ILL SEA MANUALS / tips

# Tips & troubleshootingthe stuff that saves your gig

## Your USB MIDI stomp stops working until you replug it? Windows is putting it to sleep.

Turn off USB selective suspend — Windows powers down "idle" USB devices, and a footswitch you haven't pressed in ten minutes looks idle. Two fixes, do both:

1. Power plan: Start → type `Edit power plan` → Change advanced power settings → USB settings → USB selective suspend setting → Disabled (both On battery and Plugged in, if shown) → OK.
2. Per-hub: Start → type `Device Manager` → expand Universal Serial Bus controllers → double-click each USB Root Hub / Generic USB Hub → Power Management tab → UNTICK "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" → OK. Repeat for each hub.

The NoAMP standalone also runs a hot-replug watchdog — if a device does vanish and come back, it re-opens it automatically. DAWs generally don't, so fix the sleep at the source.

## Ableton Live: map MIDI the Live way (not with plugin MIDI Learn)

Live doesn't hand raw MIDI to audio-effect plugins, so the plugin's own right-click MIDI Learn never hears your controller there. Use Live's mapping instead:

1. Drop NoAMP (or any module) on a track and look at its small device panel in Live.
2. Click Configure on the device's title bar (it arms green).
3. Open the plugin window and move the knob you want — it pops into the device panel as a Live parameter. Grab every control you'll perform with. Click Configure again to finish.
4. Now map like any Live control: Ctrl+M (MIDI map mode) → click the parameter in the device panel → move your MIDI controller → Ctrl+M out. Done.

## Where the built-in MIDI Learn works

Host | Right-click MIDI Learn
--- | ---
NoAMP standalone | Always — it talks to your MIDI gear directly (and auto-recovers replugged devices).
DAWs that route MIDI to effect plugins | Works once you route a MIDI track's output to the plugin (e.g. Reaper, Bitwig; Cubase/Studio One via a MIDI/instrument track pointed at the effect).
Ableton Live | Not by default — use the Configure workflow above (or a MIDI track with "MIDI To" aimed at the plugin's track).

## The wah + your expression pedal

Calibrate it — two minutes, once: right-click the pedal → MIDI Learn → rock your pedal, then heel down → SET LOW, toe down → SET HIGH. Full walkthrough on the Wines page.

## Protect your ears

Audio software can produce sudden peaks and feedback. Start quiet, raise slowly, keep a limiter on your master (NoAMP's output limiter is always on — if the OUT meter grows a red cap, back off). Save your work often.

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