Alternative to Ableton Push 2 for logic pro 10.5

I probably should've posted this on the music production gear board, but anyway the last few days I've been looking into getting ableton and ableton push 2 because the interface and loop feature seems really cool, but then I just found out logic pro rolled out 10.5, which is very similar to ableton apparently. Now I need to figure out what are the best alternatives to ableton's push 2 for logic pro x; something that integrates well with logic pro like how the push integrates with ableton. I would do my own research but I've got midterms coming up so I'd rather save the time and hear from people who know this stuff well. Btw i already have an alesis vi49, which obviously doesn't integrate with logic, but besides that, I'm also looking for features very similar to ableton's push 2.

Nothing will give you the same integration (+ Feedback) with Logic as a Push 2 + Ableton offers, i'm afraid.

 

You can use an older Push (1) and run it with PXT General software which will give you the live loop launch control, scale modes and adjusting of plugins via the MCU protocol (includes onscreen display), but it's fiddly to setup and quite limited in comparison.

 

Novation launchpad will give you the live loop launching on each pad too.. But, compared to a Push 2 + Ableton it's like childs play, as you can't chop/automate samples on the device itself, use it as a step sequencer, have pre-setup parameter mappings, or create new tracks/pick presets/add fx via the device on the fly. Push 2 and Ableton is next level.

Nothing will give you the same integration (+ Feedback) with Logic as a Push 2 + Ableton offers, i'm afraid.

 

You can use an older Push (1) and run it with PXT General software which will give you the live loop launch control, scale modes and adjusting of plugins via the MCU protocol (includes onscreen display), but it's fiddly to setup and quite limited in comparison.

 

Novation launchpad will give you the live loop launching on each pad too.. But, compared to a Push 2 + Ableton it's like childs play, as you can't chop/automate samples on the device itself, use it as a step sequencer, have pre-setup parameter mappings, or create new tracks/pick presets/add fx via the device on the fly. Push 2 and Ableton is next level.

Man what are the chances Logic will create its own integrated pad controller :/

Thanks for the reply!

Man what are the chances Logic will create its own integrated pad controller

Well, the Logic Remote app is that i guess, but it's on an ipad. I've never got on with the ipad apps as a companion, but may be worth looking into? Completely forget about it till i read your reply lol. But they have got the live loop launching on there already.

 

But yeah, there's a chance a company out there (Novation maybe?) will look at the live loops and combine it with a little more integration on a hardware level. What sets the Push 2 aside is having that screen and the feedback from the DAW itself, i can jam for hours on a Push with Ableton and never look at the screen. I don't know how viable that will ever be in Logic if you've not already got a template of tracks setup and instruments ready to go, that's the big difference.

Man what are the chances Logic will create its own integrated pad controller

Well, the Logic Remote app is that i guess, but it's on an ipad. I've never got on with the ipad apps as a companion, but may be worth looking into? Completely forget about it till i read your reply lol. But they have got the live loop launching on there already.

 

But yeah, there's a chance a company out there (Novation maybe?) will look at the live loops and combine it with a little more integration on a hardware level. What sets the Push 2 aside is having that screen and the feedback from the DAW itself, i can jam for hours on a Push with Ableton and never look at the screen. I don't know how viable that will ever be in Logic if you've not already got a template of tracks setup and instruments ready to go, that's the big difference.

Right. Maybe I should reconsider getting ableton and the push then because I don’t think logic will ever have anything like it, at least anytime soon. I’ve seen people using notation launchpad with logic’s live loop feature but I’m sure it took some mapping to do and regardless, it still doesn’t seem the same as the push.

Triggering live loops is the easy part, it's whether you want the ability to step sequence across the pads, ability to add instruments/fx from the device itself, browse presets, sample manipulate etc. That's where the real difference is.

 

Push 2 + Ableton is a BIG expense vs Logic + Launchpad though. And Logic can arguably take you to places far deeper in regards to arranging/mixing and being able to do vocal takes/comping, if that's ever something you may stumble into. Many people create on Ableton and then mix in a DAW like Logic, however.

 

If i were you, i'd be more inclined to pick up a cheap/secondhand Launchpad and have fun with Logic if you already own it, really depends on budget and your needs i guess. You can always sell a launchpad so you wouldn't be stuck with it if you decided Push 2 is a better investment.

