Live Looping with Live

[dedmousie]

Is it possible to record and playback, on the fly, asynchronous loops in Live -
In other words:
not locked to any tempo
not in synth with other playing loops
all loops different lengths

What I'm trying to do...
I'm building a small performance system built around a small Buchla system. I'm doing mostly soundscapes and quiet "alien bug music". The work flow I'm trying to create...

I play my first part of an ambience I'm trying to build up.
Hit a foot switch, and it immediately starts playback while I add a second layer, which may or may NOT be the same length as the first track. Hit another foots witch, and continue to the third of yet a different length. Continue to taste.

Each track could be a totally different length ... one 5 minutes, another 7 ... blah, blah...

At some point, start fading the first track out as new tracks are added to gradually shift the soundscape into a different direction.

Make sense, or should I be looking at dedicated loopers that will allow me to do this sort of thing?

[kanuck]

yes you can totally do that. a bit more micromanaging than your typical looping setup.

you're initial clip is prerecorded? if yes just use an audio track with a clip of the sample you want.

then on a track setup throw on the looper effect. make sure quantization is off.

start playing the prerecorded clip.

hit the global loop button on the looper to start looping/overdub/etc.

use the volume fader on the track with the prerecorded clip to fade it out whenever you want.

as long as quantization is off you'll be able to punch in and out (recording/overdubbing) not synced to the tempo

the only disadvantage about this setup is that you won't be able to extract each and every overdub you took. but there's a workaround for this. it just needs more work but it doesn't seem like it's what you're looking for. sorry if i misunderstood you're question.

[dedmousie]

you're initial clip is prerecorded?

Nope! Would be starting with a blank slate each time.

Doesn't seem to be as simple as I had hoped here. With everything else I have to keep up with, I pretty much need to be able to stomp a "record" footswitch, and then a "loop from here" footswitch for different tracks.

I've not studied hardware loopers in depth yet, but the few I've looked at have time limitations on loop lengths that won't work for me. In theory, I could need 7 or 8 loops running at the same time, and any of them could be up to 10 minutes or more long, so I need a good bit of recording time, plus I need individual access to each loop that was recorded for effecting and such...

With luck, *maybe* the Elektron Octatrack will be able to do this...

[kanuck]

you're initial clip is prerecorded?

Nope! Would be starting with a blank slate each time.

Doesn't seem to be as simple as I had hoped here. With everything else I have to keep up with, I pretty much need to be able to stomp a "record" footswitch, and then a "loop from here" footswitch for different tracks.

I've not studied hardware loopers in depth yet, but the few I've looked at have time limitations on loop lengths that won't work for me. In theory, I could need 7 or 8 loops running at the same time, and any of them could be up to 10 minutes or more long, so I need a good bit of recording time, plus I need individual access to each loop that was recorded for effecting and such...

With luck, *maybe* the Elektron Octatrack will be able to do this...

you can always just setup 2 loopers.
stomp on record for the first one. record your thing.

then stomp record on the second one, record, stomp again to overdub.

just fade out the first looper. you're good to go.

not sure what you mean by you need a stomp to record and stomp for a "loop from here" isn't that how all loopers work?

[gordon_strange]

am i right in thinking you want the loop to be more like the kind of thing you would find on a cdj? one button to start the loop, then another to stop it?

so in effect, the track is playing, and then at any point you choose, you start the loop?