Copying from one set in another

[thedigitaldigger]

I was asking myself if it and how it is possible to move or copy midi or audio material from one set into another.

Like I am preparing a live set with my tracks I've made with Live and I was thinking about how I can get the whole material into one set.

[Tone Deft]

find the old project in the Live browser then drag and drop to and from the Live browser into the Live GUI. this works with lots of things going both ways.

[_asopaque]

I hope i'm not hijacking this thread, but here's my question.

I have 4 'Looper' effects, loaded one each into 4 send returns, respectively. Each looper has midi controlling record, play, stop, reverse, etc. This is my 'looping' rig. These loopers are setup to be 100% wet. Guitar goes to DI box...one splits off to the amp, then the other goes to the laptop/ableton, and the loops get spit out 100% wet to another amp.

Now, i would like to load my 'looping rig' into an existing set, so i can start laying guitar loops onto it. I know that i can have the 'template' setup with my looping rig and it will be called up when i start a new sesssion. But what about if i have an existing or old session, that i want to open and add my looping rig to?

How can i get those 4 send returns, with the midi assignments intact, into an existing set?

thanks for any help!

Rich

[Tone Deft]

true, you can't drag and drop sends.

Group Tracks are a lot like sends, I'd transform your set to use Groups instead of sends.

BUT I read on the forum that you can't drag Groups to and from the Live browser, I was gonna check on that but never did.

you could setup your set with Track Groups then when it comes time to move it, add another track and put the effects that would be on the Group Master (Looper) and put that on the new track. then drag and drop the tracks and put the effect from the new track onto the Group Master.


not a great explanation and a bit of a workaround on a Monday... hth.

[Pitch Black]

@Rich
2 strikes against you, I'm afraid. 1: you can't copy/paste, or drag Return tracks from one set to another, and 2: MIDI assignments are NEVER copied when dragging clips/tracks/sets.

It would be nice to be able to do both of these things... You'll just have to re-create them manually.

[_asopaque]

guys, thanks for the quick response, even though the news isn't so positive, eh?
dang it.
now, if i start to look at this from the other way around, such as loading my 'template' set, which has the loopers all setup, and then viewing old Live sets from the browser...how do i approach this?....sorry for being a newb here...i know i'll just need to get in there and try some stuff and experiment. i've never done it before.

when viewing existing sets in the live browser, what do you see? can you actually import the actual 'tracks' into your open set? Timeline tracks? would they still have their automation intact? would they have the effect from that track intact? (if there was one originally). what would happen if i dragged a whole 'set' into my open set? would it overwrite my Returns (loopers), or augment them?

again, i'm just rambling here, since i can't experiment for another few hours. gotta finish up my shift in the salt mines and then go visit the father in-law.... whoopeee!

thanks again for the input, gents.
(i just reread my post and realize i sound like quite a dolt for someone who's been with Live since v3.....ha!)

Rich

[Tone Deft]

LOL! I also post at work, I get all these great ideas at work that I just can't wait to try when I get home.

dragging in a .als with sends would add to your existing sends. the tracks in the new .als are just added to the tracks you already have.

dragging in an entire track drags in the entire track, effects, envelopes, just no midi assignments.

what do you see when you browse a project folder with the Live browser? projects show up as a directory, tracks show up as directories under there and IIRC other stuff shows up beneath that (the effects, effect racks etc)... IIRC, I'm also at work. it's pretty straightforward.

as someone that's used the software for a while I can say I've resigned myself to getting fast at assigning midi stuff. I have default templates but my work flow changes to often that they're not useful anymore.


whatever you do, do not install the demo version of Live at work.

[yur2die4]

I've gotta say, the limitations on what you can assign macro knobs to in Looper is frustrating sometimes. If all these parameters were assignable, you would easily be able to assign controls to things without having to worry about manual midi-assignment.

