Best "on stage" midi looper for Live?

[Young Echo]

OK tried this a little while back, but didn't get any response. No worries - now I've done a little more looping research, maybe I can ask from a position of (very limited) knowledge.

I've been playing around with Looper, and it's a great device for looping audio - but I'm wondering if there's a redux of this for doing the same with midi?

Looper's great, in that you can set it up on it's own track, and it acts almost independently of the rest of the session view. I'm stoked about this, and I'll be using it for sure with guitar and vocals.

I've been trying to find a way to do the same, but with midi. The only solution that really works for me right now is route the audio from a midi track into an audio track and use the looper on that audio track. This is OK, but it feels like a workaround.

What I want to do is to be able to run in midi notes from a drumpad set and loop the midi notes so I can create beats in unison with a live band onstage. Then I want to be able to drop the loop when I want, and move on with the rest of the song or set. Overdubbing would be necessary too, so the beat can build in a 1, 2, 4 bar loop or whatever it's set up on (JUST like the audio looper).

I've checked out midi loopers on Max4Live, but none seem to have the spontaneity that Ableton's own Looper has. Am I missing something, or is there a way to recreate the audio looper but with midi clips in session view?

Thanks!

[alpertt]

Why dont you record a midi clip and overdub it?
You can create 1-2-4 etc bar empty clips, record and overdub.
Even for audio i prefer to record clips, so i can manipulate volumes of layers independantly.

[Young Echo]

I tried working a good way to do this onstage (midi clip and overdub), but as far as I can see it requires mouse clicks and/or keystrokes. Maybe there's a way around this I haven't seen.

I tried throwing in a dummy midi-clip of the required length, then overdubbing. However, getting it to "Play" with no overdub, and then clearing the midi-notes to continue with the rest of the track are tricky/impossible with a "no mouse no keyboard" approach (breaks the mood, need to interact with the audience etc)

It would work if I could just "Clear" the clip of midi notes on the fly, but still keep the dummy as a 1, 2 or 4 bar (or whatever length). As it happens I did find a decent looper on Max4Live here: http://www.maxforlive.com/library/devic ... ooper-sync

This is nearly perfect for my needs, but lacks an automatic quantization option - which would really be the shizzle if it was included, to make up for my shoddy drumming! At the moment I think I just need to work on my half-assed sense of rhythm, and just get better at playing percussion.

Any thoughts on a workflow that can be triggered/overdubbed/cleared with a midi footswitch or APC40 would be amazing. Thanks guys!

[slatepipe]

i use a softstep 2 foot controller to do everything. i use it in conjunction with a max for live patch i've been slowly developing (with help from some of the fellers on this forum when i get stuck ) over the last few years. i use it solely in session view and can record audio and midi clips. recently i've worked out how to auto quantize them in my patch as soon as i stop recording. i primarily use it with my midi bass but i've made a few different versions of the patch so i can use it with other controllers, like joysticks and quneo

i used to use an fcb1010, but i broke one of the buttons when i spilled beer on it (i'll fix it at some point i guess). but i prefer the softstep now as it's smaller and lighter and you can do loads more with it

i can navigate session view, record, loop, play, stop, solo, mute, pan, send effects, track volume, delete clips, auto quantize clips.

i've never had the need to do overdubs on a midi clip though as i tend to use about 10-15 tracks, each with a different synth or bank of samples in. i just start recording, play some stuff, stop recording and let it loop, adjust volume and sends, then move to another track and play some more stuff. so i can play live and improvise alongside what i have recorded, if i like it then i record that as well and set it looping

cheers

[RSJ]

Hi
Is this what you are looking for?

http://www.thepiz.org/plugins/?p=midiLooper

[Young Echo]

Hey RSJ,

I had seen the piz Midi Looper, but the last build for Mac was 2009. Downloaded it and Jbridged it across to Live, but can't for the life of me work out how it works. Either I'm missing something, or the install went wonky.

I can't believe there's not been a decent quantizable looper since 2009, surely I'm not the only idiot who would benefit from live Midi Looping, to go alongside the pretty nice audio looper that Live offers as standard! I've never jumped into Max4Live, but it seems like it shouldn't be THAT complicated to create a plug-in that does what I want it to do!

[jrs1]

I was also looking for a midi looper. Instead I used midi clips to store my loops and built a max for live device to automate some of the mouse clicks needed (and a way to set the tempo to the first loop)

It’s still a work in progress but I’m still working on it
Have a look:
https://youtu.be/WnGTUVVu6H0

I think midi loopers aren’t so popular nowadays because everyone uses sequencers (which don’t quite do what I want) such as beat step pro and software owns.

[Airyck]

It’s hardware though.
It has a foot pedal input for use with 2 switches which can be assigned to whatever button presses you like.

https://midisizer.com/midirex/midirex-reference/