Plenty of questions, need answers pls (newbie)

algorhythm · Post by **algorhythm** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 4:14 pm

Hi there

I'm a veteran in music production, but a newbie in Live. Even though i found it very easy to start doing work with it i still have a few unanswered issues.

1) i have a evolution midi keyboeard usb. How do i approach assigning midi to it (i know how to assign midi to the keyboard) i just want to know if there is any 'clever' way to do it such that i have to use my computer keyboard as less as possible. By the way i dont want to transpose octaves to do it.

for example i find that i need one key to start playing a loop, and another to stop it. So if one of my scenes (rows) has 5 different sounds then i need 10 keys. 5 to activate and 5 to stop. isnt there a way so as to make it the same key ?if you press it once it starts, press it again then it stops.

2)I'm guessing i need 2 laptops if i want to do live gigs (not as a DJ) with my songs in order to change from one live set to another without interupting the music.Am i right? If so do i need 2 external sound cards? can i sync the 2 laptops together so i can use the one midi keyboard to work on both laptops?

basically what i'm asking is how does liam howlett play live through ableton?

I must admit i went through the forum to find any other person that might have asked the same questions but couldn't seem to find any thread on that.

any advice would be appreciated.
thnx

martin808 · Post by **martin808** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 4:27 pm

in the clip properties you can change the way it triggers a clip. if you change it to toggle, 1 button will start and stop it.

theres no poiont having 2 laptops unless there's 2 of you. just have all your sets into 1. you can copy whole sets into another set.

algorhythm · Post by **algorhythm** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 4:30 pm

martin808 wrote:
theres no poiont having 2 laptops unless there's 2 of you. just have all your sets into 1. you can copy whole sets into another set.

thnx for the advice, but wont setting all the sets in one session 'cripple' my laptops resources?

algorhythm · Post by **algorhythm** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 4:32 pm

i'm also assuing that live can take an infinite number of rows right?

martin808 · Post by **martin808** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 4:35 pm

yeah, you can have as many scenes (rows) as you want.

my set has 12 tracks(columns) and hundreds of audio clips.
its the plug ins that will drain your computers recources

borg · Post by **borg** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 4:36 pm

algorhythm wrote:for example i find that i need one key to start playing a loop, and another to stop it. So if one of my scenes (rows) has 5 different sounds then i need 10 keys. 5 to activate and 5 to stop. isnt there a way so as to make it the same key ?if you press it once it starts, press it again then it stops.

just go through the different launch options and find what suits you best. in this situation, it's trigger you need.
about your other assign questions, it's a matter of learning the program and look here for things like 'midiox', 'controlaid', 'hotkey', 'plogue', 'dummy clips'. there are so many options. no one can give you a one stop solution. just get into Live and learn.

about linking two laptops (not that i think you need two): depends on what computers you use. mac laptops have really decent onboard soundcards, you can link macs midiwise easily. pc laptops tend to have a lower build quality for their audio outputs, but its certainly not a rule. there's also software to connect pc's and pc/mac over lan. you could however also buy a second soundcard that has midi as well. again, too many options.

algorhythm · Post by **algorhythm** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 4:38 pm

thnxs for the advice martin

anything on clever ways to assign on your midi keyboards?

martin808 · Post by **martin808** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 4:41 pm

assinging anything midi is fairly simple.

click on the "midi" box in the top right corner, then click on the thing you want to assign it to then press the button you want to be the controller.
this works the same for the computer keyboard except you click the box "key"

yogz · Post by **yogz** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 7:19 pm

Hi Algorhythm.

basically what i'm asking is how does liam howlett play live through ableton?

I'm guessing i need 2 laptops if i want to do live gigs (not as a DJ) with my songs in order to change from one live set to another without interupting the music.

If I guess it right, you may want to sync two Live sessions because you have your songs done in the arrangement window ("traditional " sequencer window).. is that right?!

djsynchro · Post by **djsynchro** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 9:39 pm

My advice is to have 8 tracks maximum, I used to do my live PA's (all hardware & MIDI) like this:

1: Kick
2: Snare
3: Bass
4-5: Drums everything else stereo submix
6-7: Stereo Submix of all synths:
8 Lead sound (That you want to tweak).

I read somewhere somebody else saying that max is 8 tracks, I think Robert Henke does 6?

