Disable a playing clip (or other) from launching

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
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payday0023
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2019 6:07 pm

Disable a playing clip (or other) from launching

Post by payday0023 » Sat Oct 26, 2019 1:50 am

My situation:
I use Ableton for DJ sets. I have an A Deck track and B Deck track that I cross fade between, these 2 tracks are where the music comes from. I also use a Behringer TC64 controller and in Session mode I can easily tap the clip that's in the A or B Deck track to cue it up and mix it in.
What I want to do is to be able to start a song (launch a clip form the top slot of the track) and then disable all of the clip launch buttons including the the button of the clip that is playing for that track. Sort of like Removing Stop buttons, but not quite. What I'm trying to do is prevent accidentally launching another clip on that track, or re-launching the same clip that's already playing. I obviously want the clip that's launched to continue to play, but ideally there's a way I can disable or un-engage the buttons from launching anything else on that track.
Even more ideally, I would love if this could be midi mapped to a single button so I can toggle the clip launch disable/lock/safe on and off, so that I can drag in new songs and repeat the process throughout my set.

Each clip launch button on my controller is midi map-able so a possible work around could be that program a disable or lock button override those midi messages and make it so that they no longer send information... Is this a thing? I'm sort of thinking out loud as I write, trying to come up with possible solutions...

The_Subject
Posts: 137
Joined: Thu Jul 07, 2011 11:08 am

Re: Disable a playing clip (or other) from launching

Post by The_Subject » Sat Oct 26, 2019 10:33 am

Bit unclear what you want but sounds impossible.

What's wrong with not launching a clip you don't want? Your question sounds a bit like trying to play a c major scale on a piano so asking how you can disable the black keys. The answer would be don't play them, no?

I would say you could automate the volume so you have to launch the clip and turn the volume on, but to me that sounds like pressing two buttons instead of one and actually if your clips in the same track the one that you want playing would then be cut out in favour of a silent mistake, so probably end up in more other issues than you want.

Apologies if I'm missing the point...

jestermgee
Posts: 4500
Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2010 6:38 am

Re: Disable a playing clip (or other) from launching

Post by jestermgee » Sat Oct 26, 2019 9:14 pm

Just don’t make mistakes. If you are performing, part of what people want is your skills. If the software has to hold your hand and protect you from mistakes then there’s little skill to witness. It’s only pressing a few buttons, practice :D

yur2die4
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Location: Menasha, Wisconsin
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Re: Disable a playing clip (or other) from launching

Post by yur2die4 » Sat Oct 26, 2019 9:36 pm

From the responses above, it does sound like you’re limited to not being able to deactivate Play for other clips.

So the next question to ask is ‘how are you accidentally triggering those clips?’ And find a fix or workaround that mechanism

zsazsa
Posts: 376
Joined: Wed Feb 09, 2005 4:31 pm
Location: Deventer

Re: Disable a playing clip (or other) from launching

Post by zsazsa » Sat Oct 26, 2019 10:27 pm

If you want to play only some clips and not accidentally trigger other clips then I would put them in a separate scene. Remove the stop buttons from the scenes you want to keep playing.

Hope I understood you ok, and that this can help...

payday0023
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2019 6:07 pm

Re: Disable a playing clip (or other) from launching

Post by payday0023 » Mon Oct 28, 2019 4:13 pm

The "accident" is coming from pressing button 2 Deck B when I meant to press button 1 on Deck A. The hopeful fix would be to press button 2 then temporarily "lock down" Deck B so that the song remains undisturbed by any thing I might do to it, and then be able to cue up Deck A.

Don't get me wrong, the answer to this question is "just never fuck up while DJing," which is technically the motto that I try to live by when playing music. But assuming I can fuck up, I'm looking for a way to minimize it.

Possible work arounds:
  • placing the song clips and/or tracks physically far away from each other
  • removing stop buttons from the track's clip launch area
  • never ever make a mistake again
haaa

Thanks for the input

jestermgee
Posts: 4500
Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2010 6:38 am

Re: Disable a playing clip (or other) from launching

Post by jestermgee » Mon Oct 28, 2019 11:02 pm

But assuming I can fuck up, I'm looking for a way to minimize it.
Mistakes happen, it's all part of it.

If the software could be somehow designed to lock down all the buttons for a deck if a song was playing, I am sure you would somehow find that causes you issues there too at some stage and want the rules changed again. It's really not that hard to remember which deck you are currently playing and what not to press... If in doubt, take 2 seconds to check your signals and crossfader before doing anything and If you are making those mistakes often, in all seriousness, the way to minimise it is to practice more until it is just second nature without even needing to look.

I have DJed for 25 years but use Serato and a Numark NS7III currently which I use mostly in a completely manual mode because it helps keep me focused while playing and allows some human elements to slip in (tho I will sometimes use a quick auto sync since why not). I have made many mistakes before like loading a song onto a playing deck or grabbing the wrong platter for a scratch move and in the olden days, ejecting the wrong CD player while it was playing and having nothing cued up, but you learn to be quick on your feet and just step through it and have fun.

The odd mistake and oddity lets the audience know you are a human performing and not just a Spotify babysitter. The problem with having the software take care of everything such as syncing everything and guarding against every mistake is you will not learn how to recover from mistakes and instead request that all software you use has safeguards. A lot of the manual work DJs use to do managing records and CDs and all the problems associated with that is gone, you just need to press buttons at the right time as you have everything queued up already. I think it's reasonable to expect the performer to at least manage that on their own?

In short, there is no way to lock loading onto a playing track so you will need to look at how you perform and how things are setup and see if there is any way you can improve your workflow.

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