Syncing Ableton 6 with a live band...

deejaysleepy · Post by **deejaysleepy** » Sat Jul 14, 2007 12:27 pm

Right then. I'm in a trip-hop band where we've been using backing tracks and had our drummer playing to a click track in Cubase.

It's got to the stage now where we want to set it up so that the backing track is synced to the drummer rather than the other way around. Gives us more flexibility and would also allow us to extend sections on the fly etc...

What I had in mind for doing this was mapping the tempo to a key on my laptop to allow me to tap the tempo in, keeping it in sync.
In order to allow us to extend sections I was planning to bounce each part of the backing track down as an individual track, then importing them into the arrange window in Live, adding markers for each section (verse, chorus, middle 8 etc) and mapping those markers to keys on my laptop to allow me to extend or loop sections quickly and easily.

I can't afford to go buying MIDI controller hardware so syncing it up to a midi trigger for now is not really an option. It all needs to be done from my laptop.

Basically, I need as much detailed info on this as possible, preferably from people with personal experience. Any links or anything like that would also be greatly appreciated...

Thanks

aklisiewicz · Post by **aklisiewicz** » Sat Jul 14, 2007 6:59 pm

that wuld be good to know, I'm interested to....

Arthur

Michael-SW · Post by **Michael-SW** » Sat Jul 14, 2007 10:34 pm

It would be much better to work in Session view, rather than Arrange. Playing live is what session is for. Break down the songs into parts, drop them into Session slots and assign keys to trigger those clips.

As for syncing Live to your drummer rather than the other way around: It is definitely worth a try (just do what you described) but my guess is that it will be hard. Probably easier to output a click (or any rythmic loop) from Live to your drummer just as you do now.

mcconaghy · Post by **mcconaghy** » Sat Jul 14, 2007 11:17 pm

There was a box called the Kahler Human Clock, which could sync a MIDI click to a trigger pickup on the drummer's snare or bass drum. I worked with a band that used it back in the early 1990s, and it worked pretty reliably. Problem is, they're extremely hard to find, and there's nothing on the market that does anything comparable.
Although.... you could experiment with a drum-to-MIDI interface and a trigger on the kick, and assigning that to the tap tempo, but that's pretty dodgy. Your best bet really is to make the drummer slave to the click, that's going to be the safest route.

Jaju · Post by **Jaju** » Sun Jul 15, 2007 10:20 pm

what about this: http://www.circular-logic.com/products.html

deejaysleepy · Post by **deejaysleepy** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 2:00 pm

^^^ Yeah, I found that already. Looks pretty good but I can't afford at the moment so I'll probably have to go for tapping the tempo in manually. I'll let you guys know how it goes...

vdrum · Post by **vdrum** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 11:32 am

DJ:

One aspect of tapping in the tempo, is that once you've done that, there is NO difference for your drummer than using a straight click track. You tap in the tempo and he starts listening to the click and locking in his grooves to it.

I have been drumming to a click for 5 solid years now and it gets to the point where I dont even really hear it...it just guides me sitting somewhere in the background of my headphone mix. I SUCKED at it for the first 6 months....but then everything came togther. ID suggest staying with the click track...your drummer will get very good at it and it will improve his timesense 1000-fold.

Those software programs that set tempo by following the pedestrian beat around
get tricked VERY esily...if your drummer has a good polyrythmic sense, he'll trip up that software in no time. I had BAD experiences with it.