Light 1.0
Map a MIDI controller
Load a ready-made Akai APC layout, map any controller with MIDI learn, fire pads from a DAW, and follow a MIDI beat clock.
LIGHT connects to every MIDI input on the Mac by itself, including ones you plug in later. There are two ways to map a controller: load a ready-made layout, or use MIDI learn.
Load a ready-made layout
- Plug the controller in. It appears under inputs in Settings ▸ Sync · MIDI.
- Open load a layout and choose APC40 mk2, APC mini mk2 or APC40 mk2 · busk.
The layout replaces the show's mappings in place. A chip then offers to put the old ones back, if you change your mind.
APC40 mk2
The grid on screen is five rows by eight: four layers plus the dials row, the same as the APC40 mk2's clip grid.
| Control | Does |
|---|---|
| Top four rows of the clip grid | the four layers, pad for pad with the screen |
| Bottom row of the clip grid | nothing; the dials row sits there on screen |
| CLIP STOP row | fires that column (CLIP STOP under column 3 fires column 3) |
| Scene launch 1 to 4 | stop that layer |
| STOP ALL CLIPS | blackout |
| TAP TEMPO | tap |
| METRONOME | sync: now is the top of the bar |
| BANK ◀ and ▶ | previous and next song |
| Track faders 1 to 4 | layer masters (fader 1 is L1) |
| Track fader 6 | haze |
| Track fader 7 | effect speed |
| Master fader | grand master |
| The eight device knobs | the eight dials, on every track-selection bank |
Track faders 5 and 8 are left free. CLIP STOP starts a column here rather than stopping anything; its light shows while that column is on stage. The knobs reach the dials that exist when you load the layout, so make your dials first.
APC40 mk2 · busk
The same, except that track faders 5 to 8 become the levels of the first four groups on the groups row, and haze and speed stay on screen only. Pick the four groups with GROUPS ▾ at the head of the row, before you load the layout.
APC mini mk2
| Control | Does |
|---|---|
| Top four rows of pads | the four layers |
| Bottom row of pads | fires that column |
| Scene buttons 1 to 4 | stop that layer |
| Scene button 7 | tap |
| Scene button 8 | blackout |
| Faders 1 to 4 | layer masters |
| Fader 5 | haze |
| Fader 6 | effect speed |
| Fader 9 (master) | grand master |
The three pad rows between the layers and the bottom row, scene buttons 5 and 6 and faders 7 and 8 are left free.
Map anything with MIDI learn
- Press midi learn in the status line. The grid chip reads click a target….
- Click what you want to control: a pad, a column head, a layer's master or stop button, a group level, a dial, or the master, speed, fade, haze, tap, sync, blackout, or previous and next song.
- It reads move a control…. Press the button or move the fader on your controller.
LIGHT names the pair back to you and saves it in the show. Every pad shows its mapping while learn is on.
How mapped controls behave:
- Buttons act like a finger. Press fires, release lets go, so a button on a flash pad holds it for as long as you hold the button.
- Faders and knobs set continuous controls (masters, speed, fade, haze, group levels, dials) over their whole range. On a button target, past halfway counts as pressed.
- A fader on screen shows a faint second bar where the hardware fader is. Moving the hardware jumps the value to it.
To remove a mapping, open mappings in Settings ▸ Sync · MIDI and press its ✕.
Fire pads from a DAW
While LIGHT is running it publishes a MIDI port called LIGHT, so it is in your DAW's list of MIDI outputs. Point a track at it, then use MIDI learn in LIGHT and play the note from the DAW. The note fires the pad in the next frame.
- Start LIGHT before looking for the port. It exists only while LIGHT is running.
- Beat clock sent to the same port can drive the tempo (below). LIGHT does not follow song position or timecode: starting playback mid-song gives you the tempo, not the position.
- An IAC Driver bus from Audio MIDI Setup works too, if you want to send to several apps at once.
Follow a MIDI beat clock
In Settings ▸ Sync · MIDI, set Beat clock to following. The first input to send a clock sets the tempo until it goes quiet. A start message puts the downbeat where it lands. While it follows, the tempo readout is blue and tap is greyed out. It wins over Resolume.
The beat clock only works in the LIGHT app, not in a browser.