The Prevolt has put up some photos of his Ableton Live controller, dubbed Ambassador. I love that it shares a moniker with the AMC Rambler automobile, though I suspect that wasn’t intentional (pictured at right, photo: Ty Sonneil).

Prevolt describes the gear, which features analog-y, arcade-style hardware controls and a custom case:

This is what I’m using to control Ableton now. All arcade hardware, aluminum top panel by FPE, and a nice wood case courtesy of my man Michael Yates. It uses all key commands through a custom driver to handle playback, effects, editing, warping, UI, mouse clicks, scroll messages, and more, with a lot of tweaks (some strobe, some send double messages, etc):

Finished Ambassador Pics (blog for the Aux Armes VJ/DJ collective)

I got to look over Prevolt’s shoulder while he used the Ambassador in an epic music set in Austin at our SxSW party. It’s really remarkable: those controls may look like overkill, but he’s managed to map just about everything th Live software does to hardware control. To anyone who complains Ableton hasn’t yet done their hardware, this illustrates why that might not even be a good idea — Live users seem to come up with endless control schemes, all different.

Not to mention, with this controller you could get a little Street Fighter in between sets on nice, arcade buttons.

And yes, you even get a little trackball.

After the jump, the whole AV collective in action at SxSW’s closing:

By now you’ve all probably seen that excellent video of Kid Beyond illustrating his usage of Ableton Live. Pretty cool, right? If one had such a system, you could loop yourself playing guitar, beatboxing, etc., all perfectly in sync with programmed drum/MIDI tracks and other performers.

Here’s how to set up your own system in a similar hands-free operation style, for about US$10, without having to solder anything. It’ll take you about an hour once you gather the parts required, or less. No joke.

You will need:

• A QWERTY keyboard, preferably with a USB connector. Otherwise, you’ll have to buy an adapter to fit your laptop, which costs extra. You can get one for $7.50 at AllElectronics.com, but you can find them even cheaper at your local thrift store’s “technology pile.” I got mine for $2.
• A flathead screwdriver.
• Ableton Live. Ed.: Live is a perfect choice here, but you may find this useful with other music apps, as well — or even in a VJ set. -PK
• A free keyboard-mapping utility called Autohotkey (if you’re running Windows). If you’re running Mac, the program to use is calledIKey.

  That’s it. Here’s how to make it go:

  
  

  Above: Steps 1-2. Simple enough.
  

Music tech gear rarely surfaces in the mainstream. I never saw a Roland Juno and Cubase on Seinfeld. The Hercules DJ Controller did make it onto a recent episode of “24″, however, says CDM reader DJ Klachik:

I was just watching the 5th season of “24″ on DVD, and in chapter 21, I saw this Hercules! It it’s the “DJ Control MP3″ version, so it has no audio exits, so agent O’Brien is using it as a controller (God knows why). I was a long time Hercules DJ Console user myself (I switched to BCD2000 few months ago), so it was pretty weird to see it … it was the episode where Chloe O’Brien decided to leave CTU and become a Gabba DJ. Actually, she tried to play a recording (since you haven’t seen this one, I won’t tell you what kind) from an external mp3 device. But all she was doing, is to change the volume with one of the faders.

Cool I suppose, but we’ll know we’ve really made it when Caprica Six starts spinning experimental electronics on a Monome hooked up to Max/MSP or Bravo begins production on a new reality show called Top 8-bit Musician.

DJ Klachick is an Israeli DJ spinning “urban folk to drunk ‘n’ bass.” I enjoy the current track he’s playing on his MySpace page: “My brother … my little brother … he picks the pockets of hipsters on the L train.”