Newbie Question - Pad buttons not functioning as expected

[Rhian Wood]

I have just programmed my Akai LPD8 using Midi2Lr and whilst I can get the K1 to K8 knobs to program and accept their functions, the Pad buttons do not seem to function when pressed (i have just programmed them to open either library or develop panels or flag and unflag.

What am I doing wrong? I have the buttons on the extreme left set to 'Pad' - is this correct?

Thanks for any help!

[Carbon43]

Hi Rhian,
so to clarify, you have the large buttons on the LPD8 set to swtich between library, develop, etc?
And you programmed that by tapping the pads with midi2lr open and then selecting the corresponding control?
Are you on a Mac or Windows?

The issue may be that the LPD8 pads are velocity sensitive, which basically means they could send a range of values based on how hard you press. So you may have bound Midi2LR to one value, and it may be in fact sending a different value. Without playing with one myself its difficult to suggest the ideal fix... but there are a couple avenues that might be helpful.

First would be to open the Akai software for the LPD8, and see if theres an option to disable velocity sensitivity on the pads. This way your pads will only send a single value when pressed, no matter how hard or soft you hit them. I dont have that software so not sure if you have that option. 

Second, and entirely separate from item one, it looks like you have the option to send Either notes (the button that says PAD), program changes, or CCs when you press your buttons. Try switching over to Program Change or CC, and then you'll have to rebind your buttons in Midi2LR, by tapping the individual pads, and selecting what you want that pad to control. Once you've done so, give it ~ ten seconds or so to "bind" the effect before testing it. I've noticed that when I rapidly bind pads or pots I can work faster than Lightroom can pick up my new controls. Once it works it'll be instantaneous though. 

Hope that gets you started. 

[Al]

Put the LPD8 into CC mode(one of the 4 small buttons on the left side) and in Midi2lr right click on the LR command field and in the dialog box that pops-up set it to be absolute and the min 0 and max 4, that means even a light touch will trigger the command.

 

I would add all your buttons to Midi2lr and then use the "apply all" feature in dialog box to save time, only then add the encoder knobs and set them up.