Instant Twister - User Manual
Instant Twister is a Max for Live Device for Ableton, where you can integrate DJ Techtools Midifighter Twister easily into Ableton Live.
Connect the Midi Fighter Twister
First you have to place the Instnat Twister Device into an Audio Track of Ableton Live. We recoment to use an separate Audio Track only for the Instant Twister Device.
1. load the configuration file to the Midi Fighter Twister
first you have to load the settings of the Midifighter Twister via the Midifighter Utility to your Twister. Please Backup your previous Settings, if you consider to go back.
You can download the Midifighter Utility here on the DJ Tech tools Website
2. Ableton Live Preferences
to connect the Midi Fighter Twister with the Instant Twister Device you first must be sure you have activated the Midi Track IN & OUT of the Twister inside the Ableton Live Preferences.
3. connect the Midifighter Twister to Instant Twister
please select the Midifighter Twister Midi Input inside the Instant Twister Device. The Midioutput should be connected automatically then. If this isn’t the case, please check the Midi Preferences of Ableton Live.
Preset Management
You have up to 16 banks (presets) per Instant Twister Device, which can be controlled:
- from the Device itself,
- via midi mappping (for example an external controller) or
- automate the preset selection by Audioclips.
the 16 banks are seperated into four blocks, which are visualized in the colored bars above the banks.
block 1 = bank 1-4
block 2 = bank 5-8
block 3 = bank 9-12
block 4 = bank 13-16
this is relevant, if you choose your presets via the “bank” mode, where you are able to preselect a preset via the dial or if you want to switch the presets via the side buttons.
select a preset from the Midifighter Twister itself
here you can select a preset by hitting the button with the options to:
- switch to the previous or next preset
- switch to an individual preset from 1-16
if you set the main selection to “bank” you can preselect a preset via the dial & push the button to confirm the selection.
In this mode you can’t change the colors of the dials.
Side Buttons
because of, that the sidebuttons are only there to switch the presets, it lies in the nature of things, that they won’t be stored inside the presets. With the side buttons you have also some options to switch between your presets:
- set bank: here you can select directly one of the 16 banks
- previous/next bank
- block: if it’s set to “block” you have also some options inside
- sel block: here you can select one of the four blocks
- prev/next block
- sel bank: here, the banks will follow the blocks (please read the example below)
in this example, where you can navigate with the six side buttons thru all the 16 banks, the side buttons has the following settings:
- left top button = [block -> prev block]
- right top button = [block -> next block]
- left middle button = [block -> sel bank -> 1]
- right middle button = [block -> sel bank -> 2]
- left lowest button = [block -> sel bank -> 3]
- right lowest button = [block -> sel bank -> 4]
this means the banks on middle & the lowest buttons on each side are dynamic and will follow the block you have selected with the both top buttons.
Of course you can configure this for your needs and you’re also free to switch the internal banks from inside the Midifighter Twister, if you set this up in midifighter utility app.
Mapping Options
How to map Buttons & Dials
With in the Intant Twister Device you have different mapping options for the encoders & the switches and also set the colors of the Twister.
to map an Encoder to an Parameter you have to set the tab menu to “map”.
Then click on the “map” button and if the map button blinks red, you can select a Parameter in Ableton Live.
Please Note, that after each change you make inside the device, you have to store this manually with the “store button”.
to map an Encoder to an Parameter you have to set the tab menu to “map”.
Then click on the “map” button and if the map button blinks red, you can select a Parameter in Ableton Live.
Please Note, that after each change you make inside the device, you have to store this manually with the “store button”.
Button Switches
With the button switches you have a few more functions you can choose from. You can select between:
- map (where you can map a paramter of Ableton Live)
- preset (where you can switch to another preset of Instant Twister)
- reset (where you can reset the Value of the coresponding dial to a fixed vale)
and also the behaviour of the buttons (gate, toggle & auto) you can choose depending on which function is selected.
Map Function
Button Behaviour
after the encoder is mapped, you can control it from the Instant Twister Device and of course from Midifighter Twister.
Button Behaviour
- gate: Push = ON / Release = OFF
- toggle: Toggles between ON/OFF on every Push
- auto: if pushed short = toggle mode / hold = gate (depending on which state the button had before)
Preset Function
With the Preset function you can choose in the dropdown menu to switch to:
prev/next preset
preset 1-16
Reset Function
with the reset function you can set the “anchor” value of the corresponding dial.
If you switch the button off the “anchor” value will be set to the dial, and if you switch it on again, the last value the dial had before will be set again.
If you turn the dial, while the “anchor” value is set, a new “on” value will be set.
Edit Instant Twister
don’t forget to store your changes
every change you make isn’t stored automatically when you save your Ableton Live project, you have hit the big red “store” buttons if you made a change in the Instant Twister settings.
on the left & on the top you find smaller buttons, where you can select a row or a column to edit more than one controller.
You can change the mode, like “empty”, “map” & “banks” and you can change the colors of the selected controls on the right side.
Change the Colors
to change a color, just click on “OFF” or “ON” and move the mouse up/down to chnage the color of the MF-Twister Control.
you can copy/paste also the colors via the (c) & (p) buttons.
Automation
Automation & external Midi Controllers
On the top right side of the floating window you find the edit button. If this is activated you find diferent options to switch your banks, you can:
- midi/key map each bank & automate it from Ableton Live Clips
- midi/key map a fader to preselect one of the 16 banks & automate it via Ableton Live Clips
- midi/key map the confirm button to cornfirm the pre-selection & automate it via Ableton Live Clips
Automate via Clips
You’re able to automate to switch the presets also via Clips, which enables you that the Midifighter Twister follow your workflow, when triggereing a scene.
