How do you make your live set seamless?

[wlkngmachine]

All very good. But that would be a DJ set, not a live set.

True, but I think in the EDM world a "live" set in the eyes of the consumer is kind of a mashup of only original tracks (circa deadmau5, justice, daft punk), and not really based on the songs being broken up into stems, since no one really knows whats goin on up there anyway.

This is obviously a very different concept than that of a live band, but it seems like in the EDM world a the perception of a live act vs. a dj act is based on playing all original material and not actually how "live" its being performed.

By using only original tracks in your performance you have the capability of mashing together stems of different tracks which other dj's would not be able to do, but I think a lot of "live" acts usually do that stuff before hand anyway.

[ollyb303]

All very good. But that would be a DJ set, not a live set.

True, but I think in the EDM world a "live" set in the eyes of the consumer is kind of a mashup of only original tracks (circa deadmau5, justice, daft punk), and not really based on the songs being broken up into stems, since no one really knows whats goin on up there anyway.

This is obviously a very different concept than that of a live band, but it seems like in the EDM world a the perception of a live act vs. a dj act is based on playing all original material and not actually how "live" its being performed.

By using only original tracks in your performance you have the capability of mashing together stems of different tracks which other dj's would not be able to do, but I think a lot of "live" acts usually do that stuff before hand anyway.

For me, that doesn't qualify as live. Even mixing stems to me is still not really a live set. My whole live set is unsequenced, I don't use any loops longer than a few bars and I like to sequence it all on the fly. I usually try to play each track roughly the same each time (as a guitarist, pianist would) - or sometimes not!

Mixing ready made tunes together, or even full length stems, even if they are all yours, is DJing, not live.

[Trent]

Here is how I maintain our live set full of backing tracks, light control, clicks, and queues! It is fully documented here at my website. The set is not completely finished but you can get the drift of the workflow.


Neatly Grouped!


Everything expanded. Wish I had a higher resolution monitor.

[fx23]

since a while i use usine as vsti in live and load my vsts inside usine.

it can on the fly recall snaphots of every single parameters i need and even rec circular buffer automations all linked to clips i trig, somehow equivalent to what would be the so awaited automation to session view and snaphots, with morphing.
with only few vst so much possibilities instantly recallable make it virtually endless. it can even dynamically alter routing, orders of devices, wiring of controls. got lfos, random generators, steps and lines sequencers, sidechaining controls values, ect.
absolutely all controls can be quantized or not, you can force a device on/off on bar, 1/4 or whatever even if you are not
precise cause too drunk while performing
i save cpu as it can diable enable pachs on demand, and i can even dynamically load/delete them to save ram if
going in really hardore setups.
when my perfect audio/midi/setup is done i can then design my own multitouch interface with only the shortcuts i want for live situation, i could recreate my own session view with xy inertia scrolling, independant on the fly xy scaling, global
map birds'view ect. it allows me to fit evey single lack of live i feel and make a setup strictly adapted to my needs.
i don't see what else could i ask it to do, as it really can do all i could imagine, even more than MFL can actually,
and for free. it's really awesome, check it out.
extend livesets/midi/controlerism possibilities in millions of areas.

[ct43]

not totally finished yet... but this pic shows how ive implemented ClyphX messages...



and this one how I group my tracks + also the 2 instances of Massive that I send MIDI to through the different songs...

[ct43]

since a while i use usine as vsti in live and load my vsts inside usine.

it can on the fly recall snaphots of every single parameters i need and even rec circular buffer automations all linked to clips i trig, somehow equivalent to what would be the so awaited automation to session view and snaphots, with morphing.
with only few vst so much possibilities instantly recallable make it virtually endless. it can even dynamically alter routing, orders of devices, wiring of controls. got lfos, random generators, steps and lines sequencers, sidechaining controls values, ect.
absolutely all controls can be quantized or not, you can force a device on/off on bar, 1/4 or whatever even if you are not
precise cause too drunk while performing
i save cpu as it can diable enable pachs on demand, and i can even dynamically load/delete them to save ram if
going in really hardore setups.
when my perfect audio/midi/setup is done i can then design my own multitouch interface with only the shortcuts i want for live situation, i could recreate my own session view with xy inertia scrolling, independant on the fly xy scaling, global
map birds'view ect. it allows me to fit evey single lack of live i feel and make a setup strictly adapted to my needs.
i don't see what else could i ask it to do, as it really can do all i could imagine, even more than MFL can actually,
and for free. it's really awesome, check it out.
extend livesets/midi/controlerism possibilities in millions of areas.

This looks really interesting man.... gonna check it now

[Brock]

Has anyone had any experience using Richie Hawtin's Kapture?


http://www.ableton.com/pages/max_for_live/kapture


It looks as though this M4L device would be useful in making live sets seamless, just wondering if anyone can provide some first hand experiences on using it.

- Brock

P.S - love this thread ... keep it coming!!!

[Sibanger]

Hi Brock,
I have only been toying with Kapture for maybe 10 days or so, and i think this is just what Live needed.

I fucking love it

M4L is the best purchase I've made in a long time.

I am definitely reviewing our Live set up. The possibilities have expanded quite a bit.

[3phase]

All very good. But that would be a DJ set, not a live set.

