Describe your template

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
Machinate
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Describe your template

Post by Machinate » Tue Dec 28, 2004 9:34 pm

Hi all.
I'm just curious about your setups, especially your template live files. What synths do you load every single time? or if you're a dj, which effects do you *have* to have, and what parameters do you control, etc.

Lay it on us!
:D

A.

dpel
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Post by dpel » Tue Dec 28, 2004 9:54 pm

great forum topic!

dpel template:
4 audio tracks (one set as "monitor on" like an aux track in PT for quick recording and auditioning)
Crystal MIDI track
Atmosphere MIDI track
Superwave MIDI track (labeled as JV 8080 hee hee)
Reaktor demo MIDI track (thanx for the enthusiastic review Adam Jay)
Rebirth Audio

2 aux:
Reverb (big lots of pre-delay)
Pong Delay (default-triplit )

i used to have a 20+ auidi track template in 3.0.x with plugue inputs
but i find things to run more efficiently with a smaller template and ad as you go. that way way i can also get some track labeling done.

:?
Dave Pelman Music
http://www.davepelman.com

Machinate
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Post by Machinate » Tue Dec 28, 2004 9:57 pm

Right, here's mine:
17 tracks and 4 aux effects, controlled by an fcb1010 and a uc33.

Track -
1: An impulse track for the drummer, with an eq4 and an autofilter
2: Another impulse track for the drummer, clean (used for extra cymbals)
3: A click track made by a very simple Simpler sequence. The drummer likes this a lot
4: An Emagic evp73 rhodes vsti with a stereo autofilter
5: Absynth 2, for all those spaced out leads
6+7: SampleTank 2XL, strings, choirs, big stuff in general.
8: An impulse track for my doepfer Schaltwerk, I might replace the impulse with a schaltwerk
9+10: Get their input from ch.13 - i make loops with these.
11+12: Get their input from ch. 14 - i make more loops with these.
13: Receives the left input of the soundcard, then gate+autofilter. I mostly use this for Roland sh-9 and bass
14: Receives the right input of the soundcard, reserved for vocals. Gated, effected.
15+16: For straigh audio loops, mostly extra drums and percussion.
17: Processes the output of the looper on aux 4 with an autofilter set to env. mod.

aux 1: A reorder/supatrigga type of effect. I change it every now and then.
aux 2: The Bionic delay, set to loong and dubby :wink:
aux 3: Cheap plate reverb from the freebie luxonix vst multieffect
aux 4: Elottronix XL looper, loops 4-8 bars, then sends output to track 17.

Automation: As much as I can! Most of the recording is done via an fcb1010, most of the effects tweaks, sends and volumes are controlled with a uc33.

Spiralgroove
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Post by Spiralgroove » Tue Dec 28, 2004 10:10 pm

for dj'ing... with oxygen 8

2 tracks each with EQ 3 (6 knobs assigned to such
1 knob assigned to volume of each track
crossfader assigned to slider control thingy

3 black keys assigned to kills on eq (twice)
2 black keys assigned to select each eq (for viewing while turning knobs)

Filter on Send 1
Delay on Send 2

2 black keys assigned to select each (for veiwing)

everything else is done with the mouse or assigned to a white key

of course it gets modified some as each set progresses

but this serves as my starting point...

cosmosuave
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Post by cosmosuave » Tue Dec 28, 2004 11:09 pm

For Producing....

All tracks 1 - 8 have EQ4 with a preset called Mtl Breaks (thanks to MontrealBreaks) that acts as a 12 db low and hi pass filter.

Trk 1 - midi Microtonic (Great drum machine)
Trk 2 - audio Bass loops/ Lives Vinyl distortion
Trk 3 to 7 - audio loops/ some tracks with SupaPhaser
Trk 8 - midi Simpler/ use this to make various loops then render to audio.

Aux Sends

Aux 1 - Live's Simple Delay
Aux 2 - Live's Chorus
Aux 3 - Live's Reverb (confort setting)

Master Bus

Live's EQ3
Live's EQ4 (MtlBrks setting)
WTF
Supatrigga
BuzMaxi (maximizer)

I was using up to 4 midi tracks before but found this difficult to manage and was a little taxing on the CPU... I find this current setup works pretty good and all of it is controlled via BCR2000.
MD SPS-1 DARKENERGY JX-3P (PG200) Mbase01
http://soundcloud.com/cosmosuave
http://www.cosmosuave.com/

steved
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Location: Lancaster, UK.

