How to record my hardware in perfect loops

[neeve82]

So I've been using Ableton for 10 years now but also been inside the box for most of this time.
I'm now really starting to get a hardware setup together for laptopless live jamming with friends
and there's a question that's really bugging me.

How do you record your hardware so that it stays in perfect loop? I'm not talking about syncing it
with the laptop. I'm talking about the following scenario:

1. the computer is recording
2. i play a 2 bar phrase on my synth
3. this part gets automatically recorded and the computer loops those 2 bars
4. i go to the next synth and play a 4 bar phrase
5. this part gets automatically recorded and the computer loops those 4 bars
etc.

I think this video with Mathew Jonson's 10 minute performance sums up what I'm trying to do. See how he adjusts some
stuff on his laptop and then he doesn't even touch it for the rest of the performance yet all parts get recorded and looped??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xepdHwUvC3E

I've seen this process in various videos of artists and i'm hoping it's something relatively easy to do.

Cheers!

[Stromkraft]

How do you record your hardware so that it stays in perfect loop? I'm not talking about syncing it
with the laptop. I'm talking about the following scenario:

1. the computer is recording
2. i play a 2 bar phrase on my synth
3. this part gets automatically recorded and the computer loops those 2 bars
4. i go to the next synth and play a 4 bar phrase
5. this part gets automatically recorded and the computer loops those 4 bars

Well, this question is broader than you think. If you play to a click as in the video, that is in sync with Live, then where do you have difficulty setting this up? You do know of loops, right? Matthew is touching the computer now and then, so that's not out? Where's the mystery beyond normal handling of Live?

"Automatically recorded"? You're imaging recording starting when you start playing? That's not what happens in the video.

[neeve82]

Hmmm...maybe I'm wrong.

At 02:30 he goes towards the JX-3P without preparing the computer beforehand and he plays a phrase which
stays recorded and looped without him doing anything after either.

Also at 07:05 he prepares the laptop before he plays the bass phrase - which afterwards stays looped. I see
him going to stop the recording clip though here.

So you basically click record for each track you play a new phrase on and stop for ending that recording.
The classic way? And activate quantization recording, right?

[zeropoint]

He's recording into record enabled empty midi clips of a predefined length and on a separate channel for each phrase.....

[neeve82]

this seems to be it. a clip that's already running and the session record mode is activated.
and i guess he has multiple tracks already record activated but the reason why they don't
all record the same notes at the same time is because of separate midi channels...

but wait...they can't be midi clips when he plays something like the prophet-5 or a jx-3p. it must be
an audio clip. how do you preset the length of an audio clip? it doesn't make sense in session view.
in arrangement view you would set a loop for 16 bars or something and work within that timeline...

and a new question is: how does he loop audio clips without stopping the clip to end its length?
how can an audio clip stop automatically when you've finished your phrase? it can't, right?

[zeropoint]

why can't the prophet 5 and Jx 3 P be midi ? there's a kenton retro midi kit for the prophet and and a midi expansion kit for the jx 3p.....

[neeve82]

so you're telling me he outputs midi from 'em into ableton's clip?
but what if you have no way of midi out-ing. i guess that's when he
touches the laptop.

[zeropoint]

correct. that's my guess as to what is happening. look at the way he takes the first clip with the Jupiter. That's a midi clip in overdub mode. First he lays down the first note, leaves it looping then goes to the desk to make some adjustments. then he goes back to it and overdubs a coupe of times to get the loop he wants......