Hey everyone - my band Hans Blix just released our debut album entitled "What's the Highest Number you can think of?" It was mixed by Elijah B Torn. Check it out here: http://www.hansblixband.com. There is a "shop" on our website to purchase the album if you like what you hear.
Hans Blix is a trio that plays completely improvised music. No pre-recorded or pre-conceived material is ever used. I am playing my guitar into Ableton Live and using it for various FX and LOOPING. I use a rig that employs a DMC ground control pedal, uc-33 controller, and my life saver - Control Aid (midi routing software). The other members of the group are a micro-korg bass player (amazing instrument) and a live drummer who will sometimes play to a click that i send him from Ableton.
Let me know what you think! Keep your eyes open for reviews of the Album coming out soon. We also have our CD release Gig this Thursday, Nov1 in NYC. Details are on our webpage. Thanks!!
http://www.danvenne.com
Hans Blix CDRelease (Guitar Looping w/Live) W/ Elijah B Torn
Hans Blix CDRelease (Guitar Looping w/Live) W/ Elijah B Torn
Last edited by DV on Thu Nov 01, 2007 1:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
rock lobster
-
dj superflat
- Posts: 1279
- Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2005 5:31 pm
- Location: leadville, CO
would you mind sharing some more about how you operate? from what i can tell, you record guitar loops, then you manipulate them in real time, adding fx, reversing, etc., and then also play over them at times. just trying to confirm that you're not doing more traditional, echoplex style looping (the two different meanings of looping often cause confusions around here). also, is the drummer playing to a click, or just playing along with your loops?
anyways, i like the music, good luck.
anyways, i like the music, good luck.
hey - thanks! here is a lengthy manifesto i just wrote to answer a few other people's questions on the topic. I also posted it and a few pics on my website: http://www.danvenne.com
I have to say though - I stand in awe of many others on these forums as to their technical know how with ableton. it makes me feel a little rookie but - HERE GOES...
Hardware Routing:
I run my guitar through a RAT pedal and a clean boost directly into my powerbook's 1/8" in. The signal runs back out through the 1/8" output directly into the amp. I have the signal split left and right so that the Click goes to the left channel (and then to the drummer's headphones) and the master output goes to the amplifier. This is not ideal, because the signal is not cleanly split, i am in perpetual mono, and some click bleeds into the amplifier. However, it fits the budget and runs the smoothest on my machine.
Ableton Template:
In Ableton (6) I have 3 Audio tracks set up. Each one has 4-5 different effects and a few sends (2-3). On the third track I have Musolomo which is an excellent and free plugin for looping and doing all types of fun stuff.
Midi Gear:
I have a DMC ground control pedal with one attached expression pedal. I also have a UC-33 controller which also works as a MIDI-USB interface.
Midi Routing:
I use a program called control aid which helps me route my midi signals to Ableton. With control aid you can set up one CC signal that will change the MIDI channel control aid transmits on. The same signal can also change the view of each track on Ableton. So for example CC 79 (random) changes the midi channel and lets me flip through the various tracks I have set up, so I can see what effects are on each channel, etc... Most importantly this allows me to use the same buttons on my foot pedal to control the same things for each track. Each Audio track has it's own midi channel for controlling effects, looping scenes, etc... For example, pedal #9 arms each track, but on different MIDI channels. Confusing? I'm lost too.
Progam Changes - note on/off:
control aid also changes progam change signals (which are worthless) to note on/off signals. This is how I turn on and off my effects, arm tracks, and trigger or stop loops.
Whose controlling what?:
The pedal turns on and off the effects and triggers loops to begin or stop playing. I also have a few effect's paramaters mapped to the pedal's CC signals so I can control an effect while playing. The UC-33 is for track volumes and a ton of CC assignments (32 i think).
My "Tricks":
I hesitate to call them mine or even tricks for that matter but... 1. when playing with a click set up the quantization menu so that I have 1 beat to trigger the loops. This allows me to get loops that are at least in time with the drummer. When we play with no click I set the quantization to none. I have that menu controlled by a slider. 2. Next to that slider I have one that shrinks the loop and another one that moves the area being looped throughout the sample (that i just recorded). when playing to a click this is GREAT. I can set the quantization to an 1/8th note and shrink a whole phrase down to one 1/8th note loop and then move that throughout the sample. I also have a slider that transposes that loop/sample. 3. Musolomo. you have to get it and read the manual yourself. but it is great because you can easily stack, it syncs to the click, and you can VERY easily transpose and reverse.
A note about Hans Blix:
This band is ALL improvised. I dont use any pre-recorded or pre-concieved material. Lately I have been dropping in some vocal samples on a 4th track (like spoken word shit) but that's about it. Ableton is GREAT for this and my set up really reflects that. I have tried to use my same set up for other groups that have actual written music and set forms, but it has been too unwieldy and I end up pushing people all over the place (sonically).
I have to say though - I stand in awe of many others on these forums as to their technical know how with ableton. it makes me feel a little rookie but - HERE GOES...
Hardware Routing:
I run my guitar through a RAT pedal and a clean boost directly into my powerbook's 1/8" in. The signal runs back out through the 1/8" output directly into the amp. I have the signal split left and right so that the Click goes to the left channel (and then to the drummer's headphones) and the master output goes to the amplifier. This is not ideal, because the signal is not cleanly split, i am in perpetual mono, and some click bleeds into the amplifier. However, it fits the budget and runs the smoothest on my machine.
