Djing with Ableton, Warping, Cache and Some Other Ish.

[cramos241]

I just got into exploring ableton's dj possibilities. Super stoked on what potential i see. All the techy stuff and settin up a template is just gonna take sometime and practice yallreadykno. What i would like to ask you guys about is the organization of my tracks on my computer (Mac). I think it would be cool to try to utilize some kind of "tagging" to the file names like their artist, bpm, genre, and traits of the track to make it easier to take a set where I want it to go on the fly. Otherwise though I was lookin for some pointers on how some of you out there go about doin this.

My second part to this question is about the warped tracks and analyzed audio and all that noise that comes out of stickin songs into ableton. Im curious if I stick a song in ableton, warp it all around and make it pretty, does all that hard work go to waste if I want to use that same song but in a different set and gotta redrag it into a new set ive opened? Or does that new warped track get stored somewhere? Cause THAT is the ish im really tryin to save and tag and get all handy at my fingertips. Fill me in people, tell me what I need to kno.

Also, p.s. and by the way: Cache? Wtf? If i empty it cause that stockpile of audio is boggin down my comp then does ableton have to reanalyze my audio library for infy hours again everytime? Whats the process I should be runnin here for optimum cache/ableton/mac/awesome performance?

Oh and one more thing! What about if I want all my tracks (or at least everything but the ones I am using for a performance or two in the near future) on an external hard drive?........

[docprosper]

On warping songs: all the work you do the first time around need not go to waste. Here's my workflow in preparing a track:
- warp to perfection, usially setting warp type to "pro"
- chop song into various clips, with each clip set to a different section (intro loop, body, outro loop, etc.; set loop type (on/off) according to taste and name clips accordingly
- Select entire set of clips and drag&drop back into the original track's folder; this will create a .als file that contains all the warp info and links to the track audio, which will get automatically stored in a subfolder
- Now you can drag and drop this .als file into new sets and all the clip, loop, and warp info will already be ready to go!

Cheers,
hamish

[docprosper]

also, check out that other website:
http://www.abletonlivedj.com

[Warrior Bob]

Someone asked about DJ music organization on Ableton Answers, it actually got quite a bit of traffic. There might be some ideas in there that work for you.

Short answer, organize in some kind of way that makes sense in your head so you can find tracks later when you're looking for them.

[cramos241]

first off good lookin on the links and responses thus far. that warping bit helped a bit Doc. i didnt think to actually split the audio up like that. is that your equivalent to what the cue points in traktor do?

as i am typing this im kinda experimenting in ableton right now to see how all these files get saved and such. i noticed actually that as i try and redrag some song i just warped and "chopped" up in arrangement view, i cant actually drag this back into the original file. however, i can do what you were talkin bout originally Doc and i can redrag the clips back into the file from the session view. this leaves me a little confused on the process. am i not so much "chopping" up the audio in arrangement view but rather draggin in multiple copies of the song into session view and assigning a gang of loop markers for each of those? what i think im gettin from this .als file techyness you mentioned is that once i drag all those chopped and warped bits back into the OG file, from then on. ill be draggin the .als files into future sets?

is this kinda thing still possible if i want to condense all this looping and warping into one session file as opposed to clips for each section of the song i wish to highlight?

[docprosper]

first off good lookin on the links and responses thus far. that warping bit helped a bit Doc. i didnt think to actually split the audio up like that. is that your equivalent to what the cue points in traktor do?

as i am typing this im kinda experimenting in ableton right now to see how all these files get saved and such. i noticed actually that as i try and redrag some song i just warped and "chopped" up in arrangement view, i cant actually drag this back into the original file. however, i can do what you were talkin bout originally Doc and i can redrag the clips back into the file from the session view. this leaves me a little confused on the process. am i not so much "chopping" up the audio in arrangement view but rather draggin in multiple copies of the song into session view and assigning a gang of loop markers for each of those? what i think im gettin from this .als file techyness you mentioned is that once i drag all those chopped and warped bits back into the OG file, from then on. ill be draggin the .als files into future sets?

is this kinda thing still possible if i want to condense all this looping and warping into one session file as opposed to clips for each section of the song i wish to highlight?

Not too familiar with Traktor but yes, this essentially gives you cue points to quickly jump to different pieces of the song with a controller. Even more powerful with instrumental and accapella versions (if your tracks have vocals) and effects.

What I was talking about doing was chopping the tracks in session view. Really you keep the whole track for each clip, but modify the start and end points, loop mode, etc. When you drag&drop a set of these clips into a folder, you will end up with an .als file that stores all this information, with a subfolder that stores the audio track. You can actually then erase the original audio file (just confirm that the subfolder with the audio file is there first!!!). Hopefully ythis makes sense; you should be able to do it all in session view. Then, when you start a new set, you can drop that .als file right in and not have to set up your cue points again. Clear as mud?
-Hamish