[_asopaque]

+1 on the workflow changes. and Live has evolved so radically from the early versions, that i've never really dug in and 'mastered' each version before the upgrade happens. In fact, I probably wouldn't have upgraded to v8 except for that one little rascally thing mentioned.....LOOPER. I just had to try it!

i've been a hardware delay/looping person since the late 80's, and with a midi pedal, Ableton's Looper is pretty darn close to my dream delay/looper. It is such a good interface, and the 1/2 length and doubling length mechanism is so good, it's just makes me smile every time i use it. Seriously, capture a two bar phrase and leave it in overdub, cut it in half, add a dash of something new, cut it in half again, add something, and half it again and again and again, flip it over backwards, and now you're in buzzaw atmospheric land. Now double it, double it, double it, double it, and you have this fantastic bizarre bed of sound to expand over, and it's still in sync with my beats!

now we'll stop drooling and get back to business....

In v8, i've seen (but not looked into) EFFECTS RACKS. I feel like i need to investigate this further, since my original thought was to see if Returns could be saved as an 'effect rack', and that rack (with it's midi assignments) could be imported into any open set. That would be a great solution, but with what you've just said in your post, i'm starting to think that that isn't the case.

thanks for the tips on importing stuff via the Live browser. sounds interesting!

hmmmm.....can't wait to get home tonight!

[Tone Deft]

even with an effect rack, midi assignments won't translate.

I think it comes down to this...
imagine being the guy that has to design this feature. what happens when you get multiple assignments to the same thing, or one note goes to two different controls, all kinds of things can go goofy. ultimately IMO you'd end up with a dialog box of "please select which assignment is correct" kind of thing. it's doable but kinda messy. surely it's on Ableton HQ's loooooooong list of features but I see this shortcoming as workable and a pain in the butt.


back to the effect rack. yes, definitely try that and make use of the Chain Selector, that will let you select which Looper (aka device chain) to route audio to. that might not help you, I need to think it out a bit more, you'd still need separate controls for each Looper so that might not matter.

[yur2die4]

Well, ideally what I would have suggested using the Racks is, to make a single Rack that has the function buttons assigned to the knobs. This could easily be put into 4 channels. You would then control the Looper via the knobs (although it is funky given that you are dealing with a knob to trigger the 'play' button).

The next step would have been to create 4 user remote scripts with their own unique CC#'s and a 'lock to device' command. These 4 scripts would be selected in the Control Surface menu.

Then each time he drops in a Looper Rack, it could easily be midi assigned via the Lock to Device of up to 4 distinct layouts of MIDI CC's.

But, the fact that you cannot map the play/record/etc. buttons to the macro knobs throws that entire scheme out the window

[_asopaque]

thanks for so much food for thought....

I think my setup for the four 'looper' returns works for now, and i've worked the bugs out of it for a while and it's pretty stable (ie: fun and creative, rather than scratching of the head!), so i think i'm going to investigate the importing from old sets via the Live Browser technique for now.

I'm sure i'll learn something new!

thanks again!
rich

[buzby]

BUT I read on the forum that you can't drag Groups to and from the Live browser, I was gonna check on that but never did.

you could setup your set with Track Groups then when it comes time to move it, add another track and put the effects that would be on the Group Master (Looper) and put that on the new track. then drag and drop the tracks and put the effect from the new track onto the Group Master.

work around is that if you click on the title track bar of the group track and drag it into live's browser it will save it as a new live set and then you can drag it into other sets

[keppy]

hey there, fellas

so, i have made several step-sequencers with my launchpad. using over 100 midi mappings in live to use them. most of the mappings are in a midi effect rack on the chain activator buttons. at first i didn't think the mappings would be saved when i dragged the tracks into a new set, but they have. which is great for me.

i don't know if you guys already knew this, but maybe there is a workaround you can do using the chain activator buttons to achieve the results you want.

i am still trying to see what mappings will remain and what won't.

let me know if this helps, or if you find any additional mappings that transfer.

jeff

[yur2die4]

I don't want to hijack this thread or anything, but I made this handy little step sequencer for the Launchpad that didn't rely on mapping. ..but it did rely on a hell of a lot of arpeggiators set to 'run' : /