Ah I see! Thanks for clearing that up. I might as well learn logic then especially with these new features. Will look into picking up a launchpad, also heard there’s a new mapping feature in 10.5 so I’ll see how that goes. Thanks so much for your help!

If you forget about the pads themselves, many of the control features of Push used in Live can be found in a few controllers. Look into Nektar Panorama, Mackie Control and Behringer One Touch.

 

As a former Live user, I'll suggest waiting to see what controllers show up over the next year for Logic. The Ableton controller ecosystem is very well developed at this point in time. If you need that sort of functionality today, just use Live.

It's surprising to me how many of us (myself included) don't use the Logic Remote iPad more often. There's actually lots of applictions where I *prefer* a touch surface interface now and even the very first Logic Remote years ago was pretty amazing(!) hI have to agree PUSH 2 is excellent with LIVE even though I still have a lot to learn about it's features eg sampling integration — meanwhille, I haven't managed to even get LPX 10.5 to recognize the Push 2- though it appears everywhere else as expected — eg Audio Midi Setup etc

Logic Remote for iPad is cool, but maybe even better along with Push 2. Ableton released technical specifications for developers who want to make Push 2 work with anything else. https://github.com/Ableton/push-interface So there is theoretical potential to make it very functional as it is in Ableton, especially now that Logic has Live loops which resembles Ableton's session view.

 

There was a guy who started this experimentation, but but has not been maintaining it. Perhaps if he can maintain sufficient patronage, hell be happy to work full time on it. Here the link to his work: https://umuterhan.com/2020/06/11/hacking-push-2-for-logic-pro-x-10-5-live-loops/

 

His patreon: https://www.patreon.com/umuterhan

Hey, thanks for the mention! I also shared it here but didn't get much attention:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=149985

Unfortunately, I had to sell my Push 2 due to economical situations in my country, so I couldn't improve it any more.

I worked on a push2 controller for Logic. you can find it here.

 

https://github.com/zurie/LogicX-Push2

 

its based on push2-python and then forked from Pysha (a raspberry pi midi push2 controller).

 

I basically reworked all the code and redid everything to work with Osculator and Logic Pro. I also added in all the scales as well as refactored a bunch of other features that didn't make sense in Logic. Basically the entire push2 is now accessible to logic2 in any possible form (keystrokes, OSC commands, etc). This lets us bind anything we want... like arrow keys to the < > arrows in the push2 which lets us navigate around the transport layer of Logics UI.

 

Also i added in shift states / quantization states / beat repeat / etc. all of this works great in Logic Pro.

 

finally.. if you don't want to use python and push2 as a standalone midi, you can for more money... buy Ableton and then using REWIRE you can have Logic as the host and Ableton live as the slave. and you can bind the midi using the IACBus and basically have a working push2 through Ableton into logic via rewire. this lets you use full midi control but also lets you use things like the step sequencer (but in Ableton passed in via logic).

 

personally i think the python standalone is the way to go, but there are definitely options to make this work with Logic.

Nice work!

 

I was thinking about getting a Push 2 and trying to get MCU emulation running on it via a standalone script - amazed no-one has done it yet.

 

With the original Push, Native Kontrol made a PXT General script which i still use to this day, across many DAWs but my pads are quite unresponsive compared to the newer model.

 

Did it take you long to learn how the Push 2 worked and implement this project?

Well I own ableton live, so i've had a few years with the push2. But this implementation for Logic has midi / buttons / scales and other things but it doesn't have things like audio splitting with a fuill UI like ableton would with the push2. the integration in ableton is different than this. This is like a glorified midi controller but instead of each button shooting off just midi CC its got a decent UI on it so you can map CC knobs to all sorts of gear, change colors, change instrument names, use all the scales, and then using OSCulator you can map anything you want to basically anything you want, and with 4 different shift states you basically have all the buttons + 4 layers for each button so its basically too many buttons to even use at that point. Which is why its good to fork the project and just customize it up to your liking (but running it stock it will work great since the root CC instrument is just generic, so you never have to worry about customizing it if you don't want to change things.)

 

But with this and a ipad remote you would be set for Logic Pro.