External Instrument = Group Track

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adam maggs
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External Instrument = Group Track

Post by adam maggs » Thu Feb 19, 2009 2:56 pm

Now we have Group tracks, could this be possible in the future:

Drop an External plug device (ext instrument or ext effect), and the track automatically becomes a group track, containing one to send/receive to/from the routed hardware, plus one for recording the result.

eg, drop in an External Instrument device = Group track, containing:

Track 1 ---> Midi Track with Ext Inst. device (midi out > audio in)
Track 2 ---> Audio Track taking routing from from the audio out of Track 1


eg, drop in an External Effect device = Group track, containing:

Track 1 ---> Audio Track with Ext Inst. device
Track 2 ---> Audio Track taking routing from from the audio out of Track 1
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Amaury
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Post by Amaury » Thu Feb 19, 2009 3:05 pm

Hi,

There is a reason why we do encourage to use the External devices, and not groups of tracks: latency. When using the External devices, Live is able to keep everything in sync, and you can even compensate for your hardware latency easier. Another reason is exporting/freezing.

Regards,
Amaury
Ableton Product Team

adam maggs
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Post by adam maggs » Thu Feb 19, 2009 3:51 pm

hi Amaury,

what I meant was yes, use Lives External devices (because yes, it will automatically compensate for any latency incurred by the program itself) - but we also always need an extra track to record the sound coming back from the hardware

freezing the track works well if there are not too many clips on the track, but very often it is impractical to freeze an entire track full of clips when you only want to record one clip - or if you want to record while playing the part in realtime

my wish is to streamline the workflow using the new Group tracks feature

currently the process is as follows:
1) create a track with an Ableton External device (track A)
2) create a new audio track (track B)
3) manually set up a routing between Track A and Track B so we can record the signal
4) arm track B to record
5) Record when ready

my wishful workflow is as follows:
1) drop an Ableton External Device onto an empty track
- this automatically creates a Group Track containing the two tracks we need (tracks A and B, mentioned above)
- it automatically sets up the necessary routing, sending the audio from track A (Post FX) to track B
- track B is automatically armed, to receiving the signal to be monitored or recorded
2) Record when ready!
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Palmer Eldritch
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Post by Palmer Eldritch » Thu Feb 19, 2009 7:52 pm

hi adam,

you can do that:

Do the 5 steps you have described then drag and drop the group track into your library, the next time you need this special group track drag and drop it from your library into your set. 8)

best p.e.
Live 8_3_4 + 4b7_32+64 -Suite- Max4Live 5_1_9 _ core2DuoMacBook 2*2,16 Ghz + external FW HD _ OSX 10.6.8 _ 3G RAM _ M.H. MIO 2882 + 5.4d208 Driver _ Faderfox LV1 _ Akai MPK25 _ Logitec wheel mouse _______ PeacE will be the SOLution of LIVE

adam maggs
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Post by adam maggs » Fri Feb 20, 2009 5:58 am

hey there Palmer,

thanks for the tip - and yeah, this is how I currently work around it

was just thinking that Group tracks would be a more elegant way to do this

I keep that configuration in my Library Presets - but...
- they don't show up in the Device Browser (I bookmark them in the File Browser)
- the tracks aren't automatically armed

no biggie - just a simple idea!
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el_camello
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Post by el_camello » Fri Feb 20, 2009 2:50 pm

can you drop channels into the library to 'save' the channel state?! or is this a group track feauture?

Palmer Eldritch
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Post by Palmer Eldritch » Fri Feb 20, 2009 6:38 pm

el_camello wrote:can you drop channels into the library to 'save' the channel state?! or is this a group track feauture?
It´s not a group exclusive feature you can also save the state of a channel if you drop this channel into your library and you can also drop one or more channels from another set into you´re actuel set (this also works in Live7).
Live 8_3_4 + 4b7_32+64 -Suite- Max4Live 5_1_9 _ core2DuoMacBook 2*2,16 Ghz + external FW HD _ OSX 10.6.8 _ 3G RAM _ M.H. MIO 2882 + 5.4d208 Driver _ Faderfox LV1 _ Akai MPK25 _ Logitec wheel mouse _______ PeacE will be the SOLution of LIVE

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