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Setting up Alesis Samplepad to trigger sounds

Discussion in 'MASCHINE Area' started by Wendlandt, Jan 2, 2021.

  1. Wendlandt

    Wendlandt New Member

    Messages:
    2
    So I recently ordered an Alesis Samplepad and so far I can't get it to work the way I want.

    What I want to do: The four pads on the Samplepad should trigger 4 different sounds in a certain group in my project, so that I can record percussion rhythms easier.

    What I tried so far: I connected the Samplepad to my Maschine MK 2 via Midi, set the MIDI preferences to "Receive Clock", checked the box at "Maschine MK 2 in". Then I went to the group I want to use the Pad with and in the Input settings changed the Key mode to "Manual" and the Source to "Maschine MK 2 in".

    Now on the Samplepad the pads 1-3 trigger sound 3 in said group, while pad 4 triggers sound 10 in that group and both other groups in my project. It appears that when I change the group settings, they are changed for all groups, not just the one I'm, so I can't just turn the input from the Samplepad off for the other groups.

    I tried changing the channel and start note in the group Midi settings, tried changing the Group Midi Batch Setup settings, played around with the other settings named above. Of course I also googled and read what I found, but all I found was either about a different problem or seemed to refer to a different version of the software.

    For example this doesn't work for me:


    This is how my settings at Group / Input look:
    [​IMG]

    If I change these settings, they are changed for all of my groups, not just the one I'm in. And the mapping of the pads on my Samplepad are neither automatically mapped in a way that makes sense, nor did I find a way to edit the mapping properly. I played around with the "Start Note", which seems to change which sound from another group triggers additionally to the sound it already triggers in the group I'm in. Doesn't really make sense to me though.

    Does anyone know how to properly set this up the way I want it or can at least point me in the right direction?
     
  2. oli@bass

    oli@bass NI Product Owner

    Messages:
    665
    - Why did you set the MIDI preferences to "Receive Clock"? Ate you controlling Start/Stop/Tempo via Samplepad?
    - The Groups can be set up separately, if not you‘re maybe in the wrong mode or have several selected together?
    - If the Samplepad sends different MIDI notes for each Pad, it should trigger different Sounds in Maschine. If different Pads trigger the same Sound, the Samplepad most probably sends the same note for them.
    - If Sounds of different Groups are triggered together, then the Groups are set up to trigger by the same MIDI input
    - The Channel of Group that should be triggered should be set to the proper value, or it may react to MIDI notes from other sources (e.g. Keyboards)
     
  3. Wendlandt

    Wendlandt New Member

    Messages:
    2
    Thank you for your answer! I think I figured it out now.

    I thought I read somewhere that I had to activate that, but apparently I don't.

    Not sure how that happened, but it turns out that this was the case, so when I switched between the groups, the colour and displayed group changed, but they were actually still all selected.

    For anyone asking themselves how to set this up too, this is how I did it:
    • Activate "Maschine MK2 In" in the Midi settings in the general preferences
    • Go to the group channel settings of the group you want to trigger and set it as follows
    • Key mode: Manual, Source: Maschine MK 2 In
    • On the Samplepad, select the first pad and adjust the value for "MID" until it triggers the correct sound
    • Repeat for the remaining pads
    It's actually super easy now that I know what I'm doing.

    Thank you again for pointing me in the right direction.
     
    • Like Like x 2
  4. eddievolondo

    eddievolondo New Member

    Messages:
    5
    Thanks for the guidance on how to set this up correctly. I'm also now using the samplepad pro and the pads are triggering different sounds that aren't chronological. I will have another look at it with these instructions.

    I did notice something though that you haven't mentioned. That's the latency. I feel the timings of the triggering is lagging marginally. I'm using the Maschine + hooked up to Maschine software so I dont think it matters what Maschine hardware I'm using. Be great to hear if you had that issue too and what you did to fix it. Note, I also use a midi keyboard and have no latency issues with that.