I have recently picked up and OP1 and think its an amazing little device. I want to use it as an external instrument with Ableton Live but am running into some issues. I am using a Scarlett 6i6 interface and am having some problems connecting my OP1 in a manner that will be picked up on a specific track for recording in ableton. I noticed that when I plug my cable into the OP1 ‘out’ line I am getting audio from my studio monitors but have no control over the track functions within ableton. The problem is my lack of knowledge in how to route or set it up. I am not interested in using the OP1 as a controller as I already have a Push for that.
I have tried dropping in an external Instrument on a track and also messing with the I/O’s and live preferences but still am not having any luck. This is my first piece of non-dedicated hardware I have ever used and really want to record what I do in the OP1 directly into ableton. I am aware of transferring tracks and whatnot but I still should be able to record it directly, correct? I have searched for this answer for awhile and can’t find one that overcomes by noobness with OP1, (and hell, even ableton for that matter). Any help is greatly appreciated!
I’m not familiar with Ableton, but your mention of setting up an “external instrument” worries me. That sounds like you are setting it up as a controller.
What you want to do is regard the OP-1 as a stereo audio source.
You should get yourself a cable which has a TRS (stereo) mini-jack at the OP-1 end (the white output socket) and splits into 2 TS (mono) jacks at the other end which you’ll plug into 2 line inputs on your Scarlett 6i6.
Then in Ableton, create an audio track which points to both those 2 inputs on the 6i6.
Thanks for your help on this! Now right away I noticed that the audio recorded in sounds differently when it is being played back in ableton. I’m assuming there is a work around for this as well, which I will search for but if anyone can chime in on this new question I would also be very grateful.
It’s now gone through an analogue to digital conversion and back again and you’re listening to it through your computer’s sound system and whatever speakers/headphones are connected with whatever settings (and effects, if any) you have in Ableton etc.
Sounds like you got Ableton free with your Scarlett interface and haven’t invested the time to understand how it works.
It would probably be a good idea to join an Ableton forum too, in order to understand DAWs (and Ableton in particular) a bit better.
Now right away I noticed that the audio recorded in sounds differently when it is being played back in ableton. I'm assuming there is a work around for this as well, which I will search for but if anyone can chime in on this new question I would also be very grateful.
Can you describe how it sounds different? It shouldn’t sound different at all.
You can use the External Instrument device to do a variety of things, one of the most common is to allow you to capture the MIDI output of the OP-1 in Ableton while monitoring the audio all within one track. Or send MIDI from the Push to the OP-1, so you can play with velocity sensitivity.
Also, keep in mind that the out on the OP is a 1/8" stereo out, but the Scarlett “ins” are mono. You’d need to have a 1/8" stereo-to-dual mono cable, and use (2) mono ins on the Scarlett. That’s the only way to get a stereo signal into the Focusrite boxes.