using Live with a turntabalist duo

Sonus · Post by **Sonus** » Thu Dec 11, 2008 6:11 pm

Hi guys, i am a live DJ and am looking for advice on how to work with another DJ who using turntables, obviously he can beat match to me but is there a way in live to beat match to a track playing on vinyl and thus form a duo

Kind Regards,
William

weeddigger · Post by **weeddigger** » Thu Dec 11, 2008 6:30 pm

Each track has a pair of nudge buttons, so you can/should be able to follow along with anyone... They're in the clip view I believe...

Sonus · Post by **Sonus** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 11:12 am

so ive got the nudge buttons, is there a way to set how far you nudge them? And if from experience can you say wether or not its worth me going down this path (ie does it really work well?)

Kind Regards,
William

Dr Dub · Post by **Dr Dub** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 11:22 am

you have kind of nudge buttons per clip, which correspond to your quantize
settings, and you also have global nudge buttons next to your bpm.

I would try out to use tap tempo (with a foot pedal probably) and the global nudge feature with two buttons.

I m no DJ or turntablist, so i dont know if this is viable, but it should.

andydes · Post by **andydes** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 11:56 am

Dr Dub wrote:you have kind of nudge buttons per clip, which correspond to your quantize
settings, and you also have global nudge buttons next to your bpm.

I would try out to use tap tempo (with a foot pedal probably) and the global nudge feature with two buttons.

I m no DJ or turntablist, so i dont know if this is viable, but it should.

You’ll want to use the main tempo control (preferably mapped to a midi fader), and the global nudge buttons mapped to buttons on a controller or the computer keyboard (I find the computer keyboard easier myself). Then it’s really just the same as syncing with a CD deck. If you don’t DJ or are used to records, it may take a bit of practice to get the feel of it, but it works fine.

Oh, the global nudge buttons are only on Live 7. On earlier versions, the easiest way for me was to click on the tempo control and use up and down cursors to nudge forward or back (ie. Change tempo by 1 or 2 bpm, then bring it back to where it was before).

I find tap tempo useless for beat matching. It’s OK to get you close, but you’ll need to adjust again after that. Out of interest, can anyone actually use the tap tempo to get a consistent beat to about +/- 0.1 bpm. I sure as hell can’t.

chrysalis33rpm · Post by **chrysalis33rpm** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 1:40 pm

Yeah, I just use tap tempo to get close, and then dial it in with the fine resolution tempo dial.

Here is how I set it up, I believe this is the most practical way:

Map 2 relative knobs to tempo coarse resolution and tempo fine resolution.
Map 2 momentary buttons to global tempo nudge forward and back.
Map one momentary button to tap tempo.
Map transport controls Play and Stop to buttons.

Fire your clip in Ableton, and then hit the transport Stop button. This leaves your clip 'fired'- the little triangle on it is highlighted to show that as soon as transport Play resumes, clip playback wil resume. Now- bring in the turntable beat. Tap tempo 4 times and playback will automatically start at the tapped tempo. Now, you have Ableton's clip playing at the same time as your beat from the turntable is playing. They are probably out of sync- you need to use the tempo nudge buttons to put the downbeats in the right place at the same time as riding the fine resolution tempo knob to get the tempo of Live matched with the turntable. The first time you do this, and the second, your tempos will be way out of whack. Just hit the transport stop button, wait for the downbeat to come around again, and either tap your tempo out again or make the tempo adjustment in the proper direction using the tempo adjust knobs and hit transport Play.

Its really exactly like using a turntable- the tempo knobs (coarse and fine) correspond to the pitch control, the nudge buttons correspond to tweaking the platter, and the play and stop buttons correspond to throwing and stopping the record.

chrysalis33rpm · Post by **chrysalis33rpm** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 1:57 pm

And to clarify: there are 2 levels of many controls in Live- the global (transport) level, which affects the playback of the entire arrangement, and the local (clip) level, which affects only the playback of a specific clip relative to the current arrangement.

I am talking exclusively about the global level in my advice- controls like nudge, play and stop, etc. also exist at the clip level. Nudging tempo, Play, and Stop, in particular, are different at the global level because they are quantization independent. This is more practical for syncing with an external source.

(While at the clip level a single press of a nudge button yields a definable amount of offset, depending on quantization. The amount of offset for the global nudge function depends only on the amount of time the button is held down.)

andydes · Post by **andydes** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 2:17 pm

Nice to know I'm not the only one who has to have 2 or 3 goes to get it in.

Another handy thing that always used to work with 6, is if you hit the tap tempo once, it resets the first beat of the bar without adjusting tempo.

For some reason, I can't it it working smoothly on 7, I think I there's a slight lag for some reason. Probably my knackered computer though.

So instead of always stopping and resarting the clip, if you're close you may be able to bring the loop back in sync that way. But this can cause some pretty extreme warping when you press the button.

chrysalis33rpm · Post by **chrysalis33rpm** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 3:01 pm

^^^now that's what I've been trying to do, but never got the hang of...and it may be because I switched to Live 7 I'll have another look at that tonight. This would save me from having to press play and stop several times.

beats me · Post by **beats me** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 4:10 pm

Another option might be to create a track that is nothing but a tempo keeping click track, or I guess you could use the actual click track, and feed that track to the DJ mixer and he can beat match to that the entire set. As the Live user you'll have no worries.

chrysalis33rpm · Post by **chrysalis33rpm** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 8:25 pm

that's a good idea, and has the advantage of being quite simple.

beats me · Post by **beats me** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 8:32 pm

That's what my friend and I do and we make the click track a solid kick which also keeps the sound consistant and you can always change it's level in the mix or EQ it differently throughout the set.

using Live with a turntabalist duo

using Live with a turntabalist duo

ok......