Yes ... excellent topic - I'm very curious

Post by steved » Wed Dec 29, 2004 12:04 am

I use loads of different templates - and they are constantly in a state of flux as I discover new ways of doing things ( and as I aquire new hardware / software ). But, for what it's worth - this is a genaral purpose set up which I've been using recently

Live running on the Toshiba laptop - external firewire drive
Logic on Mac - hosting softsyths

I think the flexibility of the routing in Live is really good . Tracks can easily be routed e.g through track 9 and 10 for real time modulation, or to traks 13-20 for recording

The way a song normally develops is - create a groove - mixing the three drum tracks - use follow action to create fills / variety etc. - start recording on tracks 13-20 using whatever source - build up a number of scenes ..... I never use the scene launch buttons - I tend to use the microkontrol pads to launch clips on tracks 13-20 - or I sometimes assign them to the microkontrol keyboard - for instant launching.

I use 24 Tracks

1 Drum 1 - Impulse / Battery
2 Drum 2 - audio loops
3 Drum 3 - audio loops
4 Bass ( loops or synth )
5 Simpler 1 - pads, weird shit etc
6 Simpler 2
7 Simpler 3
8 Simpler 4
9 Modulation 1 - series of clips for gating panning, modulating e.q etc.
10 Modulation 2 - same as above
11 Reaktor
12 Albino 2

Tracks 13 - 20 . These are all armed and ready for recording. Recording source varies - guitar; bass; output from Logic on the Mac ( hosting soft synths - samplers etc ) ; outputs from reaktor, albino, modulation tracks etc. Recording is triggerd by the microkontrol pads - 8 pads are assigned to the relative launch buttons of these 8 tracks. A pot is used as a scene selector - a painless affair.

Track 21 - 24 - used to resample as the song develops.

Aux 1. Ohmboyz delay
Aux 2. Ohmboyz delay
Aux 3. Reverb
Aux 4. Depends

Midi Control.

Pocket Dial is used to control the Simplers - standard 16 knob template - 4 bank buttons can be used to switch between Simplers.

Drehbank - 16 colums of 4 knobs - First 8 columns control channel 1 - 8. Mute, Low pass filter, pan, level. Remaining controls assigned to Reaktor. Albino etc. aux levels etc.

Microkontrol - 8 sliders control channels 13 - 20 for live mixing of loops
Microkontrol keyboard - (9 octaves) - Used to trigger drum loops, modulation clips on tracks 9 and 10 - also used to select the tracks to view plugins etc.

I should have said - I usually have to switch off some of the soft synths to keep the cpu at a reasonable level. You can create a load of very funky loops using Reaktor ( Vierring ) in no time at all and then just swich it off until you need it .
Last edited by steved on Wed Dec 29, 2004 6:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
Nocturn early adopter ....

noisetonepause
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Post by noisetonepause » Wed Dec 29, 2004 12:30 am

Track1: MIDI input and audio output. QWERTY mapped to clips for looping.
Track2: Routes audio ins to audio outs. QWERTY mapped mapped to clips for looping.

And some sends I haven't bothered deleting yet...

-Paws

ryansupak
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Joined: Wed Aug 18, 2004 7:23 pm

Post by ryansupak » Wed Dec 29, 2004 12:39 am

great topic.

session mode only.

tracks 1-4 routed to track 17
tracks 5-8 routed to track 18
tracks 9-12 routed to track 19
tracks 13-16 routed to track 20

this effectively gives each of four "master tracks" (17-20) four-voice polyphony and four "choke groups" (any two samples arranged vertically from one another cannot be played at once).

each master track has 1xParisEQ set up as a combination LPF/HPF/BPF (fully passive).

