Completely Non Stop Workflow

[mkmusic]

This is a copy of an email i sent to Dj Vespers, whose work i highly respect. In waiting for reply as well as additional insight id thought i would ask this wonderful community as well. I rap, produce using vsts with keyboard controllers, pads, and v drums, and include a little beat boxing. I use Ableton with an APC40. So here is my trouble. I want a totally non stop workflow. This means I'd like to beat box into the looper to set feel and tempo, which I do just fine. Then I record other beats and sounds into session clips, still fine. Now if I am inspired to rap I hit the main record button. I figure it would be more practical then recording a long verse into a clip. Here lay the issue. If I want to exit record mode I hit stop which stops all the clips and thus the flow. I want to take a break from my rapping, or you could say soloing (perhaps with an instrument even) and go back into triggering clips and recording new clip ideas without stopping. Then go back into rapping or soloing. Can you picture the flow I am talking about. It's like a live production, arrangment, and performing non stop flow. Can you shed some well appreciated insight on this issue?

[mothergarage]

why not hit "record" again, instead of "stop"?

[LeifonMars]

No trouble at all. As mentioned above, just hit the record again. What I don't get is why it is more practical to record a long verse to the arrangement view than to a clip? That's silly. You can always drag and drop that long verse clip to arrangement side if you want to edit it further.

[agent314]

I do almost exactly what you describe except with electric guitar instead of rapping, and I've found that session view works really well for it.

[UnCL0NED]

Yeah, the above...
Or why do you need to turn of record on that track at all? You can just leave it running and start improvising on a different track.
Or why don't you turn down the fader or mute that track (if it creates feedback otherwise?)

I also suggest that you use the session view, because it gives you much more freedom and this is why you want to use Live in the first place (specially if you use the APC40). You can just stop the clip you're recording on your APC40.

Good luck!

[Willyum]

To add to streamlining your work flow look at the vids at the bottom of this page...
http://www.nativekontrol.com/apC_Series.html

[H20nly]

if you have some reason why hitting record again doesn't work, i think you could simply disarm the track too.

get one of these if you're hands are too full.

http://www.logidy.com/

[mkmusic]

Thanks everybody. After all the feedback and much thought, I agree. I think it will be easier to record everything into clips in the session view. I can always slice it and dice it and rearrange things later. For whatever reason i associated the clips with only things that loop. It dawned on me that's not the case. I can just hit stop clip when I'm done with my verse or what not. Duh! Thanks everyone.