How do you use Ableton live in a live situation?

[flippo]

I ask because I have a quiet fear that my live set is going to be too ambitious for someone without the budget for two machines

[Pitch Black]

Regards to having two machines, what was the reason for that? Had you tried with one and it was not stable?

What is the CPU running at with the workload split in half like that?

Having so many multi-tracks for all our songs, we found we hit a functional upper limit of how many clips/tracks/scenes we could load into one Live Set. We found that we got unusable glitching and stuttering after going to more than about 110 tracks wide. (Our Live Sets are something like 110 tracks x 250 scenes each). I suspect its probably due to a RAM limitation - our Macs are maxed out at 4GB each. So we used to split the load.

We have changed our method a little since these videos were made, though. We now have all the clips for the the first 7 songs on one mac and all the clips for the next 6 songs on the second mac. -ie no longer split into drums/bass + instruments across two machines, we're only using one mac at a time. This still gives us a backup should something go wrong, and means we don't have to do a re-load halfway thru the set. The CPU probably maxes out around 60 percent, and each Live Set - though now self-contained - is still roughly 110 tracks x 250 scenes. The first set contains 3.2GB of clips, and the second 1.5GB.

If you're going to play such large sets off one machine I would suggest having a first and second half showload, and playing something off an ipod/CDJ or simillar for 60-90 seconds while loading the second half.

[flippo]

Ah, I see! I presume you are not running 110 tracks at one time? Rather you have a horizontal workflow for bringing in new elements on a new track?

[Pitch Black]

Ah, I see! I presume you are not running 110 tracks at one time? Rather you have a horizontal workflow for bringing in new elements on a new track?

A Diagonal workflow. Each song is in blocks moving horizontally and down the page. Please check out the Vimeo vid mentioned earlier in the thread for a more detailed description.

[flippo]

ah yes, more-or-less what I mean't



cheers for taking the time for the screenshot.

I'm working with a system that has fewer tracks, and I change the devices and effects of those tracks with midi commands, racks etc. It's not as fool-proof as what you're doing, but hopefully I will be able to get away with a large set on just the one lappy without hiccups. I won't know until I'm most of the way there I guess, so fingers crossed!

[logic_user99]

At the moment, I'm using Live as a sample bank (ala edison), playing all the parts as one-shots. No pre-set beats or structures... not even a click track. There's a track for cut up breaks, one for FX (glitches etc) and a couple of tracks for melodic bits. I've seen edison using the follow actions in an _mlr fashion which is something that I've not yet dabbled in.

It's really basic, but works.

[SUBSET]

A Diagonal workflow. Each song is in blocks moving horizontally and down the page. Please check out the Vimeo vid mentioned earlier in the thread for a more detailed description.

Thanks for the YouTube clip, that was a big help with performance ideas. Not been able to view the entire vimeo yet but I've always wondered why you scroll each song out and down diagonally? I know you use a different MIDI channel for each track - is it because you have different insert effects across channels that are different between songs? The diagonal scrolling has me confused and perhaps I'm missing a crucial idea here?

Thanks!

[Pitch Black]

I've always wondered why you scroll each song out and down diagonally? - is it because you have different insert effects across channels that are different between songs?

Yes, exactly that. Some parts of some songs have unique plugins on them, and/or unique things we want to modulate. You can of course just build down vertically, and have say, all your kick drums on a track, all your basses on the next track etc - it's totally up to you. We just like to keep things separate. It means its also easy to adjust certain part's volume/EQ etc when we get into a live venue - a certain bass in a certain song might sound too loud in the venue, tweak it, save the Set and we're good to go.

Something to consider, The actual layout of our live sets doesn't matter from a playing perspective because we don't look at the screen or touch the computer when playing live - everything is done via MIDI controllers, so its not like we have to physically scroll around the set. However if your methodology meant you look at the computer while playing, you might find a different layout of clips suits you better.

[Peripatetic]

Pitch Black, both of those videos were awesome/helpful/fun/inspiring, etc.

Thanks for posting them!

Shaun

[SUBSET]

A question for Pitch Black... do you use the delays in Live when you're in the studio or are you using a VST/DX effect through your sequencer?
One thing I've always liked about your music is the amount of sound layering and evolving phrases that you use. I've always wondered what hardware/software that is coming from.

[Pitch Black]

In the studio it's a combination of Live's and Logic's delays. On stage, it's all Live's Simple Delay -> EQ8. There's a full explanation and demo in the Vimeo vid. Its all about the riding of the EQ inside the delay feedback loop.

[the_antagonist]

why beat match when live does it for you........ one might ask "why stop there?"





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