Glitch With Ableton Live 7 and Novation SL Controllers

For the last 2 years I have been using Ableton Live as my musical composition software, and they are currently up to version 7, which I have. I havn't done a huge amount of work in this yet as I had been getting Electronic Critters ready for launch, but recently I have been getting some of my files ready from the Daisy Cutter and Twilight EP's ready for re-releasing as a complete album.



When writing music I use the Novation Remote 25SL keyboard controller, as shown in the above picture. This controller is excellent. I would even go as far as saying it is probably one of the most flexible controllers on the market. As you click on devices in Ableton, all the controls and the LCD displays on the Novation remap them selves to show the controls of the device you are working on. This is really useful, but there is a little gremlin with Ableton Live 7 which makes your music track glitch a little when playing back. This is regardless of processor speed, or OS (windows of mac).



controller in real time, it just gets a little chocked up, but don't The reason this glitch happens is because of the sheer amount of data being sent to the novation display. There is a way around this. Goto the preferences window in Ableton Live. When you see the Midi Ports section, click the little sideways arrow next to each port (shown in the picture below).




Where it says 'Direct Music', click this button until it says 'MME'. Do this anywhere is says 'Direct Music'. This will stop the glitching. Hopefully this issue will be sorted out properly soon. I am not sure if it is a problem in Ableton Live, or the protocol for Novations Automap system, but this fix will stop it glitching up and driving you mad. Hopefully, between Ableton and Novation, this issue will get sorted out properly.