Looper discussion

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
Machinate
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Post by Machinate » Wed Jan 21, 2009 6:45 pm

and if you're wondering what effects in the feedback loop of a Looper ... does - here's a brief sample, just random mouth noise into a mic, mouse-tweaked effects (eq and comp only)

http://wetterberg.dk/uploads/effects_in_the_loop.mp3

Tone Deft
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Post by Tone Deft » Wed Jan 21, 2009 6:53 pm

3dot... wrote:
Tone Deft wrote:that reminds me of a feature I'd LOVE but it hasn't caught on.

warping midi. jam out on midi for a while and capture a happy accident. unless there's a technique I'm missing.
...like 'stretch midi notes' ...?
close, but stretch notes doesn't move them in time, it just stretches the note.


holy @&*# machinate, that sounds like Satan sipping on a Big Gulp. WANT!!
In my life
Why do I smile
At people who I'd much rather kick in the eye?
-Moz

oddrhythm
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Post by oddrhythm » Wed Jan 21, 2009 10:29 pm

if i want to do a Kid Beyond type of looping with MIDI, will looper allow me to have hands free control? i don't have a foot pedal yet, and am trying to figure out which way to go.

i want to play a shaker loop
jam over it with a padkontrol controlling a drum rack,
record when i like something,
go to the next track and jam some more
record when i like it, go to next track etc.

since it's hard to play music and stop recording to launch the clip, I need foot control.
any suggestions?

db91977
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Post by db91977 » Wed Jan 21, 2009 11:03 pm

From the video, it looks to me like the colored squares are beat indicators, for a visual cue as to where you are in the loop, without having to use in-ear monitors. And they're much bigger and easier to see than the tiny metronome indicator.

Also, it looks like the squares are green when the loop is in play mode and red when it's in record mode- another handy visual aid when you're busy looping.

It'll be interesting to see how you drag the loop contents into a clip slot, and vice-versa. What would be cool is an option or some way to get each new loop's contents into a different clip slot automatically, as you're looping, without having to monkey around with a mouse. But from what I'm gathering, each loop adds the audio to the previous material as you mentioned (sound-on-sound).

I didn't notice, but will there be a way to configure how long your loop is; i.e. 2 bars, or 4, 8, ...?

OvertoneZero wrote:
musiker01 wrote: Since it's sound on sound recording one looper will probably have one Ram buffer that it adds audio to with each pass.

It looks like those colored squares are layers and you can drag each layer out to clip slots..?

Machinate
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Post by Machinate » Wed Jan 21, 2009 11:08 pm

db91977 wrote:From the video, it looks to me like the colored squares are beat indicators, for a visual cue as to where you are in the loop, without having to use in-ear monitors. And they're much bigger and easier to see than the tiny metronome indicator.
correct :)
db91977 wrote:
I didn't notice, but will there be a way to configure how long your loop is; i.e. 2 bars, or 4, 8, ...?
yes, there's a drop down for "record x bars then [action, such as overdub or play]"

Angstrom
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Post by Angstrom » Wed Jan 21, 2009 11:11 pm

db91977 wrote: What would be cool is an option or some way to get each new loop's contents into a different clip slot automatically, as you're looping, without having to monkey around with a mouse.
there is actually a way to do that - by using the loopers insert you send the feedback path to another channel, this is actually intended to put effects into the feedback path, but you can record clips there.

You can trigger the clips with a footpedal and it loads them back into the running buffer

Machinate
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Post by Machinate » Wed Jan 21, 2009 11:13 pm

Angstrom wrote:
db91977 wrote: What would be cool is an option or some way to get each new loop's contents into a different clip slot automatically, as you're looping, without having to monkey around with a mouse.
there is actually a way to do that - by using the loopers insert you send the feedback path to another channel, this is actually intended to put effects into the feedback path, but you can record clips there.

You can trigger the clips with a footpedal and it loads them back into the running buffer
that's mighty clever!

Angstrom
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Post by Angstrom » Wed Jan 21, 2009 11:25 pm

it's cool, as it means you can create quite an extensive 'undo buffer' by recording your states as you go.