True, but I think in the EDM world a "live" set in the eyes of the consumer is kind of a mashup of only original tracks (circa deadmau5, justice, daft punk), and not really based on the songs being broken up into stems, since no one really knows whats goin on up there anyway.

This is obviously a very different concept than that of a live band, but it seems like in the EDM world a the perception of a live act vs. a dj act is based on playing all original material and not actually how "live" its being performed.

By using only original tracks in your performance you have the capability of mashing together stems of different tracks which other dj's would not be able to do, but I think a lot of "live" acts usually do that stuff before hand anyway.

thats a bit questionable concept because live is live and you get the wage payed to play liveand not just replay your tracks via layback routines...

Because when you do that you are usually less live than a dj..


Which dj knows exactly what track will play in 45 minutes?

only the bad ones... same it is with live sets..


Problem with all the fake live sets is the same with all the fake music..they kill the bussines of doing music.. just leaving the dj job which eventually will tear down aswell because dj´s usually dont have the time do create original content.
So all the edm stuff will get more and more generic and boring soon and club promoters wont book live acts anymore.. except some big name appearances for the hype factor..
usually with bigger stage setups ad of cause some real live action because people want to see that from a so called live act...

As said before..usually the dj looks much more alive than the usual laptop act..and as more you really do life on a laptop..as dead it looks..

So for a seemless live show you defently need hardware units

[Donnie]

Personally, we mix everything just like a DJ set. We also change tempos manually to go through several genres, sometimes its a gradual change and sometimes a bit more instantaneous. My live set for instance has channels for playing originals live, separated into groups of both samples and midi, and then also has channels specifically for DJing. I love being able to use other peoples tracks to facilitate a path to another live original track, it lets me do things I never would of thought of with just originals. Plus I think there is a reason why people like DJs, there is a certain vibe that comes along with it, so for me its a positive compromise for both myself and the audience.

As far as what people need in the audience, and fake live sets, imo all that really matters is the connection between your physical movements snd what is coming out of the speaker. You could be bustin ass doing everything on the fly, or you could exaggerate your dj mix and blend with dramatic movements, either way its all the same to most people on the floor. The show, the experience, thats what most people are out for.

[Ed_83]

This is my live set, which i actually haven't used live yet. So I'm very interested in suggestions regarding workflow.
It's put in a way it can be controlled by my launchpad + the SL MK2, so everything is groups of 8 (8 Tracks & max. 8 Scenes per Song).
Tracks 1-6 have Effect Racks in them, which have different effects which i can select by a chain selector macro.
Track 7 contains an Instrument Rack, which has one Drum Rack per Song. It can be selected via chain selector by the Clip named "C" (C being the key of the Song). Also on the Track is a looper, so i can quickly make loops out of the samples I have in the corresponding Drum Rack. Better explained by this picture:



As you see, there are still some macros to fill, maybe you have some ideas...

Everything except the Kick+Snare Track is routed to Track 8 ("Bus"), which has a compressor on it. This compressor is sidechain-triggered by a midi clip in the "Phantomkick" Track. I do this because the Snare on the "Kick+Snare" Track isn't always on the 2&4, and i don't want the compressor in the "Bus" Track be triggered by those Snarehits.
Also on the "Bus" Track are ClyphX Clips which turn effect devices off on all channels and reset the Sends. This way I can really go crazy with effects for build-ups and reset it all at once. I dicovered ClyphX through this thread, and it really helped me. REALLY. I'll be probably implementing more ClyphX stuff in the future.

I only use 1 Send. On the Return Track I have an effect rack, which has different Delays and Reverbs, which can be selected by a chain selector. This chain selector and some parameters are mapped to the launchpad on User2 mode.

Problems I'm having:
- When i select a device on Track 1-6 for tweaking and then move for example the fader on another Track, the Sl Mk2 changes to the device on the Track of the Fader I just moved. I can "fix" the device to the Sl Mk2 (don't know the english word for this, it's "koppeln" in German), but then i often forget to put it off, when i want to tweak a device on another Track. Result: I find myself often tweaking nothing and wondering why nothing happens. This is probably just a matter of practice.
- When i select a Drum Rack in the looper channel through the clips named "C", the Drum Rack doesn't show in the Instrument Rack, so I have to click on the Chain for the current song to see which samples are on the Drum Rack. Maybe someone of you know I way this can be done automatically. The set works completely mouseless except for this one thing and that pisses me off .

I realize this is probably my first post on this forum, although I'm reading it for some time. Very helpful info in here!

[ollyb303]

^^^ That is a really interesting way of doing things....

[skatr2]

I generally keep my left 8 columns set up for live clips, while using anything past for the creative process (or on the fly live stuff). I also keep each track set in 4 scenes (with the new track on the fifth. This gives me room to add new stuff easily while seperating easily in my APC.

[atlaskk]

I agree... this is one of the things that has kept me up at night trying to figure out.

One question is: what about hotswapping in presets in between scenes? In between each song, do you simply load the values in of each instrument of the next track your going to be working with?

[jonnyH]

^^^use clyphx and macrobat to recall all parameters associated with your next song. these virtual control surfaces add functionality that should be built in to live from the get go.
j