Non-destructive hot-swap (audition sample in context)

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NWE-RGB
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2014 5:04 pm

Non-destructive hot-swap (audition sample in context)

Post by NWE-RGB » Fri Nov 06, 2015 5:50 pm

When hot swapping samples in simpler, impulse, and drum rack, it would be super cool if, as you scroll up and down through your samples in hot swap mode, you actually hear the candidate samples in place of the current sample in the sequence rather than just once so you can hear it in context of the beat. If you hit enter, you commit to the new sample. Alternatively, if you hit escape, you can revert to the original sample if you decided that all those other samples weren't as good as the first one anyway.

Nothing gets my goat like having auditioned 30 kick drums, then having to meticulously and repeatedly smash CTRL+Z the precise correct number of times to get back to the first kick drum without going too far and undoing some automation or something.

dwolma
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Apr 20, 2021 11:42 am

Re: Non-destructive hot-swap (audition sample in context)

Post by dwolma » Tue Apr 20, 2021 4:26 pm

I completely agree with this. This is how I would have expected a Hot-Swap Mode to work: in-place and non-destructive.

When I highlight a sample in Hot-Swap Mode, I want the currently playing MIDI sequence (or a MIDI controller) to be able to trigger the sample. I don't want to have to load the sample into the instrument by pressing Enter or double-clicking it just in order to hear what it would sound like in context. It seems pretty basic, but it should be possible to audition different sounds without actually making changes to the Live Set!

I only want to load a sample if it sounds good. If I don't choose to load any of the samples that I audition, then when I quit Hot-Swap Mode, I want to revert to the original sample. I definitely don't want to have to keep hitting Undo to get the Live Set back to the state it was in before I entered Hot-Swap Mode!

Another thing: When listening to a sequence in Hot-Swap Mode, I want to hear how the sample sounds in the right place in the sequence; not to hear each sample triggered as soon as it's highlighted in the browser, which can be quite jarring. (I know I can prevent this by disabling the Preview switch, but I think it'd be great if playing a sequence in Hot-Swap Mode could override the normal Preview behaviour in favour of MIDI control.)

I find it so baffling that Hot-Swap Mode works the way it does. Honestly, I've re-read the documentation so many times, thinking that I must have missed something. And I know I'm not the only one. (See here, here, here, here, here, etc, etc.) Hot-Swap Mode is such a great idea but I feel like the implementation could have been so much more useful!

I know that some people use the "128s" system (attributed to ill.Gates) for auditioning samples. It's a clever system, but it requires extra steps to set it up and to recall it when needed, and it has some pretty inconvenient limitations. It feels like a hack that wouldn't be necessary if Live's Hot-Swap Mode actually worked as requested here.

Scoox
Posts: 244
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2019 3:14 am

Re: Non-destructive hot-swap (audition sample in context)

Post by Scoox » Fri Feb 16, 2024 10:27 am

I'm a rookie Live user and I also thought I was doing something wrong, but nope, it's just how it works. Even though the way it is implemented isn't ideal, it's still an improvement over just drag-and-dropping stuff from the browser:
  • It saves you having to drag-and-drop from the browser to the target device or pad since whatever you press Enter on automatically gets funnelled to the device or pad that is currently in hot-swap mode, which somewhat reduces the cognitive load.
  • It automatically filters the browser to browser items that are similar to the original target.
  • It enables you to mass-replace samples in the arrangement (View → File Manager → Manage Set → View Files).
Anyway, I totally agree with the previous posts and I kinda plagiarised this thread and posted it over at Centercode L12-SUG-1515 , in case you folks want to upvote it.

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