Abelton newbie - looking to get some questions answered

[modulus10]

Hello everyone - my name is Chris, and I am considering purchasing Abelton Live for performance / recording / looping. I have a lot of questions, but instead of making a long laundry list - i want to share with you what I am doing now, and how i hope Abelton will help simplify my setup and expand my abilities.

I am a solo "looping artist" that uses a Roland RC-50 as his main looping device. In addition to that I use an electric upright bass, 9 string bass that is MIDI capable, Viper violin, vocal microphone, external signal processing, and a 22 space rack of "old school" synthesizers.

Essentially I have all of these "instruments" going into a large rack mount mixer, that is then fed into the RC-50 looper, then back into a second mixer and out to a sound system.

From the description above you can imagine my frustration with the sheer size of my rig, the cabling, programming, routing...it just a giant headache.

What im hoping to find is some way to consolidate 80% or more of this rig into a laptop. but some of the requirements make it difficult.

First of i need to be able to start, stop, overdub, select new tracks and so on with my feet - on the RC-50 i can accomplish this but I am limited to 3 individual tracks and their program ability is very limited.

Second i want to be able to eliminate the need for hardware synthesizers

Third - i want to be able to save performances to export as audio recordings

Fourth I want to be able to loop live audio from my string instruments as well as send in midi signals from a zen drum midi controller

So I am wondering if anyone out there is doing this kind of thing? Some of my loops start out as pre-defined 4 8 or 16 bar patterns, while some are free form sound scapes where each loop is a different length (start with a 8 second loop of a drone , then over dub a 12.5 second lop of a pattern, then a 15 second loop of another patter - intentionally having them out of sync.)

Are there any folks out here doing this? can someone enlighten me as to weather or not this is the correct application for my needs? I sure would love to show up to a gig with my instruments and a lap top, and leave all the giant stuff at home (or actually sell it all ) becuase my rig is not travel friendly.

SO with a laptop, audio interface, midi interface and abelton - is this going to possible?

I was watching the demo on the home page as was thinking yes, the only thing really missing is the foot controller

Sorry for the rambling post, but im just getting so frustrated with my set up, that im starting to go just a little crazy

thanks everyone - i really need some guidance here

C3

[DoA]

Disclaimer: It's early in the morning & I may not be thinking straight.....


Ok, you'll need a multi input soundcard (if you want to have a dedicated channel in Live for each instrument). There are as many soundcard manufacturer's out there as there are ... umm ... flavours of ice cream....

Personally I use a Presonus Firebox, & would recommend you look into something like the Firepod depending on how many inputs you need.

MIDI foot controllers can be purchased / made (there's a thread on here about building your own footboard) and then mapped to various functions either by traditional MIDI or USB MIDI. Instruments can also be synced with MIDI so don't worry about that.

The problem I see you facing is that the physical size of the rig is actually going to increase (add a laptop, foot controller & soundcard to your existing rig) unless you actually get rid of some of the hardware.....

Well I suppose you could do away with the Roland as Ableton would be your Sequencer...

[pepezabala]

you should be able to do everything you want to do with this behringer midi-footcontroler and a nice template in live8, using a variety of pre-assigned clip slots, loopers etc.

If you get a multichannel soundcard, as the motu ultralite, you probably can get rid of the mixer.

be aware that computers and soundcards are way more hassle than a looper pedal. more cables, boxes, ac-adaptors, etc to bring with you. laptops are typically build for use in offices, not for use on stage, so you need to treat them with more caution as a footbadal that is designed for being kicked.

[modulus10]

Thanks for the info - much appreciated - I guess the main thing im trying to get rig of is the rack of synthesizers - if i could reduce this rack from a 22 space - down to some thing that held my sound card (like a motu? digi?)and use virtual synths instead - right there I have eliminated 150 lbs of gear, and now can carry it over my shoulder.

Asfar as the looping requirements goes, abelton can do this? meaning having fixed length loops as well as lops that are of different lenght and out of sycn?

I went back and watched the demo on the home page again, and essentially he is doing exactly what i want to do - only i would be using audio inputs and not a midi arpeggio (like when he uses the egg shaker)

My big concern is the looping and the vsynth interation, that right there gets me away from the monster tower rack i haul around

[DoA]

You'll have to wait for someone else's input regarding looping but as far as I know you shouldn't have any problem whatsoever as this is what Ableton is designed for....

With regards to virtual synths ... Ableton is compatible with all VST & DSX soft synths meaning anything that'll work in Cubase / Pro-tools would work. It is also rewire compatible meaning you can use Reason / Pro-Tools / Cubase along side Ableton.

I've also sent you a PM


DoA

[modulus10]

OK were making progress - I downloaded the demo version of 8 suite and im loving it - the synth sounds are great, the looping as awesome - now i would love to chat with someone about using a foot controller.

so is anyone out there a "foot controller expert?" that could give me some tips on how to:

start and stop playback of loops
start recording new overdubed loops
move from one tract to another (general navigation)

what im thinking is using a combination of the APC 40 with the Midi foot controller - anyone going that far?

I also use the GK-20 for my midi bass -

so its going to be interesting to see if I can get al this stuff talking to each other

thanks agian for the Private messages and posts - much appreciated