

Now to start mapping buttons and knobs, you can click on them with your mouse or touch the corresponding button/knob on the actual code.

I began by assigning the bottom row of buttons to correspond to the instruments of the drum machine.  From left to right: synth 1, synth 2, synth 3, synth 4, HH closed, HH open, cymbal, and clap/snare.   To do this, assign code buttons 38 – 45 to note values 36, 38, 40, 41, 42, 46, 49, and 39 (respectively from L to R).   Also, assign all the channels of these buttons to channel 10.

Make sure to press update each time you assign a button, and at this point hit “send” and “save to code.”  You can also hit the “store” button to save these settings to a preset in the code editor.

If you want to, you can unplug the code and plug it into the iPad via a powered usb hub (the iPad alone doesn’t power the code) and test it out.  Each time you press a button on the bottom row, it should activate the corresponding drum machine button.

Now let’s plug back in to the computer.  *Note that you might have to restart the code editor and pick back up from your saved preset.

Next, begin to assign each of the knobs or ‘encoders’ of the Code.  Each column of knobs will affect the drum machine instrument below it and the row will designate the type of change which will occur.  I have programmed mine to affect pitch, mod depth, mod speed, and decay.  (I might also suggest substituting decay for level but for this example, we’ll stick to decay).

The top row (Code knobs ENC1-ENC8) will be mapped to control the pitch of each instrument.  Make sure to set the ‘type’ to ctl and the channel to 10.  From the left to right, the values should be 15, 28, 42, 55, 68, 81, 94, and 107.  Hit “save”, “send to code” and “store” at this point if you have not.

The 2nd row (Code knobs ENC9-ENC16) will control mod depth.  Set all as ‘ctl’ on channel 10 and assign values 17, 30, 44, 57, 70, 83, 96, and 109 from L to R.

The 3rd row (Code knobs ENC17-ENC24) will control mod speed.  Set all as ‘ctl’ on channel 10 and assign values 18, 31, 45, 58, 71, 84, 97, and 110 from L to R.

The 4th row (Code knobs ENC25-ENC32) will control decay.  Set all as ‘ctl’ on channel 10 and assign values 20, 34, 47, 60, 73, 86, 99, and 112 from L to R.

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