Struggling to understand how to have multiple tracks playing

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BruteMan
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Jun 30, 2022 11:00 am

Struggling to understand how to have multiple tracks playing

Post by BruteMan » Thu Jun 30, 2022 11:21 am

Hi, I'm a total Live newbie. I'm struggling to figure out how to have more than one track playing back. I somehow managed to do it, eventually, in my first live set which consists of 3 MIDI tracks and no audio (tracks are Analog Emulation Keys, KJ Sawka Bass 1 and 707 Core Kit). It's not musical at all but at least I can hear the playback of all three tracks (this is my first exposure to Live so was very experimental with much trial and error).

My second attempt currently has two MIDI tracks recorded using a Keystep 37 (tracks are E-Piano Basic and 909 Core Kit). I'm swapping between the first attempt and this live set to try and replicate the settings but I can only get sound from the E-Piano Basic track.

I keep on reading the manual to try and understand how it's done but I must be missing something. It's driving me nuts because I've been at it for four consecutive nights.

Can someone please provide a step by step guide on how to get more than one track to play back.

BruteMan
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Jun 30, 2022 11:00 am

Re: Struggling to understand how to have multiple tracks playing

Post by BruteMan » Thu Jun 30, 2022 11:34 am

For clarification I have no output level indication for the 909 Core Kit Track. I have the following settings: Monitor to Auto and Audio to Master which are the same as the E-Piano track. I've tried a bunch of different settings in an attempt to try and replicate my first successful attempt and I've also messed around with the Back to Arrangement button. The manual is not clear to me because it doesn't step through the process to get it working (at least how I interpret it).

BruteMan
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Jun 30, 2022 11:00 am

Re: Struggling to understand how to have multiple tracks playing

Post by BruteMan » Thu Jun 30, 2022 11:53 am

Update: I started replacing the drum track with instruments such as guitar and bass and it worked straight away i.e. I can hear both tracks during playback.

I somehow got a drum track working in my first live set but have no ideas how I did it. The drums are MIDI so why is it different from the other MIDI instruments?

I would appreciate if someone can step me through how to get the drum tracks working!

cids
Posts: 691
Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2004 5:53 pm
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Re: Struggling to understand how to have multiple tracks playing

Post by cids » Thu Jun 30, 2022 12:18 pm

Mac Studio M2 Max and MacBook Pro M1

Genelec M030; Live 11.3.x and Live 12; macOS Sonoma

UAD Apollo Twin

Ableton Push 2

silentio246
Posts: 80
Joined: Thu Jan 26, 2017 2:31 pm
Location: Germany NRW

Re: Struggling to understand how to have multiple tracks playing

Post by silentio246 » Fri Jul 01, 2022 9:16 am

BruteMan wrote:
Thu Jun 30, 2022 11:53 am
Update: I started replacing the drum track with instruments such as guitar and bass and it worked straight away i.e. I can hear both tracks during playback.

I somehow got a drum track working in my first live set but have no ideas how I did it. The drums are MIDI so why is it different from the other MIDI instruments?

I would appreciate if someone can step me through how to get the drum tracks working!
The difference between MIDI drums and other MIDI sounds (guitar, bass etc.) is, that the sampled sounds are placed on different midi notes, means the range is different. For example, drums can be between C1-E2, because the samples are laid out on this range. Guitar has another playable range. Try on your keyboard which notes are playable. Have a look at the clip view of the drum track, there you can see, which midi notes belong to the drum sounds. Maybe use the transpose function.

BruteMan
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Jun 30, 2022 11:00 am

Re: Struggling to understand how to have multiple tracks playing

Post by BruteMan » Sun Jul 03, 2022 1:44 am

Thanks so much. The video was very helpful with understanding how to use Live, one that I hadn't seen before although I've spent a bit of time looking at tutorials.

The info about MIDI drums is invaluable. Shows how lacking with knowledge I am because I didn't have clue. Transposing the KeyStep 37 keyboard worked a treat.

Thankyou cids and silentio246 for your help :D

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