Newbie looking to disable playbutton in control bar

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TrailofMarbles
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Dec 30, 2017 1:22 pm

Newbie looking to disable playbutton in control bar

Post by TrailofMarbles » Sat Dec 30, 2017 1:43 pm

Hi Guys and Girls,

I'm Marc and new here. Have been using Ableton Standard for a while now, and love how intuitive it can be. No need to ask questions before. Am asked to join a band and want to use i live. Was always a guitar player, so it will be a challenge, but I think I have things worked out ok.

I have made different sections in a live set per song. In the scene names I have set the bpm for every song. In between songs, I have a slotless bar just for setting BPM. So far so good I think. The thing that really bugs me though, is the playbutton in the controlbar on top. Whenever I launch a clip or scene, it starts playing. If I stop a song (using 'stop all clips') it continues playing.

In some songs I come in later (there is a guitar intro). I don't want every song to start with something tempo based coming from me. When the play button is not on, it works perfect. I launch a clip or scene, and it starts right away. If I however start a second song, and forget to press stop twice in the control panel, it means that the clip or scene is quantized. That ofcourse is not acceptable.

The only 'solution' I came across is having the first clips from a scene of a song set to: Quantization: None. When playing the next scene, and moving back up to the intro beats, they start playing right away cause of having no quantization. A big mess.

The other is; after every song, hit stop twice to reset it. If I however forget playing live, well, chaos :)

For what I want, basically, the playbutton in the control bar should just be resetted everytime I stop clips. (I'm guesing it's there for a reason and cant be omitted)

Is there an option or setting for this? I'm sure it should be 'able' to have multiple songs in 1 set where you don't have to reset the playbutton every time? Or am I using it all wrong?

I hope someone has an idea. Or is it possible to midi map "pressing stop twice" to the 'stop all clips' button on my APC40?


Hope this makes sense, I'm not that advanced yet. And apologies for barging in as a new user expecting people to help me right away ;)

TrailofMarbles
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Dec 30, 2017 1:22 pm

Re: Newbie looking to disable playbutton in control bar

Post by TrailofMarbles » Tue Jan 02, 2018 3:29 pm

Alright, I/m going to midi map the STOP-button of the main control to the stop all clips. It's not possible to map the double click unfortunately, but maybe not necessary.

When the main control is stopped, I doesn't have to reset it per se. The clips will launch right away, and won't be influenced by the main play quantization.

stoter
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Jan 01, 2018 4:36 pm

Re: Newbie looking to disable playbutton in control bar

Post by stoter » Wed Jan 03, 2018 10:49 pm

A Live session is kinda meant to start once and then never stop. :)

Compare it to listening to an album: the different tracks stop (along the way), but the album doesn't.

Same thing goes for Live. That's why the "master play button" stays on when you stop clips.
Alright, I/m going to midi map the STOP-button of the main control to the stop all clips.
But.. why don't you just use the stop button on your APC, the one above the cross-fader? That's the one you are trying to map in Ableton..

The "stop all clips" on your controller is meant for the "stop all clips"-button in Ableton (that stop-button in the master channel, above the "cue out").

Not that your solution won't work (it probably will), just curious why you want to "rewire" your controller when everything's already there :)

TrailofMarbles
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Dec 30, 2017 1:22 pm

Re: Newbie looking to disable playbutton in control bar

Post by TrailofMarbles » Sun Jan 07, 2018 3:46 pm

stoter wrote:A Live session is kinda meant to start once and then never stop. :)

Compare it to listening to an album: the different tracks stop (along the way), but the album doesn't.

Same thing goes for Live. That's why the "master play button" stays on when you stop clips.
Alright, I/m going to midi map the STOP-button of the main control to the stop all clips.
But.. why don't you just use the stop button on your APC, the one above the cross-fader? That's the one you are trying to map in Ableton..

The "stop all clips" on your controller is meant for the "stop all clips"-button in Ableton (that stop-button in the master channel, above the "cue out").

Not that your solution won't work (it probably will), just curious why you want to "rewire" your controller when everything's already there :)
Thanks for your reply!

Well, I have multiple songs in my set. All of them have a different BPM. I know I can use the stop button, it's just one more step I can forget easily. Stop all clips is easy. I mean, i can hear when clips stopped playing :)

The STOP-button above the crossfader however: It's easier to forget. Cause you will only notice when it's already too late.

So when a songs stops I now: Press the stop all clips button and then have to use the STOP button after. For my workflow that seems kind of unnecessary. I'm done with this song (stopped all playing clips). I want to be ready for the next one. It would be nice if I could be done in one button.

The Play button staying on kind of messes up the working with multiple songs. Because it keeps running, I have a problem in a next song when a guitarist starts an intro. I push in my first scene, and....: It doesnt start right away, cause it is being quantized with the master play-progress. If it was just me, or I would start every song, it wouldnt be a problem. For working in a live band it's trickier I guess.


Maybe my worklfow does not make sense (high probability :D), or maybe I should have a project per song? I will try the mapping, cause remembering to stop all clips AND stop the project is a bit too risky for someone like me :D

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