There are a few things to bear in mind when mapping Live’s scene navigators.
The up/down arrows are pretty straightforward, but the numeric control, not as much. Unlike most controls in Live which work perfectly well when being sent absolute MIDI data, this control is designed to be controlled by relative MIDI data.
Absolute MIDI data is very simple: the controller sends a value from 0-127. Relative data is a little different. There are a number of different formats for relative data, but what they all have in common is that they communicate movement rather than a specific value. In other words, the controller tells Live something like “my value is increasing by four clicks”, rather than “my value is now 78.”
Not all controllers can send relative MIDI messages, some are absolute only. Check your manual. If your controller isn’t programmable, experiment. It’s hard to navigate a set using a controller that’s sending absolute data. Try it and you’ll see.
To get smooth performance out of a scene navigator, the ideal is an endless encoder that has been programmed to send relative data to Live. When you map the controller, turn it slowly for a couple of seconds, and Live should detect that it’s relative. Take a look at the menu at the bottom of the screen and one of the relative modes should be automatically selected:
Sometimes Live doesn’t detect it right and you’ll have to choose the right one from the menu yourself. Again, knowing which one to use is a matter of checking your controller’s documentation.
