New to Ableton...instrument question

wmastudios · Post by **wmastudios** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 6:37 am

Hello group. I am new to the forum and haven't purchased Ableton yet. I need to create accompaniments for my band like Banjo, Mandolin etc. My desire is to load Ableton on my laptop and connect my laptop USB port to a MIDI foot controller to call up the samples I created with Ableton. (in a live performance situation) Sounds like this is the software I need, but my question is, can I add instrument libraries from third parties to Ableton? I am looking for some very nice and real sounding instruments. I particularly need Country instruments like Banjos, Mandolins, Dobros, steel guitar etc. I found a company: www.bigfishaudio.com that has exactly what I need: http://www.bigfishaudio.com/4DCGI/detail.html?472

Would that product import into Ableton? Or does anyone know of a better company to work with? I am brand new to this so my terminology may not be correct!!

Also, what is a good MIDI foot controller to use in live applications? I am looking at one from Roland, but I don't know a ton about MIDI at this point to make the right decision. I was also told that most MIDI products are USB now. Is that really true? All the MIDI foot controllers I have seen have the typical MIDI interface that has been around for years. I have never seen a MIDI device with USB.

Let me know if I am on the right track here. Any feedback is welcome!

Thanks,
Brian

Aunt Acid · Post by **Aunt Acid** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 6:43 am

Hi and welcome to the forum,

I have never heard of a foot controller that was USB. Would be nice though.

I use the FCB 1010 like many do around here.

read more here:

http://createdigitalmusic.com/index.php?s=fcb+1010

http://www.behringer.com/FCB1010/index.cfm?lang=ENG

wmastudios · Post by **wmastudios** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 7:04 am

Great! thanks for the fast reply. I heard that the Berhinger pedal is tough to program and work with??? Is the Roland worth the extra $$$?? Would be interesting to hear what everyone's experiences are with these two. I just want something to work as simple as possible!

Any comments on the bigfish instruments I am looking at in my first message would be great!

thanks,
Brian

wmastudios · Post by **wmastudios** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 7:09 am

I should mention for clarification the following is what I am thinking I need to call up samples in a live performance:

Ableton Live 6
Roland FC-300 MIDI Foot Controller
Whole Lotta Country (BigFish instrument library)
E-MU Xmidi 1X1 USB MIDI interface (to connect my laptop to the Roland foot controller)

Would all this work for me? Am I missing anything?

Thanks!
Brian

wmastudios · Post by **wmastudios** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 3:37 pm

Hello group...sorry to keep bugging you all, but I wonder if my question isn't clear or have I posted in the wrong area of the forum? Sorry to sound impatient, but I need to place an order this morning for all this stuff. I have been told that you are the experts so I am hoping for some feedback!

Thanks a lot everyone!
Brian

kennerb · Post by **kennerb** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 6:40 pm

wmastudios wrote:Hello group...sorry to keep bugging you all, but I wonder if my question isn't clear or have I posted in the wrong area of the forum? Sorry to sound impatient, but I need to place an order this morning for all this stuff. I have been told that you are the experts so I am hoping for some feedback!

Thanks a lot everyone!
Brian

Live can play any WAV, Aiff, MP3, or Flac file.

If you want to buy any sample collection and they come in those formats then you will be able to use it.

Live can assign keys or notes to any clip.

If you load up a sample in Live it will become a clip.

Once you assign the clip to a note or key then you can use whatever midi controller that you want to "fire" that clip.

I hope this helps and is clear enough. If not then please download the demo before you buy it. You will be able to assign anything in the demo so you should be able to get a real good idea as to what it does.

Good luck and have fun!

wmastudios · Post by **wmastudios** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 6:55 pm

"Once you assign the clip to a note or key then you can use whatever midi controller that you want to "fire" that clip."

Can you explain what this means? I thought all I needed was Ableton Live. What is a midi controller? I thought that was what Ableton Live was? What do you mean by "fire that clip"??