Or it's great if you are the sort of person that wants a highly varying 'verse/chorus' type live performance structure, which is usually pretty tough to do with a looper setup. You can always call up your "chorus" loop back into the looper.

It is a bit weird how it works, because once you record into the clip slot your looper will not add further playing to that loop (obviously !)
Flipping between [in] and [auto] is kinda essential to the trick

phobik2000
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Post by phobik2000 » Thu Jan 22, 2009 1:41 am

Hi guys, I've been wanting to do a live improv thing like Kid does, but not vox, more like this asian guy anchorsong http://www.youtube.com/results?search_t ... rsong&aq=f

He is using hardware to play, record, sequence, mix, solo, mute, bring back and so build a song live with a great workflow. I'd like to do something similar, so I can create my music on the fly, like if any of you has been in a jam session (try ninjam.com) you do some 4 bar riff but then you want to play another instrument on top, but save any of your previous playing, to bring back anytime and do a one-man-band improv kind of thing.

I know it may sound complex but it's the only way that making music feels right to me, evn for composing, I've always HATED going into arrange aka mouse mode. I've already invested in some midi gear with the idea to have multiple control surfaces, but I've never managed to set it up and so it's ollecting dust. Often I realized and missed the difference in having a room full of analog gear... :roll:

So, any idea on how to pull this off?

djgroovy
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Post by djgroovy » Thu Jan 22, 2009 2:51 pm

Angstrom wrote:
Angstrom wrote:in the studio lets say you want to build up a monster sound-

you play one note out of a synth into the looper and as it comes back a round you tweak the synth a little and play the note again, it stacks up, you keep doing that and you eventually have built the fattest , sorry phattest, sound imaginable.
Very funny to make choir sounds.
Anyway - you can just drag that into a clip when you are finished.

Alternatively play one note, use another audio track put some effects on it and intercept the loop as it goes around, now you can subtly mutate the loop on every pass. This is cumulative resampling, so If you chop a lowpass filter down on the 6th beat then the next time the loop comes back around you will hear that filter chop down again. Just like everyone wants recording automation in Session, well this is how I do it. I use a looper.

You can just keep dropping different effects into that 'insert' channel and tweaking them to mutate the sound further. The crucial thing is, this is cumulative effecting. It's not like just running a clip through an EQ or something after the fact, it is like constant resampling on the fly.


what does it do that Live doesn't already?
Live cannot mutate and reprocess a loop on the fly. A clip loop is just a flat wave. A looper loop is open for mutation.
Huge grin! :mrgreen:

LoopStationZebra
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Post by LoopStationZebra » Fri Jan 23, 2009 2:08 am

Hey all, first post here. Been using Live for awhile and lurking, but the impending Live 8 has brought me out of the woodwork.

I wonder how this great new Looper will work with two laptops sync'd up? Can both performers be using Looper at the same time? The performer on the master sets a temp and starts looping. Is there trouble ahead when the person on the slave wants to start looping and sets a different tempo? Not sure how that would work, but just curious.

I do a lot of live layering already with multiple tracks and my FCB1010. The real attraction for me is to be able to just start jamming without that blasted click track getting in the way, lol.

cmreal04
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Post by cmreal04 » Sat Jan 24, 2009 2:55 am

http://www.zzounds.com/item--TCHMM1

How about this, would this be ok to control the looper ?

CM

bigbadotis
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Post by bigbadotis » Sat Jan 24, 2009 3:06 am

If I remember correctly the midi mouse sends program change messages, so, no, not without some extra software.

cmreal04
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Post by cmreal04 » Sat Jan 24, 2009 3:13 am

bigbadotis wrote:If I remember correctly the midi mouse sends program change messages, so, no, not without some extra software.

Ok thanks much for clarifying.

CM

djtj
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Lemur Looper Template

Post by djtj » Sun Jan 25, 2009 12:20 am

Machinate wrote:http://wetterberg.dk/uploads/looper_x_4.gif
- still needs nav. buttons to the right, but haven't got access to the protocol yet ;)
Are you gonna post that in the user area at Jazzmutant?

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