Mapping midi notes from Sample Pad to Kontakt keyboard note in Ableton?

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Buranski
Buranski Member Posts: 8 Newcomer
in Kontakt

I have a great setup with Superior Drummer in Ableton for my triggered full ekit.

I am wanting to add in a Kontakt instrument, (spitfire streel drums,) to trigger form my Alesis Sample Pad Pro.

It is already set up in Ableton and triggering it's own Superior Drummer instance for one of it's setups.

(on midi channel 5, I have my ekit on 10)

and working great!

Now using Kontakt 8 for the first time, I am not having luck in figuring out how to get the pad to trigger the Kontakt keyboard notes I want.

It is probably something simple but how do I tell my pad to trigger a note?

ie channel 5

midi note 001 to C

midi note 002 to C#

midi note 003 to D

midi note 004 to D#

etc

Thanks

Screenshot 2025-04-27 023821-mh.jpg

Best Answer

  • LostInFoundation
    LostInFoundation Member Posts: 5,636 Legend
    edited May 4 Answer ✓

    If you look at the Kontakt color coded keyboard when you manage to have the sounds playing, using NOTES 36 and up (not channels as you said before), you’ll understand:

    When you hit the pad sending 36, C1 key get played (and you can also see it in Midi Monitor: C1), not middle C as you said (being it C3 or C4).

    Therefore…if 36 is C1, when you play notes 1-7 you are playing in the -2 octave (also this can be seen in Midi Monitor: E-2 …) which is an octave without nothing mapped to it in that instrument (and also not visible in the Kontakt keyboard.

    Hence… you don’t hear anything because nothing gets played. You are triggering “empty” keys

Answers

  • LostInFoundation
    LostInFoundation Member Posts: 5,636 Legend

    Shouldn’t it be the other way round?

    It’s the Sample Pad Pro that must send the correct midi notes to trigger the keys you desire.

    Otherwise you would need some kind of midi utility app that transform the incoming midi note to the one you want to be triggered in Kontakt’s library.

    Btw: it’s not clear if you are loading Kontakt Standalone or inside Ableton

  • Buranski
    Buranski Member Posts: 8 Newcomer

    OK, then how do I know what midi notes I am suppoosed to send? Where do I see that info??

  • Uwe303
    Uwe303 Moderator Posts: 4,838 mod

    Hello,

    you see it on the keyboard, and you could simply try it out. The numbers on the keyboard represent c notes, so 2 is c2, 3 - c3 and so on. Additionally you can set a midi ch filter within kontakt, that can be helpful in some cases, where it says "midi ch: omni" you can set ch 5 but as i said it can be helpful but it´s not always needed. You use it normally if you send midi to all instruments and you want to divide them by the midi ch.

  • LostInFoundation
    LostInFoundation Member Posts: 5,636 Legend
    edited April 29

    If Kontakt is loaded as a plugin in Ableton Live, setting up midi (what is the source, channel,…) in Ableton’s channel should be enough.

    Or not?

  • Uwe303
    Uwe303 Moderator Posts: 4,838 mod
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/224024#Comment_224024

    Yes I think so

  • Buranski
    Buranski Member Posts: 8 Newcomer

    This is killing me!

    I know I need to set up the overall midi in Ableton and have done so.

    But, how do I see my midi in Kontakt when used as a VST in Ableton!

    My sample pad is set up correctly and triggering.

    One one of my Kontakt instruments (Grand Marimbe) it is triggering notes and i can see the keyboard note light up, but have no clue what the midi note is of that note or the one next to it, nor where to just see a lit of midi notes next to the keys???

    It is there somewhere right?

    It can't be this hard for something so simple!!!

    What am I missing??

    Screenshot 2025-05-02 224545-mh.png
  • Buranski
    Buranski Member Posts: 8 Newcomer
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/224007#Comment_224007

    Is there any where that describes this in little more detail? I cannot see the notes on the keyboard?

    I can set the notes on my sample pad to be whatever, but for simplicity's sake I set the unit to ch5 and on one kit set up the notes to be 1-8.

    I just don't see it triggering anything.

    If I switch to a preset kit starting at 36 I see it start at middle C.

    Is there just a way to simply see the notes so I can set the sample pad to them?

    spp.jpg
  • LostInFoundation
    LostInFoundation Member Posts: 5,636 Legend
    edited May 4
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/224629#Comment_224629

    Maybe opening Kontakt Mapping Editor would give you a better overview if you need it, but the keys are exactly the notes you are looking for. C3 is C3, D1 is D1 (sometimes some softwares/hardwares differ in the definition of middle C just in the octave, since it’s not exactly a “standard”: for some C3 is middle C, for others is C4. If I recall correctly, NI uses C3).

    It seems to me that your problem is your Sample Pad not telling you which notes it sends but just the numbers.

    If you say 36 is middle C (and C3 is the middle C), you can simply calculate what the other notes are. If the sample you want to trigger is in D2, it’s enough to do 36 - 10 = 26 and you’ll have your D2

  • LostInFoundation
    LostInFoundation Member Posts: 5,636 Legend
    edited May 4

    To be more clear: in a keyboard, the notes are “fixed” they don’t move (only thing is what I said before about what is defined middle C, but in your case, if your Sample Pad doesn’t even tell you what notes it sends but just numbers, it doesn’t even matter).

    So it’s just a matter of knowing one number that triggers one key (note) and you can calculate any other.

    From a note in an octave to the same note on another octave you have 12 keys (7 notes plus 5 sharps ♯/flats ♭). So… moving from a known note to another one is just a matter of calculating how many keys).

    In the image below, just some examples:

    IMG_5040.jpeg
  • LostInFoundation
    LostInFoundation Member Posts: 5,636 Legend
    edited May 4

    And now, after all the explanations about how it’s calculated to make you understand…

    Those “numbers” are assigned and calculated based on an 88 keys keyboard.

    Lowest C on the left is 0, so middle C (3 octaves up) is 36 (12x3).

    The only issue in all of this is that thing of middle C not being the same for all companies, otherwise it is really just a matter of counting keys.

    This table should have your same numbers for same octaves, if you say that middle C is C3 and corresponds to 36: (even if I find easier to know that you simply have to do 36 - 10 to find a D2 ☺️)

    IMG_5041.png
  • Buranski
    Buranski Member Posts: 8 Newcomer

    Thank you all! This is awesome! I am part way there.

    Here is a video showing what is going on specifically if you could give me some feedback?

    vimeo dot com/1081197976

  • LostInFoundation
    LostInFoundation Member Posts: 5,636 Legend
    edited May 4 Answer ✓

    If you look at the Kontakt color coded keyboard when you manage to have the sounds playing, using NOTES 36 and up (not channels as you said before), you’ll understand:

    When you hit the pad sending 36, C1 key get played (and you can also see it in Midi Monitor: C1), not middle C as you said (being it C3 or C4).

    Therefore…if 36 is C1, when you play notes 1-7 you are playing in the -2 octave (also this can be seen in Midi Monitor: E-2 …) which is an octave without nothing mapped to it in that instrument (and also not visible in the Kontakt keyboard.

    Hence… you don’t hear anything because nothing gets played. You are triggering “empty” keys

  • Buranski
    Buranski Member Posts: 8 Newcomer

    Thank for everyone's help, got it all sorted out!

  • LostInFoundation
    LostInFoundation Member Posts: 5,636 Legend

    You’re very welcome 👍🏼

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