ClyphX – Utility script for Live 8 and 9 (and Live 7 too)

[LoopStationZebra]

Indeed.

And everytime Stray puts out something new, somewhere in the world a M4L patch utters a soft little scream and then quietly dies.

[salatspinatra]

"macrobat"? "snapall"? Beg your pardon, I'm late to the conversation, but didn't see much talk on these features when I combed through the thread. What're they about?

ClyphX is one of the strongest features in Live 8 that I would consider a selling point. In fact, there were so few features that I could get immediate use from, weighed against the stability problems people were initially having, that I'm still in Live 7. Any chance ClyphX could be reconfigured to work in 7? I looked at the log file, and as you can imagine, its throwing errors with its more elegant use of python (to paraphrase the problem very crudely).

Also, will there be a Tap Tempo song function for ClyphX any time soon? That way, if you set it to loop or gate and halve double the clip loop, you could get relative tempos. Just sayin'

Do keep me posted.

[LoopStationZebra]

The native kontrol forum has the details on macrobat. Snap all is just one of the script options for clips.

Since getting KapturePad I no longer really need ClyphX, but macrobat is awesome.

[salatspinatra]

On it. Thanks for the lead. Only so much my brain can take in one session. Anyway, would anyone want to take a gander at my other questions?
Best,
James

[Moody]

Amazing stuff!

[metastatik]

Just a quick note, I’ve updated the first post in this thread to clarify that there are two versions of ClyphX available currently. There is the current version (v1.0.3) as well as the beta version (v2.0.0b6) each of which has its own thread on my forum. My apologies if this creates confusion.

I’ve just posted updates for both the ClyphX beta and for Macrobat that add support for the new features added in Live 8.2.2 (primarily, the ability to operate on nested Devices in Racks). You need to use 8.2.2b5 or higher to take advantage of this. Also, Macrobat’s Receiver Rack can now control senders on other Tracks.

@salatspinatra
I’ve added Tap Tempo in the ClyphX beta update posted today. On Live 7 compatibility, I’m honestly not sure how feasible that would be as Live’s API has evolved quite a bit since Live 7 and even since earlier versions of Live 8. But I’ll try to explore this further once the beta version of ClyphX is finalized.

[salatspinatra]

@metastatik

Hey that's very good of you regarding 7. And I'm looking forward to the beta additions-that tap tempo addition will either cause hiccups, or deter a great deal of external clock configurations and MIDI message filtering (Numerology might have implemented relative clock tempo changes, but I can't think of any other players out there who have even entertained the idea.) Thanks plenty.

If it really requires too much head scratching or is simply not in the cards, I'll make the dive for 8. It would be more assuring if those of you who have had reliable performance out of 8 lately chime in too. Naturally, there's a sample bias in reporting from people who are having issues, but I want to know what I'm getting into before giving up 7. Sounds funny, but one thing I would miss is that swing value fitting in one dial!

Amazing work, metastatik. Really elevates the game.

[barstu]

Is it possible to refer to tracks by name rather than index?

[metastatik]

^^ Not currently, but I’ll look into adding it.

ClyphX v2 is out of beta now and ClyphX v2.0.1 is available. Lots of changes/additions were made (see the version history for more info), but the major changes were Smoothing/Morphing for Snaps, the ability to apply Track Actions to ranges of Tracks and new Macrobat Racks.

Also, I’ve posted ClyphX7 for Live 7.0.18 users. It offers most of the functionality of ClyphX.

[fisto]

thanks metastatik . You are awesome

[yago de quay]

metastatik u deserve a prize. I'm a serious a clyphx-aholic--without it I would not be using Ableton.

Yea the tracks name would be a bonus As well as clips in the arrangement view.

keep being awesome.

[JuanSOLO]

I've been lightly using ClyphX until last night when I realized it's full potential in my set. GEEZ ClyphX is a seriously powerful tool. Basically every thing I have been trying to use M4L to do has been replaced by ClypX. I think I may have said that before.

SERIOUSLY ClyphX is the BEST!

The Snapping alone, is far more customizable, reliable, faster, and easier to use than any other solution out there.


THANKS STRAY!

[anamexis]

First of all, this is AMAZING. On behalf of everyone who can't afford M4L, thank you!

