DJing on the fly with ableton

mrvinyl · Post by **mrvinyl** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 10:43 pm

Apoligies if I'm double posting...

can you dj with live on the fly
i.e. selecting tracks at random and cueing them up whilst tutha one is playing

I know you can do it by warping each tune, but that kinda needs alot of prepration and if djing on the fly, I cant consistantly blend tracks like you can whilst djing with cdj1000's

if/how are you guys doing it live at a club, or do you have it all prepared earlier?

Synchro · Post by **Synchro** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 10:49 pm

Just warp the song on the fly, takes a maximum of 10 to 20 sec, same as beat matching/cueing a track on CDJ's.

Jekblad · Post by **Jekblad** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 10:58 pm

you have to send your monitor to a separate out than your mains, then listen and warp the tracks on the spot as mentioned.

Just don't try and warp recordings not recorded to a click (like some beatles, bluegrass or whatever) because that is obviously a bit trickier than computer based music to warp.

stonee · Post by **stonee** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 1:36 am

yup, practice warping. shouldnt take you more than 30 seconds once your used to it.

i can do it much faster than i can beat match.

(im terrible at beat matching tho...)

Pitch Black · Post by **Pitch Black** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 7:39 am

You can set Live off on an auto-warping mission. Just tell it the folders/drives to look at and let it go.

All you have to do then is quality control...

mrvinyl · Post by **mrvinyl** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 8:25 am

how do you tell ableton to auto warp specific folders, sounds interesting

Pitch Black · Post by **Pitch Black** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 11:48 am

Right-click/CNTRL-click on a folder in Live's browser. All audio and movie files in that folder (and any sub-folders) will be analysed/warped.

5.2.3 File Pre-Analysis in the Live 7 pdf manual.

The Mysterious Flying Pum · Post by **The Mysterious Flying Pum** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 12:12 pm

you should use traktor or similar for that... traktor 3 is pretty good now in recognizing the tempo. i use live for composition and live impro with samples, not entire songs.

dphouse84 · Post by **dphouse84** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 8:07 pm

practice warping, and practice your beat matching skills;
I just noticed last month that once i got good at warping, i can do it on the fly, still a bit faster with cdj's. for me the cdj's (esp pioneer 1000's) are quicker than TT, but still love the feel of vinyl. IMO its good to have both skills, esp if your laptop ever gives you shit, you can reboot and keep the night going.

best of luck!

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 8:27 pm

wait, how big is this fly?

vinkalmann · Post by **vinkalmann** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 10:16 pm

Why would anyone want to be warping their tracks during a gig? Plenty of other things that you should be paying attention to instead of squinting at your screen (like looking at the audience).

While Pitch Black's tip for mass analyzing tracks is right on the money, definitely DO NOT rely on auto-warp to warp your tracks for you. You will need to adjust warp markers on EVERY track.

mrvinyl · Post by **mrvinyl** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 9:40 am

Exactly my point vinkalmann, I really can't be messing with a mouse and screen, when I'm half cut and the crowd is pumpin.

I think setting up my controller to run traktor sounds like a much more realistic way

thanks for the multiple analyse tip though that will be useful.

and yes you always need to tweak every warp you do, even if it is at least moving the beginning marker

vinkalmann · Post by **vinkalmann** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 5:47 pm

mrvinyl wrote:Exactly my point vinkalmann, I really can't be messing with a mouse and screen, when I'm half cut and the crowd is pumpin.

I think setting up my controller to run traktor sounds like a much more realistic way

thanks for the multiple analyse tip though that will be useful.

and yes you always need to tweak every warp you do, even if it is at least moving the beginning marker

I wouldn't personally switch from Ableton to Traktor just so you don't have to warp your tracks. It really only takes 30 seconds (tops) to warp a track once you have your skills down. If you just want to A=>B mix, then Traktor would be a good choice, but Ableton offers so much more.

You checked out www.abletonlivedj.com yet? GREAT forum with lots of info.

mrvinyl · Post by **mrvinyl** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 1:52 pm

well i dj'ed on the weekend, and set up my edirol pcr-300 to control everything (i.e. channels, gain, cue, fx, x-fader)

and although its very good and flexible, the controllers just dont have the same response that you get when using cdj's and an analog mixer. m-audio, roland, allen & heath, novation all have a bit to learn yet to get that same response WELL THATS WHAT I THINK, what do you think?

eskay · Post by **eskay** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 2:50 pm

I had asked this question before and didn't get a straight answer. If I'm DJ'ing or playing my own material, nobody confirmed that I can loop a piece of audio on the fly. This is really a limitation if that's the case, for DJi'ing as well as for playing your own material. I hope I'm wrong, and somebody correct me please.

Thanks.

If it's possible I will be switching from Traktor to Ableton, since I want to have more of a performance than a DJ set, which would somehow blend both.

DJing on the fly with ableton

DJing on the fly with ableton

Why the hell we can't loop on the fly???