Getting Started with MPE in Ableton Live 11

In the previous chapter, we had a look at how we can utilize automation and modulation in Live in order to add some more movement, expression, and interest to some of the elements of our track and enhance our arrangement.

In this chapter, we are going to discover another fantastic tool that will allow us to create further movement and more expressive sounds.

Live 11 introduced us to the easily accessible and exciting world of MPE, and in this chapter, we are going to take a look at how we can easily get started on using MPE for our music.

In this chapter, we are going to cover the following topics:

• An introduction to MPE
• MPE in Wavetable and editing MPE data
• MPE control
• Expression control
• MPE with a controller

Technical requirements

In order to follow along with this chapter, you will need the following:

• A computer with at least 8 GB of RAM and an Intel Core i5 processor
• A pair of headphones
• A copy of Live 11 Suite
• The Chapter 12 Ableton Live project

An introduction to MPE

MPE stands for MIDI Polyphonic Expression, and it allows you to add more feelings and movement to your music. We can add bends, slides, and pressure to each individual note we play (even if the notes are forming a chord!).

Figure 12.1 – Using MPE in Live 11

What does this mean exactly?

Let’s say you have a chord recorded and would like to change the pitch of the chord toward the end of the notes. For this, you can easily write the pitch change into an automation or modulation envelope (either by automating the device’s pitch parameter that is playing back the chords, or using modulation through clip envelopes). However, when you do this, the pitch change will be applied to all the notes within the chord/clip. What if you wanted to pitch down the root note of the chord but pitch up the top note? Well, that is one of the things that MPE allows you to do. With MPE, we can control multiple parameters of a single...

Using MPE with the Wavetable device

In this section, we are going to explore MPE with the Wavetable device. However, the concept is the same with other MPE-compatible devices:

1. In the Chapter 12 project, navigate to the track called Wavetable, and hit the S button in the mixer to solo the track.
2. If you launched the clip on the Wavetable track, you will hear the same chord that we worked on before.
3. Now, navigate to the device area of this track at the bottom, where you will see the Wavetable device.
4. If you click on the MPE button at the top-right side of the device, that will display the MPE Modulation Matrix (Figure 12.6).

Figure 12.6 – The MPE tab and MPE Modulation Matrix in Wavetable

In this area, we can assign modulation for MPE inputs. If we had an MPE hardware controller, we would be able to send different types of MIDI messages to this synth (such as horizontal, vertical, and pressure – that is, the option to...

MPE Control

MPE Control is a Max for Live MIDI effect, which we will talk about in the next chapter! For now, let’s just see what this device does.

Figure 12.15 – The MPE Control MIDI effect

MPE Control will enable you to shape the incoming MPE modulation signals (Pressure, Slide, etc.). This can provide some really fun, additional controlled movement to the modulation.

This is a super fun device to use when you are recording with an MPE hardware controller; however, you can still try it out even if you do not own one.

Follow these steps:

1. In the Chapter 12 project, navigate to the Wavetable track, where we have already set up and applied some MPE.
2. Load MPE Control from the browser. You can find it under the MIDI Effects tab.
3. Once it’s on the track, we are going to go ahead and choose the MPE modulation source (Pressure, Slide, or Pitch) (Figure 12.16).

Figure 12.16 – MPE modulation...

Expression Control

The Max for Live device called Expression Control has actually been around for a while, and since the release of Live 11, it lives in the main MIDI effects category in the browser, as it is MPE-compatible. Even before MPE, this device was really great to push the modulation skills to the next level!

Expression Control is a very simple device that allows you to modulate parameters, which you can map yourself, so it gives you a great deal of flexibility. You can get started with it straight away with ease.

Let’s take a quick tour of it!

Figure 12.21 – The Expression Control MIDI effect device

You can select a MIDI parameter under MIDI In, which then can be mapped to a target parameter in Live with the Map buttons underneath Mapping. You can see in Figure 12.21 that I mapped Random to Filter 1 Frequency of the Wavetable device (on the Wavetable track within the Chapter 12 project).

Next to the Mapping tab, you can...

MPE with a controller

I already mentioned at the beginning of the chapter that, ideally, you should have an MPE controller (a physical controller) to get the most out of this feature; however, as you have seen throughout this chapter, it is not fully necessary.

There are a couple of different brands making MPE controllers, which you can easily find on the internet. When you have a controller, all the different modulations created by Slide, Pressure, and so on (which we have been exploring and using by manually drawing envelopes) can be controlled physically by sliding and applying pressure with your fingers while you are playing and recording.

What is really fun is that Ableton Push 2 can be also used to a certain extent to control MPE, as the Push has Polyphonic Aftertouch! (There’s more about Push 2 in Chapter 15, Playing Live.) Polyphonic Aftertouch creates a MIDI message specifically to each key that can be assigned to modulate parameters specific to each key/note...

Summary

We have finally arrived at the end of Chapter 12!

In this chapter, we explored the world of MPE and how to get started with it, with or without a physical MPE controller. We took an extensive look at how we can input/draw and edit envelopes within the Expression Editors, and we gained an understanding of some of the additional Max for Live MIDI effect choices that can be used to add some more fun to the process.

By now, you should have some great ideas on how you can implement and use the best MPE to create more expressive and interesting sounds and musical parts.

In the next chapter, we are going to have a lot of fun looking at Tempo Follower, Follow Action, and Max for Live, which are all truly unique features in Ableton Live!