Reference Manual

479 MIDI and Key Remote Control
Instant Mappings
In most cases, Live uses a standard method for mapping its functions and parameters to physical
controls. This varies, of course, depending upon the configuration of knobs, sliders and buttons
on the control surface. These feature-dependent configurations are known as instant mappings.
Within Live’s built-in lessons, you will find a Control Surface Reference that lists all currently sup-
ported hardware, complete with the details of their instant mappings. Lessons can be accessed
at any time by selecting the Help View option from the View menu.
Note: You can always manually override any instant mappings with your own assignments. In
this case, you will also want to enable the Remote switches for the MIDI ports that your control
surface is using. This is done in the MIDI Ports section of the MIDI/Sync Preferences tab, and is
described in the next section.
Instant mappings are advantageous because the control surface’s controllers will automatically
reassign themselves in order to control the currently selected device in Live.
Control Surfaces Can Follow Device Selection.
In addition to following device selection, natively supported control surfaces can be ”locked”
to specific devices, guaranteeing hands-on access no matter where the current focus is in your
Live Set. To enable or disable locking, [right-click](PC) / [CTRL-click](Mac) on a device’s title
bar, and then select your preferred controller from the ”Lock to...” context menu. You’ll recognize
the same list of control surfaces that you defined in the MIDI/Sync Preferences. By default, the
instrument in a MIDI track will automatically be locked to the control surface when the track is
armed for recording.