Ableton DJ Setup Info Required

[g1bb51983]

Hi all, Id like to congratulate you all on a seemingly very informative discussion board, however, there are very basic pieces of information i need to get underway.

I have recently purchased a Macbook pro with Logic Pro 9 And Ableton Live 8 Suite. My background is DJ-ing, first through Technics then CDs. I have taken a few years out and would now like to go the digital way.

I intend to learn Ableton first as i have read it is more beginner friendly and certainly having played around with the system it seems that way.

My problem is with hardware.

1) I have a A&H Xone:92. Is this of any use with Live? Can I plug it into my laptop? If yes, how?
2) When I have been learning the warping technique all sound comes out of my laptop speakers, that includes the master output and the "incoming" track so to speak. How do i seperate these sounds as with a conventional DJ mixer, do i need a USB soundcard or some sort of external device?
3) If the answer to question 1 is not much is the Akai controller a solid investment for DJ control, i would ideally like to control Ableton away from the laptop as much as possible. But solely for DJ-ing.

Sorry for the basic questions would really appreciate some help. Im wasting a lot of time sat at this laptop.

Cheers.

[Khazul]

Sounds like Traktor (especially as they recently had a special offer on traktor scratch and audio 4/8 DJ audio interfaces) or Serato would have been the thing for you.
Live is a partial DJ tool, logic definately isnt.

If doing pure DJing out of ableton Live (using only two tracks), then TBH Ive actually found a remapped NI X1 controller to be perfectly good for this (even in preference to an APC40), TBH I cant be bothered with warping millions of tracks, hence why I much prefer using NI Traktor and an X1 controller (or even timecoded CDs/Vinyl) and just match on the fly.

OTOH, if you are actually going to use Live as more than a substitute for a pair of decks + effects (ie drop in loops multiway mashups, etc etc), then yes, the APC40 is decent enough controller, or a launchpad + SL zero combo, though I much prefer having just a single all-in-one controller. Though even then, I personally prefer to work off traktor in 4 deck mode - make your extra stuff in ableton and drop it on the extra decks in traktor.

[mattmcook]

I'm afraid I can't really help with the specific questions you asked however hopefully may be some use for DJ'ing with Ableton in general.

I have attached a pic showing my DJ setup in Live (changed it around since then but this'll do for the main ideas)
I personally think that everyone should figure out their own way of DJ'ing in Ableton (not snobbish as I'm about to show you my way just that there are so many variations and you may find my way hard and vice versa)

I'll try and explain it as best I can:


I have 4 'Decks' with effects racks on Return A and Return track B. The return tracks correspond to A/B on the crossfader.
Using a launchpad and a novation nocturn (added together kinda like the APC40) I switch a deck to B and crossfade to it, turn up/on/down/off effects, and launch clips.

Each song is usually broken down into 3 parts, DRUMS, main song, DROP so that I can easily pop it in whenever.
Next to the 4 decks are 4 random Instrument clips to launch just for added funkyness

Have a fiddle round with what works best for you as I never came from a vinyl DJ background, more a producing side so this seems the most intuitive and easiest way for ME to perform, sure some would hate it!


The only trouble I have with DJ'ing in Ableton is simply switching between major tempo's such as Electro to drum and bass. ( nearly all songs of the same genre I'll warp to the general speed e.g. Electro i warp to 128/130bpm so can play a whole electro set without changing bpm)
Haven't quite figured out the best way to do this lot!

Other than that, hope this helps, and hope you have fun

[Khazul]

nearly all songs of the same genre I'll warp to the general speed e.g. Electro i warp to 128/130bpm so can play a whole electro set without changing bpm

Ive noticed a bit of a trend recently with folks doing sets on a fixed tempo or doing very quick transitions so they can switch tempo - ironically in Live and traktor etc is actually really easy to do what was a complete nightmare on vinyl/cds ie - cranking the tempo during a transition...

[102455]

If you've got a Xone:92 then you should maybe consider adding on a couple of 1D controllers
or (if you need a multichannel sound card) a 1D and a 2D.

This'll give you something along the lines of the 3D or 4D but with a fuller mixer section.

[friend_kami]

heres mine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8URBBYHoyXQ testing out my resampler.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkqi9sqt70E brief explanation of the effects etc.

still a work in progress though.

[DJHiKe]

I'm afraid I can't really help with the specific questions you asked however hopefully may be some use for DJ'ing with Ableton in general.