5 effects sends -- 3 different reverbs, 1 simple delay, 1 distortion.

master out -- EQ4 (cutting mid-bass), rubyTube, kjaerhus master limiter

i use 2 oxygen8s and PD to help control every parameter of every channel in an intuitive manner.

rs

AdamJay
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Post by AdamJay » Wed Dec 29, 2004 6:34 pm

totally blank.
well, 1 audio track and 1 master track, live wont let me have 0 audio/midi tracks.

why?
it keeps my tracks from sounding too "Samey", and it takes no time at all to load the template set when starting Live. =)
also, midi assignments are so easy with Live, i don't mind making new assignments everytime i start working. only takes about 1 minute to assign all the knobs/sliders on a UC-33

Machinate
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Location: Denmark

Post by Machinate » Wed Dec 29, 2004 6:40 pm

AdamJay wrote:totally blank.
well, 1 audio track and 1 master track, live wont let me have 0 audio/midi tracks.

why?
it keeps my tracks from sounding too "Samey", and it takes no time at all to load the template set when starting Live. =)
also, midi assignments are so easy with Live, i don't mind making new assignments everytime i start working. only takes about 1 minute to assign all the knobs/sliders on a UC-33
I'd usually be doing the same thing, but that doesn't quite work when playing live. Yet. Maybe some "intelligent" software, that auto-assigns controllers based on statistics from previous gigs, etc..

hacktheplanet
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Post by hacktheplanet » Thu Dec 30, 2004 12:59 pm

You know? Having a template would be a great idea. I wonder why the hell I never thought to use the feature. I'm gonna make one with impulse, an audio track for the kick drum fx, a buzzer track, and a claw track. Impulse track will have a filter too.
Image

ryansupak
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Post by ryansupak » Thu Dec 30, 2004 6:01 pm

I see the point of having a blank template to avoid stagnation...

though I guess I approach it from the strategy of using Live as a self contained musical instrument like a violin or a tuba or whatever, and that way the benefits of muscle memory and familiarity can occur.

$0.01,
rs

Komplex
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Post by Komplex » Sat Jan 01, 2005 10:12 pm

My templates usually consist of audio and midi channel routings and subgroups that remain the same in just about every track with subgroups going out to the mixing desk. Just like on the hardware side, everything is patched and routed in a logical way.
The vsti's I always use are ready and waiting and all parts on external gear have their own midi channel.

This makes it quick and easy to boot up and jump straight into composing when the inspiration strikes without for example, having to fuck around with routing drums to seperate tracks and subgroups each time I get an idea.

Once I start the track I can shift things around and add things here and there when necessary.

AdamJay
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Post by AdamJay » Sun Jan 02, 2005 2:55 am

ryansupak wrote:I see the point of having a blank template to avoid stagnation...

though I guess I approach it from the strategy of using Live as a self contained musical instrument like a violin or a tuba or whatever, and that way the benefits of muscle memory and familiarity can occur.

$0.01,
rs
yea, for me its just so easy to work in Live without a template. easier than with most other apps. Once you get the keyboard shortcuts down for adding channels, it really becomes simple. Also, alot of times any EQ's or fx i'd have in a template, don't need to be there or arent getting used. So for me its more effecient to just start from scratch. Avoiding stagnation is just a bonus. :)

rEalm
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Post by rEalm » Sun Jan 02, 2005 3:36 am

DJ Template:

The virtual turntables
Audio Track 1 - Routed to Indigo DJ out 1/2, has PSP84s, Supatrigga, and AutoFilter plug ins toggled by key commands.
Audio Track 2 - Routed to Indigo DJ out 3/4, has PSP84s, Supatrigga, and AutoFilter plug ins toggled by key commands.
Audio Track 3 - Copy of Track 1.
Audio Track 4 - Copy of Track 2.

The record bins
Audio Tracks 5-8 act as storage for tracks (clips) I know I want to play that night. 5 and 6 are routed to out 1/2, and 7 and 8 are routed to out 3/4 on the Indigo DJ card. I do all my cueing, EQing and mixing on the DJ mixer.

I leave the browser open to my 'records' folder to search for other tracks I might need, as well as the odd sample here and there.

---------------------

The Live PA Template:

Track 1 - BD and Snare
Track 2 - HH's and Cymbals
Track 3 - Percussion,
Track 4 - Blank, it's just so I can visually see where the drum and intrument tracks are seperated.
Track 5 - Bassline
Track 6 - Pads
Track 7 - Lead
Track 8 - Synth 1
Track 9 - Synth 2
Track 10 - Send Channel with PSP84s Delay on it.
Track 11 - Send Channel with PSP84s and Resonators plug ins.

Songs are arranged in two scenes each typically, one containing all of the main elements, the other containing the elements used during a drop or breakdown. Sometimes certain songs need a third scene if they have to many main parts to be represented by one scene.

Master channel has a Sonalkis EQ rolling off everything below 35Hz.

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