Who here collaborates?

[alex1fly]

One person is more creative. Another person is more technical. Everyone has a defined roll and contributes to a satisfactory end product. Seems like a good match for some folks.

you don't understand...
his friend is REALLY good at eqing...
and he's REALLY good at programming drums..

this is it. i do what i do, he does what he does. i want to collab with him, our cpus set up in the same room, working on the same project. when two people try to work on one computer, sometimes you get in each other's way...

[alex1fly]

i guess you can give each other feedback as you work on the song, but i'm looking for a way to streamline the process.

[H20nly]

One person is more creative. Another person is more technical. Everyone has a defined roll and contributes to a satisfactory end product. Seems like a good match for some folks.

you don't understand...
his friend is REALLY good at eqing...
and he's REALLY good at programming drums..

this is it. i do what i do, he does what he does. i want to collab with him, our cpus set up in the same room, working on the same project. when two people try to work on one computer, sometimes you get in each other's way...

unless you take turns with the song (.als file) stored in one shared location... this sounds like a nightmare. if he makes a change to songrev_01.als while you are working on songrev_02.als how would you merge the edits?

you basically would have to pass the file back and forth which isn't much different than doing it over the web with someone in Fiji or Timbuktu. the advantage would be the speed at which you could do that: "okay man, i closed the set you can open it now". "cool, it's open..."

[regretfullySaid]

Is Dropbox good for doing that method? It's supposed to work like: You have the ALS you're working on in the local dropbox folder and it syncs to the cloud one so there's no redundant uploading/downloading, right?

Merging edits wouldn't be so bad so you don't have to wait for the file to be saved, just name the tracks accordingly or save the edit as it's own als to drag into the master project...

[H20nly]

^ yes, but you can still only have one person working the file at a time.

how do you merge edits [efficiently]?

[regretfullySaid]

Right, well, hmm, new separate files to drag into the master project? It could depend on how the editing process is. Are you sticking to editing one track, or many? Because like I said, you drag the edited tracks out to save as their own als file/s, download, then drag them back in and get rid of whatever is obsolete afterwards?

Or, maybe it depends on what's being edited..given the semi-modularity of Live's file system you could just deal with updated clips, racks, etc, not just tracks...like if it's a certain 8 bar section of edits, you could consolidate it, drag the clip out and upload it, then the other person edits that clip, consolidates it and re-uploads it...

But for practical reasons and consistency let's say they stick to editing one track at a time so it doesn't get convoluted...
But I think for the most part if you have sections you think shouldn't be changed, save those parts locally just in case, a lot of it would have to do with how well and often the communication is.

[ttilberg]

Ableton sent me an email to tell me that the reason Live 9 is taking so long, is they've been working with Google to implement this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiLSiqyDf4Y

Also, more insight to how me and a friend collab, as we are in the exact same situation (one is more technical, one throws some rockin good beats down).

We will get a cool idea that we want to work with, and move it to Dropbox, collect all and save.
We then proceed to fork our own versions of it "Cool Beat - Dude1.als" "Cool Beat - Dude 2.als"

This allows us to have 3 separate files at once, a master file, and our "in progress" versions.

We communicate to each other what we are working on so neither of us are working on the same channel strip.

Often times I'll say to him "Dude, think of some more bass line action -- I'm going to work on automation and flourishes on the drum and lead channels"

We'll each declare the channels we will be working on, as this is how we merge to the master. When we feel we've done our parts, we merge the parts we worked on. (Open the master set, then find the -Dude1 -Dude2 sets in the browser, and drag any relevant channels in). If we agree to the changes, we update our personal versions, and go back to work.

Obviously this isn't a great way to "Start" a song, or "End" a song, but it works okay for us once we have the general song structure laid out.

This method makes sure we aren't breaking each other's copies, and that we always have a structural master to use as a sort of "restore point." It also allows us to focus on whatever we are working on at the same time, without having to worry about what section my friend wants to listen to. If I need to demo a one bar loop for ten minutes to tweak some stuff, I can (god help me), and he can keep doing whatever he wants.

It is surprisingly easy to merge back to a master when we work in this manner. Of course, there comes a point where you need to just work off one computer at a time.

It isn't perfect for every situation, but I feel like this is the best I have available at this time. Until Ableton implements Live Multitask Mode.

[H20nly]

^ that.

Or, maybe it depends on what's being edited..given the semi-modularity of Live's file system you could just deal with updated clips, racks, etc, not just tracks...like if it's a certain 8 bar section of edits, you could consolidate it, drag the clip out and upload it, then the other person edits that clip, consolidates it and re-uploads it...

it does depend on what's being edited, but any way you slice it, there will still be a need to update one file with the other file's changes [manually] unless the file is shared tennis style.

But for practical reasons and consistency let's say they stick to editing one track at a time so it doesn't get convoluted...
But I think for the most part if you have sections you think shouldn't be changed, save those parts locally just in case, a lot of it would have to do with how well and often the communication is.

which really just brings the whole thing around full circle.

Yes, I collaborate... via file sharing.