Ableton, it's just a big tease for DJ's...?

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
Eza
Posts: 18
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2004 3:56 pm

Post by Eza » Mon Aug 16, 2004 2:56 pm

i reckon Sasha and many others may go down the live performace route. reason being is djs are finally being sussed for what they are. no more than a glorified shuffle system on an mp3 player with beat match software.

and we have always paid top dollar for these beings who in turn charge 'superclubs' thousands of pounds for the 'priveledge' of hearing them play many tunes which aren't theirs and of which artists don't receive any royalties for the dj playing their tunes.

it's all upside down.

so now a dj may have to work harder for their money. show us you can give us something we can't do at home. show us you really are talented!!!!!!!!!!

everyone and their grandma is a dj these days. to say a dj is a musician is imo quite insulting to a real musician. yes, it's an artform, but that's all and tbh, it's an easy artform like painting by numbers.

i dj'd for 15 years before throwing it in because what's the point anymore, the music got bland and segregated and no-one was interested in a variety of good music, rather opting for a night of bland samey music with the occasional exceptional tune.

ableton may revive the dj under some new guise, but tbh, i think asking a dj to play peoples tunes and then delve into some software and 'manipulate' the action is asking for 'trouble on the dancefloor' :)

only the very very talented will get away with this.

those left i pity their dancefloors as the punters listening to a decent song suddenly find the room echoing with double delays, filters, mind-bending stuff whilst the dj tries to insert his head up his ar*se so far he can't see what's happening on the dancefloor. i've hard it with these new mixers on the market full of effects, it's not a pretty sight or noise i can assure you.

of course, if it's your own stuff then fair play and good luck. you have every right to twiddle the hell out of your own stuff and thumbs up for being able to play a whole night of your own stuff.

we'll see......

kent_sandvik
Posts: 489
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2003 6:45 am

Post by kent_sandvik » Mon Aug 16, 2004 8:19 pm

I'm sure similar stories happened when DJs started to play records long time ago, like vinys....

Each format has its strengths and weaknesses. The good and interesting ones will emerge. Ultimately it's the audience that will decide, not us.

Just my view, I think Ableton Live (and similar current and future tools) will make DJ and music making quite spontaneous again. Something like jazz. Some will like it, others not. I do like Live, music is fun and creative again, rather than sitting and programming sequencers and synthesizers...

--Kent

vandeloo
Posts: 49
Joined: Mon May 27, 2002 3:43 pm
Location: zurich
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Post by vandeloo » Wed Aug 18, 2004 11:40 am

hi all,

i just realizer, that live can control the master tempo by midi controls. so i can assign the mastertempo to a midifader. this is cool, but the resolution is bad, moving the fader a little bit result in a tempochange at least from one bpm. so this is not very usable to slave live "live" to a mk2 turntable. is there a secret funktion to change the resolution of the midifader ? id like to have a mastercontrol like +-8% on the hole faderway. any tricks about this issue ?

thanxs

martin

robbmasters
Posts: 1107
Joined: Tue Feb 10, 2004 7:37 pm
Location: London, UK.

Post by robbmasters » Wed Aug 18, 2004 11:42 am

Set a closer maximum and minimum BPM range - in the master track on the arrange screen.
OS X, Live 9, Microbook II

vandeloo
Posts: 49
Joined: Mon May 27, 2002 3:43 pm
Location: zurich
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Post by vandeloo » Wed Aug 18, 2004 12:37 pm

:D great, thank u!

Chris J
Posts: 1353
Joined: Wed Aug 04, 2004 5:24 pm

Post by Chris J » Wed Aug 18, 2004 2:19 pm

Eza wrote:we have always paid top dollar for the DJs.
(...)i dj'd for 15 years (...) it's an easy artform like painting by numbers.
Eza, what you said would make an interesting interview, you were Djing, therefore making top dollars, and it was like painting by numbers. But you stopped ...

I'll quote Coldcut who defined the disc jockey as someone who plays records and a DJ someone who plays WITH records.

I'm a musician, I play 4 different instruments, so i try to do something a little more involving than just playing records. Live seemed (before i bought it) the program for that.
Also, with so many different places (sizes and moods), different styles of music, your summing up of THE DJ is very limitative and remote from the truth.

I'm turning to DJing for live stuff because many places that used to hire bands can't afford it anymore, and i think one reason for that is that the crowd in general has lost interest in live music. It might come back, might not.
But if you're on that forum, you have in a way turned away from real live performance. For example, from a drummer's point of view if you use a drum loop, you're making music by numbers...etc etc..

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