Thanks!
Brian

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 6:58 pm

I use the FCB1010 with Bomme's Midi Translator and it works like a charm. There are several FCB editors on the web that make programming it super easy. It's cheap and rugged and does the job well.

wmastudios · Post by **wmastudios** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 7:13 pm

So a "midi controller" is the foot controller then? I thought kennerb was referring to some other software or hardware I needed? Not the case?

All I am looking to do is create some clips that I can call up live on stage. We don't have a Banjo/Mandolin/Steel Guitar player so I need to record these parts and call them up while we are playing to a click track. I play bass so I would need a foot controller of some sort. I need the software to create these clips (I assume Ableton Live is what I need??)

Here is what I think I need:

Ableton Live 6
Roland FC-200 MIDI Foot Controller
Whole Lotta Country (BigFish instrument library)
E-MU Xmidi 1X1 USB MIDI interface (to connect my laptop to the Roland foot controller)

Can someone confirm I have the right stuff listed to do this?

I realize I could go with the Berhinger foot pedal in place of the Roland. Not sure which one I should get at this point.

Thanks everyone!
Brian

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 7:15 pm

Well, you need an audio interface too, for audio ins and outs to run Live, but yes, that'll get you covered.

kennerb · Post by **kennerb** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 7:16 pm

wmastudios wrote:"Once you assign the clip to a note or key then you can use whatever midi controller that you want to "fire" that clip."

Can you explain what this means? I thought all I needed was Ableton Live. What is a midi controller? I thought that was what Ableton Live was? What do you mean by "fire that clip"??

Thanks!
Brian

Fire = trigger or play

midi controller = a controller that sends and/or receives midi data which is a standard in music hardware and software. Midi sends information that tells a piece of hardware or software what to do. Things like volume, note value, etc.

Live can take that data and interpret it.

Say you have a keyboard with midi ins and outs.
You can assign a clip to c1 on your keyboard.

Then whenever you hit the c1 key on your keyboard that clip will play.

The same would apply to a midi foot pedal.

wmastudios · Post by **wmastudios** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 7:48 pm

Thanks guys...that helps a lot. I already have M-Audio Firewire Solo that will connect to my laptop via Firewire and then output to my mixer.

Sounds like I will be in business. I have tried over and over to download the Ableton 6 demo, but when I open the ZIP file it says it is not a valid ZIP archive. I tried downloading it twice. Same problem. Anyone else experiencing that?

kennerb · Post by **kennerb** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 8:08 pm

wmastudios wrote:Thanks guys...that helps a lot. I already have M-Audio Firewire Solo that will connect to my laptop via Firewire and then output to my mixer.

Sounds like I will be in business. I have tried over and over to download the Ableton 6 demo, but when I open the ZIP file it says it is not a valid ZIP archive. I tried downloading it twice. Same problem. Anyone else experiencing that?

try using another download manager. if you use IE try Firefox or Camino if reverse then go vicey versy

wmastudios · Post by **wmastudios** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:01 pm

I purchased all the items that I listed above and now my Ableton Live software keeps telling me that I need "Sampler" to use my BigFish instruments I bought. That is an additional $200 on top of the $500 I just spent. Am I doing something wrong here by chance? When I called Ableton and BigFish to tell them what I was doing, they never mentioned this "Sampler" product.

What I a doing is inserting a MIDI track for each instrument. Then I input the notes. Then I insert the BigFish instrument that I purchased (like a Banjo, Mandolin, etc). Live then switches to Demo mode because it tells me I need "Sampler" to add instruments.

I am stumped! Anyone have any insight on this??

Thanks!
Brian

Michael-SW · Post by **Michael-SW** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 7:32 pm

"Whole Lotta Country" is a compilation of samples. It consists of two things (I'm guessing a bit here): A lot of single note samples (like a guitarr being played, each chord or someting is it's own sample and probably there are different samples for playing each chord hard, soft etc). These you need to load into a software sampler instrument like Sampler or Kontakt etc. You can then program your own melodies using midi clips.

On the DVD there is also loops and riffs. Those are just audio files that you can load directly into a "cell" in an audio track in Live. You can't change those but you can use them straight away.