Automation clips

forge · Post by **forge** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 3:02 am

this has probably been suggested but I just had the thought that it would be very cool to have automation clips that you could use over any parameter anywhere - so maybe like you have in the i/o menus where you first choose the instrument/source (i.e. microtonic) then have a secondary drop menu to choose the tracks/outputs, we could have a first menu that chooses what track it's for and a second menu what insert, then you could draw in the parameters for that insert as you can now with the clip envelopes.

double click on the master fader slots??

ikeaboy · Post by **ikeaboy** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 8:49 pm

I was thinking about something similar where you could store looped controller data for the effects busses in their tracks allowing multiple parameter changes to be set up for triggering in session view. Say a build using a delay for a simple example

griff42 · Post by **griff42** » Thu Nov 25, 2004 1:26 am

I recently accomplished what you're suggesting. While there isn't any truly easy way to do it, a workaround is possible. I recorded a midi clip with controller data, after having assigned a controller to the fader or knob you want to control in Live. Then I used MidiPipe to route the midi track's output to a virtual output, then told Live to listen to the virtual port in the preferences. It worked pretty well. I haven't done anything real with it yet, but it works and it's got a lot of interesting potential. I'd love to see a real function implemented into Live like this that would eliminate the need to trick the application, and would also free up your second remote control input for something else.
My motivation for figuring out this workaround was for use in a theatrical production I'm currently sound designing. Basically I'm using Live as my main "deck" for playback, and I'm triggering it's scenes via another computer running an app called SFX (www.stageresearch.com). It's working really really well, and when I have it all up and running and the show has opened, I plan on putting out some documentation of how and why I did it, because as far as I know no one has done quite what I'm doing before.
--matt griffin
www.skronk.net

ikeaboy · Post by **ikeaboy** » Thu Nov 25, 2004 9:46 pm

Excellent, Iwas thinking of doing something similar by connecting the midi out of my soundcard to my Midi in. Triggering clips with clips, that sort of thing. Is Midipipe a plug in??

Parametex · Post by **Parametex** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 3:56 pm

Fellas,

This is one of the features that I've been missing badly!

Somekinda universal midi control mapper should not be hard at all to implement to live. I would very well go in hand with the features ableton have been implementing in 3 and 4, follow actions, envelopes per clip etc...

nickw · Post by **nickw** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 4:04 pm

I used midipie like this to make a "record one bar" feature.

When you triggered the scene to record as it recorded a one bar midi clip would play, which had a midi note at the end, this went out through midipipe and back into live which had this note set to trigger the clip that was recording. This would stop the clip recording at exactly one bar (by having quantisation on and the note playing just before the end so it had time to get round).

The thing that made this useless for me is that recorded clips automatically start looping no matter what the default behaviour set in the preference is (that only covers clips that have been dragged in).

So rather than hit the switch, record a bar, then hit the switch to play it back you get hit the switch, record bar, loop manically - so close and yet so far.

Cheers

Nick

griff42 · Post by **griff42** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 2:38 pm

MidiPipe is a midi routing app, I think MidiOX (and one of it's tools) does something similar on a PC.

In a side note, beware of midi feedback loops. I was working on the show rig I mentioned in my earlier post, and the "thru" switch on my MOTU Fastlane USB Midi interface, and all of a sudden I was getting some crazy behaviour. It took me a few minutes to figure out what had happened, but in the meantime I got several crashes. I do enjoy, though, when something as apparently disastrous as this is an easy little fix like one button. On the other hand, one little button can bring the entire system to its knees.

Sly One · Post by **Sly One** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 12:18 pm

Fantastic! I will hunt down this application. I had exactly the same idea a few weeks ago.... thanks!

Vresky · Post by **Vresky** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 6:22 pm

this stuf would be cool to make automation on the fx of the fx of the sends returns

Sly One · Post by **Sly One** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 10:48 pm

I was going to use it to make up for the lack of a free-floating LFO on Ableton... create a short clip with a sine wave MIDI envelope and use it to automate (say) the frequency on an Erosion. Hit play and record and as if by magic as the track plays a perfect sine wave automation curve will get drawn into Ableton

Automation clips

Automation clips

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Great stuff