Yeco Touch Screen Controller

[PlainJaneFrancis]

Just stumbled across this today. It's a software touch controller built for ableton live. Runs on any touch screen, windows and mac. Very interesting especially for people who use Surface Pros and Surface Books. I'm going to try it out over the next week and report back on whether it's a useable controller or not.

http://yeco.io/

[ChangoM]

My first reaction was "why doesn't Ableton enable touch controls throughout the Live UI"? Then I saw the all the neat touch features of Yeco - looks slick. I've been circling around the Surface Pro for a while for use in the field - maybe holding out for the next gen (Surface Pro 5?) since I use some pretty resource-intensive plug-ins. Looking forward to your report (but still hoping Live gets some native touch support).

[Buleriachk]

It looks promising, for sure. My trial of it is in another thread, but my issues may not apply to everyone.... or even most... )

I'm not sure it has the equivalent of "Session Overview" (one should at least be able to organize in 89x8 blocks to correspond to Push), and the colors of the pads should reflect those in Live.

I agree, Ableton should provide a version in-house for this (who knows; maybe they are working on a version. After all, they eventually did provide a tuner...

[PlainJaneFrancis]

It looks promising, for sure. My trial of it is in another thread, but my issues may not apply to everyone.... or even most... )

I'm not sure it has the equivalent of "Session Overview" (one should at least be able to organize in 89x8 blocks to correspond to Push), and the colors of the pads should reflect those in Live.

I agree, Ableton should provide a version in-house for this (who knows; maybe they are working on a version. After all, they eventually did provide a tuner...

ahh, I ran into a couple of lag issues as well. Nothing terrible, but not as responsive for finger drumming as I'd hope. Also, I was looking at this application in the wrong way. I was hoping for a way to create music completely from the touch interface (like how you can with Tabletop from retronyms or iMPC PRO from akai). This is more like an Ableton Push or replacement. Which is pretty awesome if you happen to have a surface or touch screen, and a need/ want for another controller. Unfortunately, I don't have a need for it... Still dreaming of the day when I can create instrumentals on the go ONLY using a touch screen, without having to own an iPad.

[yur2die4]

https://youtu.be/tKfjwjOX3y0

Yeco is continuing to grow steadily. They've just added a chords feature.

[Buleriachk]

Have the added clip colors/names yet in Session view? That was the deal breaker for me....

[Stromkraft]

Here's my question: If I have an iPad Pro with some OSC controller that I already like, why do I care about a touch screen controller on my computer that means I need some kind of GUI overlay in order to control Live?

And even If I'd want that, Why would this product be better than something like Slate Raven?

[yur2die4]

This software is unrelated to external controllers. It is meant as a way to use Live on a computer that has Live and supports touch (like a Surface for instance).

An iPad is an external controller requiring either a wireless or wired connection to the computer. You're required to use two devices and hoping that the one you're using (the iPad) is at that moment communicating with your computer.

The strength of the software is mostly in how Live is very bad when it comes to trying to use multitouch. There is no more input/keyboard/pad option at all. Windows touch on 'keyboard looking' layouts like on the piano roll or inside vsts functions not in a way designed for touch (it is more, touch, and slightly move your finger, or note trigger on release, not on touch, and no support for multitouch). The Clips in Live are abhorrent for touchscreens. This software is a very easy fix for that, since now it makes the clips into very large, easily triggerable boxes. It also acts as a touchscreen midi controller in Windows for any software.

The Slate products look very nice but they seem more like hype than anything. And I feel that the devs of Yeco are starting simple and gradually improving the product over time. Of course you do still have some limitations. Their method for calling up device controls leaves you with standard sliders with names of parameters in whatever order Live spits them out in. There is no way to do editing of automation, but that is more a shortcoming of Live than anything else. Still, when people imagine 'using Live on a tablet', they hope to have the Ableton Live 'experience', and the Yeco gets frustratingly close until you realize that of course it's not the Actual Ableton Live program, yet you wouldn't be able to do in Live on a touchscreen what Yeco allows you to do naturally.

Another thing I'd like to see in Yeco sometime soon is a device browser/loader.

I don't think this is meant for nitty gritty production as much as it is for performance, turning Live into the equivalent of an iPad app, and for quick jams/inspiration in the early stages of producing.

[Stromkraft]

This software is unrelated to external controllers. It is meant as a way to use Live on a computer that has Live and supports touch (like a Surface for instance).

An iPad is an external controller requiring either a wireless or wired connection to the computer. …

… you do still have some limitations. Their method for calling up device controls leaves you with standard sliders with names of parameters in whatever order Live spits them out in. There is no way to do editing of automation, but that is more a shortcoming of Live than anything else. Still, when people imagine 'using Live on a tablet', they hope to have the Ableton Live 'experience', and the Yeco gets frustratingly close until you realize that of course it's not the Actual Ableton Live program, yet you wouldn't be able to do in Live on a touchscreen what Yeco allows you to do naturally.

I understand as much, but the external controller in an iPad Pro still feels relevant if you don't already own, or have plans to own, a touchscreen computer. If you do, software like Yeco's or Slate's is of course highly interesting. Both do however add interface elements to the GUI of Live — I assume because not all Live GUI elements are "finger friendly" — which puts an iPad Pro at par with these if you want some flexible touch control. On the surface of it Raven looks more Live experience-like.

So unless a touch screen is most relevant for you it would seem it's in the actual respective GUIs the real competition is placed. The question a potential user need to ask is what the user experience will be with each product. I would think you need to actually try a touch product and make a whole session, maybe multiple sessions, in order to truly evaluate it.