If you are clever about your submixes you will get excellent sound, if you think you can be tweaking 32 tracks on a dark stage with laser beams shooting over your head.... you're dreaming. Remember, in the end it's only 2 channels that the audience hear (L-R)

cosmosuave · Post by **cosmosuave** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 10:35 pm

djsynchro wrote:My advice is to have 8 tracks maximum, I used to do my live PA's (all hardware & MIDI) like this:

1: Kick
2: Snare
3: Bass
4-5: Drums everything else stereo submix
6-7: Stereo Submix of all synths:
8 Lead sound (That you want to tweak).

I read somewhere somebody else saying that max is 8 tracks, I think Robert Henke does 6?

If you are clever about your submixes you will get excellent sound, if you think you can be tweaking 32 tracks on a dark stage with laser beams shooting over your head.... you're dreaming. Remember, in the end it's only 2 channels that the audience hear (L-R) :D

Doing 8 trax as well split into 2x4...

2 songs 4 trax each... Management made easy still able to tweak and keep it grooving...

algorhythm · Post by **algorhythm** » Tue Dec 06, 2005 12:46 am

maybe you guys are right, mixing some sounds that are similar to one sound wav file like for example the snare and tha claps might save some space.

but still i was told that i dont need 2 laptops, i just need to put all my tunes in the session view . (each tune being the loops its comprised of), but then how on erath will i be able to midi assign all those clips? i would needat least 3 midi keyboards.

by the way yogz. the way i plan to play my tunes is through the session view, by activating scenes and turning on and of clips of the scene and of others to do certain variation of a song that has been recorded differently.

for example Liam would start a sound then a bass then pop in the riff from poison, and during the song change the beats any way he would want making it sound not anything like we heard on the cd.

maybe thats why he has 2 laptops. this way he loads up a set with all its midi presets without having to remember what activates what since its only one song at a time on each laptop.

yogz · Post by **yogz** » Tue Dec 06, 2005 6:25 pm

I think that you sould try to keep all in the same machine. But if you have the possibility to sync two computer and don't care about carrying, it could be great to improve the cpu usage and so to get a better latency setting (buffersize).
but keep in mind that 2 computer may be two thing to look at insted of one... all depends on your needs.
Maybe you noticed that, but dragging all your clips (1 song) frow session view to the library, you can create one file that will remind all your settings (even plugins).
You should also look at the "follow action" fonction, maybe a usefull help for you

Peace&music
Yogi

Marquis · Post by **Marquis** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 6:50 am

yogz - doesn't this importing a live set into a live set option require you to add the next song as new tracks, in order to keep your effects and plugin settings?

I used this method to build a megaset, and ended up with 70 or 80 tracks, 5 or 6 for each song. Horrible to use, especially given there's no midi assignable horizontal scrollbar. (Please tell me I am wrong on this!)

Do people create these mega-live-sets on the fly at gigs? Or is this done before you hit the stage? I can see how it would be rad to do it on the fly - totally dynamic playlists. But in my experience, the scene names disappear, and worse, the keyboard and midi control assignments don't import - which effectively renders this importing thing useless. Other than for building a rigid playlist before you start the gig.

Keen to hear how others use this feature.

Marky

yogz · Post by **yogz** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 8:45 pm

doesn't this importing a live set into a live set option require you to add the next song as new tracks, in order to keep your effects and plugin settings?

Hi Marky,
you're totally right about that, I've mentionned it just as a tips. Ididn't realize it was confusing, sorry!

I'm afraid I have no golden solution for this,.. the only solution for me in order to keep the "effects colour" of clips, would be to bounce them separatly and then create a new live clip with them; which brings negativ points...
My way to make lives is a kind of a dj approach on the set up, playin my loops and sounds. On each "deck" I have some plugs which I control with the BCR from behringer which has led rings on each encoders; this way I can drag a live clip in session and know before playing the state of the plugs on the deck.
I use to prepar all my tracks before, now I try to do everything on the fly, try to consider Live the more instrumental as possible, and it feel so good!
would be very interesting to hear from people walking in this direction.

Plenty of questions, need answers pls (newbie)

Plenty of questions, need answers pls (newbie)

Re: Plenty of questions, need answers pls (newbie)