DAWs & plug-ins

Introduction

Video tutorial

In the Settings of Ableton Live 12 Suite, section Link, Tempo & MIDI:

• Select Exquis as Control Surface, Input, and Output

• Check Exquis as Track, Sync, Remote, and MPE on the input port, as well as Track, Sync, and Remote on the output port

You can rename the 6 folders as long as the first character remains a number from 1 to 6. Examples: “1 – Drums”, “2_Bass”, “3 Leads”, …

Each folder can contain up to 61 presets, with names starting with a row number (1 to 11) and a letter for the column (A to F), like airplane seats. Examples: “1A – Electro”, “5D_Saxophone”, “10C Piano”, …

Then, access your favorite presets by holding the button, then tap a preset location to load it.

For quick access, you can add this folder to the Places section in Ableton Live’s browser.

Note Mode (clicking button):
Play notes, and use the 4 encoders to control 4 parameters of a device (see next section) on the selected track.

Tracks and devices (holding  button):
At the top of the keyboard you can select a track (single touch), arm or disarm it (touch again), or show/hide clip notes playing on the keyboard (long press). Use the encoders to adjust the volume, pan, and sends A and B of the selected track. At the bottom of the keyboard, you can select the first 6 devices of the selected track, then use the 6 zones of the slider to choose a group of 4 of their controls (first 4 controls on zone 1, next 4 on zone 2, etc.). Go back to Notes Mode to control these parameters using the 4 encoders.

Session Mode (holding button):
In this mode you see 4 tracks at a time and their clips (highlighted in Ableton Live), as well as scenes (Main). Move the highlight horizontally using the slider, and vertically using the up/down buttons. You can arm, enable, and solo tracks via the buttons at the bottom of the keyboard. Action buttons allow you to create, duplicate or delete tracks and clips.

Settings (1) (holding button):
Almost identical to the keyboard settings menu, here you can specifically adjust the tempo, tonic, and scale in Ableton Live.

Favorite presets and settings (2) (holding button):
Almost identical to the second settings menu on the keyboard, here you can also quickly access your favorite presets to load them to the keyboard.

Video tutorial

Open Bitwig Studio, then go to File > Settings > Controllers. Exquis should be automatically detected.

If not, add it by selecting Intuitive Instruments as “Hardware Vendor”, then “Product” Exquis where it is written “by Jürgen Moßgraber” at the bottom left.

This .json file allows you to assign the Exquis keyboard’s rotary encoders and buttons in a midicontroller module.

Download, extract and simply place the Exquis.json file in Documents / BespokeSynth / controllers / to find it in the layout tab of a midicontroller module.

If not, open the advanced settings.

Then go to the MIDI input settings and check Exquis.

Only some Logic Pro synthesizers are MPE compatible; open the instrument interface to set the MIDI Mono mode and pitch bend range. For more details, see Apple’s website:

Setup