It should auto dim the screen and LEDs, but might be worth a try
I’m not second guessing anyone here but just want to share something that happened to me the first time I tried the stick usb cable connected to my m1 MacBook Air.
At first I plugged in my usb cable as I had a thousand times with plenty of usb cables and the push did not connect at all. I thought that perhaps this is what everyone was taking about not having an easy time connecting. It wasn’t for another couple minutes I unplugged the stick usb cable and tried again this time I pushed extra hard and realized ther is actually a click to click into my MacBook Air.
This is the first time I’ve had a usb c cable have to click into place. I wasn’t used to that. But once it clicked in it worked perfectly.
So just throwing it out there. Perhaps some people aren’t used to having usb c have an actually clicking into place. I sure never had to do that with other usb c cables.
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I’m curious to hear which sequencing paradigm everyone is using with their Push, Elektron’s or Ableton’s.
I’m doing my best to continue using the Elektron sequencers. I’d like to use Push scenes for something like a Song mode but I’m hitting some roadblocks.
If the Push could send mutes and program / pattern changes, we could store the sequences and parameter changes on the Elektron boxes, and also sync Push midi clips that run native Push devices as well.
But I still haven’t found a good way to send CC data from the Push, which seems crazy. Ableton stores CC data as a clip envelop, which isn’t exposed to Standalone. I’ve tried a number of M4L devices and none of them are Standalone compatible.
I could just move all the midi sequencing to Push clips but I don’t love that idea. It’s not yet a stable clock and I would miss the Elektron approach to sequencing.
Any thoughts?
Have you tried one of those ubs c adapters/cables that show the power draw?
For ex. I just Googled so no personal experience with this cable.
That should give an idea how much power Push is pulling and if that makes sense according to support.
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I bought this one some time back when last trying to make Push work. I think it’s doing a similar thing but let me know as cables is a jungle.
Push 3 communicates with my Mac with this cable (though still need power). When I unplug the power, Push 3 goes dark/disconnect but I can see the green light on the USB plugged into either the MBP or Push glows green. Not sure that’s really helping mind you as seems to be either an off/on type thing but at least it shows power is getting through the cable I guess.
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And no luck with the dimming down. Took it all the way to its lowest setting. Tried all 3 ports and still no joy.
I did wonder if there is something in either the Push firmware or Mac O/S which isn’t communicating with the port in some way to tell it to draw power but that feels a bit of a long shot IMO.
The cable I linked has a little display that shows how much power is being sent to the connected device. So it would give you a definitive answer regarding how much power is being drawn from your Mac.
This way, you know for sure how much power Push is pulling from the usb c port and can check with Ableton support if the numbers are correct.
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Would that one do the same? Easier/quicker for me to go down the Amazon route!
That looks to be the same. If you wanted to test different cables, you could grab an adapter like this. Then you would know for sure what each cable is pulling.
Here is another for about the same price as the cable.
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This is sad to follow. I have an M1 Air and was planning to hook up an P3 controller via USB-c only. But it seems to be generally not to work. Don´t want to plug in power all the time too.
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It is disappointing for sure but I don’t want to be too downbeat about it. I do love using Push (all generations) and won’t be moving back from P3 as love the MPE side of it. I’d just really like Ableton to definitively say “USB power won’t work with M1/2 MacBooks” or the likes. The FAQ suggests it should work hence the frustration.
I’ve got a few more things to try at my end thanks to @nori’s suggestions so that’s a bit of homework for later in the week. If they honour what they told me about the extended return period (ie. a new 30 day period starting from yesterday with my replacement cable) then I could be tempted to move to the standalone to be honest anyway. But will see how I get on and will continue to bore the majority of folks with my Push 3 Woes comments 
Is anyone willing to try taking their drive and nuc out leaving only their battery? I’m curious if the solution to all this is to install batteries into the controller version.
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Ableton straight up told me that my 2021 MacBook Pro 16 m1 would not be able to power the push 3. It was a little frustrating but I realized pretty quickly due to its size, that I wasn’t going to move it out of my studio when I had it, so I just kept it connected to a psu.
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I’ll let folks know if that’s the response I get in the next day or so. Maybe I’ll be joining the standalone ranks sooner than expected…
Good luck! Your computer may be different, but here is the response I got on mine.
“Sorry to let you know that the short answer is no. According to our Push USB power FAQ. That’s because the power voltage from your Mac’s USB/thunderbolt port is not sufficient to charge Push 3.”
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This is all really odd. My 14" M1 Pro (2021) powers my controller version with the included cable (it’s dim though). I believe Ableton’s documentation supports this as well.
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Instead of trying to power Push 3 through the USB port, why not use an outboard USB PD power bank together with one of these to power it through its power-supply port?
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A good shout - I have considered this too!
Cable mess is the closest I ever get to experiencing OCD I just hate it and find it impacts my “vibes” when doing music. It’s a big reason why I sold most my gear! So anything to cut down on an extra cable is what I’m after though might need to look into something like this is Ableton don’t play ball and don’t honour the offer to extend the return period like they said (and if I need to go down that route).
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And this is what drives me nuts! It seems that either Push 3’s or MacBooks are not all built the same…
Yeah, one of the often-overlooked details of manufacturing at certain levels of scale is that it’s not entirely uncommon for companies to source the same component from multiple suppliers, among which there may be slight, technically-in-spec variances.
I remember this being a point of contention years ago with some MacBooks of the same model having screens sourced from LG and others sourced from Samsung. They were of course built to meet same technical specs, yet due to slight differences in manufacturing process between the companies, panels from one of the companies were more prone to something undesirable (I think it might have been image retention?) while the other didn’t exhibit it.
It was down to luck of the draw which panel you’d get, and while the difference wasn’t really an issue for most people, it nonetheless led to much consternation on Mac forums. Anyway, I have a sense that may be the case with some component related to power delivery, more likely on the Mac side due to Apple’s massive scale, but possibly also on Ableton’s side.
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