How to assemble a set

[yago de quay]

So my question for all you abes is:

Considering you have so many songs, how do you combine them all to one set?

Can you do this a few moments before the performance? I find this task tedious and clumsy. I cannot imagine being able to "radically" change/import the songs to my set in one night. Let me know how you manage the effects, samples, and tracks.

Have a couple of shows coming up soon so help is very welcome!

[Guff Tong]

Have a search for tutorials by 'Tom Cosm', I've seen some great tips on creating 'mega sets' which I think is what your looking for...

[thebreakthrougharchive]

Download ClyphX midi script.

You can take snapshots of your mix settings and tons of other useful stuff for combining sets with different effects parameters/units by renaming clips in a certain fashion. Their are tutorial videos on the site you download it from that help get you started.

It has saved me at least 12 hours in making a set for an upcoming show.

[yago de quay]

thebreakthrougharchive,

I learned of CliphX a few months ago an had an epiphany A MUST HAVE MIDI REMOTE SCRIPT for performers. Also LiveOSC. Great advice!

Keep 'em comin'

[juanlittledevil]

Moguai has a new dj set on beatport, and the download includes his ableton set. It a simple 2declk set with extra channels for loops and fx and such. I bought it and found it to be really insightful to see what he is doing for his live performances. It was a $15 well spent and it's really easy to see what's going on.


-Juan

[yago de quay]

Great tip Juan. Always good to know how the pros do it.

[thebreakthrougharchive]

You already know about ClyphX, great!

The way I produce is by using a template set with 2 drum racks sent to a drums bus, 3 soft synths, 2 midi tracks for hard synths, 2 audio tracks (for vox samples/loops/any audio from a soft synth not in my template), a midi track for patch changes on a KP3, and 3 returns. By using this same template I can drag any set I want into the set I'm making for a show and use ClyphX to change mix parameters as I go down the set. I also use soft synths that allow patch changes via the clip so I don't need any extra instances. Then I have a bunch of stuff MIDI mapped to 3 controllers for effects live.

What are you doing with ClyphX? I'd be interested to hear what someone else in a similar boat is doing with it.

[yago de quay]

Every song in the set has a initial scene with a bunch of Clyphx clips setting up all the devices to that song. thought out the song, minor things will happen such as auto/in inputs, mute/unmute, volume and the chains of various racks.

This is only part of it. LiveOSC is controlling when each scene is played and well as sending some basic instructions to ableton. A Max patch translates data from various controllers (wii remotes, cameras, body sensors, guitar) to CC messages and midi events. A M4L patch turns OFF all the devices not related to the song, and ON those that are.

It's a bit complex since im dealing with a bunch of inputs to control a bunch of sounds. But all the above are making the my life easier and converging songs into one set faster

[soulgoodmusic]

thx

[regretfullySaid]

Hey Yago, do you use GlovePie at all? I got a Wiimote+ last week (still have to get a sensor bar for Z axis and probly another wiimote+ I'd like to start making some complex scripts to maximize what the wiimote can do (like gestures) so I can control both sounds and Mackie-Control to switch between tracks/record/etc. I should probly save the rest for another thread, though.

Anothyer Clyphx fan here. I've mainly focused on it for a few different things like snapshots, soloing track per clip, bpm settings per clip, clip loop size and offset but also program changes when it's in tandem with Macrobat. (I map 2 FCB1010 pedals to 2 X-Clips which tell macrobat to switch PC messages, 1 for previous program change and one for next, so I can switch through PC's with my fcb1010:) Only synths and fx with PC support work with it, though, which surprised me how many plugins (I don't use that many, though) don't support PC changes.

For the OP, Don't forget to make at least one macro bank per track. Take some time to map some controls in a track to the 8 macro knobs; remember more than one effect parameter can be mapped to the same macro knob. You may have to setup a USER Remote Script for your controller to auto-map to whatever macro-bank is selected. Another plus with this is you now have another fx rack since you can save it as a preset. The more presets you save, the less you have to fiddle making new fx all the time and it will help evolve your "sound".

Another helpful thing between X-Clips and Macro-banks is snapshots and randomizing. I made this auto-beat tweaker device (should probly post it soon) which is 2 arpeggiators and a couple other midi effects. It works with drumracks that were sliced from an audio track, so I can play the beat as it originally sounded but then with tweaking the arps it will rearrange where the notes go to switch hits around.
Make a snapshot of the original beat, have another X-clip to randomize the device paramaters. When you hear a sweet variation, make another snapshot clip (or make into an audio clip) lather rinse repeat. A fun interesting way to get variations from a simple beat, but also really awesome to play live, especially in dnb and duckstep it seems.

[bbart318]

Like Juan, I purchased the Moguai Live DJ Set.

It is WELL WORTH the $15 dollars. It gave me so much information on arranging a set.

Below is a link to Moguai's setup being tested on youtube, quite handy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VE_RwEonR8