Switching live sets on stage (no I can't make a giant one)

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
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deadwing2
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Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2019 12:21 am

Switching live sets on stage (no I can't make a giant one)

Post by deadwing2 » Wed Jan 09, 2019 12:31 pm

Hi all

as I get to know Live coming from years of Logic used live, I absolutely love the Session idea of Live and Max, but I find more and more difficulties understanding how basic operations are impossible to perform on stage for a professional use, where is not just about making some beats.

1) how is possible that there's no way to switch Livesets easily? OnStageLive by Fluqe doesn't work with Live 10, Ableton Live is not scriptable by Applescript so is impossible to do it that way (like all other DAWs), and there's no option to disable the popup asking me if I want to save because of changes (happening always as I record loops while performing).
I can't possibly loads all of my complex sets in one giant liveset, also they're constantly changing and use lots of resources that I cannot have all together loaded up.

2) I use videos as well, it is impossible to assign the video window to the external screen so that it always goes there, or is impossible to make it full screen on the external screen.

Looking at the libraries used by Ableton I was shocked to see it doesn't use MacOS native interface but the cross platform and always tricky/buggy QT....and that's why it cannot be scripted as well and windows are not correctly handled by the system.

Do anyone have a solution to these problems? :(

mariohardleft
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Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2012 3:24 pm

Re: Switching live sets on stage (no I can't make a giant one)

Post by mariohardleft » Wed Jan 09, 2019 1:53 pm

OnStageLive Pro works w/10. It's kind of pricey (monthly subscription) but it def. works!

deadwing2
Posts: 19
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2019 12:21 am

Re: Switching live sets on stage (no I can't make a giant one)

Post by deadwing2 » Wed Jan 09, 2019 2:13 pm

mariohardleft wrote:OnStageLive Pro works w/10. It's kind of pricey (monthly subscription) but it def. works!
I wrote to the developer and indeed it does...but that's just a very shady way of forcing customers to subscribe instead of paying a one life-time license! They have the OnStageLive that is perfecetly capable of working with 10, but they on purpose don't want it to so you buy the subscription.

In particular because to make it work is very simple and quick....they could release a new version working with 9 and 10 in a few minutes as I just tried myself.

Very bad practice from a developer, I wanted to pay them the one time OnstageLive price...they lost it from me, not supporting such practices.

Angstrom
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Re: Switching live sets on stage (no I can't make a giant one)

Post by Angstrom » Wed Jan 09, 2019 3:14 pm

I'm no help here, but I've always thought it VERY strange that an application called Live is so under-featured to perform on stage, live.

Changing songs is a thing which happens quite regularly in most people sets. As is changing presets! If a user has a bunch of (native) Live racks, as Ableton seem to hope we might, then "preset" flipping between them on stage should be something which is so simple as to not require a user-manual entry. Instead it is a remarkably hacktastic procedure. Surely Live, and Live Racks, should be capable of being played live and that means changing "presets" between songs? Currently I have a max device which responds to program change and the M4L switches thing off and on in relation to the song I'm in. Very brutal and inelegant.

It's really weird.
I can understand there are many technical hurdles and legacy issues to overcome, but surely by version 10 they should have some sort of solution to these very common performance requirements.
</moan>

deadwing2
Posts: 19
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2019 12:21 am

Re: Switching live sets on stage (no I can't make a giant one)

Post by deadwing2 » Wed Jan 09, 2019 3:19 pm

Angstrom wrote:I'm no help here, but I've always thought it VERY strange that an application called Live is so under-featured to perform on stage, live.

Changing songs is a thing which happens quite regularly in most people sets. As is changing presets! If a user has a bunch of (native) Live racks, as Ableton seem to hope we might, then "preset" flipping between them on stage should be something which is so simple as to not require a user-manual entry. Instead it is a remarkably hacktastic procedure. Surely Live, and Live Racks, should be capable of being played live and that means changing "presets" between songs? Currently I have a max device which responds to program change and the M4L switches thing off and on in relation to the song I'm in. Very brutal and inelegant.

It's really weird.
I can understand there are many technical hurdles and legacy issues to overcome, but surely by version 10 they should have some sort of solution to these very common performance requirements.
</moan>
Completely agree..I'm on version 10 and yet none of this is solved.

I worked for years in big studios and on stage with fairly complex setups made on Logic or Pro Tools...surely Live is a refreshing take on what a DAW can do, but if Logic had a sort of Session view I'd use Logic without thinking twice. Live after many years is still a really not refined software in many things behind the "open a session and make some loops while rearranging a song".

Once you have to do serious editing or configuring a proper live rig....ironically Live is really not good...

deadwing2
Posts: 19
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2019 12:21 am

Re: Switching live sets on stage (no I can't make a giant one)

Post by deadwing2 » Thu Jan 10, 2019 10:52 pm

An update for whoever reads this.

For the videos I solved brilliantly (I need to launch them and have them go while I play) with Remixvideo, that can be controlled by the Push 2 (User Mode), and has a very strong and stable external display mode.

deadwing2
Posts: 19
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2019 12:21 am

Re: Switching live sets on stage (no I can't make a giant one)

Post by deadwing2 » Mon Jan 14, 2019 10:33 am

Further solution, here's what OnStageLive does with simple Applescript to open a project and turn off any dialog screen:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/275 ... leton-live

And with a cheaper app like this one:

https://www.bome.com/products/miditranslator

Is very easy to map any MIDI command/action to a launch of a script...so it does more than OnStage, without the super expensive monthly subscription. Is enough to create one Applescript per Liveset and launch them via MIDI :-)

deadwing2
Posts: 19
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2019 12:21 am

Re: Switching live sets on stage (no I can't make a giant one)

Post by deadwing2 » Mon Jan 14, 2019 11:22 pm

Final solution...don't know why is so hard to find it from search engines

http://www.maxforlive.com/library/devic ... 2848#12521

Load a set from another song but fully controllable..and you can make a clip to automate it...and yes it takes care of the Dialogs as well! :-) Basically it does more than OnStageLive (even the Pro!) and in a simpler way and for free.

I load for all songs of my set a track of clips and in this track there are several loaders, and each clip when started trigger one specific loader for one specific set!

Easy...then colouring in red the actual loaded one makes it super easy to know where I am in the setlist and what to load afterwards (or to reload if any problem!)

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