I have attached a pic showing my DJ setup in Live (changed it around since then but this'll do for the main ideas)
I personally think that everyone should figure out their own way of DJ'ing in Ableton (not snobbish as I'm about to show you my way just that there are so many variations and you may find my way hard and vice versa)

I'll try and explain it as best I can:


I have 4 'Decks' with effects racks on Return A and Return track B. The return tracks correspond to A/B on the crossfader.
Using a launchpad and a novation nocturn (added together kinda like the APC40) I switch a deck to B and crossfade to it, turn up/on/down/off effects, and launch clips.

Each song is usually broken down into 3 parts, DRUMS, main song, DROP so that I can easily pop it in whenever.
Next to the 4 decks are 4 random Instrument clips to launch just for added funkyness

Have a fiddle round with what works best for you as I never came from a vinyl DJ background, more a producing side so this seems the most intuitive and easiest way for ME to perform, sure some would hate it!


The only trouble I have with DJ'ing in Ableton is simply switching between major tempo's such as Electro to drum and bass. ( nearly all songs of the same genre I'll warp to the general speed e.g. Electro i warp to 128/130bpm so can play a whole electro set without changing bpm)
Haven't quite figured out the best way to do this lot!

Other than that, hope this helps, and hope you have fun

Nice Setup mate

[bluehen]

I'm afraid I can't really help with the specific questions you asked however hopefully may be some use for DJ'ing with Ableton in general.

I have attached a pic showing my DJ setup in Live (changed it around since then but this'll do for the main ideas)
I personally think that everyone should figure out their own way of DJ'ing in Ableton (not snobbish as I'm about to show you my way just that there are so many variations and you may find my way hard and vice versa)

I'll try and explain it as best I can:


I have 4 'Decks' with effects racks on Return A and Return track B. The return tracks correspond to A/B on the crossfader.
Using a launchpad and a novation nocturn (added together kinda like the APC40) I switch a deck to B and crossfade to it, turn up/on/down/off effects, and launch clips.

Each song is usually broken down into 3 parts, DRUMS, main song, DROP so that I can easily pop it in whenever.
Next to the 4 decks are 4 random Instrument clips to launch just for added funkyness


where is super luper, fade to grey, and filter up in ableton?
Have a fiddle round with what works best for you as I never came from a vinyl DJ background, more a producing side so this seems the most intuitive and easiest way for ME to perform, sure some would hate it!


The only trouble I have with DJ'ing in Ableton is simply switching between major tempo's such as Electro to drum and bass. ( nearly all songs of the same genre I'll warp to the general speed e.g. Electro i warp to 128/130bpm so can play a whole electro set without changing bpm)
Haven't quite figured out the best way to do this lot!

Other than that, hope this helps, and hope you have fun

[BoxDJ]

I'm afraid I can't really help with the specific questions you asked however hopefully may be some use for DJ'ing with Ableton in general.

I have attached a pic showing my DJ setup in Live (changed it around since then but this'll do for the main ideas)
I personally think that everyone should figure out their own way of DJ'ing in Ableton (not snobbish as I'm about to show you my way just that there are so many variations and you may find my way hard and vice versa)

I'll try and explain it as best I can:


I have 4 'Decks' with effects racks on Return A and Return track B. The return tracks correspond to A/B on the crossfader.
Using a launchpad and a novation nocturn (added together kinda like the APC40) I switch a deck to B and crossfade to it, turn up/on/down/off effects, and launch clips.

Each song is usually broken down into 3 parts, DRUMS, main song, DROP so that I can easily pop it in whenever.
Next to the 4 decks are 4 random Instrument clips to launch just for added funkyness

Have a fiddle round with what works best for you as I never came from a vinyl DJ background, more a producing side so this seems the most intuitive and easiest way for ME to perform, sure some would hate it!


The only trouble I have with DJ'ing in Ableton is simply switching between major tempo's such as Electro to drum and bass. ( nearly all songs of the same genre I'll warp to the general speed e.g. Electro i warp to 128/130bpm so can play a whole electro set without changing bpm)
Haven't quite figured out the best way to do this lot!

Other than that, hope this helps, and hope you have fun

I see that your low, mid, and high are all the way up. Any reason for this?

[bluehen]

where can i find super luper, filter up, and fade to grey?

[!STiTCH!]

where can i find super luper, filter up, and fade to grey?

I know that Tarekith released an FX pack here containing an effect he named Super Luper, can't be sure if its the same shown, http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php? ... th+Effects