Intro

A lot of the buttons do exactly what they say they do, with a few exceptions where that functionality does not exist in Ableton Live or there is no API for that. Most of the buttons that toggle things will also synchronize their state with the software.

Here’s a full list of buttons and their effects, grouped by action type (and if possible ordered the way they appear on the device).

Jog Wheel

There are currently 4 navigation modes that the Jog Wheel can be in:

  1. Track Navigation (Track Select)
  2. Device Navigation (Program Select)
  3. Parameter Navigation (Sample Select)
  4. Browser Navigation (Browse)

Track Navigation

In this mode you can turn the wheel to scroll through tracks and their chains (if showing). This works both in Session and Arrangement views. If implicit record arm is enabled, it will follow the selection so that the selected track will be armed if possible.

Pressing the Jog Wheel button will toggle the recording arm on the selected track, and pressing it while holding SHIFT will show/hide the track chains or fold/unfold the group (if available).

Turning the Jog Wheel while holding SHIFT will scroll around scenes in Session View.

Device Navigation

In this mode you can browse and modify the devices on the currently selected track. Turning the Jog Wheel will scroll around the devices, selecting each device (so that parameters can be controlled via MIDI - this is coming soon to the Touch Strip).

Pressing the Jog Wheel will turn the device on/off, and pressing it while holding SHIFT will collapse the device view.

Turning the Jog Wheel while holding SHIFT will move the selected device to the left or right.

Parameter Navigation

In this mode you can use the jog wheel to control the selected device’s parameters. After entering the mode, press and hold Sample Select, then select a parameter to control using the pads. These are indexed from left to right, top to bottom, and in many devices will mirror the layout on the screen (usually for simpler devices with just 8 knobs). The amount of pads that are lit up white is the amount of parameters the device has. The blue pad is the currently selected parameter. Select one of the white pads to switch to a different parameter. The last (bottom right) pad is reserved for the currently selected parameter (click with your mouse to select a parameter). This is indicated by the pad being red instead of white.

For quantized, i.e. discrete parameters each step of the Jog Wheel will switch to the next value.

For continuous parameters, if the parameter values are within the range of [-1, 1] or [0, 1] or [0, 2] (e.g. Gain on Utility), each turn of the wheel will adjust the parameter by 1% of the total range. Holding SHIFT will allow for finer tuning, where each turn is 0.1% of the total range.

For parameters with a larger range of integers, each turn will adjust the value by 1.

Pressing the Jog Wheel returns the parameter to its default value, if it has one.

Browser Navigation

In this mode you can use the Jog Wheel to browse the Ableton library. By default, turning the browser mode on will show the library window, and switching to any other mode will hide it. You can still show/hide the window at any time by using SHIFT + Browse.

Turning the Jog Wheel will travel across the library vertically. Turning it while holding SHIFT will travel it horizontally (i.e. right for enter and left for back).

Pressing the jog wheel uses osascript to inject the enter key event. This only works on MacOS and will ask for permission the first time it is used (you may have to quit and reopen Live before it works), but it allows us to actually load devices without using the keyboard! Pressing while holding SHIFT toggles hot swap mode.

Transport Control

  • Record: Toggle Record when in Arrangement View, Session Overdub when in Session View
  • Overdub: Toggle Arrangement Overdub
  • Play: Play
  • Stop: Stop
  • Play Start: Toggle Arrangement Loop
  • <: Capture MIDI
  • >: Capture Scene - capture currently playing clips and insert them as a new scene after the selected scene
  • «/»: Move the playhead
  • Automation R/W: Toggles automation read/write - currently slightly bugged, see GitHub Issue

Tempo Control

  • Tap Tempo: Tap tempo, with visual feedback of the tempo. To adjust tempo manually, hold SHIFT, Quantize and turn the Jog Wheel.
  • TC On/Off: Toggle Record Quantization
  • Quantize: Quantizes all notes in the currently selected Session View clip. Hold SHIFT and Quantize, then use the Jog Wheel to adjust tempo manually.
  • Tune: Toggles Metronome

Software Control

  • Main: Toggle Session View / Arrangement View
  • Mode: Accesses Shortcuts, see below
  • Zoom: Session overview on pads for quick navigation, see Pad mode A. Also while pressed paged session view movement. SHIFT to reset the session ring to currently selected track and scene.
  • Undo: Undo. After pressing lights up white if undo was successful, or red if it was not possible. SHIFT to redo, also lights up white or red when pressed.
  • Shift: Accesses extra functionality of Pad Modes, see Pad modes
  • -/+/Sample Start/Sample End: Move the session view window around, Zoom for paged navigation, see Pad mode A
  • Track select: Jog Wheel track selection mode (currently the only one) SHIFT to select scenes

Mode Button Shortcuts

Holding down the Mode button allows using one of the 8 shortcuts using the pads.

The bottom row of pads adds tracks, from left to right

  • Audio Track
  • MIDI Track
  • Drum Rack Track
  • Simpler Track

The second and third to bottom rows of pads add a device to the current track, from left to right and bottom to top:

  • Auto Filter
  • Compressor
  • Delay
  • Reverb
  • Tuner
  • EQ Eight
  • Utility
  • Limiter

The top row of pads deletes and duplicates things, from left to right:

  • Delete current track
  • Delete selected device
  • Duplicate current track
  • Duplicate current scene