OSX gurus...multiple apps?

buzzcock · Post by **buzzcock** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 3:36 pm

I use Live as the hub of my musical world but I also use Numerology (for funky sequencing) Plouge Bidule (mainly for advanced patching) & I'm now considering bringing Max/MSP & Jitter into the equation. There are also a bunch of audio and midi freewares which I find useful from time to time.

Virtually all of my work exists across multiple apps at some point or other.

What I'm looking for is an easy way to save, organize, and open projects- Certain apps need to be opened before others to enable rewire properly or make midi inputs available etc..
Does anyone else work this way? Taking suggestions.

5dots · Post by **5dots** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 4:14 pm

i found the best thing to do is to use similar naming/filing conventions, so that you open the same thing in all of your programs. but really, the only way i could keep track of everything while performing live was to keep a notebook, and have each page be a song, and then short instructions about how to set that song up to play.

which sucks, of course, and is why i'm glad to not have to use more than one piece of software at a time now.

ultrasource · Post by **ultrasource** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 4:30 pm

Have you thought about learning the basics of applescript? You could, for instance, keep an alias to an applescript on your desktop that, at the very least, could launch your apps in the proper order with one click rather than ten.
With Panther, creating an applescript is as easy as recording your mouse and keyboard actions. Give it a shot.
I think 5dots is right on with the naming convention. You could set up folder actions to rename your files accordingly. Hopefully, someone more knowledgable than myself could guide you in a better direction

buzzcock · Post by **buzzcock** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 5:45 pm

Thanks for the replys.

5dots- I try to name every file in the project the same thing and put all of them in the same folder with a text doc regarding prefs and whatnot. Works, but it's a hastle as you say.

Ultra- I think applescript may be the way to go - perhaps even one script per project, if it comes to that...wish me luck.

What do all of you Reason+Live folks do?

While Live 4 has so succesfully encompassed so much of what I need in a music creation tool, there will always be things it doesn't have and can't do. Original tools and ideas will continue to come from indiviuals or small companies with a vision of their own- just as Ableton itself did.

The multi app saga continues... such is the blessing and curse of inovation.

Jonathan Binns · Post by **Jonathan Binns** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 7:40 pm

I agree that the above suggestions are good, and you might want to also make use (if you use OS X) of native Apple niceties like stickies and color coding of folders. After yet again suffering the chagrin of deleting the wrong files I finally began coloring amuck (green/live set, blue/track, etc.) , so now it makes moving through the data bog much easier.

Ah Brooklyn, the hotbed of.....well, something I suppose.

j.

loophead · Post by **loophead** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 9:39 pm

Hey Buzz and Binns I'm in Brooklyn too !

But as these are all good advises' with the new capabilities of Live 4 it might be worth some time to see what you are doing the other applications which you can not do in Live.

Much of what you may be wanting to do might now be accomplished in live with minimal effort. I also use numerology and have Max/Msp. Jitter sound very cool at some point... I never liked bidule, but I find that there is now very little I need to do outside of Live 4. Numerology for arps being the most prevelent for me.

So thats my suggestion. See what is really needed, you may find there are ways to help your creative/work flow better !