And also, a question: is there any way to JUMP clips in increments of less than a beat? It would make for some awesome stutter possibilities.

[salatspinatra]

Hi anamexis, what if you made an (lseq) clip with a loop amount less than a beat? Well, let's see if the maestro can answer your question; I have a few of my own.

First off, I had practically written off the idea of CliphX working in 7, and you pulled it off!

Got a chance to look at the latest version for Live 8 (I'm still in trial mode while the jury's out); presently trying out the new CLIPHX SNAP Channel/Rack pair. Personally, I think it's great to only need one Native Mode Control surface assigned to this. I played with Kapturepad for the iPhone and couldn't take it as seriously. That's one more slot on my native controls taken up, the requirement of running background software, and recording those mixing scenes using a button that's the size of a key on the virtual IMing keyboard (look up [url][/http://damnyouautocorrect.com/url] if you really think you can aim for that little button to SNAP your mixer settings on the fly.) I'd rather have a peddle or fat button I can literally hit if I need to.
Suppose you could bundle the next version of CliphX with an updated Live Session? These new Macrobat options and some of the syntax of the scripts are hard to grasp from just the chart.

Now I wanted to report on my "relative" BPM fiddling, don't think I didn't notice. Thanks plenty for including control of the TAPBPM! Thing is, even with an (lseq) type clip, or changing the loop lenths on the fly, the overall effect was not going to succeed in giving perfect divisions of the current BPM. For one, there must be some latency, even on a sample level that will mess the timing up. That margin of error will amplify like the butterfly effect until a person tapping away on the pad will probably be more accurate all in all. Thing is, even if the tempo remained a fairly steady devision, you would be stacking error upon error, such that when you returned to the original tempo, you'd be that much farther off the mark.

Other reasons why this trick didn't work have a little to do with the fact that the loop action will toggle looping on and off, but you'd still need to use Follow Actions to specify how many times you wanted the TAPBPM to "hit" the Tap pad. That's not the real problem. The real problem is that you are already referencing that TAP Tempo request relative to the clock to which you are dependent on. As soon as Live gets a TAPBPM spaced relative apart, the tempo will change. The tapping will then already exist within an intermediate tempo that is far more complicated in mathematical relation to the original tempo. You'll get a pushing an pulling effect as Live reconciles the difference in the Clip tempo and the Global tempo. I haven't tried this with the clip as Master because that only works in arrangement view, right?

I like how the Arrangement Loop action can be assigned with a multiplier. Would this be possible with the BPM action? That would solve the problem straight up (the TAPBPM will locally override an incoming clock source, irregardless of whether you're using internal or an outboard clock). You could create an action list as simple as BPM*.5, and whatever the current BPM was, you'd get a half time effect. Put this in an (lseq) X-Clip and you'd easily jump back to the original tempo.

Finally, I have a question about the macrobat-maybe someone else who is making them could chime in and give our heroic developer some breathing room! In a parallel thread, some folks are divulging that a blank Rack is already terrific for preserving mixer automation on a channel, because the data can travel with the rack (great for A/B testing) and leaves the main faders of that channel intact for more nuanced mixing (in the same vein, I subscribe to Utility effects in my Submix and Master channels). Therefore, what does macrobat have for controlling mixer settings over this basic functionality? If I record my arrangement using macrobat racks, I get 2 automation lanes instead of one. And while we're at it, isn't the whole point of macros to offer aggregate control of other devices, including other racks? Why then do you need a macrobat to control other racks; how is this different? I guess my question is: I get CliphX. What then are you using Macrobat for? If you could translate your studio tricks such that they'd have even more relevance to a live-mixer/performer such as myself, I'd be even that more grateful.

Cheers to ya.

[anamexis]

Hi anamexis, what if you made an (lseq) clip with a loop amount less than a beat? Well, let's see if the maestro can answer your question; I have a few of my own.

Hey salat, thanks for the idea, but it's not what I'm looking for.
I am using an (lseq) clip, but say for example I have the clip 1/8 note long (1/2 of a beat) and at each iteration, I want the target clip to jump back 1/8 note. As far as I can tell, JUMP doesn't allow fractions of beats (eg. 4/JUMP -0.5), so I can't pull it off with anything smaller than a whole beat.