A way to independently control Live with laptop/Push2?

[Terlonious]

Hey everyone,

I have a question and have not been able to find the answer through searching the forums, the Ableton website or looking through the manual. It's certainly possible I missed the information BUT here is my query:

I have been getting together with a friend to make/play music together. I am hoping one person can fiddle around on the laptop/keyboard creating fun synth patches and programming drums, while the other person fiddles around on a Push 2 creating fun synth patches and programming drums. The idea is we are both creating tracks/devices/midi into ONE instance of Ableton Live Studio but working concurrently on separate devices - i.e. laptop and Push 2. However, the problem is when one person is fiddling around on the laptop, it changes the Push 2 screen to that device. And the opposite is true - when fiddling around on the Push 2 and adding devices/tweaking parameters, it changes the focus of the laptop display.

So my question is this - is there a way to "lock" the two devices to have them control/display independently while still building on the same instance of Live?

I'm really invested in making this work, so please if things do not make sense ask me clarifying questions and I will do my best to answer clearly.

Thank you so much for your time and attention. Fingers crossed someone out there has the solution~!

Cheers,

J

[Terlonious]

I've since found this article which says:

"Using two Push 2 units simultaneously, or one Push 1 with one Push 2 working together with the same instance of Ableton Live is currently not supported."

There appears to be ways around using two Push 1's but it appears there are considerable hurdles because of how track focus is handled in Live.

Is there any workaround to be able to tinker with a friend using my Push 2 while having independent focus? Or are we stuck with having to use our own instances of Live that are Linked, and having our own audio routing. I just worry about latency/synch issues.

Thanks!

J

[Tarekith]

There are no workarounds at the moment that I know of.

[Terlonious]

So what is the best workaround to have two people tinkering concurrently? I guess my hope of sharing an instance of Live is not possible. Would Link and shared audio outs be the best alternative? Again, my concern is relating to latency. Any thoughts on this?

[Machinesworking]

Launchpads work fine alongside Push.
The Akai APC lunchers also work.

Another option is Ableton Link, two laptops and whatever controllers you want. Probably the safest option.

[Terlonious]

Yea I have other gear (keyboards, launchpad) that works fine, but it's the LED display on the Push 2 that allows for adding devices/effects and a lot more control that I'm after. Although it's seeming like you can't have two independent views on one instance of Live

I will have to experiment with Link. The downside is being unable to have a shared view and unable to tinker with eachother's settings...