Ableton Template:
In Ableton (6) I have 3 Audio tracks set up. Each one has 4-5 different effects and a few sends (2-3). On the third track I have Musolomo which is an excellent and free plugin for looping and doing all types of fun stuff.
Midi Gear:
I have a DMC ground control pedal with one attached expression pedal. I also have a UC-33 controller which also works as a MIDI-USB interface.
Midi Routing:
I use a program called control aid which helps me route my midi signals to Ableton. With control aid you can set up one CC signal that will change the MIDI channel control aid transmits on. The same signal can also change the view of each track on Ableton. So for example CC 79 (random) changes the midi channel and lets me flip through the various tracks I have set up, so I can see what effects are on each channel, etc... Most importantly this allows me to use the same buttons on my foot pedal to control the same things for each track. Each Audio track has it's own midi channel for controlling effects, looping scenes, etc... For example, pedal #9 arms each track, but on different MIDI channels. Confusing? I'm lost too.
Progam Changes - note on/off:
control aid also changes progam change signals (which are worthless) to note on/off signals. This is how I turn on and off my effects, arm tracks, and trigger or stop loops.
Whose controlling what?:
The pedal turns on and off the effects and triggers loops to begin or stop playing. I also have a few effect's paramaters mapped to the pedal's CC signals so I can control an effect while playing. The UC-33 is for track volumes and a ton of CC assignments (32 i think).
My "Tricks":
I hesitate to call them mine or even tricks for that matter but... 1. when playing with a click set up the quantization menu so that I have 1 beat to trigger the loops. This allows me to get loops that are at least in time with the drummer. When we play with no click I set the quantization to none. I have that menu controlled by a slider. 2. Next to that slider I have one that shrinks the loop and another one that moves the area being looped throughout the sample (that i just recorded). when playing to a click this is GREAT. I can set the quantization to an 1/8th note and shrink a whole phrase down to one 1/8th note loop and then move that throughout the sample. I also have a slider that transposes that loop/sample. 3. Musolomo. you have to get it and read the manual yourself. but it is great because you can easily stack, it syncs to the click, and you can VERY easily transpose and reverse.
A note about Hans Blix:
This band is ALL improvised. I dont use any pre-recorded or pre-concieved material. Lately I have been dropping in some vocal samples on a 4th track (like spoken word shit) but that's about it. Ableton is GREAT for this and my set up really reflects that. I have tried to use my same set up for other groups that have actual written music and set forms, but it has been too unwieldy and I end up pushing people all over the place (sonically).
rock lobster
Your approach ( and music by the way ) is pretty interesting. Like the textures and all the FX you apply to the guitar, and the improvised stuff. I've also played with musolomo for a while and just got a behringer FCB 1010 to interface with live. Augustus loop is also a neat delay for this kind of stuff. Does control aid work with 10.3.9 ?
Aboard from V. 1
MBP M1 Pro 2021 - 16 Go RAM - OSX 15.7.7 / MBP 2.5 Ghz I7 16 Go SSD OSX 10.15.7 - iPad + Knobbler
RME FF UC Live 12.4.2 M4L Max 9.14
Band : https://elastocat.org/
Madlab sound unit / objects, guitar, electronics / end_of_transmission
MBP M1 Pro 2021 - 16 Go RAM - OSX 15.7.7 / MBP 2.5 Ghz I7 16 Go SSD OSX 10.15.7 - iPad + Knobbler
RME FF UC Live 12.4.2 M4L Max 9.14
Band : https://elastocat.org/
Madlab sound unit / objects, guitar, electronics / end_of_transmission
is 10.3.9 the new mac OS (leopard)? if so i don't know. i really hope so or i am screwed when i buy my new macbook pro (next month!). One more thing about my set up.
I mentioned the CC signal that control aid uses to change the midi channel and track view. On the UC-33 you can assign the buttons on the key pad to be either note on or CC. I have 4 of those buttons assigned to CC 79 - but each has a different value assigned to it. For example: when i press one button it sends CC 79 with a value of 00, which sets my control aid output to midi channel 1, and switches to ableton to track view 1. The next button on my UC-33 also has CC 79, but the value is at something like 17. This sets the control aid output to channel 2, and switches ableton to track view 2.
once again im not sure if im making any freakin sense. but it works for me and it enables me to quickly and accurately switch between my audio tracks and their corresponding midi channels.
I mentioned the CC signal that control aid uses to change the midi channel and track view. On the UC-33 you can assign the buttons on the key pad to be either note on or CC. I have 4 of those buttons assigned to CC 79 - but each has a different value assigned to it. For example: when i press one button it sends CC 79 with a value of 00, which sets my control aid output to midi channel 1, and switches to ableton to track view 1. The next button on my UC-33 also has CC 79, but the value is at something like 17. This sets the control aid output to channel 2, and switches ableton to track view 2.
once again im not sure if im making any freakin sense. but it works for me and it enables me to quickly and accurately switch between my audio tracks and their corresponding midi channels.
rock lobster
-
dj superflat
- Posts: 1279
- Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2005 5:31 pm
- Location: leadville, CO