help with live looping set up

[dfitz1988]

I was wondering if I could have some help setting up my live looping set to do it the way I want.

Gear used:
live 8
laptop
motu ultralite
launchpad
waldorf blofeld
kp3
kaossilator pro
ipad 2 + alesis io dock
guitar + lots of effects
boss rc 50 + another effect pedal on pedalboard with midi out (eventide modfactor)
midi thru box with 2 inputs and 8 outputs
single footswitch

what I want to be able to do is run each instrument (guitar, ipad, blofeld)nto individual channels and effect them on a send with kp3. ive got this far and it works fine.

I have set up live with about 10 tracks

1 guitar (monitor in)
2 blofeld (monitor in)
3 ipad (monitor in)
4 guitar loop 1 (audio from 1)
5 guitar loop 2 (audio from 1)
6 blofeld loop 1 (audio from 2)
7 blofeld loop 2 (audio from 2)
8 ipad loop 1 (audio from 3)
9 ipad loop 2 (audio from 3)
10 midi (midi from 3, send to blofeld via motu ultralite)

the problem I have is preparing the clips for record. At the moment I press the launchpad on the relevant track ie if I want to loop guitar I press a button on the launchpad in track 4 and it gives me a count in, I play the clip and then press the button again and it gives me a count out and it stops recording 4 beats after ive pressed the button. I feel this is quite unintuitive, and makes me less creative.

what I want to do in an ideal world is select the clip I want to record in on the launchpad, so its ready to record, then press a single footswitch to start record, and then stop record with no punch in and punch outs. It would act in the same way as the boss rc50. I can do this on a single scene with the looper, but not for all tracks and instruments. Is it possible to do this?

If this isn’t an efficient way of doing things, please give me some suggestions of how to set up live.
thanks

[chapelier fou]

global quantization.

[dfitz1988]

gonna need more info than that sorry...

[chapelier fou]

i just woke up, sorry... would you please read it in the manual ?
There is a global quantization, and also quantization per clip.

[dfitz1988]

still none the wiser about it. which button would i need to assign the footswitch to?

[S4racen]

still none the wiser about it. which button would i need to assign the footswitch to?

The manual has a section on global quantize, it's the 1 bar button you see in the middle of the top of the screen change this to a different value and repeat what you trying to see the different results....

Cheers
D

[chapelier fou]

You need to assign the play button under all the clips (you can only see it on the midi map screen), and arm the track. If you want to have a "thru" signal, you got also to create an "input" track monitored to ON, and route it to the tracks you are recording to.
We're trying to help, you know ?

[dfitz1988]

i think when you talk about a thru signal, this is what ive done on tracks 1-3 and then routed them to the rest of the tracks 4-9. ive had a look in the manual and read about the global quanitization and different types, but im still unsure about how it relates to my problem of chosing the clip i want to record into with launchpad then starting and stopping record with a single footswitch. hopefully mapping the footswitch to the play button under all clips will solve this.

at the moment ive had 4-9 armed. would it be better to leave them unarmed arm them individually when i want to record into them? all help is greatly recieved!

[chapelier fou]

Keep them armed. But monitor to OFF.

[h3rtz]

You need to assign the play button under all the clips (you can only see it on the midi map screen), and arm the track. If you want to have a "thru" signal, you got also to create an "input" track monitored to ON, and route it to the tracks you are recording to.
We're trying to help, you know ?

but u still have to change the clips manually if u want to record more than one clip in one track. your way works for "overdubbing" in the sense of layering several clips on different tracks. but can u do A/B structures this way? means stopping a playing clip and start recording another one in the same time with one footswitch? please correct me if i am wrong.

an example: i have two BOSS 5FSU hooked to my APC40, one for a voice track, one for a guitar track, both tracks being fed in by a monitor track for each one. if i step on the one for, lets say, guitar the recording starts according to my global quantization settings (not using count in), same for ending it when i press the button another time. if i want to record another guitar loop now i have to select a different clip using the mouse. its a bit annoying, but it works for now.

since i want to be able to do it a little more on the fly and hands free, i was thinking of getting two of these:

http://www.icon-global.com/ShowPro.aspx?ID=133

i would assign each step button to a certain clip. i think thats the way kid beyond is doing it (he is using a ground control afaik) for creating these phrase/chorus/phrase/bridge structures. its a lot of buttons though. might get too confusing.

[chapelier fou]

you can also map the scene up/down.

[h3rtz]

you can also map the scene up/down.

so it's scene up, down, record/play, each function one footswitch? makes them three. is this the way you are doing it?

don't u have to constantly check the screen for knowing where your scene bar is? additionally, by recording a clip you also fire every clip in the scene on each track your switch is assigned to. both of that makes it appear even more confusing to me than having those 16 step buttons mapped to dedicated clips.

@dfitz1988:

i think the problem with your idea is that "select clip with the launchpad" thingie. i don't think it's possible. you either record or fire a clip with these buttons, you can't use them to just mark a clip IMO. you have to either move the scene selection bar (mr fou's way might be an elegant one to do so) or u select clips using the mouse (this seems to be the only way which works with just one footswitch) or u assign single clips to single step buttons, just the way it is on your launchpad.

i guess thats pretty much the conclusion.

[chapelier fou]

One switch per recording track.

[dfitz1988]

hmm i guess the only thing would be to do it with a bigger pedal then. might look into getting that icon pedal. thing is then i dont have enough slots for the usb. would i be able to go usb to midi?

[dfitz1988]

what about in the user mode on the launchpad?