If anyone here’s tried running their Pyramid with multiple midi controllers let me know what your experiences with setting up & workflow were like. If you’ve done this with any other sequencer/DAW I’m still keen to hear from you.
Asking because I’m playing a Launchpad Pro into the Pyramid for notes & am curious about picking up another controller to record CCs for filters etc into the Pyramid. The Behringer BCR2000 or Faderfox PC12 seem like good starting points.
Yeah, I probably should learn to use the Pyramid’s touch pad & dials better but I kinda want more points of control. Reason why I picked up the Launchpad Pro is because I just don’t like playing keyboard (I’m a reformed bass player), which ruled out all those perfectly decent controllers with keys, dials & sliders.
not related to Pyramid, BCR2000 is the most robust + flexible + cheap MIDI controller ever.
a bit bigger than some others, I got the same BCR2000 in studio & on stage since years.
I’m also interested about how to control PYRAMID MIDI FXs with external controller…
Having all FX controllable using the BCR could be a nice option for my next setup.
Hi…you can make every track in Live ‘listen’ to a specific controller. You can do this by setting a track’s midi input to the desired controller.Another option would be to set different midi channels like you already suggested. You will probably have to set the midi channel on each controller. Are there any options on your controllers to set the midi channels? Usually there is a ‘global’ midi setting where you can change the output to a specific midi channel. Once you’ve done that, select the desired midi channel for each track inside Live.
I have toured with Pyramid for about 2 years and tried all sorts of combinations for controllers.
The biggest problem I’ve run into is clocks.
So beat step pro, and things like that are out. They send a clock, and unless I want them to be the master, and pyramid the slave (which I don’t) then I have had to move them further down the chain.
At the moment I’ve started using the Arturia Keystep as my main keyboard at the MIDI in
And have a couple of different controllers placed down the chain (for Octatrack mixing, and other fun)
But to be honest, most of the time I tend to just select the track and then play the key pads on the Pyramid.
When I go to the trouble of bringing a controller it’s usually just for a golden moment in a song or two, and it seems silly by the end of the show to take up so much space for something I am not using all the time in my set.
But as long as clocks are either removed, or appropriately assigned, then more than one controller should be ok.
Also a huge + 1 for the midi merge.
There are a few different ones out there still, I use (and love) the Anatek Pocket Merge
It’s simple, and works great!
That’s a great point about controllers sending clock signals, hadn’t considered that. Thanks!
The Keystep looks amazing, good to read that someone’s using both too. Are you using the Pyramid to handle composed parts of songs (drums, bass, pads etc) and using the Keystep for leads & improv?
More or less. Yes.
I use the Pyramid for the master clock and all remote midi operations, and the main throughput.
But I do rely heavily on external devices (clocked or triggered by pyramid) to hold their own.
And then yes, much of the live improvisation, and interactions with the devices are then done either by controllers and control surfaces either ahead of the chain (as input devices) or midi merged down the chain.
I sort of move things as needed in terms of who is causing trouble. So troublesome things either get lost, or moved to the end of any given midi line.
Ideally as you describe would be best, but not everything plays nicely with everything else.
i have several synths connected to the pyramid, both in and out, i want to be able to play synth A into the pyramid, the pyramid sequences it. then repeat with synth B. i know people who do this with their pyramid
the problems are;
a) the manual for pyramid os 3 doesn’t match what i’m seeing on my updated pyramid. for instant i go to settings, midi in, and i see multitrack A, multitrack B etc… that’s not what the manual says, it just says “multitrack on” so that’s driving me insane.
b) the manual says you can do things, but doesn’t say how. like how to i set the MIDI IN channel on a track?! i’ve set the midi out channel. that’s fine.
does pyramid send clock? i can’t seem to get it to… i’m trying to get my sub 37 to sync to an empty new session, i’m on track 3 channel 3. if i press notes on the pyramid the sub37 picks them up. but i cannot get the sub 37 to sync to the clock (for its arps).
i’m starting to think i should make my drum machine the midi in master clock (if someone can tell me how) and have all my instruments sync to that…
i have a midi solutions T8 to split the midi signal out to all the synths, and have carefully set them each to their channels. i have a M8 merge to bring them all back in. but the pyramid doesn’t seem to be listening.
please help! i’ve had this thing in the closet for a year too afraid to try to use it, if finally hooked up all the midi, and i’m feeling really stupid trying to get simple things to happen.
(if you do find mistakes, Id report them to squarp so they can fix them, we all make typos)
no it doesn’t say that you can set a midi channel for your midi input - as you cannot
there are only three modes for midi input on the pyramid, which are controlled by omni mode
(this is a summary , but read the manual!)
multitrack off - all notes etc to current selected track
multitrack A-D - notes goto track indicated by channel
so if you set this to mulitrank bank B , then channel 3 will got to B3, channel 8 to B8
ch 1-16, notes on this channel only will goto to current tracks, other channels will passthru to Midi out A
if you want a the synth keyboard to only control that keyboard (rather than act as a master keyboard to multi synths) then multitrack bank A is what you want.
(there are some limitations with this… but trying it out is the best way to understand it)
yes, if sends clock IF you want it too…
go to setting → midi out → sync A/B or USB depending which output you want it on.
you will also need to consider if you want start/stop sent, and also look at sync stop.
(basically you don’t really need these for synth, more if you start start/stopping patterns on other instruments)
really Id try to keep it simple to start with - if you’ve not done this before it can get confusing fast…get some experience and it’ll all start to make sense.
you might find the merger/splitter confuses/complicates… so initially get devices working directly with the pyramid, then you’ll know if issues are pyramid configuration or the what you are doing with the T8/M8.
(pyramid listening - check settings->midi in)
start simple,
sit down with the pyramid , and one device, and get it working
initially keep the Pyramid manual open, ( I use the online one its easier to jump around) and carefully read the settings description
(the pyramid has a lot of settings, because it had to deal with lots of different types of setups, and lots od midi devices, that are some times ‘less than perfect’ in their midi implementation)
then repeat with the next device,
then finally start getting combinations working… with the T8/M8 if necessary,
that way you’ll know at each step where the issues are.
thank you for your help! yes i misremembered what the manual said, the omni mode in the manual is below. your description is much clearer and confirms what i suspected, to use multitrack A.THANKYOU!
Connect one or more MIDI controllers (e.g. keyboard, drumpad, fader surface) to Pyramid’s MIDI in, and transmit MIDI notes and MIDI CC messages to Pyramid. In SETTINGS you can choose between OMNI-mode (control the selected track, regardless of controller output channel) and MULTI-mode (control TR01A if a controller’s channel = 01, control TR14A with a controller set to channel 14, etc.). This option allows you to record multichannel events as a MIDI looper.
i have sent a few things to square as the midi in menu is drastically different to what the manual says. makes things really hard.
i figured out the sent clock from another post! so it is sending clock.
i also figured out from ANOTHER post that my midi merge was underpowered, so that’s fixed too. (i really am reading, re reading, trying new stuff, reading more)
yeah i’m still having trouble with the sub37 so i might move to the minilogue which is a less painful device to use with midi sync… GOOD ADVICE thankyou!
no bcr2000 is not in production unfortunally . you may be confused with the last controllers by behringer which are completelly shit compared to the bcr2000. but…they still around second hand. if you can find a one who works like new
