- it's simple to set up and use.- It's great for live music creation from scratch with instruments/vocals,or as a module in a bigger setup.
It gets you out of the "stuck on one theme" limitations,and allows you to switch in sync to a completely different mood/feel/chord sequence etc.
It gives you 2 sync'd "Verse and chorus" (or "A" and "B") loops on each track (I use 3Tracks,but you can use as many as you like),and syncs the tracks to each other.You can have as many layers as you want to overdub.
Basically it consists of dropping 2 Loopers into each Track,and mapping one midi control pad to the big RECORD/Play button on the first looper AND to the small stop button on the second.
Then take a second midi control pad and map it the other way round.
Use THE SAME 2 pads and repeat on other tracks.
This not only sync's the loops on Track1,but also sync's the different tracks to each other,and they stay synced even when you end a "verse" early to jump to a chorus.
These 2 pads now control all looping start/stop,overdub,and jump to next loop in sync functions,and will stop and re-start all loops in sync
I've only had Ableton for a month,but I've read a lot and watched looping tutorials,and I don't know if this has been mentioned before - but I have a suggestion for those who do live looping and want to be able to record "A" and "B" parts,like a verse/chorus song structure,and then overdub on any of the parts.
Probably similar things (or better) can be done with clips,but I play stringed instruments live,so it's hard to fart around while playing.
It allows you to skip from verse to chorus at any time (in sync),and jam over the top using only 2 midi switches.
(If you want to overdub you'll have to select/arm the track etc with seperate controller switches,as you'd expect).
Anyway,here's how I do it.You can change the actual settings to suit :
Create 3 Audio Tracks.
Drop 2 Loopers into each track,and set them to (LOOPER 1):4bars.....(LOOPER2)2bars ..(choose your own!)
Do the same on each 3 Audio Tracks.
Now go to Midi Map. Choose 2 pads on your controller (we'll call them PAD1 and PAD2)
Select the first Audio Track.
Map PAD1 to the big RECORD/PLAY button on LOOPER1.
Next,map the same pad (PAD1) to the small STOP button of LOOPER2.
Now do the reverse,ie...map PAD2 to the big RECORD/PLAY button on LOOPER2.
Then map PAD2 to the small stop button on LOOPER1.
Do the same to the loopers on all three Audio Tracks.
Now record-arm (say) TRACK 1.
Hit PAD1 all three LOOPERs on the 3 audio tracks will start in sync.
The only one that will record is the track you've armed.This first LOOPER1 is your "part A,(or verse if you like)
Assuming you've left quantise to 1 Bar,you can hit PAD2 inside the last bar of your loop,and LOOPER2 will start recording
your "part B" (chorus).
PAD2 now controls the overdub/play function of LOOPER2 (chorus).
PAD1 takes you back,at any time (in sync) to LOOPER1 (verse).
Pressing PAD1 again will give you overdub/play on LOOPER1.
Now,if you select/arm TRACK2 ,your loopers should appear,and be running in sync with TRACK1's loopers.
Again,PAD1 is for overdub/play of LOOPER1 (TRACK 2).....and PAD2 takes you in sync to LOOPER2 (TRACK2).
You can step back and forth between the two loopers on any track,and switch between overdub and play using only PAD1 and PAD2 (obviously after select/arming the actual track).
You can stop all the loopers by double tapping the opposite PAD from the one currently in use (ie double tap PAD2 if LOOPER1 is playing.
To re-start,just tap once on whichever looper you want to re-start.
The main drawback (it's alternatively a bonus!) is that you can't stop one looper without stopping them all,but you can solo or mute individual tracks,or adjust volume,and there's probably a way round this too,maybe by using "racks"?Also,you could group them for more control.
I also have an independant midi drum track running,and a midi synth pad/bass track (in "clips") which can both be started or stopped without affecting the loopers.