how to create a track pool for DJing.

[gncgry]

i'm doing this the hard way, though it works fine for me at the end.

i saved my DJ template within a new project. within that project folder i created folders like techno, dub techno and such.. then group my mp3's in these folders.

then create a new live set with 1 audio track only. drop an mp3 on it, warp and create parts like intro, break, V1, V2 and such... color the clips according to the song key. also name the first clip as the track name and BPM.

I save this liveset within the same folder as the mp3, with the track name, key info and BPM.

when DJ'ing, you can drag and drop the .als file on the channels. it will come exactly the way you warped and keyed them.

takes a lot of time... though worth it IMO.

[mastahlee]

Ha, what a coincidence. I use an eerily identical system.

I have a DJ template als file with 4 "decks" (channels) with routing setup for my mixer. I create a folder for each genre of music, and create a new als file for each song, labeled "bpm - artist - title". I drop the mp3 into that file, warp it, cut it up into sections (intro, build-up, breakdown, verse, etc), color code the clips by section (all chorus sections are yellow, verse are blue) to make it easier to know where I am by a glance. I even name for first clip as the track name and BPM like you do (I used to just title the column, which used to re-name the column I dropped the song file onto, but that behavior doesn't work on newer versions of live, unfortunately). When DJing, I drop the als files into the slots from the browser to have a nicely warped and sectioned track ready-to-go.

You're right, it does take forever to do this method, but its worth it for the control and flexibility it gives you. I also cannot think of an easier way to do it.

The only differences is that I've created a keyboard macro for opening the browser and giving it keyboard focus, and then individual macros for copying the selected als file to the clipboard, clearing out a channel of any current clips, and pasting the new als file into that channel, then closing the browser (I have a separate macro for each channel).

I also created a M4L patch that automatically triggers the next clip in a channel once it reaches the end of the current clip, so I can tell what section of a song I'm in by looking at the currently playing clip. Also, I made the patch so you can re-arrange the play order of the clips ahead of time, so if I want it to jump from verse 1 to the final chorus or go from the breakdown back to the intro I can set that up on-the-fly and not have to baby-sit the transition (when I'm usually focused on mixing in the next track).

All of this is a decent amount of work, and sometimes I miss the spontaneity of buying a whole bunch of vinyl and mixing with it immediately, but I definitely have to say it gives me a lot more options to make cooler and faster-paced mixes.

[docprosper]

I also created a M4L patch that automatically triggers the next clip in a channel once it reaches the end of the current clip

can't you just do this with "follow actions", w/out M4L?

[mastahlee]

I also created a M4L patch that automatically triggers the next clip in a channel once it reaches the end of the current clip

can't you just do this with "follow actions", w/out M4L?

No, follow actions only allow you to dictate after how many bars from trigger of the clip should the next action occur. There is no explicit "trigger at the end of this clip" option, so you'd have to set the precisely the number of bars for each clip. Also, my patch gives me further control by letting me set not just "next" or "previous" as the next action, but select precisely which clip I want to go to (useful for the aforementioned example of going from the "verse 1" clip to the "final chorus" clip). The best you can do with follow actions is allow it to chose a random clip within the channel.

Basically, I made the patch because I was frustrated by the limitations of follow actions. If Ableton beefed them up a little bit, I'd be more than happy to go with the simpler, native option.

[gncgry]

to me, loop 8 bars at the end of the clip would work better..