Minilogue Controller for Max For Live

Minilogue Controller is a Max For Live device which allows two-way communication between Ableton Live and a Korg Minilogue synth.

All of the dials and switches on the Minilogue can be controlled and automated through the device and any changes you make on the Minilogue itself will be updated on the device too.

You can select any of the Minilogue’s programs / presets either directly from the device or from the Minilogue and the device’s dials and switches will be updated accordingly.

Also features a ‘Randomise’ button which will randomise all the dials and switches on the device. Useful for coming up with interesting new sounds. And with the latest update, you can now choose which areas of the Minilogue you’d like to randomise. Choose from:

VCO
Mixer
Filter
Amp EG
EG
LFO
Delay
Voice Mode Depth

Simply check the sections you’d like to randomise, or use the ‘All’ button to toggle all sections on/off.

All of the device’s parameters are controllable right away through Push / Push 2, or easily mapped to a MIDI controller.

For a full setup guide and walkthrough of the features, please refer to the video above.

Enormous thanks goes to halffish for providing the Max patch and Javascript to handle the sysex to CC conversion.

Requirements:

• PC/Mac with 64bit OS.
• KORG Minilogue
• Ableton Live 10+
• Max For Live (included with Ableton Live Suite)
  

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Advice on MIDI Feedback – Read this is you’re getting unusual behaviour from dials or notes

I mention this briefly in the video but I thought it was worth explaining a little more as I don’t think the video makes this very clear…

The setup I describe in the video actually creates a MIDI feedback loop. This is where two devices are BOTH sending and receiving MIDI to AND from each other at the same time. This is necessary if you want to use the ‘Randomise’ feature on the device or want to change presets/banks from the device AND have its dials update at the same time but it can create some unusual behaviour as a result. This is because MIDI is being sent from Ableton into the Minilogue, then from the Minilogue back into Ableton. Then back around again in a loop for all eternity! Some synths have a ‘MIDI Thru’ port to prevent this problem but the Minilogue doesn’t have one.

You may find that dials on the device jump around when turning dials on the Minilogue, or you get some very odd sounds from the Minilogue when using dials on the device. This isn’t much of an issue when just playing notes (and you can turn off the ‘Note On’ button on the device if this causes problems). However, when using dials on either device and the feedback loop is present, this can sometimes create some very unwanted and unusual behaviour.

The way around this problem is to only have one thing sending MIDI and one thing receiving MIDI at the same time.

For this, you’d need to do the following, depending on the situation…

If you want to play the keys and move dials on your Minilogue and receive/record this in Ableton then set your Track and External Instrument in Ableton as follows:

Track – Set ‘MIDI From’ to ‘Ch. 1’ and ‘Monitor’ to either ‘In’, or ‘Auto’ (with ‘Rec Arm’ enabled).

External Instrument – Set ‘MIDI To’ to ‘No Output’.

Or, if you want to play MIDI clips or arrangements from Ableton into the Minilogue, set Ableton’s Track and External Instrument as follows:

Track – Set ‘Monitor’ to ‘Off’

External Instrument – Set ‘MIDI To’ to ‘Ch. 1’